Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Regency dress





Well friends, it's been a bit since you have heard from me, in a word homeschooling is taking much of my time. I am finally getting back into a routine of sewing again. I've been on a quest for a long, winter dress that is easy to wear and warm.  Last spring,  Casey had a sew along for a swing dress from Sense and Sensibility patterns.  Looking around the web site I couldn't resist the idea of making a winter dress from the 1700's regency style. This dress was a lot of fun to put together. I really like the high waistline, it's very comfortable. The material is heavy linen and it's lined for warmth. I really love this dress, my husband really loves it too.

 I also wanted to give a short review of the pattern for those of you who may be considering making this dress. The overall pattern is printed and packaged on heavy paper. The instructions are fairly simply, she also has step by step instructions (with pictures) for this pattern on the web site. The biggest problem I had with the pattern was fit.  The bodice is on the short side for me, it fell  above my bra band. In addition to it being short, it came down too low in the front. If I bent over you could see my whole entire bra. So I took the challenge to fix these problems and drafted up a new pattern using the pieces from the original. I added about 3 inches too the bottom of the pattern. I have narrow shoulders, so I  brought the shoulders in, which helped the dress from felling off of me. It was worth making a muslin for this dress, I highly suggest it. I had three goes at it before getting it right. I am 5'6 so the length was great and no adjustments were needed, if you are taller you will need to cut more length for your dress. I will be making this one again. Do you ever wear dresses in the winter?

Have a wonderful vintage day!

Gina