1810's Dress! All Done!

Finished it yesterday!

Super pleased with how it came out. I've had the material awhile and it felt good to use it up. Although the actual print is red and white the overall affect is a pleasant plummy pink. 

I really like the way the trim worked out. It wasn't very difficult, either so I may utilize this more in the future. For some reason I always thought this type of trim would be too time consuming. I cheated and used my sewing machine to sew in the cords, but its not noticeable with the fabric ruched over the cording. 

To make the trim, I tore strips of fabric 1.5x the length of the area to be trimmed. I pressed down a seam allowance towards the wrong side and inserted a cord in the fold, and stitched close to the fold. Then it was a simple matter of drawing the fabric up on the cording to the right length. The trim is sewn to the dress by hand with uneven running stitches. 

The skirt is fairly narrow, made of just two widths of 45" fabric. I always forget how little the skirts were in this period of history, especially compared to the over-the-hoop skirts of the 1860's! In one of my books about New Salem (c. 1830's-ish with the area settled in the few decades prior) a contemporary observer wrote that the skirts worn by girls and ladies were so narrow they could not jump across a creek. I will need to look up that reference for the exact phrasing. I found it an odd statement until I realized how narrow the skirts really were, and yes, it would be necessary to draw up the skirts with the hands to jump across a creek. (not that I've ever tried it, but one can use ones imagination. ;) ) 

The very low V neckline would be filled in with a chemisette or kerchief. 

It's available in my shop and now I need to find a use for the remaining yardage I have of this particular fabric. It may make a nice childs dress. We'll see. On to the next project. 

Love,

Sarah