1820's Evening Dress
Jun. 14th, 2013 04:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
atherleisure1820’s Copper Silk Evening Dress
For the court dinner at Dress U 2013 I wanted something that wouldn’t be enormous (like an 18th century court gown), wouldn’t be ridiculous (like the English Regency gowns worn over silly high hoops), wouldn’t be subject to loads of rules (like the end of the 19th century into the Edwardian period), and that I could get future use out of. I decided on a mid-1820’s gown.
Materials:
4 ½ yd copper silk taffeta (from Renaissance Fabrics)
1 ¼ yd bleached muslin (from JoAnn)
½ yd ¼” cotton twill tape (from Burnley & Trowbridge)
1 ¾ yd 1/8” cotton tape (from Burnley & Trowbridge)
3 ¼ yd ¼” china silk ribbon (from Silky Way)
100g wool roving (from Knit Picks)
cotton worsted weight yarn (from JoAnn’s)
1/8 yd silk gauze (from Thai Silks)
6 5/8” wood button forms (cut from a dowel from Home Depot)
Patterns:
The dress is based on the 1827-1829 gown on pp. 56-57 in Patterns of Fashion: The Cut and Construction of Englishwomen’s Clothes 1660-1860 by Janet Arnold. The skirt and sleeves were cut exactly as given in the pattern with the necessary sleeve and hem allowances added. The bodice was modified quite a bit to eliminate all the pleating and give a gently gathered front and drawstring back. The trim design was inspired by a dress in the Philadelphia Museum of Art dated to 1823..
Construction:
The gown and all the self-trim on it are made with a mid-weight copper silk taffeta. The bodice and sleeves are lined with muslin. The skirt is unlined. The interior construction seams were sewn by machine, but all visible stitching and trim were hand-sewn. The bodice front was flat-lined then joined to the silk bodice back pieces. Then the shoulder pieces were flat-lined, hemmed at the neck edge, and sewn to the bodice front and back. The top of the bodice front and backs and the waist edge were turned to make drawstring channels. The bodice back lining pieces were hemmed all around and whipped to the seam allowances at the side seams and shoulder seams. Other than that they are left free.
The sleeves were flat-lined then gathered at the lower edge into a band. They were set into the armscyes with pleats. I ended up taking one more pleat in each sleeve than the pattern showed so I must have ended up with slightly smaller armscyes.
The skirt was seamed, the seam allowances overcast, and a 2” hem turned up and lightly padded with unspun wool roving. The top 2” of the skirt was turned over, the back was gathered, and the skirt was whipped to the bodice at the waist. That completed the construction of the dress. Now it was ready for trim.
I started out trying to follow an 1825 fashion plate from Ackermann’s Repository of the Arts but found the very pretty little leaf decorations I made extremely tedious. It was taking me at least half an hour per leaf, and they didn’t look particularly good when I finished them. That was when I went looking for new inspiration and found the dress in the Philadelphia Museum. The new leaves didn’t have so many points and went together much faster – more like ten or fifteen minutes per leaf.
I cut bias strips for the stems or branches and stuffed them with wool roving. I also cut bias strips for two rouleaux on the skirt and stuffed them with wool roving. The leaf piping was again made with bias strips but filled with cotton worsted-weight yarn – the Sugar ‘n Cream variety that I’ve used with corded petticoats. The rouleaux, stems, and leaves were tacked on with large stitches.
The belt is a strip of taffeta, flat-lined with muslin, piped, and lined with more muslin. It closes with hooks and eyes and is tacked to the waist seam.
This was my first experience sewing with silk taffeta, and I loved it. It just behaves itself very well. It creases when you try to crease it but doesn’t wrinkle badly when you crush a handful of it. It was also my first experience using silk thread, which was also nice. I used polyester thread for piping (because I couldn’t find a good color match) and machine-sewing (because the machine doesn’t care how the thread feels) but used silk thread everywhere I didn’t mind if a few stitches of yellow showed since that was the best color they had at JoAnn’s. I am definitely looking forward to my next silk dress...the 1868 green silk from Les Arts Decoratifs.
Undergarments:
I wear this gown over a chemise (Simplicity 4052), Regency stays (Katherine's Dress Page), and
a corded bodiced petticoat based on the same pattern as the dress.
Thoughts after wearing:
I enjoyed wearing this dress very much. It was comfortable and moved well. The only bad thing is the very wide neckline, which, while fashionable, has an annoying tendency to expose undergarments. Pinning things in place is period, right? Now I look forward to an opportunity to dance in this dress. Maybe we’ll make it to the James Monroe ball this summer.
