Orange Regency Sari Gown

I made and wore this last fall for Maggie's Regency wedding, but despite turning out well it's been hanging around unworn and unloved since then.  I finally got the chance to pull it back out and give it another spin around the dance floor for Gaskells last weekend.

You might recall this beautiful cotton sari from one of my last ebay sari buying binges.  The fabric is a beautiful cross weave of orange and wine threads, which gives it a subtle sheen that changes depending on the light.  It's a bit odd to photograph, because the color comes out completely different in every shot!  In person the color shift is much, much more subtle.  It's covered in a small repeating block print, with a pretty floral border all along the bottom edge.

Wine colored warp threads and bright orange weft threads.

Finding matching thread was a bit of a challenge.  Which part of the fabric do you even attempt to match?

The left thread matches the warp strands, the right one matches the weft,
and the middle seems to match the overall color mix the best.

I settled on doing a fitted back with a gathered front and 3/4 sleeves.  I dressed my Uniquely You in my stays and some rice boobs (a la Lauren's Bean Boobs) and got to work draping.

I ended up with a fitted underlayer on the front of the bodice, with a second layer gathered over the top of it.  All the pieces are on grain, with the exception of the side panel, which was cut on the bias.

Late night mock ups are no fun for anyone.

No idea why the front is longer here.  Pretty sure it got chopped off later.

I knew I wanted to use the border for the lower edge of the skirt, and for the bottom sleeve edge if possible too.  Besides looking pretty, doing so allowed me to use the selvedge edge at those spots, saving me from having to hem all that nonsense.  That was an excellent bonus feature since I was on a major time crunch to get outfits done for both Curtis and I in time for the wedding!

Making use of that border and the selvedge edge.

Not a fan of the jumper look, good thing I'm adding sleeves!

I had wanted the lower edge of the bodice to go up in back rather than being level all around, but was limited by the width of the sari fabric.  Had I raised the back waistline further, the hem of the gown would have been far too short in the back!

Underpinnings for this gown include a shift, my gravity defying corded stays and a petticoat with tucks (woefully un-ironed in these photos, sorry).  I dyed my American Duchess Highburys a soft yellow to complement the gown.  For the daytime wedding I wore my giant blue and orange silk bonnet, but for last week's evening ball I turned a scarf into a turban and stuck a feather in it.

Gravity defying indeed.

Bonnet for daytime...

Turban for night!

I love this gown!  It's comfortable, lightweight and cool, and doesn't require too much in the way of crazy underpinnings.  Hell, I managed to get into my stays and fully dressed almost entirely on my own for the ball; I only needed a bit of help with the last few hooks and eyes up the back.  I have a feeling this dress will be one of my staples whenever I need something pretty and easy!

And what the hell, how about another Regency Ladies Wedgie Society shot?  :P 

So hard being a lady, ya'know?

Regency Ridiculousness

 

A la Festive Attyre's Regency Ladies Wedgie Society.  Happy Sunday!

Crossing the Finish Line

Success! We'll be able to attend our friend's Regency wedding without being half-clothed. In just under two weeks, I made an entire set of duds for me (shift, corded stays, petticoat, gown, big bonnet o' awesome) and I made half of Curtis' clothes (shirt, coat, cravats). The shirt and the bonnet were half done when I started this mad rush, and a few small parts of the coat were begun, but everything else was started from scratch.

Both Curtis and Kitteh approve of the window
seating in the new sewing room.

Curtis sewed his own waistcoat, and it turned out really well!  He even tackled the welt pockets and won, though I believe there may have been a little swearing involved.  Totally understandable when working with welt pockets, really.  When he wasn't working on his vest, I unashamedly put him to work sewing on buttons to anything that needed them.  Anything to buy me a bit more time to finish everything else, right?

I don't have final photos of everything yet (too busy sewing!) but I have a smattering of in progress photos to amuse you until I get a chance to do a full photo & writeup of everything.

We called this the Redneck Regency look.

Petticoat with tucks.  Why spend
time doing unnecessary tucks on
a petticoat when you're totally
swamped?  I plead insanity.

I had to use pliers to pull the cord through the channels.  I broke
two needles in the process of cording!

Using my tailors ham to shape the sleeve cap.

It took four mockups to get a sleeve pattern I felt would work.  Lucky for me
the 3/4 length allows me to use the decorative edge of my sari in the sleeve.

Apparently I have a tendency to look
pissed when mocking up bodices at 3am.

The felines LOVE it when I trash the sewing room.

Padstitched collar.  UGH my fingers hurt just
looking at that photo.

It's not like you can just cram a coat like that in your
luggage, so guess who classed up his jeans and T-shirt with
some fine wool for the Bart ride and plane flight?

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a wedding to go to!

This n' That

I've got a little bit o' this n' that to show you today.  First up, the current work in progress:

 Part of why I hadn't completed the blue corset is because I didn't know how I wanted to finish it.   Since the current Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge is to finish a UFO, I forced myself to make a choice.  The blue silk above is leftover from a previous corset, and the lace is a vintage piece I picked up at Lacis.  I haven't attached them yet, but I've been trying them next to the corset to see how they look.

 

 I'll use the blue silk to bind the edges, then attach the vintage lace all along the top.  I think it's going to look pretty fabulous.  Later on I might do some flossing in a blue silk to match the binding, but for now I just care about getting this off my UFO pile.  I'll have this done within the next day or two, and then I can move on to the next project.

 I've been looking at a lot of antique wooden busks on various museum sites lately.  Check out this beauty at the Winterthur Museum.  Since I've got access to scrap wood, bandsaws, sanders and lasers, I decided to try my hand at making one.  It's not very historically accurate, but I'd rather play with lasers than do hand carving right now anyways.

 In other news, I've been bad again.  After buying a gazillion saris off of eBay last year while planning my Titanic Gown, you'd think I'd have enough.  Nope!

 This beauty is destined to be a Regency dress.  It's a printed cotton sari, and it's gorgeous!  The border runs the length of the sari (5 yards), so I'll get to have a dress with a pretty bordered hem.  I haven't yet decided whether I'm going to incorporate the decorative end into the top somehow or save it for something else.

I had a nice surprise in store for me when it showed up.  The fabric is a changeable cotton!  The warp threads are a wine color, and the weft threads are orange, giving it a different appearance depending on which way you look at it.   The colors of this sari aren't nearly as bright in person as they seem on my computer screen (no idea what they look like on yours) but the color shift is still pretty noticeable.

Wine warp and orange weft gives this cotton fabric its special appearance.

I want to get started on this right away, but I'm going to be good and make my underpinnings first.  That means I'd better get my butt in gear and start researching Regency stays.

I also got a few other pretties in this order, though I haven't a clue what I'm going to do with them.  They were just so beautiful I couldn't pass them up.  First up is this crazy awesome green sari with tons of goldwork and tambour embroidery.  Seriously, it's so pretty I'm afraid to do anything with it.

Damn, right?

The last piece is this amazing skirt that is also covered in goldwork.  It's not destined for any project, as I intended to wear it a time or two before deciding what to do with it.  I've since discovered that it's waaaaaaayyy too long for me (comes up to my boobs!) so I will have to make some sort of alterations to it.  It also very much needs a vodka bath.  For now, I'm content to just look at it.

Anyways, back to work.  I really must get sewing, since all I seem to be doing is acquiring more projects!