1830s Reproduction Red Ball Dress
Reproduction 1830s red silk evening dress made for Le Bal des Vampires, November 2018.
Worn at Winter Dreams Ball, February 2019.
Red Ball Dress
Red silk shot black evening dress has hidden side pockets, beret sleeves with netting, self fabric piping, gathered front overlay, back eyelet and lacing closure.
Pattern: Truly Victorian #455 using their sizing methods. Bodice size F back, size E front, E/F armhole.
Shortened bodice 1.5"
Finished measurements:
Bust:
Waist:
Buckle slide from EnsemblesOfThePast Etsy shop.
Belt
Gold plate over brass reproduction belt buckle with ribbon belt.
Buckle purchased from EnsemblesOfthePast on Etsy.
Petticoat
Wore faux quilted petticoat underneath.
Posts
[20181104] Finally, back to my famed fast sewing speed! Heh. Decided I really did want a new dress after all. Started cutting in the morning and had a wearable dress in the evening. Some shortcuts were taken like machine sewing almost everything including machine hemming and very little ironing done. Used the bodice pattern from the latest day dress mock up. Didn't have time to hand sew eyelets so fraychecked the top layer and then punched through with a grommeter (but didn't put in grommets) and laced the back. ...
Fixes for the dress include:
- hand sewing eyelets
- increasing the sleeve band
- increasing the armscye - this seems painful since the seam allowance was already trimmed off.
- adding a lining to the sleeve to buffer the itchy netting and/or replace netting with silk or cotton organdy
- tacking the gathers in the folds to the bodice in places so that they gathered bits don't try to become one large gather
- add a lozenge to the front
Completed: November 2018 first wearing approx 9 hours