· Literary Ball 2016! ·

After having such a smashing success at our Literary Ball last year, we thought it merited repitition!  We were able to use the same building as last year and while we had a smaller crowd, we had a wonderful amount of dancers for the space and we even had visitors from 4 different states! :-)

Kathryn, Tara, and I all came as characters from Cranford.  Well, technically we came as the younger versions of our characters so we could all re-wear our regency attire!  We took our inspiration from the movie adaptation, so there are a few technicalities that are inaccurate to the book.  I'll leave it to the book aficionados to identify them. ;-)

Kathryn was Mrs. Jamieson- complete with the earliest predecessor of Carlo the dog

I was Mrs Forrester- one little known fact about her is that her unfortunate history with lime pits was a life-long problem... needless to say, she became quite adept at fashioning pyjamas for cows! ;-)

I jumped on the chance to hand-sew miniature pyjamas for our stuffed animal- they're even made from period-appropriate wool flannel.  Because, you know... I could. ;-)

Tara was Miss Pole- naturally a perky feather adds just the right touch!

My parents came as Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.  I guess dressing as bovines runs in the family! ;-)

Something that's changed since last year is that I've now started calling dances!  There is a dedicated group at our church that have been ready and willing learners and it's been great fun spreading the love for English and Scottish Country dancing! :-)

I made my dress several years ago, and posted about it here (still one of my favorite photo shoots! :-)).  The apron was from my 18th c. wardrobe (because Mrs. Forrester always needs more fluffliness!) and the chemisette and cap were newly made for the event.

Everyone was requested to bring a copy of their character's book and as always, it's so fun to see the variety represented!  This time we had everything from historical fiction to children's books to manga to fantasy!

Dickens characters like Mr. Micawber are always great choices! :-)

Les Miserables characters!

This 100 year old building has some fun details!

Even the little boys had a great time and did a great job dancing! :-)  When the costumes were complete at the beginning of the evening, 3 of these boys were Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man and their sister was Dorothy!

· Photos by Kathryn! ·

· Shop My Closet! ·

It's that time of year- time to clean out my closet!  I have a pile of things to list on my Etsy shop within the next couple months, but before I listed a few of my "blog-featured" outfits I wanted to give my readers first dibs! :-)

All of these dresses are handmade by me.  They are all made to fit measurements of approx. 32"-34" bust, 25"-27" waist.  I'm 5'6", so all lengths will fit accordingly.  If you have questions regarding more specific measurements, please feel free to contact me at modedelis (at) gmail (dot) com. :-)

All of these dresses are marked down from what I would sell them on Etsy.  I will be listing them in the shop on Feb 26th- so make sure to reserve them before then!  Contact me by commenting or emailing me at modedelis (at) gmail (dot) com to claim a dress!

All payments will be through PayPal, shipping will be determined by your location- I'll give you a quote before billing.  First come, first served!

· Lemon Dress ·

ETA- Listing on Etsy here

You can read more about this dress on the outfit post.

Details:

- Cotton dress

- Button closure

- Ric-rac trim around collar and front edges

- Belt and accessories not included

- Gently worn- minimal visible wear

· Border-Print Regency Dress ·  SOLD!

More pictures on the main dress post.  

Details:

- Cotton/Linen dress

- Made to be worn over period undergarments, but can work with modern undergarments

- All visible stitching by hand

- Sleeve caps were altered and there is some piecing visible- but piecing is period, after all! :-)

- Closes with hooks and eyes at front

- Gently worn, some slight fading- otherwise no wear visible

· 1950s Green Dress ·  SOLD!

More pictures in post.

Details:

-SOLD

- Cotton dress

- Bias trim at neckline, hem, sleeves, and pockets

- Side zipper closure

- Faded overall and some slight wear- not bad, but enough that I'm marking this down a lot 

Happy shopping!

· A Regency Ballgown for Kathryn ·

With a fancy Regency Ball to be attended last December, my friend Kathryn needed a dress suitable for the occasion!

There was a lot of agonizing over what style to settle upon, but one thing was certain- she wanted silk.  She also wanted something very drapey, so we settled on a silk habotai.  The gold color was partially just a result of the fabric available, but I'm so glad that's what she chose!  The color is stunning on her, and is perfect for the style and the setting! :-)

The dress closes in the back with covered buttons.

And just act like you didn't see those machine-sewn buttonholes.  I probably should be so shamed by them that I learn how to make nice hand-sewn buttonholes, but I'm not. Yet.

