1830s day dress

Approximately at the same time I met my dearest Peter, I found a pair of old curtains in a second hand store with a perfect pattern for a 1830s day dress, was my thought. But I packed it down well hidden away and my will to make something from that period faded under other things to sew. Until a few weeks ago when I searched my boxes and found the fabric again, this since I had thought about it for a while, and really wanted my 1830s dress this time around. I didn’t want to buy yet another fabric when I have so much already in my stash, although I wanted a plaid dress really, and I thought to use it as a test to try this new era for me. So, no more fabric until I had made something and finished something from my stash I decided for myself!  What to do other than to finish the dress quick enough so I could buy that plaid fabric and hopefully have a 1830s dress ready to wear if an opportunity ever appeared?  The thing that really made me fire up and do anything was the little lace cap I talked about in the previous post. I've had the idea back and forth about making a 1830-40s getup since forever, and I have started making slippers for the era(but a nasty accident of a needle going through and getting stuck in a bone of a finger made me too traumatised to continue, so they are half finished in a drawer now), and a bonnet previously without ever making the F*king dress, mostly because the stays was the big catch, as you know I hate making them and without them there is no point in doing a dress at all. This summer I finally made stays, which didn’t help either apparentlyin the end… but when I found a lace at a little "garage sale" a dressmaker I know of had, who now lives and works in Hong Kong, but traveled back for a short stay in Sweden, I fell in love. She had with her lots of lace pieces the Chinese rejects, for they don’t like cotton lace apparently. My first thought was to make something 18^th century with it, and probably will with what is left, but after scanning pinterest for inspiration I suddenly felt such an urge to use it for a different era cap, with long ears, oh I love the caps with ears! And after it was finished I walked around the house, so in love with how it turned out, and got really irritated that I didn’t have a dress to go with it. So thanks to the cap, I now have my dress.

The cap:

 

This is all lace pieces hand sewn together forming the cap. I really love it and it fits perfect, staying on without fastenings, but when I wore my bonnet over I put a hatpin through it just in case.
On Christmas eve, Skansen had their gates open without any entrance fees, so at midday I, Peter and another friend went there to get some nice photos of the dress and see the lovely surroundings.

Here are some of the pictures from that day, and the dress in use.

The dress is 50/50 hand and machine sewn. I wear it over my 1800-40s corded stays, which are more comfy than I had ever dared wish for, and then I have one quilted white petticoat, and one wool petticoat for more fluff and support to shape the dress. It is closed in the back with eyes and hooks. In the absolute first picture in this post the full neckline shows, but since I was outside and it was like -4°C when I took the other photos, I chose to wear a fichu over the shoulders.
The underthingies and a sideview to show the little triangles on the arms.
 

Guess that’s all for this time, a happy new year and I hope it contains a little more sewing than this year, for me at least!