For the court dinner at Dress U 2013 I wanted something that wouldn’t be enormous (like an 18th century court gown), wouldn’t be ridiculous (like the English Regency gowns worn over silly high hoops), wouldn’t be subject to loads of rules (like the end of the 19th century into the Edwardian period), and that I could get future use out of. I decided on a mid-1820’s gown.
Materials:
4 ½ yd copper silk taffeta (from Renaissance Fabrics)
1 ¼ yd bleached muslin (from JoAnn)
½ yd ¼” cotton twill tape (from Burnley & Trowbridge)
1 ¾ yd 1/8” cotton tape (from Burnley & Trowbridge)
3 ¼ yd ¼” china silk ribbon (from Silky Way)
100g wool roving (from Knit Picks)
cotton worsted weight yarn (from JoAnn’s)
1/8 yd silk gauze (from Thai Silks)
6 5/8” wood button forms (cut from a dowel from Home Depot)
Patterns:
The dress is based on the 1827-1829 gown on pp. 56-57 in Patterns of Fashion: The Cut and Construction of Englishwomen’s Clothes 1660-1860 by Janet Arnold. The skirt and sleeves were cut exactly as given in the pattern with the necessary sleeve and hem allowances added. The bodice was modified quite a bit to eliminate all the pleating and give a gently gathered front and drawstring back. The trim design was inspired by a dress in the Philadelphia Museum of Art dated to 1823..
Construction:
The gown and all the self-trim on it are made with a mid-weight copper silk taffeta. The bodice and sleeves are lined with muslin. The skirt is unlined. The interior construction seams were sewn by machine, but all visible stitching and trim were hand-sewn. The bodice front was flat-lined then joined to the silk bodice back pieces. Then the shoulder pieces were flat-lined, hemmed at the neck edge, and sewn to the bodice front and back. The top of the bodice front and backs and the waist edge were turned to make drawstring channels. The bodice back lining pieces were hemmed all around and whipped to the seam allowances at the side seams and shoulder seams. Other than that they are left free.
The sleeves were flat-lined then gathered at the lower edge into a band. They were set into the armscyes with pleats. I ended up taking one more pleat in each sleeve than the pattern showed so I must have ended up with slightly smaller armscyes.
The skirt was seamed, the seam allowances overcast, and a 2” hem turned up and lightly padded with unspun wool roving. The top 2” of the skirt was turned over, the back was gathered, and the skirt was whipped to the bodice at the waist. That completed the construction of the dress. Now it was ready for trim.
I started out trying to follow an 1825 fashion plate from Ackermann’s Repository of the Arts but found the very pretty little leaf decorations I made extremely tedious. It was taking me at least half an hour per leaf, and they didn’t look particularly good when I finished them. That was when I went looking for new inspiration and found the dress in the Philadelphia Museum. The new leaves didn’t have so many points and went together much faster – more like ten or fifteen minutes per leaf.
I cut bias strips for the stems or branches and stuffed them with wool roving. I also cut bias strips for two rouleaux on the skirt and stuffed them with wool roving. The leaf piping was again made with bias strips but filled with cotton worsted-weight yarn – the Sugar ‘n Cream variety that I’ve used with corded petticoats. The rouleaux, stems, and leaves were tacked on with large stitches.
The belt is a strip of taffeta, flat-lined with muslin, piped, and lined with more muslin. It closes with hooks and eyes and is tacked to the waist seam.
This was my first experience sewing with silk taffeta, and I loved it. It just behaves itself very well. It creases when you try to crease it but doesn’t wrinkle badly when you crush a handful of it. It was also my first experience using silk thread, which was also nice. I used polyester thread for piping (because I couldn’t find a good color match) and machine-sewing (because the machine doesn’t care how the thread feels) but used silk thread everywhere I didn’t mind if a few stitches of yellow showed since that was the best color they had at JoAnn’s. I am definitely looking forward to my next silk dress...the 1868 green silk from Les Arts Decoratifs.
Undergarments:
I wear this gown over a chemise (Simplicity 4052), Regency stays (Katherine's Dress Page), and
a corded bodiced petticoat based on the same pattern as the dress.
Thoughts after wearing:
I enjoyed wearing this dress very much. It was comfortable and moved well. The only bad thing is the very wide neckline, which, while fashionable, has an annoying tendency to expose undergarments. Pinning things in place is period, right? Now I look forward to an opportunity to dance in this dress. Maybe we’ll make it to the James Monroe ball this summer.
