Le Duchesse II

This dress is also made of curtains- the fabric used to surround my 4 poster bed. Luckily I had a couple panels left over and was able to make a new underskirt and use the original skirt to create a polonaise. That was easy. The hard part was making some trim for the sleeves. I absolutely love the trim around the neckline- thing is I didn't have any more of the mocha and black trim that went down the center. I'd found one measly yard of it in a craft store in Vancouver and there was no way I was going to find anymore of it. I also didn't have any success in rummaging through my lace bin for something suitable for an engageant sleeve finish. I spent a couple hours tea dyeing a couple possibilities when I rememebered a skirt I had made with a rose and gold colored lace. I managed to find it and it just so happened to be mounted on a chiffon that was exactly the same color as the ribbon I couldn't get my hands on. Double success!

I hand stitched the lace, ribbon and fringed trim around the sleeve edge and finished it with a little bow.

I made the corset a couple years ago. It's made of a burgundy silk with a black cotton lining. I stitched bone casings just under 1/4". I picked up a sheaf of 2mm wooden rods and used them instead of some other type of boning. They were free and have just enough give to curve nicely around the body. I punched in standard black metal eyelets, and then buttonhole stitched around them for extra stability.



The next layer I added was my hiproll and a very mangled pair of panniers, and then 2 more petticoats.

Then came the underskirt and overskirt- which can be left loosely "bustled" or into a fuller polonaise.

Add on the bodice and a pretty little waist sash with a circular rhinestone brooch and your set. If only I lived in Bath...

 Comparison of the original trim on the neckline and the new last minute sleeve trim. Had I used black thread to stitch down the new trim it would have been even closer...The red strings get tucked into the bodice when worn. They run through the trim and can be pulled in to help the neckline hug the decolete.

I had to split the back seam to get the bodice done up. I really need to figure out a human sized "squishable" bustform. a pointy bust does nothing for historical costuming...