Another gown

Hmm. Now that the pelisse is done I feel like I can move on to new projects. I took a little break from sewing after the pelisse to rest my fingers - with all the handsewing, fiddle and harp playing my poor fingers do deserve a little holiday :) - but now I'm at it again. I'm working on the blue gown I begun while I was procrastinating for sewing on the pelisse trimmings. So far, I've fixed the fit of the bodice (too wide to begin with), repleated the hem (too much of an Italian Renaissance going on with the first version) and started on the embroideries.

Surprisingly, it seems that this gown will be a sort of jumper version as the short sleeves I was planning to have didn't really work out. I'm also making a long-sleeved chemisette to go under the gown. Also, it's strange how often I'm choosing blue fabrics for my Regency gowns. For years I didn't wear blue at all, not because I hated the colour, but because it somehow felt very alien to wear blue clothes. However, lately my partiality to all things blue in period clothes has even influenced my everyday costume choices. Odd.

I don't have any presentable photos on this project at the moment, but here's a picture of another blue gown.

Wearing the sari gown at a masked ball

Finished sari gown

Today I finally finished the sari gown I started a while back. I'm fairly pleased with the results even though the turquoise gown bodice kept giving me grief and I had to adjust it three times, and it still doesn't fit right. Ah, well, once the open robe is worn on top of it there's none the wiser what is hidden underneath... :) The gown and the robe are very nice and light on, and I just can't wait for Jane Austen Festival again to get to wear it. Here are some photos I took today.

Another drop front gown. I'm not sure if I should add the ribbons to tie the drop front; now it's just pinned on and it's working fine.

.

This is absolutely the first and last time I'll use a sari blouse for bodice. It just doesn't fit right, whatever you do :P

I whipped up a turban using the left-over scraps of gown fabric.

Add caption

From this....

....to this!

Originally, this fashion plate picture inspired me a lot.

...Here's my version of it :)

The Sari Gown

When I was in Bath in September for the Jane Austen festival, I met Megan who had used saris to make gorgeous Regency gowns. Inspired by that I decided to look for a sari of my own when I returned to London for a few days after the festival. This is what I bought:

The sari itself is about 5,5 m long and 107cm wide, half turquoise gold-spotted crepe-type fabric (I think), half golden yellow, sequined organza with a sequin border running around the edges. There's also a sari blouse, which I have made into the gown's bodice. Before cutting up the sari I decided to wear it in its original form, you know, just because :) I looked up for some sari wrapping tutorials in Youtube and here's the result:

The blouse needed (and still does, as I found out after attaching the hem :P) some serious taking in at the back. I intend to make a drop-front gown with an open robe on top of it, the turquoise part being the gown and the organza part the robe. The gown itself came together very nicely, though, as said the bodice still needs tweaking; I should open the neckline some more and take the whole thing in at the back, again. I didn't really need to cut the hem at all, only to separate it from the organza part and sew the shorter ends together. The hem piece was already edged with the sequin border, so that worked out well, too.

The sari blouse is slightly large on me.

Here the hem is just pinned on, I lifted it higher when I actually attached it.

The fabric is fairly thin and here I have no petticoats on, just the shift. The hem is a bit wonky as it was only pinned on.

The organza part of the hem. This becomes an open robe.

Close-up of the sequin border

I'm making the open robe after Janet Arnold's pattern, though I decided to make the back piece of the robe bodice separately, because the sari is narrower than needed for the pattern to work (i.e. I haven't got enough for the pleats to work right at the back). It still needs adjusting; maybe I should press it a bit so that the pleats would fall better and not poof out so much.

Preparing to cut the open robe. I drew the bodice pattern after Janet Arnold, but decided to make the back bodice separately.

This is the wrong side of the organza, but it's embroidered with turquoise, sequined flowers and little pin-wheels.

Trying on the gown and the robe with a belt cut from the left-over scraps of the border.

This still needs some work, somehow I look like I was pregnant or about 10kg heavier than what I am. Also the gown needs a bib front and the neckline just isn't working.