A Handsewn Little White Regency Dress

I finished this dress and wore it to a ball!

I posted some of the progress here. After that post, it was just finishing up the hem and wearing it!

I didn't anticipate getting the best photos at the ball, so I took some afterward when I got home. Probably should have made time to do photos first because the light was bad and I was tired. Alas!

Yes, I realize I am in front of a bunch of Terry Pratchett novels, not the most period setting, but whatever, it's what I've got! If you squint it looks historic!

I wore this dress over a linen shift, my regency stays (from the Laughing Moon pattern), and a bodiced petticoat with tucks at the hem.

I accessorized with gold-tone earrings, a necklace of rose quartz beads, white cotton gloves, a red paisley shawl, and red flat shoes (just barely visible in the first picture).

Being dramatic. You can giggle; I did.

The hair was pretty simple. I mostly-followed this tutorial at The Fashionable Past and made this hairpiece.

I put my own hair into the simplest possible bun, then wrapped the hairpiece around.

I liked the hair okay, but my forehead felt pretty big and obvious. In retrospect I could've worn the braided hairpiece lower on my forehead, or made a few curled bangs in the middle.

A few details:

I used the pattern from Janet Arnold and handsewed this dress completely. It's white cotton dotted Swiss, with the bodice lined in linen. It is made in drop-front style and closes with pins.

The back (outside) with the ties visible.

The little pad at the inside back. The effect is subtle, but if you look at the standing profile view above you can see how it fills out the upper back skirt and prevents it from collapsing into the small of the back.

The drop-front. I did try to take some "how to get dressed in the drop-front dress" pictures but they came out a little immodest for sharing on the internet! So here is a rough idea on the hanger.

The linen flaps that pin across the CF underneath the drop-front.

One side of the drop-front "bib" pinned in place on the shoulder strap, lifting the other.

The drop-front "bib" lifted and pinned into place on both sides.

You can see a little more of the construction in my progress post.

Plus here are a couple from the ball! I ran up to the balcony to take a quick pic of one of the dances, while it was being taught.

My husband wore his wool late 18th c suit. I didn't bother making him a regency suit because I love this one on him (and I don't think regency would really suit him anyway). And late 18th century is close enough!!

And of course, the dessert table!

Final thoughts: I'm still not the biggest fan of wearing white, but I liked this dress. It was fun to make and wear, and the little white dress seems such a classic example of regency era fashion. I look forward to wearing it again.

Year of Mittens: March

For March I made the second mitten from the pair I began in January.

I was pretty pleased with how this pair turned out. The yarn is Knit Picks Palette fingering weight wool, which is the smallest yarn I've made mittens with so far, and the smallest yarn I've done stranded colorwork with too.

The pattern is Mittens to Order, a free Ravelry download. I adjusted the pattern to add length, both because my row gauge was short and because the math seemed to be a little off in the pattern. This involved adding more pattern repeats to the chart; when I got to the last row of a main motif, I went back down the chart a few rows and started again. I also lengthened the thumb gusset and the thumb itself.

The first mitten I knitted (right hand) fitted very well! My mods worked and it was a smooth, perfect fit, just snug enough. But the second mitten came out much smaller!

This was very frustrating as I was so careful about measuring and keeping notes. I have never had a gauge so irregular, so I have to believe I just wrote down the wrong needle size. I must have knitted the first one on a US 3 and the second on a US 2.5.

Blocking helped a little but there's really no changing the size difference. The left one is slightly small for me, but not too small to wear. I still like them!

They are VERY thin, though, from being made with such lightweight yarn. I do love the intricate designs you can make with finer yarns, but I think for future mittens I might stick with sport and worsted.

My Ravelry project is here.