1840s styled summer day dress

Here is my design. :)

ADD PHOTO

I based it off a Met Museum dress and tweaked it here and there to my own personal taste and comfort. I have to admit, I'm more of a costumier than a historian.. ;P

The Met dress

I want to sew it almost entirely by hand. I've done that before with a dress and despite the funny looks I get from people when I say so, I really do like hand sewing. It seems more precise. More exact. Or maybe it's just me...

Heres the fabric and a little practice shirring.

So far I've been figuring out how the pieces will need to be "shaped". It seems a little tricky with the shirring, but I think I know how to do it... I'll keep ya posted! :)

So much fabric, not sure what to do..

Aren't they lovely?? :) These are my precious fabrics and I've had them for years. :) :P Okay, only a couple years. ;) But a couple is long enough! A few of them I intend to make into civil war or pre civil war costumes for reenacting. The others I'm not sure. I like wild and fun costumes, but we'll see! I think I'll start with the easiest of the civil war styled ones and go from there! :)

Regency Spencer -Yet another Photoshop adventure!

Regency style Spencer. I sketched this one quite a while ago. But I still really like it. :) Its simple, but could be made very fancy depending on what fabric was used. The small collar and braided front closures add just enough interest to it. :)


I think the photoshop thing is working rather well. It is time consuming, and I'm not sure if the finished imagine is what I'm looking for. But this works nicely for now! I like it better than the pictures of the sketches. Which is what I was looking to do! :) So altogether, I am pleased! ;)

How do you like it? :P

I didn't think the photo of the sketch looked that great. So I looked up a tutorial on how to make a sketch into line art on photoshop. This is what the finished product looks like!

What do you think?? Not bad eh!? :P I think I did pretty good! Especially for my (almost!)first photoshop adventure! :D lol! :P I think I'll do another tonight and actually try remembering how to do it! :P We'll see how it goes! ;)

Civil War BallGown & 1790s Style Dress

Here are 2 of my sketches from my sketch book! Along with the sketched outfit, I've also sketched a few of the pieces for a little pattern diagram.
One is a variety of Civil War style ballgowns. And the other is a 1790s(or so) styled dress.

Here is the 1790s style dress. I imagine it a flowing, slightly sheer, white fabric, with a light pink or light peach ribbon around the waist.

Here is the rest of the page. Where I have done the pattern diagram and a little doodling! :P

Aw! The Civil War Era Ballgown! There are so many colors that could be used and so many different trimming options!

There is a Victorian Ball in May 2010 that I really want to go to! So of course a ballgown has been on my mind! As you can see, I have come up with 3 different bodice options. Which one I want, I still haven't a clue! But I really enjoy sketching them!