Howdy! I've been battling to get my sewing mojo back recently, and thought I would test out a quick n' easy Regency pattern I've had in my stash for some time - Simplicity 4055 . I've made this dress before, once upon a time, and had cut down the neckline of the long-sleeved version significantly. Other anticipated alterations include raising the empire waistline up to the super-high-underbust created by the half stays (which I will share with you shortly, as soon as I get that last bit of binding on the armhole...)
The fabric is a cheap "art silk" sari - the "art" is short for artificial, go figure. It was a whopping $17 from
eBay, and I thought it would be worth a try for that price. When it arrived, my gosh it was orange. Like...ORANGE! I was hoping more for a bold yellow. I tried bleaching a piece of the sari, but no dice, and I just can't come to love the ORANGE! Fair enough, for $17, and the perfect opportunity to test out the pattern.
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| ORANGE! |
So here she is in progress. The Simplicity pattern has a front and back to the skirt, no side gores, and I am not particularly fond of how the skirt falls The stiffness of the woven gold design isn't lending itself to a nicely draped skirt either.
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| Don't be fooled by that nice yellow color - it's ORANGE! |
The bodice is alright so far, so I may go with the bodice, or similar, and draft my own skirt from one of the many diagrams available in books and online, like this one:
Who knows, maybe by the end of this mini-project, I will have learned to love the ORANGE!
