Evenstar Designs

I call it a "faux polonaise" because it was a mistake... the kind of mistake you make when you try to hand sew a gown by yourself in about four days. I only had 2.5 yards of the fabric which we figured was enough to make a short gown. But while a was burning the midnight oil, I forgot that tiny detail, and cut the skirt full length. This meant that the skirt would be awkwardly narrow. So I decided I could disguise the lack of fullness by decorating it in the 1780s style and pretending it was a polonaise with out the "polonaised" skirt. It worked well enough. It was so much fun to fit the gown to a real person instead of a dress form! I spent hours hand hemming and gathering white trim, but I love the way it looked! It's also really fun to sew outside when the weather is nice! And here she is wearing it in Williamsburg with a neckerchief: Not my best work, but she wore it well, and I think the ruffles are darling! 

March 31st ~ We began the day with a pleasant walk in the Governor's garden. I made my dad a blue suit for the occasion! But he needed to wear a sling because of recent shoulder surgery, so we used an unwanted neckercheif to make a sling.  Next we participated in the activity "Storming the Palace". We discovered that last night our gunpowder had been taking by the Governor! Dreadful! Us girls had fun talking with the guests before the program started. We were trying to get the visitors into the act, but they didn't respond the right way... :) We were later told that Captain Innes was watching what we were doing.  We talked with the interpreters a great deal after. The man who portrays Captain Innes was a different character today, and he was telling us what a crazy man Captain Innes is, and how he doesn't like him. ;) We had to try really hard not to laugh! We started something new today. We each brought t-shirts and had the interpret...

I have this really bad habit of beginning a project before I finish the one that I've already started... then when I get frustrated with one project, I can put in on hold and work on an other. I was tired of working on my a l' anglaise, and was inspired by a possible trip to Colonial Williamsburg this fall (!!!!!), plus I had this adorable bed sheet just sitting in the craft room waiting to be turned into a dress... enter the Flowered Polonaise! I started with the back lining... then the front lining...  I pinned the back and front lining onto my dress form...  and pinned them together... then I put on the fabric front and back... then added a sleeve and pleated the skirt (which is not attached yet). The right shoulder The skirt is attached and both sleeves are done. Next came the fun part: Poof-ing the skirt! I added a bum roll for extra puffy-ness! And the front! Now I just need to add the trim, ...

Okay, Now it's truly done. Here are some updated pictures of my  completely finished, red robe a la polonaise. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Almost done! When it snowed this morning, I just had to take some pictures outside.  I made the dress using a pattern I got from Colonial Williamsburg. I modified the front to accommodate front lacing, which of corse drove me crazy trying to get it to fit right. Fortunately, I had enough fabric to make the bodice twice:)