Maybe that should be one of my New Year's Resolutions- perfect my hand-sewn buttonholes. ;-)

One of my favorite parts of regency dresses- all of those lovely skirt pleats! :-)

I just love this back view!!  So pretty.  I am in dire need of a silk regency dress now.  Like, right now.

The dress is very simple, so we decided that detailed sleeves were a "must".  The sleeves are lined in quilting-weight cotton to add more body and strips of fabric "bunch" the sleeve up.

The bodice is gathered in the front, and has a small drawstring in the neckline to ensure a perfect fit each time.  The waistline is trimmed with large piping, which adds just a touch of detail and makes the dress look more complete. :-)

· Photos by oh, wait... me.  With Kathryn's camera. ;-) ·

· Regency Christmas Ball ·

In my Sari Overdress post, I mentioned that my family attended a Christmas Regency Ball last month.  It was such a fabulous event that I had to brag share some photos!

The event was held at the Warner Theater in Erie, PA.  The Warner was built in 1929, and is still used as a theater as well as an event venue.

The theater is just as amazing in real life as the pictures!  It was by far the most impressive ball venue we've ever attended!  Granted, the decor is about 125 years too late for our period, but really- with gorgeous interiors like this, who's counting?! ;-)

After wandering the theater, we all sat down to a catered dinner, and then began our dancing!

 

 Our whole family was able to attend, and it provided the perfect opportunity for our Christmas card picture!

We danced and danced into the night.....

.... And had a thoroughly grand time, indeed!

I love this picture- a typical "behind the scenes" glimpse of my blog photoshoots with Kathryn. ;-)

· Photos by Brandon Pieplow ·

· Regency Sari Overdress ·

I talked about the construction of my dress and overgown before, but the Regency Christmas Ball we recently attended provided the perfect opportunity for some nice photos. :-)

This overdress was made from the leftover scraps of an antique sari- I absolutely love all the detail that went into this embroidery!!  It has copper thread interspersed throughout, adding depth and just a hint of glimmer. :-)

I'm quite pleased with the result, and it's fun to have a Regency outfit that is very a-typical. :-)  It's also a great way to add variety and interest to my white dress!  I like the dress, but change is a nice thing too. ;-)

Wearing rag curlers all day while traveling might not have been the most glamorous option, but having curls that were impervious to dancing was well worth it! ;-)

I was so excited to finally embellish my turban with wheat!  Ever since seeing this fashion plate, I knew I needed to try this out sometime. :-)

And I'm realizing that I needed to do a little more primping to the wheat next time- I always forget that while I'm sitting in the van it is getting squashed by the roof. :-P  Ah well.  Just imagine it in its pre-travel state- it looked remarkably like the fashion plate. ;-)

A bit of a funny story that I didn't share the first time- I was basing the overdress off a fashion plate that I had a poster of, but no details.  I wanted to share the original source on the blog with the fashion plate company name, year, etc., but had no way to start looking!

I tried looking for "Regency Overdress Fashion Plate".  No luck.  "Asymmetrical"?  No better.  "Green"? "Overgown"? "Turban"?  Nothing was helping.  I couldn't think of any technical terms to describe it, but then again- there wasn't any guarantee that the person linking to the image had any more of a technical knowledge than I did!

In frustration, I told Mom, "I'd probably be better off just searching for something like "Regency Drapey Bits"!!

Well, guess what?  That's all it took.  There, waiting near the top of my search was the fashion plate.

I have now officially given up on technical search terms.

The culprit- La Belle Assemblee, April 1811
aka
Regency Drapey Bits

It's so easy to see the Grecian influences of the time period in this style!

The Warner Theater, although technically around 125 years too late for this outfit, was still a stunning location!  I'm looking forward to giving this outfit another outing this weekend!

· Photos by Kathryn ·

Masquerade Attire · Details

Our family attended a Masquerade Ball last weekend, and as it is a truth universally acknowledged that Masquerade Balls demand new attire, I subsequently felt justified in succumbing to the expectation. ;-)

We are also planning on attending a Regency ball in December, so I thought I'd make something that could do double duty!  I was really hoping for a new ball gown, as I've worn my white dress innumerably and to a significant number of dances/balls.  However, nothing period-appropriate presented itself in the stash....  So, it was back to the drawing board.  I pulled out all of the suitable fabrics, and the leftover scraps from a previous project were terribly tempting!  My sister had a Titanic dress made from this antique sari 2 years ago (you can see her in one of these pictures), and I've always been severely jealous of it.  The scraps leftover were very minimal and oddly shaped, but included a few fairly long pieces of border.

