Historical Sew Monthly #1- Procrastination: Regency Ballgown

I actually finished this on January 23, just in the nick of time for the Jane Austen Evening Tea and Ball, but I hadn't gotten around to blogging about it until now.  How fitting for the Historical Sew Monthly's Procrastination Challenge!

The procrastination part is twofold, I had the fabric in the stash for quite some time before cutting it...and then I partially cut it out and abandoned it!  Once I started back on it I realized why.  Because I'm tall I can't use it selvage to selvage and have the sari trim be hem decoration.  It would be way too short.  So I had to cut the skirt lengths from the middle then cut off both decorated sides and had to painstakingly frankenstein them together into one long piece of trim.  It was a PAIN IN THE BUTT.  But I'm happy with how it turned out, it is short enough to dance it, very flowy and pretty and cool because the fabric is light.



The Challenge: Procrastination
Fabric: Gold embroidered silk sari from the stash
Pattern:  A modified version of the Folkwear Empire Pattern
Year: 1800-1810
Notions: Thread, hooks and eyes, narrow gold cord from the stash for the neckline drawstring.
How historically accurate is it?  Machine sewn but relatively accurate pattern.
Hours to complete:  Hard to say since it was worked on periodically for quite some time.
First worn: to the Jane Austen Evening
Total cost: Unsure since it marinated in the stash for a long time.


Comments

  1. I really like the black and gold color combination!

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  2. Lovely! Might I ask how tall you are? I remember you being similar to my height (5' 8") and had figured sarees were too narrow to pull it off at my height.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I am 5'8. So my solution was to cut the fabric of the dress from the middle of the sari, leaving the embroidered strips on the ends alone. Then cutting those out and sewing them back onto the sari after the skirt was put together. It was painstaking and long but not difficult.

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