Meanwhile the dress in the photo is one I made whilst taking my post grad teaching certificate in Lancaster and its a replica of a dress from 1827 in grey taffeta. I was in my garden amongst the foxgloves and had just recovered from a serious operation so I had made the dress to help with my recovery. It took me a week of very intensive sewing to complete. I still have the dress and have been known to wear it to the odd party where I pretend to be Jane Austen!
The original dress is in The Wade Collection at Snowshill Manor near Broadway, Gloucestershire and is owned by the National Trust http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-snowshillmanor.htm
I wish I could see it but I have never had the chance to go there so all my research was based on a Janet Arnold book called Patterns of Fashion volume 2. It is made from lighter grey silk tafetta than the copy and has oversleeves in pale rose gauze also it has eleven triangular shapes at the bottom of the hem where my copy has only seven and they are larger. Somehow I could not bring myself to completely copy the original so I changed it ever so slightly. The dress would have come to just above the ankle in those days and also had a padded hem, it should have been worn with neat pumps with cross over satin ties.
1 comment:
Your dress is very lovely. And the backdrop for your photo is great. My sister and I are seamstresses and often make period clothing for others. It is really fun to try the different dresses out. We do other costumes also which are quite different.
Post a Comment