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Monday, June 17, 2013

HSF#12: Pretty Pretty Princess

It's Historical Sew Fortnightly time again! This challenge was pretty pretty princess! "Channel your inner princess and her royal wardrobe. Pick a princess, queen, empress, arch-duchess, or a de-facto queen as inspiration for a fabulously royal frock (or other garment). The occasional prince is also most welcome."

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Tada!  I took a bit of a different approach to this challenge. I love historical masquerade and fancy dress costumes so this is my 19-teens does Elizabethan fancy dress.

I was inspired by dresses such as these:


 See this pinterest board for sources.


 I ultimately decided to focus my design on the bottom left dress from 1916.

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Fabric: 5 yds red home dec ($45), 2.25 yds sheer embroidered leaves ($16), 2 1/3 yd white crepe ($10)
Pattern: VPLL Ladies Dinner Dress c. 1918, Simplicity 3782 (and some drafting)
Year: 1916-1918
Notions: 150 glass pearls (mostly stash $3), snaps ($3), hook and eye ($1)

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How historically accurate is it? Ok, so it's made completely from polyester so no good on the fabric. I tried to pick colors and styles that I thought would be a bit of Edwardian and a bit of Elizabethan (and a dash of whatever I felt like). The construction is a bit of each period too. The skirt and sleeves are from a period pattern but the top is a modern Elizabethan costume pattern. Mostly I was just going for the look.

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Hours to complete: 30 (hand sewing pearls......)
First worn: June 2013
Total cost: ~$80

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I'm pretty happy with this dress. The fit of the sleeves is a bit off, but not so much that I can't wear it. The neckline was a bit wonky in this shoot but I've fixed it. I really like the way the bustles/poofs look on the skirt.

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I also whipped up this hat and used the feathers from my Blonde Swan Elizabethan hat. Why? Because feathers are awesome.

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Yay, yay gala dress!!!



16 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness this is so great! So much hardwork!

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  2. This is amazing, and such a surprise! I love it!

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  3. Oh Stephanie! This is simply gorgeous! Well done!

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  4. That is beautiful!! So envious of your sewing skills! : )

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  5. Holy cow! What a stunning piece!

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  6. It took you only 30 hours?!? Wow!

    The dreass is great, well done!

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    1. It's mostly machine sewn so that helped a lot. And I got really good at sewing on pearls.

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  7. WOW! That is drop dead amazing!! And I'm with Anthea on this, 30 hours!? That's it!?!? Stunning!

    xoxo
    -Janey

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  8. You're sure to stand out at the gala! I don't think I'd ever have the patience. It would definitely have taken me around thirty years, not hours to finish this.

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  9. Wow! It is simply beautiful. I didn't know there was an Elizabethan revival in the 19-teens. I shall have to research more! :)

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  10. Utterly, jaw-droppingly incredible work. I'm doffing my hat to no end over here in your direction, honey. Really, really amazing job on this truly timeless gem of a gala ensemble.

    ♥ Jessica

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  11. Wow! This is so impressive. If this were me, I'd be devoting a week of blog posting everyday to this outfit! Congratulations on such a beauty! I think this would have taken me a year to create.

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  12. The most incredible dress I've ever seen. Yes. indeed.
    +Victoria+

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  13. I adore this, it is such a great interpretation of the image from 1916, excellent work!

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