Aqua Regency Ensemble

So I promised pictures of at least the new things I made for Costume Con!  The first was probably my favorite outfit of the weekend, especially to wear as it was very comfortable.

I don't have a good picture of the dress alone.  It's a drop front based on the pattern in Janet Arnold.  I am not happy with the sleeves and plan on re-doing them at some point, but with the Spencer, that doesn't show and so doesn't matter too much!  The dress is made from a very lightweight cotton with blue Swiss dots.  I left a train, and I love the way it looks.  I sewed most of this by hand.

The Spencer was made from silk from Sewfisticated.  It has a very fine slub but it doesn't show too much.  I based this on a Spencer that Elizabeth Bennett wears in the 1995 Pride & Prejudice. Most of this was done by machine as I was in a hurry to get it finished.  The bodice is lined with aqua cotton, the sleeves are unlined.  They are in three parts, the long undersleeve, short puffed sleeve and vandyked over sleeve.  The puffed and vandyked sleeve are the same pattern with the bottom cut off the oversleeve.  The raw edges were then turned up and hemed with a small running stitch.  The back and shoulder seams were also top stitched by hand to add to the look.

My accessories were a straw hat or capote based on one that Marianne Dashwood wears in Sense & Sensibility.  The stripe fabric was cut on the bias and gathered to the crown piece and the brim.  I then wrapped a piece of ivory silk ribbon and a piece of blue velvet ribbon over the brim and finished it with a small rosette made from the striped fabric with a covered button in the middle.  The brim was created from a straw hat from Michael's that was partially dissembled and then slightly shaped with water.

The reticule is from the same stripe fabric as the hat.  I made up my own pattern of four diamond shaped pieces sewn together with a drawstring through the top and a small tassel of velvet ribbon on the bottom.  I also wore elbow length leather gloves with it and cream boots.

My hair was super simple to do as I created some little curly hairpieces to go on either side of my face and over a bun of my own hair in the back.  I was inspired by Harriet Smith's hair from the new Emma movie.