The new white Regency dress I'm working on is VERY SHEER. I needed some proper undergarments to wear underneath it for modesty's sake. I have a chemise, but Regency chemises only come down to about mid-thigh; the stays will only offer protection around the bust area.
So over the weekend I made myself a long petticoat to wear under the dress:
Because the shape was so similar, I used part of my basic Viking apron dress pattern to shape the body and skirts, because it's what I had and I didn't feel like starting from scratch.
At first, I accidentally made the thing WAY too short - what good would it do me if it barely went past my knees? So I eyeballed it and added an 18" panel at the bottom.
Then it was too long, because eyeballing is not measuring. I took a 1-1/8" deep hem, and then added a 1" pleat about 1" above the hemline, to shorten it. Now it's the perfect length.
The front closes with a tie that I can tuck inside the petticoat.
In this picture, the waistline is pinned to my dress form to hold it up - I really need to find the time to alter my dress form to be actually shaped like me. It's close in size, but not remotely similar in shape.
The cotton voile is itself very sheer; I'm hoping that the voile and the dress fabric (also a very sheer cotton) are enough together that I'm not flashing the whole world when I wear this outfit. I've also noticed that the voile clings to everything it touches - I hope I don't have that problem with the petticoat and the dress!
So that's the petticoat done. Technically my underwear is all finished now, although I really do need to replace my stays. The current set is too big, and while it does the job, it doesn't do the job well. I need to make a smaller set.
But for now - on to the dress! I'll show you when it's done.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hooray, comments! Be nice to each other, and to me. Or I shall boot your ass and then mail you a dead fish. :D