New dress project

[aylwen]

I am about to start a replica of this dress

I've read that the embroidery is tambour work. Is this difficult?
And does anyone know of anyone copying this dress? I found one dress diary online but no progress recorded.

[dawnluckham]

Someone on the Sense and Sensibility board made a dress using this as inspiration a month or three ago.

You may have seen this already, but just in case you haven’t this lady posted photos of a costume study. I believe the fourth dress down is the dress you posted.

www.annegracie.com/writing/costumepage.htm

I’ve only had one go at tambour work and it’s not as easy as I thought. You will need a framing system for your work that will really put your fabric drum tight (which I didn’t have at the time). I’ve found that chain stitch looks similar to tambour and it’s quick and easy for me to do.

[aylwen]

Thanks for that. Anne has sent me some more photos to work with, and I've found more information on this dress in my books.

[fashiondisorder]

That's definitly worth a try. Can't wait to see the result

[aylwen]

I'm still thinking about this one. Found some gold fringe in an antique store and started learning tambour but need more time! I went to England last year and got to see it up close.

[lastbloom]

Dawn, thanks for sharing Anne's page! What a great resource. I can't wait to see your progress on this project, Aylwen. I have seen tambour punches at Hedgehog Handworks:

www.hedgehoghandworks.com/catalog/tools_tambour.php

I've always thought descriptions of tambour work made it sound so easy...maybe too easy! I'm awful at embroidery, so I had been eying tambour as a cheat, but it sounds like it might be just as frustrating.

[Izodiea]

Tailor Drews recently reproduced a dress with tambour for a museum: tailordrews.livejournal.com/184122.html

If you go back in his journal he was several posts talking about his process.