Sunday, December 29, 2013

HSF Challenge 22: Masquerade or The Empress of India bodice

I ended up filling three challenges almost by accident. It is a widely known fact among my general acquaintance that I have no free weekends in that nebulous time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Aside from the two major holidays, my mother, Mr. G and I attend the Victorian Grand Ball, a friend's longstanding Christmas party, and lastly the Great Dickens Christmas Fair. We have a lot of fun, but it tends to generate a lot of event-specific sewing. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that for once a few challenges actually meshed with the events I needed to sew for.

I had already made a bodice to wear with challenge #14 and challenge #15 at costume college, but I wasn't really satisfied with it. Fortunately I'm the kind of pack-rat that saves every scrap from previous projects and so I had enough of both fabrics to make a new one.

Here's the original bodice:


And here's the remake! 
I call it my Empress of India gown.

Coincidentally the theme of this Victorian Ball was masquerade as well, and so I felt completely justified in draping this bodice in as much lace and trim as I could while still remaining upright. 

I used a bunch of vintage gold trim that I'd found at Costume College and accented it with a few gold ribbon rosettes and a little lace.

The Historical Sew Fortnightly at thedreamstress.com
The Challenge: Masquerade
Fabric:  Silk dupioni
Pattern:  Umm... I've had i for so long, I've completely forgotten
Year: 1880's
Notions: Thread, gold ribbon, lace and vintage gold trim
How historically accurate is it? Machine sewn
Hours to complete: Once again, I wasn't keeping count
First worn: November 30th 
Total cost:  $0

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