Progress on my next Pink Gingham dress

After researching Pink Gingham Dresses for my Pink Gingham Shirtwaister, I just couldn't stop thinking about one of the dresses I came across. This one:

Which I found here on Pinterest. The photo is from an etsy listing that has already been sold. The Pin tells me it sold for $148 (no idea if that was USD or AUS) and the etsy listing has the measurements at a 34" bust and 24" waist.

Not long after finding this one on Pinterest, I was watching a video on one of my favourite blogs, Lavender and Twill, and noticed a very familar dress....

Find the post here

A closer look and I realised it wasn't actually the same dress, but gosh darn it is very similar!

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A week or so later, this photo appeared on her Instagram, showing the embroidered panel on the skirt in quite good detail. At this point I was 100% sure that the dress from Pinterest/Etsy and the dress from Lavender and twill were not one and the same.

Now that I have made one dress with a contrast skirt band, I am itching to make another! I initially thought it would be best to use either plain cotton or another colour gingham, but as I still had the original 2m of Pink Gigham that I was going to use for my shirtwaister, before deciding to go buy 3m of a different pink gingham for it on boxing day, I thought it made sense to just use it. I mean, really, can a girl own too many Pink Gingham dresses?

It is a slightly darker pink gingham than the one I ended up using for my Shirtwaister, so it won't look too same same I hope. For the pattern, I am going to use the waistband pieces from Butterick B6094 and draft the upper bodice pieces using the bodice pieces from the same pattern. The skirt is going to be 2 widths of fabric, each consisting of 3 panels, and the sleeves will be based on the sleeves from my 90's era McCalls 7625, taking some fullness out of the sleeve head and shortening the length. I will document the process of adapting each piece here for anyone wanting to try it themselves.

For the Front Waistband piece, I shortened it by an inch for my short-waistedness. Most people won't have to do that step. I then traced out my chosen size (for reference I have used Sz 20) I then lowered the top edge of the piece by about 3/4 of an inch on the centre fold side and smoothed the curve out to the other edge

For the Front Bodice Piece, I began by tracing the centre fold line, and the bottom edge from the centre front until the dart, then just one side of the dart.

Next, rotate your patter piece (or tracing paper, whichever is easiest) and line up the dart line you traced, over the other side of the dart on the original pattern piece, closing up the dart and opening up the neckline. Trace the rest of the bottom edge, the side seam, armhole and shoulder

Here how it should look when you take away the original pattern piece

extend the centre line down by approx 3/4 of an inch (or however much you shortened the waist band pieces) then draw a curve out from there, joining into the original bottom edge.

As I have made this Butterick pattern before, I know where the neckline sits on me, so I decided to lower it by 5 inches. you could lower it less if you wanted a higher neckline. mine will be a bit lower than the inspiration dress. I simply marked a point 5 inches from the top of the centre fold line, which I will use to draw the neckline.

The dress I am trying to recreate has a very wide neckline and so it doesn't have wide shoulder straps. I decided to halve the existing ones from this pattern down to 2 inches. Again, you can make them bigger or smaller depending on how you like yours.

I then drew a slightly curving line from the shoulder to the neckline

Here's the original pattern piece under the new one just to compare.

The back piece is much easier. Just trace most of it, drawing in a new scooped neckline at the shortened shoulder width and a few inches above where the original pattern piece starts to stick out along the centre back seam. The back waistband piece I just traced straight from the pattern (shortening it for myself)

Then of course comes the Cutting.

The Boy helped.

When it came to starting the embroidery I had so many colours to choose from, but did eventually settle for 2 shades of pink, a green and a cream/ivory. I was lucky enough to find 2 floral embroidery designs built in to my machine that would do the trick. I still have not gotten around to attempting to load new designs from the computer on to it.

I started with the back waistband pieces. I traced the pattern pieces on to my fabric and attached adhesive interfacing to the back, then put the fabric into the hoop and embroidered. I didn't cut the individual pieces out until I had finished the embroidering to make things easier for myself.

At this point I stitched together some of the bodice, including the back waistband pieces, I also pinned the side seams and gathered the neckline to make sure it was all working the way I wanted

I was quite delighted with how it was looking, but then realised I was supposed to put piping in between the bodice and waistband pieces, so promptly unpicked them while the front waistband piece was being embroidered on the machine.

So when I finished up the embroidery for the front bodice piece as well, I sewed the side seams of the upper bodice, the sleeve hems and the neckline bias binding. I then sewed the back waistband pieces to the front waistband piece and sewed the waistband to the upper bodice, sandwiching in some piping in between. At this point I tried it on. I stupidly didn't check the fit when I did the gathering on the neckline, so I think I have pulled it in a little too much and made the top a bit tight, but as I am trying to lose a few kilos, that's probably not such a bad thing anyway. It does fit, it's just a s bit snug in front.

At this point I put this project aside to work on other things (a few things for Elsie George and also some cute pyjamas for myself) and I still haven't gotten back into it yet. As I have had this post sitting half written for some time, I thought I would just post my progress so far, in the hopes it will give me the motivation to finish this darling dress.

Dixie

Regency Underwear

Absolutely last minute (as in 3 days before the picnic) I decided I really couldn't wear my regency dress with the proper under garments, particularly a pair of stays to push my bust up to the proper heights for such a dress. I did a quick bit of research (probably not as much as I should have done) and quickly drafted a simple pattern consisting of a front piece, a back piece and bust gussets. After I had already started on them, I came across this tutorial for drafting your own Regency short stays pattern, and it is pretty close to what I have done. I also found this post helpful with the fit.

