White Dotted Swiss Regency Gown

Another event, another gown.  I've loved dotted Swiss since I was a kid.  I found some lovely sheer cotton dotted Swiss lawn with elongated dots on Ebay so I decided it was time for a summer gown.  I decided that I wanted to make this fashion plate into more of a day gown.  The picture itself looks like a ball gown but I figured that eliminating the train and wearing it with a nice chemisette would work.

I think it's the sleeve that I'm particularly drawn to.  There's just something about the ruching on the sheer fabric that I love.  I analyzed the fashion plate to determine the bodice and sleeve styling and I decided that I would make this an apron front gown simply so I could dress myself.  I just can't manage gowns that button or tie in back and I'm at a loss when there is no one at home to help me.  Looking at the picture above, however, it looks like the gown in the illustration was probably one that buttoned in the back.

I had never made an apron front gown before but I stumbled upon this set of costume tutorial pictures on Flickr which made the construction quite clear.

I settled on using the Elegant Lady's Closet pattern by Sense and Sensibility because I had already muslined it and I thought I could make it work.

I decided that I would use the back bodice pieces, the skirt pieces and the front lining pieces to make the bodice and I'd draft my own bib front and alter the short sleeve pattern.

Here's what the bodice is like on the pattern.

Lining

I tried this gown on to see how much I'd need to adjust the lining pieces.  I made them 1 inch higher so they'd cover my stays and I made the shoulder strap 1/4 inch wider.  I also extended the front edge by 2 inches.

I cut all of the bodice back pieces and the new bodice front (old lining) pieces out of the dotted Swiss and some white muslin for lining.  I treated the two layers as one and sewed the back seams in small French seams.  I basted the front pieces together and stitched them to the back at the sides and shoulders using French seams.

I decided the openings in the skirt would be at the side seams.  I cut out the skirt pieces, extending the back skirt piece 2 inches at the side seam for the under lap.  I looked at some extants in Costume in Detail and Patterns of Fashion to figure out how long to make the split and I determined 12 inches was appropriate so I stitched the side seams in the skirt and left an opening of 12.5 inches.  I used French seams.  I turned under the edges of the opening and stitched them with running stitch.  The back of the skirt was gathered and stitched to the bodice with the side edges extending past the side seams.

You can see how the front will overlap.

I tried it on to check for fit.  I intended at this point to eliminate some layers.  The front pieces will over lap each other and I didn't want 4 layers of fabric.  The bottom layer would be the muslin lining only and the top layer would be the dotted Swiss only.  I marked where the excess layers would be cut away.  I also determined that I needed to add some little pleats under the bust to make it fit better.

Then I pinned the front skirt in place and adjusted the gathers so that the edges of the front skirt would end at the bodice side seams, overlapping the back skirt pieces a couple of inches.

The extra layers were cut away with the cut edge being turned under and secured with running stitch. The gown was tried on the dress form

To draft the front bib pieces, I used the wrap front pattern piece to get the correct curve for the bottom edge of the piece.  I cut a large piece of Swedish tracing paper, pinned 4 small pleats in it and pinned it to the dress form.

I used a marker to draw the shape I wanted.  Here you can see how it compares to the original pattern piece.

I checked the fit of the new pattern piece.

I cut two pieces out of dotted Swiss and lining, stitched them right sides together and turned them right side out after trimming the seam allowance to a scant 1/8 inch.  Then I stitched the pleats in.  I pinned them to the gown to check the position and then stitched them together.

I cut a band 2.5 inches wide and the length of the top of the front skirt plus one inch.  I folded in the ends 1/2" and folded it in half lengthwise.  I placed the raw edges against the top of the skirt right side then placed the bib top right side down and sewed the layers together.  The band and the skirt extended beyond the bib top by about 2 inches.  I folded the band and the seam allowances up toward the bodice, grading the layers.  I stitched half inch wide cotton tape over the seam allowances to finish them and did the same to the back bodice.  I also stitched 1/4" tape to the edges of the back skirt and to the edges of the front skirt.  Then I made thread loops at the back bodice seams.  You can see how this works at the Flickr stream I linked above.

Now I had to get to work on the sleeves.  I used the short sleeve in the pattern, lengthened it by about 3 inches, and made it about 10 inches wider.  I drew a circle in what I determined to be the center of the sleeve with two ruching lines.  I machine gathered these lines on a muslin and it seamed like it would work if I added another 4 inches or so to the width of the sleeve.  You can see where I redrew the circle over the added 4 inches. 

The sleeves were cut out of the dotted Swiss and the marks were traced onto the fabric with water soluble marker.

I ran gathering stitches at the bottom of the sleeve and the top using the machine.  Then I cut a bias strip about 2.5 inches wide by the size of my bicep plus ease.  I folded it in half lengthwise and gathered the base of the sleeve to the raw edges of the binding.  The binding was pressed down and will be turned to the wrong side of the sleeve later.

For the ruching, first I gathered the circle.  I gathered one forth of the circle at a time, drawing that section up to about 1 inch and making a locking stitch.  

Then I gathered on the ruching lines, drawing the gathers up until the sleeves measured the size of my arm plus wearing ease.

