Gown Photo Shoot

I got my dress photos this weekend (thank you, boyfriend). I regretfully didn't do a final check before heading to the camera, so the back is bunched at the waistband and the neckline doesn't look smooth in the front, sigh. 

I am wearing the bat hat that goes with my Bat dress, but it's the only black Victorian hat that I own! Fiona was quite fascinated by the bat hat.

In my undies! I had an existing chemist, corset, and petticoat. The corset is 1890s and not 1860s but I didn't want to make a new one and figured it's close enough.

And here are all the beautiful outdoor pictures in the gown! I am really happy with how this project turned out. It was a lot of work, but worth it. And I think I can wear it for the mourning tea at CoCo next year!

1869 Gown is FINISHED!

I finished the gown this weekend! Hallelujah!

First I had to do the collar. This required cutting individual scallops, attaching them to the neckline, then binding. There was no seam allowance given on the curved edges. I also couldn't figure out how to sew them on and then bind them. So I ended up cutting individual scallops and binding those, much less painful. I think I should have left off the seam allowance that I added, I forgot the binding would go around the raw edge and I didn't need it, but hey, bigger scallops = less binding to do. I then used a strip of binding to attach all the scallops together. They are supposed to go like this:

I wasn't wild about that look and tried on the outside too, but in the end decided to go with the pattern suggestion of inside scallops. I also didn't like the black bow against all that black, so I made a plaid bow.

Here's the back with the bow pinned on. I was supposed to bind the long tails also, but honestly, couldn't bear the thought of binding more scallops. So I got out my gum arabic and sealed the taffeta and used my scallop scissors to cut it. I also decided I needed a bigger bow after looking at this picture.

I had also forgotten to make the waistband of the basque larger since it's the final layer of the gown, and had this small gap in the front. I decided to make a waistband extension rather than removing and replacing the waistband. I also put a couple of covered buttons on each side and used a hook and bar closure for it.

And voila, here is the finished gown, complete with matching cat tail! Bobo for some reason has been obsessed with this particular gown, from fabric cutting to completion.

The plaid bow looks so much better, and I put a button in the center. I ended up tapering the scalloped collar down towards the center front so there wouldn't be giant scallops overlapping.

I thought the back bow was too small, so added a second larger bow behind it, and it looks perfect!

And finally a picture of the back with the tail on the correct side of the gown!

Pictures of me wearing it coming this weekend!