For this year's Edwardian Ball I found a gorgeous vintage Victorian mourning dress with amazing lace at the fabulous La Rosa Vintage. Oran, the manager, really knows vintage wear and suggested I make a wine-colored underskirt and matching front bodice piece. What a great idea, as the dress is so black, it needs something to make it stand out.
I found some synthetic silk for $2.39 a yard at Discount Fabrics on Irving Street. The cost really took the pressure off as I've never sewn with light, silky fabric before. I could totally mess up and not lose much $ and I could always resort to wearing, under the dress, a long, black slip I already had.
Despite the synthetic fabric being incredibly static-y, it wasn't too bad to sew. The seams didn't pucker as much as I'd feared and despite the cheap cost, didn't look bad at all...yay!
I used historial pattern Butterick 3418.
It's a really easy pattern since I wasn't going to bother with a proper waistband (as it's a simple underskirt) or the embellishment suggested by the pattern.
Simple rolled hem
I am happy with the result and it showcases the lace so wonderfully.
I then moved on to making a simple piece that would go across the front of the dress. The dress already had a row of snaps on one underside of the bodice -- ah ha, originally there must have been a piece that was placed across the bodice. I made a rectangle with hems of four sides with snaps along the left and sewed it onto the dress on the right side.
I am super happy with the outfit and had so much fun at the event! Sadly it was a photo-light evening, only one photo of me the whole night (eek, I look so haughty) and you can't see much of the dress, but wow check out Patrick, he really went all out!!!
