Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Summer dress beginnings

With the new living history season comes warm weather and ladies in want of dresses to suit. This dress is to be for a lady in our living history group who only has a wool dress right now. The style is one that is open all the way down the front and is then filled in with a neckerchief or a chemisette. I have the PeachTree Mercantile pattern but I have not decided yet if I want to use it and fit it to her or change her darted bodice pattern that I already know hits her well to be this style.
This floral lawn was found at Fashion Fabrics Club when it was on sale. It is not sheer but is very light with a tight weave.


I was inspired by these dresses when I was coming up with style options. No one in our group has done this style yet so I thought it would be a great opportunity once I saw how lovely it turned out for all of these ladies!

More pictures from Vivian Harrington here.

More pictures in the Kay Fig Gallery.
Denise's lovely creation found here.


Wool dress, circa 1860 found here.

Once my friend approved the idea, I started looking for chemisette ideas. I came up with these.


Denise's very pretty chemisette found here.
And some fancy chemisette examples from Godey's magazine.

I will keep you posted on how things come along!

Blessings,
Bethany Lynn
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7 comments:

  1. oh! those looks so pretty. I don't even do that time period, and I want one! Can't wait to see how yours turns out.

    ~Erin

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  2. That first pattern is so lovely! It reminds me of Jo's in "Little Women" (1994) when Laurie proposes.

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  3. Ohhhhh I want that pattern so badly! I love the pink version, it turned out beautifully.

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  4. These are so lovely. They truly took my breath away (especially the pink one, but that's because I love everything that is pink!!).

    I cannot wait to see what wonderful things you will do with that lovely blue floral lawn!!

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  5. This is going to be lovely!
    I second Elinor Dashwood, the first pattern totally reminded me of Jo's. :)
    I always wanted that dress.

    Lovely blog as always.
    Happy Sewing!

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  6. I am making this same dress in a pale pink. For our Civil war day at the museum that I volunteer at. I can't wait to see how yours turns out.

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  7. Wow, I love that style dress; it's so pretty. It is so flattering that I would like to wear it around all the time.

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