Enter- odd regency overdresses.  What a lifesaver!  It was a relief to know that whatever I scrapped together from the pieces would probably end up being pretty close to period-accurate! :-P  I've greatly admired this fashion plate for years, and after draping the scraps on myself, it looked like it was ideally suited to the idea!  

La Belle Assemblee, April 1811

I didn't have enough fabric length to make the skirt as long as the fashion plate, nor could I continue the border around the hem.  However, I still was able to achieve asymmetrical, drapey fun-ness! ;-)

Well, please bear with me on these photos. ;-)  They definitely aren't up to "Kathryn Caliber", but they'll do for now.  I've given up trying to find the best place to take pictures in our house, so Cluttered Backgrounds and Clashing Walls will have to be ignored. ;-)  I'll get official pictures taken at a later date, but I wanted to share the details about this dress while it was still new!

I couldn't find any pictures of evidence for the back of these asymmetrical overdresses, so I made the executive decision to have a pleated skirt like most regency gowns.

Oh, and please pardon the fit!  Unsurprisingly, my dressform does NOT work well with garments that were made to be worn with stays! :-P

The bodice is made from a continuous scrappy piece of the "pallu" portion of the sari.  It only required this tiny bit of piecing under the arm- otherwise it was the perfect size!  Apparently, this was meant to be! :-)

Oh, this just really doesn't fit the dressform!!  But here's how I chose to close it- the under-layer of the front is finished off at the waistline and closes on the side with a hook-and-eye.  The top portion then comes over the top and closes with a hook-and-bar.

I applied a piece of border onto the front skirt and gathered the closure edge to keep as much of the trim intact and visible as possible.

Since the neckline was formed by the border, it required a dart on the shoulder to provide shaping.  The fashion plate looked like it had gathering at the shoulder, and that ended up providing a more precise fit as well!  I love it when stuff works out like that. :-)

While working on this, I decided I'm a big fan of asymmetrical garments.  I only had to sew half of the usual darts and only 1 armhole! ;-)  So fast and easy!

I just really love this sari!!  It's hard to get the pictures to accurately reflect the true colors- it is more green than it appears in most of these.  The embroidery is so pretty, and the almost purple-ish bits are copper embroidery.  The level of detail is amazing and I'm so glad I was able to showcase it another project!

The entire gown was draped by my fabulous (and very patient!) mother. :-)  Due to the nature of the design, but especially the fabric limitations!, there wasn't any way of patterning it besides draping.

And of course I took the opportunity to make a new turban. :-)

My turban was made from some more scrap fabric!  Three cheers for stash-busting!!  We purchased this lovely blue/green velvet and made a cape from it, but had quite a few random scraps.  I previously made a purse and regency sleeveless spencer (as yet unphotographed! I'll have to get around to that soon....), but one can't have too many accessories from this fabric! ;-)  I decided to go the route of a fully-fashioned turban, since the backside of the velvet is light green and wouldn't look good if it peeked out during the wrapping process.

I used a cheap straw hat, cut off the brim, and bound the edge.  Then I cut a rectangle long enough to cover the hat and wide enough to allow for some pleating.  Then I randomly stretched and pleated it in place and sewed 3/4" from the edge to keep it all in place.

(Oh, and a note to the wise- pleating the velvet added a lot of bulk to the circumference of the hat, so make sure your hat starts out at least an inch bigger than you want it to finish!  I ended up taking a bit of a detour to stretch out my hat and re-bind the edge to give much-needed room. ;-))

In order to hide all the raw edges of velvet, I attached a lining- just a simple rectangle gathered up at the top.

I had grand ideas of following a fashion plate for ideas on how to drape my turban, but it wasn't coming together nicely, so I just went with something super simple.  I sewed 2 rectangles into tubes- they were about 5-7" longer that the circumference of the hat and about 15" around, I think.  I twisted them around each other and finished off the ends.  I tacked the twists in place around the hat in a few areas, and it was done!

The complete arbitrariness of this project was... stretching.  I don't really like "randomly pleating" things.  And "tacking in just a few areas" drives me a bit batty.  I like to sew everything *very* securely. :-P

The feathers are just basted so they can be easily replaced with a different ornamentation later.  All the info I've come across seems to indicate that peacock feathers were rather taboo in the period.  However, I have a deep and abiding love for them, so since we were attending a masquerade, I made a concession and stretched my ideals of accuracy a bit to have a peacock-themed outfit. ;-)