I have, once again, been long absent from this blog and from sewing. I moved rather suddenly in August (like toured one day and moved in two weeks later) and it took me a while to get settled in and get a table for my workspace.
I was not to be deterred, though. One evening in September I decided I desperately needed a "quick" little hand sewing project, so I dug out the fabric I used for my Regency bonnet and embroidered reticule and the lining pattern I used for my white dress and got cutting.
I had one center back panel and two front pieces with bust darts. The center back panel was also cut out from a perfectly-sized scrap of muslin to act as a lining. I sewed up the bust darts first, then moved on to the shoulder seams and... promptly sewed the wrong piece to the back panel. Oops! That got unpicked and I sewed the side seams correctly, and then the shoulder seams again. I layered the center back lining over the inside of the back and sandwiched all the seam allowances I could in between the layers.
It wasn't until that was all finished that I finally tried the bodice on over my Regency stays and white dress. Thankfully it fit well - which was to be expected since I had used the same pattern as I used for the lining of my white dress - so it was time to start making decisions about closures and necklines and trims.
Yeah, I hadn't made any decisions about what it would look like until this point. Not usually how I go into a project.
I decided to go for a lace-up front with ribbon trim like in this extant garment. There aren't many examples of lace-up bodices in the Regency era, but I really like the bodice in this painting.
I started by folding back the generous front overlap to provide a panel for the lacing and room for a bone to stabilize the lacing (though I doubt the Comtesse's bodice has any boning) while leaving room for a gap at the center front. This was sewn down using a prick stitch along the edge of the bone casing and the lacing panel.
With that set, I started on the hem. The lower edges (besides the center back panel, whose seams were already contained) were turned up twice and whip-stitched down. The armscyes got the same treatment.
Then I got all dressed up again to decide on the neckline. Like in the Comtesse's portrait, I wanted the dress' neckline to show above the bodice, so I trimmed it down starting at the top of the shoulder and scooping it so there would be a little over an inch above the bodice after I finished the neckline edge.
The neckline was finished the same way as the hem and arm scyes. In order to make my work easier around the curves and odd fabric grains, I folded the edge in once and basted it, then used that edge to guide the second turning-in.
With construction done, I could turn my mind to trims again. I ordered 5yds of half-inch wide white ribbon to trim the neckline and hem like on the extant bodice I linked above and I had some white satin cording that I had braided and tassels to attach to the ends.
But then I got to thinking about doing some embroidery to better match my light blue reticule - maybe a simple little basque stitch around the neckline and the back panel seams. And maybe the white lacing cord would blend in too much with the white dress beneath.
So the project was once again put aside for a bit.
Eventually, I decided that I wanted the bodice done sooner rather than later, so ribbon trim it would be!
It looks, in the photos of the extant garment, like the ribbon was just gathered across the width and tacked down, with enough ribbon between the tacking points to make a little puff. I spaced mine out so that the gathering was spaced out about an inch on the ribbon, and the gathered parts were tacked down roughly 7/8ths of an inch apart on the neckline. I did fudge some areas to get the trim to be roughly symmetrical, but those were my starting measurements.
Then, for reasons I no longer remember (because this happened early in November, and now it is almost the end of the month), I decided not to add ribbon to the waistline of the bodice. Instead, I jumped straight to the lacing.
I wasn't able to find a matching blue cord, and the white cording I have is too big for the holes, so I decided to use most of the rest of the white silk ribbon to lace the bodice closed.
The ends looked a little sad, though, so I attached white tassels to the ends. This means that I can't get the ends of the ribbon through the lacing holes, so I had to make sure the ribbon I used was long enough that I could get the bodice on and off.
The white ribbon lacing over a white gown doesn't contrast very well, so I'm considering this a temporary measure. I'm also worried about the tassels being too heavy for such delicate ribbon and the possibility of them tearing off. A better, more permanent solution will probably be to make some self-fabric rouleaux to use as lacing. I certainly have enough fabric left. (Maybe I should cover a pair of flats to be dance slippers?)
Until I actually make the self-rouleaux cord, though, this little bodice is done!
I really like how it turned out (except for the lacing ribbon)! I was worried the ribbon trim would be too frilly for my tastes, but it's actually fairly subtle and I think the scale/size is just right too.
Hope you're all safe as the year comes to a close.
Stay warm. Stay safe. Stay healthy.
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