The White Danish Gown (again)

[Mme de Beaufort]

Yes, I'm going to make the gown (or at least try). I'll probably start after the ball, since I've got 3 gowns (4 if you count my two layers) to make before November 15.

Anyway....

With Ida's translation of the pattern, and the newly embroidered fabric I've gotten (with the embroidery pattern replicated on it thanks to etsy alchemy and a wonderful lady from Asia)... I am going to make myself my own version of that gown I so adore.

The lady from Asia has embroidered muslin fabric with cotton thread for $8 a yard. The other 'bids' I got on my alchemy order were ladies vowing how impossible it would be to do a wide embroidery for so little money--blahdeblahdeblah. and many ladies told me that my request was impossible.

Go figure. YAY! It makes up for the thieving BLANKETYBLANK that stole my money never to be heard from again.... This lady only asked for a 50% down-payment and then sent me pictures of the final product before asking for the other half. YOu can't beat that. She only needed to get a link to the .pdf file of the pattern, and she converted the design for her machine with no problem, contrary to the incessant declarations of her American counterparts. Wow.

Here's a pic of the extant garment's embroidered hem:


Here are pics of the finished fabric:




Not bad eh? The thread looks pretty shiny, we'll see how that looks when it arrives and it's gotten a nice gentle washing. You can see the pattern through the other side, so it's appropriately sheer.

The fabric is over 60" wide, and the whole selvage edge is embroidered down 8 yards. SCORE.

I'll update in a few when the fabric gets here.

BTW, the etsy seller's etsy page is:
www.etsy.com/profile.php?user_id=6257400

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!

[Val]

A very big score, if you ask me! And so pretty too! I'll bet this will really inspire you to start sewing this new gown.

[lauren]

I'm soooo glad you were able to get your fabric embroidered. It's gorgeous! I can't wait to see the finished product.

[Anna]

Oooh, lovely.

[iamdiverted]

it's too bad I can't come to the ball. We just moved to Maine.

I wish I could have met you guys all your events look so great.

[dawnluckham]

Gotta say, this is positively awesome, Steph. Too COOL that you've had the fabric replicated! I can't wait to see the ever so exciting result!

Soooo.... ;D Are you going to share the pattern translation with us like you promised so long ago? ;D

[Mme de Beaufort]

Ida did a stand-up job, however I'm having a friend of my husband look at a few more things before I finalize it. But yes, I will post the translations soon... promise.

I certainly cannot promise that the gown I make will be as lovely as the extant, since I am a larger-size, it probably won't look as nice as it would if it were on a thinner person.

[MyLadyDedlock]

How's your gown coming? Why is it called a "Danish" gown?

[Mme de Beaufort]

Jan 8, 2009 17:55:15 GMT -5 MyLadyDedlock said:

How's your gown coming? Why is it called a "Danish" gown?

It's called Danish because it's based on an extant garment that is in a Danish museum. That project has been sidelined for a while. It's a ballgown, and I don't need a ballgown quite yet, and I want to take all the time in the world to get this gown right.

I need to make a gown for my friend Sherry, make myself a new daygown to replace the red one that I plan to finally retire (now that the neckline is utterly destroyed). I may try to fix it with lace, but it's so ragged after all those wearings and washings, and since I didn't pre-wash the fabric before sewing it, it's really tight on my back. I bought a broad check cotton last week, sheerish, with black and white checks with lavender cutting through it. I also want to make a new spencer for myself for the tea parties and walks this Spring.

It's a gamble, but I wanted something new and beat-upable.

[Mme de Beaufort]

I've done little sewing since the RH837 bodice debacle. I've been overwhelmed by other stresses in life, and I haven't had much time to sew.

The fabric I had embroidered for this gown has been weighing on my mind. It's not the cotton voile I wanted. It's some sort of synthetic stuff; with nice drape, but not what I wanted. SO instead of wasting it, I will make an 'interim' gown out of it using the Period Impressions pattern for the bodice (but I might change up the stomacher a bit to make it closer to the Danish gown... Until I have the fabric that I want, I will not do anything with the real museum pattern yet.

Period Impression 1812 Bib Dress Pattern

(you can buy it here: www.burnleyandtrowbridge.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=79)

I'll post pics when I take 'em. Dan leaves on Monday, so I imagine I'll sew then.

[artemisiajolie]

Oh my! that fabric and pattern would have been lovely if it was done the way you wanted it! Too bad.
I hope you can find someone else to do it correctly; I understand the desire to do something like that without making compromises.

[dawnluckham]

Steph, this fabric will be beautiful made up with the Bibb Front gown pattern. Positively lovely. I can’t wait to see it when you have it all made up.

I’m so sorry things are challenging for you these days. Hopefully as the spring comes and the sun shines more and all green things begin to grow, life too will begin to warm and be easier for you.

[elizabethw]

Steph, can this lady do the embroidery again if you buy the fabric you want and send it to her? It's just too wonderful a project to abandon.
Rather than making 2 dresses that look similar and use almost the same fabric, I would actually suggest making them look fairly radically different (or at least as radically different as you can get while still making it Regency) I wouldn't like to have 2 dresses that were almost the same but not quite.
Alternatively, do you do other eras? 8 yds of 60 inch wide fabric would make a lovely Civil War sheer dress.

