A Slight Change of Plans

A long, long time ago, when the world was new, I promised my daughter I would make her a regency era outfit to be worn for tea at the Davenport House, a local museum preserved in 1820's style. They host teas in March and May each year and my goal was to have us go in proper attire from the skin out.

Well it's May now and I've gotten as far as a mob cap, two muslins for stays, and a bodice for a little dress pinky has since outgrown. Yay for procrastination!

Now I could wait another year for the Davenport House opportunity to come around once again but it just so happens that my daughter has been pestering me to buy her another American Girl doll. And it just so happens that doll is the lovely 1812 historical doll, Caroline Abbot. It also so happens that pinky's birthday is rolling around much sooner than the next Davenport tea cycle and that the American Girl store in Atlanta hosts an afternoon tea of their very own.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Clearly we need to go in full regency regalia, don't you think?

So let's revisit the Davenport idea, shall we? Originally, the idea was to create a look that fit the 1820 aesthetic. However, Caroline story is centered around the War of 1812. During war, supplies would be a bit harder to come by as would be the latest fashions. I would say reasonably, we should adjust our time frame back to 1810, if not a touch earlier. However, I'm not sure I want to go strictly historically accurate for this. I'm quite in love with the look of 1823 specifically and I don't want to change. My justification is that since we aren't visiting a location defined by a time frame, I'm just going to pull a Cartman here and keep things pretty much the same.

For a refresher, here's the painting that inspired pinky's dress. It's the pale yellow one one the left with the purple sash and bonnet.

I recently located the perfect yellow tone on tone fabric at Fabric.com. It's a lovely dotted swiss in a light goldenrod woven with tone on tone stripes and just a wee bit of metallic thread. The rest of the fabric will come from my stash. Lovely soft cotton organza for the fichu and cap, pima cotton for the chemise and petticoat, along with a silk batiste sash, a straw bonnet, and miles of ribbon, lace trim, and other fripperies.

It's a surprise so don't tell her!

And wish me luck! Not because this is difficult. I'm rather confident it can all be managed. But you know I have a procrastination problem.

No, seriously.

A Girl in White

Girls' 1914 Dress by Sense and Sensibility Patterns

Pattern Description: Girls' dress based on shapes and styles of the late Edwardian Era. Dress features a slightly raised waist with gathers, back closure, and has options for short puffed sleeves, capped sleeves, and long sleeves.

Pattern Sizing: Pattern includes sizes 1-10

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Aside from my changes, yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, they were. But I adapted the pattern to use heirloom techniques so I didn't follow them strictly.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked the wide range of sizes available and the thick paper used for printing the pattern. Also, it's quite rare to find patterns like this. If you want to sew historically accurate-ish clothing for children, your primary option is to use the patterns of the era. If they aren't laid out and crisscrossed all over each other crammed into a dusty old text, they still come with the expectation that you've been sewing since you were short and can turn out a gown like Ma Ingalls before Laura's wedding. So it's nice to have historical patterns for the modern sewist.

Fabric Used: Swiss dot from Hancock's for the main body. The laces came from Martha Pullen Company, most acquired during their recent warehouse sale. I ran out of time to make buttonholes so I used lace tape from Martha Pullen Company to stabilize the edges and used Kam Snaps to close it available here.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: In addition to using heirloom techniques, I created a square neckline with mitered lace trim. I cut the cap sleeve pattern but lengthened it. I also cut a full skirt instead of one tapered toward the waist as the pattern indicated. I'd planned to taper the waist but I was headed for the homestretch and got ahead of myself. By the time it was attached, yeah, that bad boy was not going to be pulled out.

As mentioned above, I used snaps instead of buttons, again, an issue of time restraint as well as error. The pattern runs small, imo. I measured her first and chose a size based on those measurements but the fit was still rather close even without the slip. It's my fault for not doing a muslin but procrastinators do what they must. Snaps it was.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I would sew it again if asked but I can't see a need for this kind of dress for pinky. But I'd definitely recommend it to others looking for a similar style with the caveat to either make a muslin or make it a size larger than the pattern indicates, perhaps even two if you want room to grow.

Conclusion: I love this dress. Can I just say what a prideful, shameful person I am? I'm supposed to be focusing on a big spiritual day for my daughter, when she affirms her faith and becomes a member of the church. All I could think though, was DAMN THAT LACE HEM LOOKS GOOD!

It's a good thing Jesus loves me.