SHANNON'Sdresses

GEORGIANdress

2003

I started this dress at the beginning of 2003, and finished it at the end of 2003. Not that it was hard, well, it kind of was, but mostly I just got lazy. This was my first experience with making a whole costume out of a bought pattern. For this I used Butterick pattern #6867. Now to be honest, I don't really have much of an idea exactly what era this style of costume comes from, but I have always thought it looks the most like French 18th century gowns (Rococo), re: Marie Antoinette, albeit a very simplified version. So I wouldn't be surprised if Butterick made a budget version of this style, or even a budget version of American civil war fashion from the 1700's (Georgian), re: 'The Patriot' - as it seems to look like a mixture of both. However, after all that, for simplicity's sake, I'm just going to call it Georgian. Maybe sometime in the future I'll have a section on the website with examples of fashion from each major period in history, so you know what I'm talking about.

However, this dress, whatever you may call it, was made out of - get this - thermal-backed curtains. Yeah...I don't recommend it. Real thick and heavy, didn't sit nicely because it was so stiff, and such a bugger to work with. If you're going to use curtains for anything, at least in a large quantity, make sure they're not thermal-backed. The bodice and sleeves are fully lined with cotton, if only to keep the plasticky thermal stuff off my skin, but I neglected the skirt, which was probably a mistake, because it made it quite uncomfortable and interesting to sit down in. The little poofy bits at the elbows are lined with lace from the bottom of a mesh 'ghosty' curtain - don't know what the proper name for those things is - and since I realised the neckline was rediculously low, I decided to put a line of the same lace across the top of it, for decency. So that tied in nicely there. I was going to make an underskirt of the same lacey fabric so it would show under the bottom of the skirt, but I didn't. I may still do that one day, who knows.

So yeah, nice dress, but quite stiff and uncomfortable to wear. And another thing I learned from making this dress - just because the back of the sewing pattern packet has your size and your measurements on it, it doesn't mean that the finished project is going to fit you like a glove. Even when using a commercial pattern, always alter as you go.