I found the perfect purple shot silk taffeta for my 1820's/30's dress for 50% off! And my grandma gave me this awesome plaid silk that my mother originally got for her while she was in Thailand. The bright silks called for bright piping, so I decided on a hot pink cotton piping.
The bodice is coming along quite nicely. The bodice pattern was originally
Truly Victorian's Romantic Era Dress, but is heavily altered. I moved the darts, took in the shoulders, and carved out the arm scyes and neckline. I created a fan-front that I tacked on, which covered the darts, and made a waistband out of the plaid and pink piping.
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Bad mirror selfie. |
But those pleats weren't orderly enough for me. So, I pinned them all down and ironed them.
Then came the sleeves. I used the pattern from PoF, by Janet Arnold. The 1827-29 wedding dress. In case I didn't mention before, I am obsessed with this sleeve style.
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The pattern. |
I cut out two sets of these in my purple silk and a cotton organdy for a lining. The organdy makes the sleeves stand out properly in the iconic 1820's/30's style. I gathered up the puffs and hand-sewed them to the bodice with piping around the arm scye.
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It's not a proper Romantic Era sleeve if you can't fit
at least one head inside of it. |
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Kitchen photos!
The left sleeve isn't gathered yet, fyi. |
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You can see where boning needs to be added in the back.
And look at those matching laces! |