Memories and new things

Today I finally got a link to the photos taken at the Jane Austen Festival Regency Fashion Show. I think I mentioned before that I was one of the models in the show; it was a lovely and fun event and I'm so happy to see the photos at last! Here's a link to the photo album (photos were screen caps taken from a video, filmed by Owen Benson)

I've also begun sewing a new Regency dress; my plan is to copy this ca. 1815-1820s gown from the Eremitage Museum:

The picture is my photo of a photo in a book, so the finer details are a little blurry, but I like the high-necked look and that's one of the main reasons I want to make this gown; it seems that not many people make the high-necked dresses and there aren't that many extant ones either.
I've already decided to leave out the petal shoulder decorations, because if I want to wear a spencer or a pelisse over this dress, they'd just look bulky and odd. I've cut the bodice and the hem and I'm about to start sewing soon. Because I only have this one picture as reference and I haven't been able to find any info or photos of this dress on the internet, I need to just invent the back of the dress and whatever is used as closure. I've decided that this is a kind of drop front dress, with the front panel buttoned up horizontally and the under-bodice flaps closing on the centre front under it. It will make more sense when I've actually made it.
The fabric I'm using is viscose, very nice quality and cheap too :) The colour was really difficult to photograph, and the fact that we only have about five hours of what passes as daylight didn't really help. The real colour is smoky blue/lavenderish purple, kind of midway (not at all realistic) between these two photos: