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! :)