SHANNON'Sdresses

GEORGIANdress

March 2009

I had made a forest green Georgian dress before this one going by the pattern of my butter-yellow one, but something must have gone wrong, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't fit like the yellow one did. So, this gold bodice was a project to tweak a few things to figure out where I'd gone wrong (obviously it's been too long since I've done any proper sewing), and also give me the opportunity to dabble with a Georgian style that I've always wanted to try. A stand-alone bodice matched with a plain cream skirt - that tends to feature a lot in The Duchess. I love that movie. The day I bought it on DVD I took it home and watched it twice.

If the green dress (which will hopefully be featured next) is too small, I took out the seams a little on this bodice, but it now seems a tad loose. As you can see the fabric is buckling a little, but that is also because I think I made the belt a little small as well (it fastens closed with domes). According to the style, the bodice should also be flounced at the waist at the back, but this time I was more interested in the fit. I may dabble with that later on another project. I also need to make some proper Georgian stays. My makeshift Elizabethan corset with cardboard boning gives almost the right shape, but it's just not quite right. An adjustable dressform wouldn't go amiss, either. Sigh.