Regency Court Train
Jun. 21st, 2013 05:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
atherleisureFor the court dinner at Dress U 2013 I needed a court train. Since I knew it would be a one-time use kind of item, I didn’t want to put too much time or money into it. Fortunately, I had a gold brocade in the stash that I had bought for a very good price. That gave me something with the gold metallic decoration that I was seeing in museum artifacts without me having to spend months applying gold beads. I think I came up with something reasonable though not particularly good.
Materials:
2 3/8 yd gold polyester brocade (from JoAnn’s)
2 3/8 yd ivory calico (from a friend)
1/8 yd white acetate taffeta (from JoAnn’s)
Patterns:
There was no pattern for this garment. I based it off of two court trains in the collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, getting general dimensions from perusing their collections then draping it on the dress form.
Construction:
All the fabrics for this train came from the stash, which is always a good feeling. I cut the brocade slightly wider than the calico lining and ran up the long straight side seams with the machine. I turned under the seam allowances at the two ends and slip-stitched them closed. I did the same with the waistband and shoulder straps, though they were a much bigger pain to turn. The only difference with the waistband is that I flat-lined the brocade with taffeta to give it a little added stiffness.
Then the train was pleated to the waistband, and the shoulder straps were sewn to the waistband. I decided not to close the train with hooks and eyes or eyelets because I didn’t want to have a set waist on it. I wasn’t sure whether I would wear a belt with the dress underneath the court train or not and decided not to commit myself. Pinning things shut is perfectly period and strikes me as reasonable for something that would be a fairly limited-use garment in the period.
Thoughts after wearing:
I was surprised at how little trouble I had with the train. I had anticipated it being such a nuisance that I would have to take it off early in the evening, but I wound up taking it off only when I wanted to get pictures taken of the back of the dress at the end of the night. With the large number of trains being worn that night, I suspect people were probably being more careful where they stepped than in normal situations. Still, I was pleased and a little surprised that no one stepped on it, including me.
Materials:
2 3/8 yd gold polyester brocade (from JoAnn’s)
2 3/8 yd ivory calico (from a friend)
1/8 yd white acetate taffeta (from JoAnn’s)
Patterns:
There was no pattern for this garment. I based it off of two court trains in the collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, getting general dimensions from perusing their collections then draping it on the dress form.
Construction:
All the fabrics for this train came from the stash, which is always a good feeling. I cut the brocade slightly wider than the calico lining and ran up the long straight side seams with the machine. I turned under the seam allowances at the two ends and slip-stitched them closed. I did the same with the waistband and shoulder straps, though they were a much bigger pain to turn. The only difference with the waistband is that I flat-lined the brocade with taffeta to give it a little added stiffness.
Then the train was pleated to the waistband, and the shoulder straps were sewn to the waistband. I decided not to close the train with hooks and eyes or eyelets because I didn’t want to have a set waist on it. I wasn’t sure whether I would wear a belt with the dress underneath the court train or not and decided not to commit myself. Pinning things shut is perfectly period and strikes me as reasonable for something that would be a fairly limited-use garment in the period.
Thoughts after wearing:
I was surprised at how little trouble I had with the train. I had anticipated it being such a nuisance that I would have to take it off early in the evening, but I wound up taking it off only when I wanted to get pictures taken of the back of the dress at the end of the night. With the large number of trains being worn that night, I suspect people were probably being more careful where they stepped than in normal situations. Still, I was pleased and a little surprised that no one stepped on it, including me.