I cut these pieces from some smallish bits of calico, and quickly basted them together with a long machine stitch. I immediately realised I had some issues with how my straps were sitting in the front. If I had more time, I would redraft the front and fix this, but for this project, I figured I would just fix it up with a quick and dirty dart on each side and be done with it. I then used a regular stitch length and re-sewed the seems I had basted together.

Quick and Dirty Dart to fix the armhole gape

I wasn't sure I had added enough width with my bust gussets, as it was difficult to fit to myself, considering the stays are only supposed to come up to mid bust and allow a certain amount of "spillage" at the top, which is generally contained within the chemise. I won't provide a photo, but I'm sure you can imagine how awkward that is to try and check the fit on when things are only half made. But I continued on with what I had anyway. The bust gussets are sewn into 3 inch deep slits in the front bodice piece. I had 2 on each side, which seems to be pretty common, although I also came across ones with only one in my research, and I am sure there are some with more than 2 for rather busty ladies. After the gussets are sewn in my machine, I top stitched around them by hand.

Bust Gussets

I considered lining my stays, but as I was really pressed for time, I decided to be naughty and just stick with my one layer of calico. I figure I will probably make a better set of stays at a later date anyway, so this one really only has to survive one day. Once I'd made that decision, I cut some boning to size for my front edges, folded the excess fabric over them, encasing the boning with some extra room and pinned in place. I then marked points every inch or so along and used a small pair of scissor to puncture a hole through all the layers (next to the boning, not through it) then I used my needle and thread to bind around the edges of the hole, creating a hand worked grommet for my lacing.

Hand worked grommets

When I was only a few grommets in, I think I nicked myself with my scissors when puncturing the fabric and didn't notice, until I turned my work over and found this:

Argh!

Oh well, at least it was on the inside of the stays, and not the outside.

After all the grommets were finished, I just used some simple white ribbon from my stash to try it on to get a better idea on the fit. I have just tried it on over a modern bra and work shirt, and I haven't laced it quite tightly enough, but I think you get the idea.

After taking this, I realised that this really did need some more boning at the sides, but as this is just a rush job, it's going to have to do.

 I hand sewed binding along the neckline and armholes to finish the edges. I considered using the same blue binding that I used on the dress, but decided to go with white instead, so I wouldn't risk the colour being visible through the dress. The hem was just turned up twice in a narrow hand stitched hem.

When I was about half way through making my stays, I realised I was definitely going to need a chemise to help hold my bust in. As my dress was only short sleeve, I opted to make a really, really simple sleeveless chemise from an old off white sheet. I have no idea if sleeveless chemises are period correct or not, but it seemed the best option for my dress and time constraints. I simply pinned a rough pattern shape on my folded fabric, with a wide neckline and flaring out slightly towards the hemline, and cut it out. I did this just by eye, so I have no measurements to share with you.

The shoulder  and side seams were then machine sewn, I chose to use a french seam to enclose the raw edges, as they will be directly against my skin and I don't want them to fray. More bias binding was then used bind the armholes and also to create a drawstring casing along the neckline. I used a tip from this post from Tea in a Teacup about sewing a regency chemise, and made 2 hand worked eyelets in the casing at the centre front and back, with the draw string secured at the shoulders so that the front and back can be gathered independently. I used more of the same white ribbon that I used on the stays for the drawstrings.

I had intended to hand sew the hem, but as I had very limited time, I may or may not have left the chemise unhemmed at this point......

I actually only wore the chemise for the drive down to Sydney, while I finished hand sewing the hem on the stays as my husband drove. I found the chemise and the stays were very effective at giving me the correct shape and support for the period, but I will definitely use more boning in my next set, as I did find the sides riding up a little bit when I was sitting, and occasionally the bottom of the boning in the front would start curling up because of that. By the end of the day, I was finding I was holding myself in a better posture that stopped it riding up, but I still will put more effort into the next set.

I unfortunately didn't get a nice full length shot of my chemise and stays being worn on the day, but I do have a few progress selfies.

Before the bias binding and drawstring
(wearing a modern bra underneath)

After the addition of the drawstring

Still wearing a bra underneath

While they may have been a rush job, I was really happy with the result. I will try to get the chemise hemmed, and bribe my husband to take some better photos.

Dixie

A Historical Picnic!

What do you do when you have lovely historical costumes and no where to wear them?

Organise a Historical Picnic of course!!

This event was organised by the lovely Ellen Figgis (sharpscissors on Instagram) and interest in the even just blew out massively! It was postponed for a week, so as not to coincide with Mardi Gras, which I think impacted whether some people could come or not, but worked out well for me, as it gave me more time to finish my outfit, and attend a friend's house-warming party that was the previous Saturday.

This all took place yesterday the 12th of March, in Victoria Park in Sydney. All in all I think there was 30ish people in attendance, with a few coming and going as the day went. Quite a few of us came in Regency era attire, along with a mix of 30's, 20's, 50's, 18th century and even a few cosplayers! We all sat and ate our picnic lunches, talked about sewing and costuming and all sorts of other things. We even had background music from a lovely guy called Malcolm who brought along his Ukulele. I can now say I have heard "Science fiction double feature" played on the Ukulele.

I wore my Regency era dress and bonnet that I wrote about in my last post, and a few days out from the event I decided I needed suitable underwear for my outfit, which I will post about the construction of very soon.

But for now, enjoy these photos of the day, taken by a few of the attendees.

I'm not sure exactly who took these photos, as Tim posted them, but as he is in the photos (with the green vest and lovely cravat) he can't have been operating the camera as well.

The following photos were taken by  husband and wife photography duo John and Leanne Alessi. I think everyone really enjoyed having these lovely photographers there to capture the day.

The following photos were taken by Steven Marsh, the husband of one of the lovely ladies who attended.

I think everyone had a lovely time, and we will hopefully have another one soon!

Dixie