SHANNON'Sdresses

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Georgiandress

2007

I made this dress in early 2007 from a Simplicity pattern. I had had these massive gorgeous satin-sheen-y dusty pink curtains just sitting in a drawer for ages waiting for the perfect dress for me to start attacking them with, and finally my imagination was made a reality when I stumbled across the pattern at my local fabric shop. Well, close enough anyway. I don't think my curtains were quite big enough for what I had in mind. Originally it was going to have a bigger skirt and bigger flowing sleeves, but when I saw this pattern I decided to make it more Georgian-ish like the pattern was and less Renaissance-ish like it was in my imagination. And then of course I found all the gorgeous photos coming out from the movie Marie Antoinette, so that was that.

I had a few hiccups making this - a bit of glue was involved, a lot of unpicking, some profanity, and in the end the bodice didn't even fit quite well enough. But I learnt from all my mistakes, and that's the main thing. The embroidery around the neckline and down the bodice and skirt originally started off as me trying to fix another mistake - a stain I didn't notice until it was too late - but that also turned out for the better. I think it added a nice touch to an otherwise reasonably plain dress. But all in all I really like the style and the fit of this dress - I have some green fabric just itching to be made from the same pattern...albeit a slightly altered pattern this time.

Click here to see the making of this dress

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