To all who mourn in Israel, He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory. Isaiah 61:3

Monday, July 10, 2017

1914 "Antique Dress" Reproduction!!


*Warning* Photo Heavy Post!!


Good  Monday to you all!!  I hope that you had a wonderful month of June!  I do apologize for my absence, but the relief I thought would come after the Anniversary party didn't, in fact the anxiety got worse, along with other symptoms that I had been having but are now stronger.  We have discovered that I have adrenal fatigue (sorry Facebook friends if you are reading this again!!) and so I'm taking steps to correct my wacked out stress hormones and attempting to heal myself!  I have put off posting about my Silver Anniversary dress because the thought of taking photos of the dress, editing them and the writing about it caused me no amount of stress.  I really enjoy writing about my dresses and love editing the photos and doing my research and many times a post takes about 1-2 hours.  Well, right now, that is just so overwhelming.  But yesterday I felt good enough to take the pictures and edit them and today feels like a good day to blog about it!  So here we are!

Long ago when Mom and I started planning for our Silver and Gold Wedding Anniversary party, I knew exactly what dress I wanted to recreate!  This magnificent beauty from Antique Dress!!  I seem to have an affinity for this website and their fabulous dresses!! (Remember my 1898 Wedding Ensemble?) The combination of silk satin, gossamer lace, copious quantities of waxed orange blossoms!!  My mouth watered and my eyes dilated just looking at her!

I had originally planned on making it out of silk satin and some lovely lace I found on eBay from China, but family issues, the hard time Colton was having with school along with his depression, mixed with my own personal health/anxiety issues caused me to put this lovely dress recreation on the waaaaaay back burner and relegate it to the "maybe some day" file on the computer.  

Well....the closer it got to the party date, the more excited I got about making the dress and even though I had my 1898 wedding dress, I wanted something special just for this special day.  Then happiness occurred and Greg said he needed to go out of town for a job and was taking Colton with him!!!  I don't like it when my Greg is away from me, but this time I was, "Yes!!  I can sew literally ALL DAY and not have to worry about what I'd cook for dinner or putting make up on or leaving the house for anything!!!!"  I didn't have the time or money to order silk satin so off to the local stores I went. I ended up making it out of a really nice weight poly satin from Hobby Lobby and lace and wonderfully soft, drapey, veil tulle from JoAnn's bridal collection!  

Cody works so he was gone from the house 8:20-6:30, so I quite literally sewed non stop, breaking only for food and the powder room.  In the evenings, Cody and I went out which was fun as we seldom have time alone, so those Mama/19 year old son times were so sweet!  Greg and Colton were supposed to be gone Wednesday night until Monday or Tuesday evening...5-6 whole days to knock out this surprise dress for the party!  Well, Sunday afternoon, Rosie Dog started barking furiously and I look out the window and there is Greg's pick-up and trailer!  I bounded out of the house, I was so happy that he was home!  Gone was my 1-2 extra days of non-stop sewing, but I didn't care cause my love was back home!  In all actuality, it was foolish of me to think I could get the dress completed in that time because 90% of the making of it consisted of draping the lace and soft tulle.  The dress took me waaaaay longer that I had originally thought...over 110 hours!! In the end, the crazy press to complete it and all the hours was totally worth it to see the look on my Greg's face!!!

I eventually want to add orange blossom vines to the front of the dress and over the shoulder, but I need to locate more original blossoms.  I am also going to be making a new suite of underwear to go under it.  The sheerness of the tulle at the shoulders kept me from wearing my already made princess petticoat and corset cover, so new undies are in the planning stage!!


Fabrics Used: 

Poly Satin from Hobby Lobby
Soft poly veil tulle from JoAnn's Bridal Collection
Lace from JoAnn's Bridal Collection

Patterns Used:

Dress Base: Laughing Moon #104 greatly modified
Over draping: all tulle and lace draping was draped by me...that took the longest time!!


Following are images of my dress followed by the original.  At the bottom are "action" pics of me wearing it at the party.  I did a lot of editing as any shade of white on a sunny day photos horribly!!!

Again, photos of the original dress, courtesy of  Antique Dress


Here she is!!!



















Action Shots!!











I hope you have a lovely week dear readers and friends!!  I am off to watch Austenland and contemplate future bridal dresses that need to be made by September!!

Blessings!

g


22 comments:

  1. OMG even your hair is perfect! You are amazing <3

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    1. Thank you Lara! I was really nervous about my hair, but the day of the party, it actually cooperated! I was shocked!!
      Blessings!
      g

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  2. Wow! Just . . . wow! The dress looked beautiful in the original images you posted of your party, but it's only seeing it close up that I can really appreciate the detail. Just adding that satin edge to the tulle layer would have driven me to distraction!