I was worried about the ruching stitches breaking so I pinned 1/4 inch cotton tape to the wrong side of the stitches, running it across the circle:

This was stitched on from the front using spaced back stitches.  Then the round puff was positioned and a couple of stitches were taken in the middle of it, securing it to the tape.

Once the ruching was completed, the sleeve seam was sewn and the binding was turned to the inside and stitched in place.   One problem now is that the ruching changed the over all shape of the sleeve.  There was way too much fabric in the front part of the sleeve at the shoulder so I pinned one sleeve to the dress form and drew new gathering lines for the front then transferred those lines to the other sleeve.  Then I stitched the sleeves into the gown and cut away the excess fabric.

Here is the finished sleeve:

Hemmed the gown and it was DONE!

Here is the final fitting over my chemisette.

In retrospect, if I ever do a similar sleeve again, I will cut a sleeve the finished shape out of a sheer foundation fabric like organdy or netting and stitch the outer sleeve to it.  That will help get the proper finished shape.  I was so concerned with keeping the sheerness of the fabric that this didn't occur to me at the time.

Here is the finished gown as worn at Riversdale House Museum.

Wearing the drapes! Not just in movies any more! (a tutorial)

I've had a few occasions that required Regency dress lately so I decided that I really needed to make a new Regency gown. My current Regency gowns include a wool worsted winter gown, a silk ball gown and the first reenacting gown I ever made of dotted Swiss which was machine sewn. It's time for one based on research rather than one simply made from a pattern.  

I've always been enamored by the wispy white muslin Regency gowns--particularly those that have whitework embroidery of some sort.  I had been fortunate enough to come across a pair of antique white muslin curtains with a tambour embroidery.  The curtains were quite large--measuring 90 X 90 inches.  I used part of one to make a lovely 18th century tambour work apron which you can see in this post..  I was still left with one untouched curtain and most of the 2nd one so it seemed like I had plenty of fabric to use for a gown.   

Here are some examples of existing extant embroidered gowns from the Regency era:

1804-05 French origin  V&A Museum

Unknown origin--believed to be British

Napolean and Empire exhibit

Unknown European origin

Kent State Costume Collection

Early 1800's Boston Museum of Fine Art

The first consideration is how much embroidery you have, the size of the embroidery and where you would like it to appear on the gown.  This curtain panel had embroidery on the bottom edge only.  I decided that I wanted the embroidery to be around the skirt and on the sleeve as in the very last picture above.  This sleeve style is representative of an earlier gown ca.1800-1805.  I decided to use the Sense and Sensibility pattern, going with the bodice from the Butterick pattern with drawstrings and a higher neckline.  

The curtain fabric is very sheer so I felt that I could use the full 90 inch width since it wouldn't be too thick when gathered.  The first quandary was where to place the seams.  The pattern I was using has side seams with no center front or back seam.  I really wanted to keep the seams to a minimum since it would disrupt the embroidery pattern so I decided to simply have a single back seam.  First I folded the curtain in half and I placed the front pattern piece on the fold and the back piece with the center back at the selvedge  edge.  I cut one single piece connecting the two--marking where the front side seams would be.  The extra fabric was to be worked into the back.

I still had half of the first curtain left over so I placed the sleeves on that hem after determining the length they would be, then I used the scraps of the remaining part of the curtain to cut the bodice out.

As this fabric is extremely sheer, I made tiny French seams first in the sleeve then the center back, leaving open at the top about 6 inches for a placket.

Since there was a center back seam, I just turned the seam allowances in for the back closing which is what appears to have been done in the extant example.

I decided that the bodice needed to be lined so I just used some bleached muslin from Joann's and cut the bodice pieces.  I placed the curtain fabric on top and treated the 2 layers as one, stitching them with felled seams.  The sleeves were not lined. They were stitched in and the the seam allowance was turned in then the seam allowance was secured with a running stitch.

The skirt was gathered to the bodice and stitched and the center back of the bodice was folded in twice and whip stitched on the inside.  The bodice/skirt seam was covered with 1 inch wide woven cotton tape which was stitched to create a casing for the silk ribbon.  The neckline was also turned in and whip stitched to form the top casing.

Outside of bodice

Back closure

Close-up of sleeve embroidery

Bottom of skirt

Close-up of skirt embroidery

Because the skirt of this gown is very sheer, I made a strapped petticoat.  I used the skirt from the pattern and added a waistband to fit just under the bust gussets of my stays.  I stitched wide cotton twill tape in the back and tried it on with my stays on to adjust the length of the straps which were then stitched in place in the front.  Antique mother of pearl buttons were used as closures.

Since I was feeling motivated, I decided that a new dress required a new bonnet so I pulled out my Lynn McMasters soft crown bonnet pattern.  I found some red silk in my stash and went to work.  Since I knew I'd be stitching the silk to the crown form, I decided to us heavy pellon rather than buckram for the form.

The bonnet required cockades or bows at the side to cover the raw edges of the pleats so I decided on red and white cockades.

I trimmed the width of the ribbon and made smaller cockades to wear on my walking boots.  They are attached with shoe clips so they can also be worn on my white flats.  I also made a larger reticule so I could carry my necessities for the day.

It was a lovely day to wear my new gown and accessories to the DAR costume exhibit.  

I'm very pleased with the results of this the lightweight curtain ended up making the perfect gown for a hot day in Washington DC!