Mum and I went to Gardums- a very good Brisbane-based fabric store, on a lace-and-trim trawl. Gardums is a lovely upscale fabric store with three locations across the city - it deals mostly with high-end fabrics and believes in getting good money for the value of it's stuff - the fabrics are lovely but the prices are heartbreaking. No bargains here - not even in the remnant bin - you'll be charged as close to market value for that 20 cm scrap of lace or 40cm of sun-faded silk taffeta as the market will bear!
But the fabrics are exquisite and the laces and trims are the real thing, and once in a while, there's a lovely fabric on sale.
But the fabrics are exquisite and the laces and trims are the real thing, and once in a while, there's a lovely fabric on sale.
I bought four meters of this to make myself a dress - Vogue 1102 - one of my favorites. I'm hemming a version of it in black and white linen right now.
I bought yards of gorgeous lace at AG doll scale!!!! I can stop hoarding my slender supply - at home I have very little and consequently never use it - I'm always save for the next thing!
And in the remnant bin I found a lovely stretch of silk chiffon and some gorgeous apricot-y silk charemeuse and on the trim shelf I found a fabulous ribbon-flower trim -
I bought yards of gorgeous lace at AG doll scale!!!! I can stop hoarding my slender supply - at home I have very little and consequently never use it - I'm always save for the next thing!
And in the remnant bin I found a lovely stretch of silk chiffon and some gorgeous apricot-y silk charemeuse and on the trim shelf I found a fabulous ribbon-flower trim -
And naturally one thinks of this painting - Empress Eugenie and her Ladies by Winterhalter:
So…..
Introducing: The Gardums Remnant Ballgown!
The flowered trim will be a wrap - of course - something like this, lined with matching silk satin so that it drapes…
Introducing: The Gardums Remnant Ballgown!
The flowered trim will be a wrap - of course - something like this, lined with matching silk satin so that it drapes…
As for the dress - there's enough apricot satin for a skirt and a bodice. An over skirt of chiffon, looped up with ribbons and roses, and a chiffon bertha - pleated or draped -
I'm thinking very classical - something you could have worn from the 1840s until the very end of the 60s - suitable for passing down through a row of children.
(this image from the V&A is from the 1840s, but the look stays remarkably consistent through the period)
I'm thinking very classical - something you could have worn from the 1840s until the very end of the 60s - suitable for passing down through a row of children.
(this image from the V&A is from the 1840s, but the look stays remarkably consistent through the period)
Vintage Victorian has a fabulous page with lots of 1860s fashion plates of evening dress.
Inspirations for the skirt:
Love the sleeves and bertha on this one as well!
Inspirations for the skirt:
Love the sleeves and bertha on this one as well!
And the apricot one on the left with the bows and streamers -
Inspirations for the bertha:
I rather like this one, on the blue ballgown - I'm trying to imagine how layered lace sleeves would look underneath it:
But I think that I rather prefer something along these lines:
The sleeves will have to evolve a bit, I think. My original idea called for puff sleeves in the satin layered with tubes of chiffon, but this will be completely lost under the bertha, I think. Longer and larger puffs? Layered with lace, possibly.
Reckon I'll start by hand-hemming the skirt layers and see what bubbles up.
Reckon I'll start by hand-hemming the skirt layers and see what bubbles up.