    It is absolutely beautiful, and seeing the photographs next to the inspiration images really emphasizes the amazing job you've done.

    I'm surprised it was 'only' 110 hours! I hope you're very proud of yourself - you should be.

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    1. Thank you so much BT!! Yes, that satin edging did drive me to just about insanity. I kept thinking while I was sewing it on "Why am I doing this!!!????" But it did work out and actually hangs correctly! It was quite the project and I was just thrilled when it was complete!
      Blessings!
      g

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  3. Your dress is so beautiful! I sympathize with you about your adrenal fatigue! I'm recovering from that currently as well. You have my prayers! I absolutely love your dress, you did a simply smashing job on it!!!

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    1. Oh Richard, I am so sorry that you had to endure this stupid syndrome!!! It is just no fun at all!! Thank you for your prayers and I'll be praying for you!
      Blessings!
      g

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  4. I've said it before and I'll say it again; you are a Super Star Costumer. Bravo, Gina! PS Always include me in your email list when you consider parting with one of your creations.

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    1. Thank you so much sweet AM!!! You are a costuming super star as well!! I will put you on the email list... ;-)
      Blessings!
      g

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  5. Wow - just wow! What an amazing job you've done on that dress! Congratulations on your anniversary too :) We are hitting the 20 year mark in one month.

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    1. Thank you so much Kathy for both the compliment on my dress and the congratulations! And Happy Anniversary next month to you!
      Blessings!
      g

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  6. The dress could not be more beautiful.

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    1. Thank you so much for the lovely compliment Nancy!!
      Blessings!
      g

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  7. You are nuts, Gina.....to attempt this AND to get it to turn out so wonderful! I usually think the originals are always prettier than any repro, but in this case I love yours BETTER. That lace, and that satin bias edge on the tulle.....oh my. And draping...goodness, someday I'll grow up and be like you! Hee hee! Loved seeing these photos, and what a cherished memory you have with this dress.

    Now, don't just "have a happy day, but MAKE it a happy day!" (Advice from a 98-yr-old gentleman farmer/professor/Swedish immigrant I used to help care for. Well, the only help he needed was to put his socks on and off, literally! I want to be like him too if I ever get to be 98.)

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    1. Hahahaha!!! Best compliment ever Sarah! Yaaaaa, I do often times consider myself nuts! And thank you for the wonderful compliment on my dress! I am quite happy with how it turned out! The draping was just shooting from my hip and I don't do it very well most of the time...So there is a happiness there!
      Love the advice from your 98 year old gentleman! He sounds like he was quite the awesome man!
      Blessings!
      g

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  8. Absolutely perfect! BTW, where did you find the fabric for the skirt's sheer embroidered overlay? Thanks! and thanks for posting!

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    1. Thank you so much Linda!! I found the lace at JoAnn Fabrics in their bridal section!
      Blessings!
      g

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  9. Oh my gosh! This is spectacular!! I just love how closely it copies the original! What a beautiful gown. I'm loving all the details! Beautiful, beautiful sewing!

    Caroline

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    1. Thank you so very much Caroline!! My only regret with the dress is that it wasn't as dark as the original and that I didn't have all the waxed orange blossoms that the original did, but other than that, I'm very thrilled with how it turned out!
      Blessings!
      g

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  10. I am so in love with this dress! Particularly the lace you used... *swoon* Do you happen to remember what JoAnn's lace was called? I'd love to find myself some of that, as JoAnn's tends to be more in my price range than a lot of the other (beautiful!) lace sources out there...

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    1. Thank you so much for your lovely compliment Miss Dashwood!! And I totally know what you're talking about when it comes to lace pricing!! Eek! I don't remember the name of the lace and I'm not near a JoAnn's store at present, but it's the only lace with a definite scalp, the outside of the scallops had eyelash stitching, which I cut off of mine, and the only lace with sweet little small groups of the flowers spread throughout the upper part of the tulling. I hope that helps! It didn't look anything like any of the others there in the bridal section....
      Blessings!
      g

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  11. Hey Gina! I don't know if you read The Dreamstress's blog, but this weeks Rate the Dress reminds me of the ruched hostess dress you made, and thought you might enjoy weighing in! :)

    http://thedreamstress.com/2017/08/rate-the-dress-aubergine-aestheticism-ca-1880/

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    1. Oh yes! I am so sorry that I haven't responded...there has been so much crazy happening as of late. I did check that dress out and it is one of my favorites! I'll have to go back and see about commenting! Thank you for bringing it to my attention!
      Blessings!
      g

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