Saturday, July 5, 2014

Challenge #6 Victorian Mermaid Fairytale Dress

I finally completed my Fairy tale reinvention of ah historic dress.  My daughter loves The Little Mermaid so I decided to attempt an 1878 dinner dress.  First: the completed costume on my dress form.
 

Here is the inspiration dress.  It is in the collection of the Met Museum. It is a Lord and Taylor dinner dress in silk. It has a lovely side profile, but I was not too crazy about the front view.  Makes the wearer look rather broad through the shoulders.
 
 
I traced the photo to lay out how I wanted the three colors of blue to look.  I also smoothed out the edges of the train to make more mermaid rounds rather than squatted edges.

 
 
Here is my daughter in the dress.  We are a good two hours drive from the ocean so we took photos in the back yard. I also changed the back of the jacket to remove the long tails. I used TV428 for the jacket.  I did not put cuffs on it and I cut out the collar.
 
 
For the skirt and train I sort of created my own pattern.  There is also a bustle pad that I made.

 

 

 

 

 
I used shells and pink "coral" for the embellishments.  I envisioned more but decided I didn't want it to be over the top.

 

 
No sea but she did pose by the pool!



 

 

 
By the way, She is a size 2 in ready to wear.
I am so happy this is done.  On to the next.
 
Historic Sew Fortnightly:
The Challenge: #6 April First (LOL) Fairytale
Fabric: 100% polyester bridal and costume fabric from Joann's
Pattern: TV428
My own construction for skirt
Year: 1878
Notions: Thread, shells.
How historically accurate?: Umm, 30% for the patterning and technique. All machine stitched except for attaching the ruching and shells.
Hours to complete:  Untold, Don't ask! Way too much time spent thinking of how to do the skirt!
First worn: July 4, 2014 for photos.
Total cost: Approx. $100
 
Thank you for stopping by to see what I FINALLY accomplished.
Jeannine

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