[Mme de Beaufort]

I'm not quite ready to tackle civil war crinolines. I'll enjoy the practice and the opportunity to have a nice new gown. I made the bodiced petticoat yesterday, I just need to hem it. Then it's onto the white gown. I'm also going to make a new daygown as well for the Museum outing (and perhaps a new spencer)

[lauren]

I can't wait to see it :-D

[Mme de Beaufort]

Okay... so with the synthetic fabric, some months back I'd started the Interim "Use The Expensive But Unsatisfactory Fabric In Some Other Design Rather Than The Danish" Gown in hopes of finishing it for the ball in Eugene, but as usual, in my last-minuteness, I was trying on the unfinished bodice, it was twisted, which I didn't realize, and when I put it on, the back tore... right down the center, it didn't even have the decency to tear down the seam. I won't even mention the other horrible things that were happening in my life at that time; but I will say the LAST thing I wanted to deal with was a troublesome fabric and making a gown.

So I threw it in a box in frustration and forgot about it until a week ago; as the Sherwood ball approached. I bit my lip and pulled out the fabric and the torn bodice, removed the broken piece, cut a new one, and started sewing.

That fabric was a (forgive my French...) B.I.T.C.H. It was slippery and fraying... it pulled and snagged, it stretched and snapped the thread... it did every possible horrible thing it could do, but I was determined to make a bloody dress out of that fabric if it KILLED me. $95 had to be well-used.

I managed to "FINISH" it, and I put that in quotes, because it was and is a shoddy work. Ugly, frayed hemming, open seams, frayed edges.... But it was passable for the Sherwood event (except the gather stitching on the stomacher snapped a bit when I was putting it on, so my stomacher looks droopier than it was when I first made it.

I wore it to the ball, of course EVERYONE and their dog stepped on my train, it got totally trashed outside in the mud, but oddly, it washed clean like a dream. I took no special care in washing it either. I threw it in the washer with plain tide and then into the dryer with the rest of my ensemble, and it came out in one piece. I'm shocked. I think it has earned my respect, that gown. I am now determined to hand-stitch all the little flaws back into place and make this dress work... even though it's really nothing like the Danish gown; it's still somewhat pretty even though it's not natural fibers, and I felt sort of elegant in it.

I truly believed it would fall to bits as the night wore on, but it bore the stress well, surprisingly. The only thing that went wrong to speak of was that the ties came loose under the stomacher during the evening, and the stomacher drooped a bit on its buttons, until my dear friend Stephanie R. noticed, shoved me in a corner and tied it all up tightly again. I'm not a big fan of white, but I think it turned out pretty enough. I particularly like the train and the gather.

At this point, the only part that is from the pattern is the bodice... I modified the sleeve to fit my hams.

The stomacher was loose at this point already, the ties had come undone underneath, making the whole front sag a bit.

You get a decent view of the back and train here.

I have to grudgingly admit I sort of like the end product, despite it being, like many of my gowns, a work of hurried carelessness; which I tend to ascribe to all gowns I'm making for myself.

[dawnluckham]

Steph, this gown turned out beautifully! Really! I'm sorry it's not the fabric you had hoped for but it photos as a really special gown. You should be proud of it. And you look quite lovely in white.

[threadlette]

Thats a shame about the fabric being synthetic. I just can't stand working with synthetic fabrics, even for modern clothing it's just one of those things that irks me. Personally I just love embroidery so I pick out the perfect fabric and do the embroidery myself but it takes forever and she did a beautiful job. Have you considered doing the embroidery yourself? Its a ton of work but the finished product would be an amazing feat.

However, the gown you did make with the fabric is gorgeous. I love the sheer sleaves and how you can really see the embroidery there. And you can always go back and fix it up. I am planning on doing that with a few gowns I did a shabby job on..

~Ariel

[Mme de Beaufort]

Ariel..

I'm afraid I'[m not patient enough of a person to actually do embroidery well. I perhaps should take a class to learn technique, but the truth is, even if you see how I colour, I'm too disordered a soul to mak eorderly stitches. Besides, anything that absorbs too much of my attention or keeps me busy for too long annoys my husband.

Also, the synthetic fabric was not my choice, my request was cotton voile. The request was lost in translation Somewhere between here and Asia. I paid $95 for it and I couldn't return it... and I don't need new sheers, so I figured I'd use the fabric for an interim gown. I never would have bought this stuff in a million years. I hate sewing fake fabrics too; and I only wear cotton products as a mean just because they don't require special care for laundering. I hate that.

Shall I have the honour of meeting you at the Pittock Mansion picnic on July 26th? Have you joined the ORS yet? I'm holding a bonnet workshop on the 25th in Sandy. You should join us.

Steph

[threadlette]

I know what you mean. I hated coloring always. It always seemed so uncreative and unoriginal. Have you gone to the print sale at fabric depot? They had some lovely stripe prints but I had to resist. Plus polyester doesn't breathe. At all. Which for a long dress in the summer is miserable.

I wish I could go but I think I'll be in Washington with my mom that week. I'll have to check. I need to join. I have the application but haven't had time to fill it out yet.

~Ariel