SHANNON'Sdresses

FUTUREideas

Corsets

I've always wanted to get into corsetry, but never really found the right kind of pattern for what I wanted. I once made an Elizabethan corset from a pattern I drafted from instructions on the internet, but I always wanted to make an hourglass shaped one like Edwardian and Victorian styled corsets. Butterick pattern B4254 should hopefully be able to help me out with that.

1950s

I bought this awesome floral yellow 1970s bridesmaid's dress from an opshop a couple of years ago and it fit like a glove, so I thought I'd design another similar one, and use the original for reference when making it. This 1950s-esque dress has the same body as the original, but I took the sleeves off and replaced them with wide straps in this design. I've got the purple fabric waiting in a drawer for when I get around to it.

Early Victorian

The inspiration for this came from several different websites hosting Victorian style reproductions as well as genuine vintage garments. For some reason I just thought that all the costumes that had a mid-length overdress that was split down the front, showing a full skirt of a different colour underneath, were really aesthetically pleasing. I just hope that this dress comes out looking a little more Victorian than the drawing does. I might have to make some underpinnings or something first.

Late Victorian Evening Dress

I've always loved the dresses of the bustle period of Victorian fashion, so I thought I'd have a go at making my own. I have this yummy set of striped peach thermal-backed curtains whose only use because they are thermal-backed is to go into a stiff dress such as this one. Hopefully the corset pattern above will be useful in making the bodice, as I have not made a bodice like this before. I'm not entirely sure yet what I am going to do with the back of the skirt, I will have to see what the fabric will allow me to do, but at the moment I am intending to gather it extensively in order to fit some sort of bustle contraption underneath it. Perhaps my next bustle dress will be a little more elaborate.

Renaissance

Now the fabric I have for this dress is nowhere near as lime green as in the drawing, I just couldn't find a coloured pencil suitable enough. It's similar to another dress that Drew Barrymore wears in Ever After, but it was really inspired by a costume I found in a McCall's catalogue. #2645 to be exact, but it's probably out of print by now.

Modern LBD

I have this small piece of beautiful black satin which should be just the right size for making a classic Little Black Dress. But I'm not quite sure what design I want to use. The design on the left was inspired by a dress I made for a friend's sister's formal a couple of years ago, which I liked, and the one on the right is just a little strapless number with a corset-styled bodice, which I reckon would look awesome in black satin. Maybe a dress to wear to my graduation? Probably not. I'd freeze.

Brown late Victorian day dress

I love this classic victorian style - flattering tapered neckline, hourglass shape, bustle at the back and gorgeous draping detail at the front. My 'Authentic Victorian Fashion Patterns' book should be able to provide me with a really good authentically-shaped pattern for it. I'm planning to merge two patterns together to get this ensemble - one from 1891 and one from 1894. There is also a simplicity pattern similar to this - pattern # 5457 - but I just wasn't feeling it. I think I'd rather have the challenge of manipulating my own authentic pattern according to my own instructions.

Modern Orange

At the same time, I saw a dress design like this in a local up-market fashion store, and on the Simplicity website, and they both looked awesome. I've been looking for an excuse to use this wicked bright orange fabric that I have, since I normally make historical garments, and orange just wouldn't fit in anywhere, so this is it. And McCalls pattern #3959 should give me the basic shape of it.