After an all-day sewing spree on Wednesday, I finished up Malachi's outfit to wear to Springfield for the festivities for Mr. Lincoln's 200th birthday. I should have properly measured him but he still curls up in such a tight fetal position that it is hard to do so. Consequently, his gown is a little snug on him. What great lengths his arms can stretch out to!
This dress is not based on any one dress in particular. The bodice has a jewel neckline, slightly raised waistline and long gathered sleeves. I originally made the sleeves a bit differently and piped the armscyes but found those sleeves to be way too short so I had to redo them quickly Thursday morning before we left and I left the piping off. I feel bad about that but I really did not have time to add the piping. Plus, it is very hard to sew piping in such a small area on such a small garment! I didn't really want to redo it, to be honest. :)
I made the dress from some thrifted semi-sheer white cotton I got for .40 a week or so before Malachi was born. (David's aunt is the manager of the most delightful little thrift store imaginable and it's always fun to look when we go up to visit!) I cannibalized a thrifted curtain for the lace. It is machined, but it's cotton, and it's not as clunky and sleazy as the eyelet at Jo-Anns. I joined a long piece to the bottom of the skirt, making a tuck to hide the join, and pieced out the rest to finish the sleeve cuffs.
From the remaining few inches I cut out the medallion-shaped thingies and appliqued them to the front of the bodice so it all looks like it goes together. 
It was a fun little gown to make, but it was even more fun to put it on the baby and take him out to his first event!Underneath, Malachi wore a white cotton petti-chemise, red flannel drawers (not pictured, since he wet through them on the way home last night and they are currently in the wash) and these darling little knitted booties that Tilly sent him when he was born.
To top it all off, he uncomplainingly wore a wee cap, made from leftover cotton organdy from my corded bonnet I made last summer. I had just enough left to make the cap with enough left for perhaps one more, in a larger size, for our next event in April. I just love baby caps. . .it's a pity most babies soon learn to pull them off and won't wear them!
We had such a wonderful time yesterday in Springfield. I can't wait to post about it! Hopefully I'll get a chance to later tonight or perhaps tomorrow. Blog time is limited now with three little ones! David just informed me that Little David has just helped himself to a loaf of bannana bread I baked earlier this afternoon while the wee ones were napping. He is a self-sufficient child, and is prone to trying to do things on his own. It is only when his attempts fail that he enlists the help of David or I. But now I must go rescue what bannana bread may perhaps be left unmutilated!Love to all,
Sarah
I originally wanted to copy it as closely as possible but while I was sewing on the waistband yesterday, I decided to not put drawstrings through at the waist and to close it with two hooks instead. The bodice is made of a rectangular panel in the front and two in the back, with curved areas cut for armscyes. The shoulder straps are seperate and were sewn on after the drawstring casings were sewn. I think I should have made the shoulder straps narrower to get closer to the look of the original, and perhaps should have shaped them rather than making them rectangles. Something to remember for next time. 
The dress closes at the back with the drawstring at the neck. I'm not sure if I am totally comfortable with the thought of using drawstrings for fastenings on baby gowns, but it seems like it sure was a common type of closure to use for gowns of this period - even adult ones! 
I took the dress with me today in the car since we went to town to go grocery shopping. While I sat in the car nursing the baby at our last stop, I tried the gown on him so he can model how it looks. The sleeves aren't on yet but so far I'm pretty happy with how it is turning out! The waistline could bit a little higher, but oh well. . .it should fit him for a while, since the breadth is quite adjustable via the drawstring neck and the waistband is loose on him. Here is a good picture of the bodice: 
And, just 'cause he's so darn cute: :)
I plan on finishing it up tonight as we watch a documentary about Lincoln on PBS. What nicer way is there to spend a winter evening? I'm trying to figure out how to do the Vandyked trim that is on the original gown. If I can't figure it out, I have some lovely lace that would look well inserted in the skirt and at the sleeve cuffs, but I'm not sure if a printed gown would have had lace insertion, since all the baby gowns I've seen with insertion are white. Hmm. . .
Does anyone have recommendations for good nursing-friendly blouse patterns? I have the Folkwear Gibson Girl blouse pattern that I was thinking of adapting for nursing by moving the opening to center front instead of center back but other than that, I am not sure what to do. Has anyone used the Beatrix Shirtwaist pattern or the Romantic Blouse pattern from Sense and Sensibility? I'm seriously thinking about getting those, since it seems the variations are quite possibly endless!
So, there is my most inexpensive (as of yet!) gown - approximately $4 or so for the fabric and everything else I already had. I was very disappointed I had to sew it up in white thread. I usually only keep cotton thread on hand and have only white and black since I usually can use either or for most projects I do. I couldn't find my black thread ANYWHERE so I had to use the white. It shows, but, oh well. It works. It is a heavier dress than my others so is definitely fall/winter/early spring wear. I think it will be too warm to wear in the summer.
