Whatever shall one do when invited to a friends birthday tea with nothing to wear and material scattered about her work space? Make a new dress in three days of course! As I mentioned, one of my Girls School alumnae invited a few of us to her birthday tea at Carnton Plantation this weekend. I was eyeing my wardrobe thinking to myself how I've been wearing almost the same dresses for three years and I've only added two ensembles to my wardrobe(minus ball gowns). What a shame. So with my phone's picture album of Civil war costumes ready for an occasion like this, I found this lovely:
Now, I love both but that beautiful coral color struck my attention. I unfortunately do not have time for the full bodice that she is wearing since I don't have a pattern yet. So in lue of, I am using my Zouave jacket pattern that I used to make my plum and green dress awhile back. I decided to take one of my old cheap petticoats that doesn't cover my hoop all the way, and use it as the base for an underskirt with the new coral material slightly gathered at the bottom. For the main skirt, I had some lovely lace material I meant to make a new petticoat out of but thought it would look similar enough to the picture.
Thankfully there is enough for two skirts and maybe something else down the road. With the wonderfully embroidered material I needed a pretty coral color. My local fabric store had some drapery fabric that is a two toned burnt orange and pink which isn't exactly a coral color but it looks so stunning! I'm hoping I can make a fall dress out of it if I can get some more later on. The underskirt is almost finished I just need to sew the "coral" to the old petticoat and I will be done with the skirts!
As far as my jacket goes I have the pieces cut and ready to sew! This three day project might actually get done in time! I am most definitely proud of myself. Hopefully we will be able to take a few photos in our lovely period garb so I can show them off .
Yours truly,
Shayla P.
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