The one thing that bothers me now is the neckline. On Lizzie's dress she appears to have lace trim around the neckline of her dress. I have some off white cotton lace that would look nice on the neckline of my gown but I'm not sure if lace trim is period correct. Does anyone know? I know for 1860's things lace was most often used on an accessory item like a removable collar or undersleeve cuffs rather than being sewn directly to the garment itself. I honestly have no idea if the same is true for regency era gowns or not.
Life has been pretty quiet since Christmas. I think the end of a year is always a bit sad. So many lovely things happened this year to reflect upon and it seems the months went by ever so fast. We moved to a lovely new home, we were blessed richly with the tiny new wee one that is not yet here, the boys grew and learned so much, bringing so much happiness to the lives of David and I. I can't imagine them any sweeter or more joyful to be around than they are right now!
And I sew. It is something that does not require much physical activity and as I think I may be considered "great with child" presently, I do not feel so guilty not doing as much as I am used to. This afternoon I worked more on the long sleeve regency gown that could, I suppose, be called shockingly pink. It is almost done and I hope to finish it this evening, in time for New Years Eve tomorrow!
I think this is only the second adult sized dress I have ever made completely by hand. I sewed all the seams with the tiniest running stitch I could manage and all the seams are finished by felling on the inside. I was going to try french seams for the sleeves but made felled seams before I remembered I was going to try french. Oh well! The seam finish makes the dress smooth and neat on the inside and only itty bitty indentations in the fabric mark the felled seams on the outside. 
I used one row of gathering stitches then turned under the seam allowance of the back bodice and laid it over the gathering stitches and prick stitched it to the bodice. The rest of the skirt, which fit the bodice smoothly (no gathers) I just sewed right sides together. Once that was finished I bound the seam allowance.
In the front, the bound seam allowance was pressed up and the top edge stitched to the bodice to create a casing for the waist drawstring. The drawstring emerges from the inside of the gown at the side seams and is threaded on each side through fabric loops at the back bodice before being tied to fit at the center back. This makes the gown extremely forgiving in the area of fit, and easy to get on and off.
The skirt is a few inches longer in the back (with the excess length being treated at the waist, rather than the hem). This creates a very elegant silhouette, I think! I just love the trained skirts of the early regency period! This particular one is so slight that it does not in any way impede my movement or household activities.
I didn't have to add any width to the skirt in the front. The little bit of fullness created by the waist drawstring at the front creates plenty of room for my baby bump. It was nice to not have to alter a pattern for pregnancy!
The only thing I did have to alter, actually, was the cup size of the bodice front. After measuring myself and deciding what size to cut, I cut out my regular cup size but found that made the waistline too low. I had to recut it to be a cup size smaller so the waist would hit in the right spot. This was the only alteration I had to do. It is so nice to work with patterns that fit so well and require such little fitting. Sense and Sensibility patterns have always been so nice to work with in my experience!
The most time-consuming and tedious part, so far, was printing out the pages of pattern pieces and taping them together. (not an easy feat when you have two toddlers who very much enjoy the rustly sounds of paper and who very, VERY much enjoy the sounds of tearing paper). 
Since my machine doesn't work right now I'm sewing it all by hand. It is taking me a bit longer to do this than if I had a machine but I am very excited about creating this gown the way it originally would have been put together!
I did make a few changes because I only had a little over 3 yards of this material and the pattern called for more than that. To make my fabric amount work, I had to cut the bodice back so there was a seam up the center back and I had to cut the straps of the bodice seperately instead of in one piece with the bodice front. I think these changes are okay since in Janet Arnold's book she illustrates a few surviving gowns from this same period that have center back seams and seperate shoulder straps. I barely had enough fabric left to cut the skirt long enough but I was able to squeeze out the full length measurement plus a scanty 1" extra for a tiny turned hem at the bottom. 
The dress is interesting to me because it has an inner closure that you fasten before you draw up the drawstrings in the gown. This little inner front bodice is described as smoothing the lines of your stays so they will not show through your gown when you are wearing it. I made this inner lining of heavy green linen since the pattern called for a somewhat stiff, heavy fabric. 
I think next time I make this dress I will alter the shape of the lining pieces so that will fit me better. Right now the lining kind of gapes a bit at the waistline because I am not flat from the raised waist to the high point of the bust. But redrawing the slant of the front edge should cure that, I think. When I wear this dress I will have to pin the lining with more overlap at the bottom edge than at the top but that is something I can live with.
