Today’s topic falls under the subject of outfit planning. Out of the seemingly infinite varieties of fabrics, trims, styles and ideas floating around out there, how do you decide what to make? There are several ways to approach this. This outfit is a great example of:
Start with the Most Difficult to Find Element
Sometimes you find an element of an outfit that is just to awesome to pass up. It’s rare. It’s unusual. It’s the perfect color. You never thought you would find it! Don’t pass it up! Buy The Thing and built an outfit around it. It could be anything: a piece of jewelry, fabric, shoes, any element of the ensemble really. It’s The Thing that often makes an outfit, and it is much more difficult to find The Thing to go with it, when the outfit is already made.
The Thing: This journey began with amazing necklace I bought from Dames a la Mode:
This unusual blue/green color is one of the best colors for me, and I was so excited to find this necklace! I have worn it a lot with modern outfits, but as I soon realized, I didn’t have any 18th century gowns that match this, or even look good with it.
So I went through the fabric stash and found a yardage of striped silk taffeta I bought on eBay some years ago. It is a balanced stripe (meaning the stripe patterns are symmetrical) with a lighter shade of the same odd blue/green color, a yellowish gold, cream, and a narrow dark red stripe:
I only had 5 yards of it! I believe it was leftover from someone’s expensive home décor project, as it only had a salvage on one side. It must have been quite wide in its native state as it was still a healthy 48 inches wide. I knew I had enough for a gown (just barely) but not enough for a petticoat. So I had a choice – make a round gown or an open robe that would always be worn with a solid color petticoat. I chose the open robe. The fabric looks very nice with off white and I have some quilted silk in the dark red color that should also look nice with it. I still hope to find some yellow/gold that matches and make another petticoat. I think it is pretty near impossible to find this shade of blue green in a solid taffeta. I tried several samples I had on hand and none of them were even close.
Nevertheless, here is the primary image that is the inspiration for this dress:
I also have a pair of dark red shoes from American Duchess that I think will look wonderful with this fabric:
I already have the JP Ryan English Nightgown pattern fitted to myself, so I can cut this dress out and be sure it will fit me.
The pattern comes with two sleeve options and I am using the longer sleeve that has an optional cuff. Instead of using a cuff, I will put pinked trim on in two rows to create a faux cuff, like this:
As I cut the bodice on the bias to achieve the V shaped stripes on the center front, I adjusted the pattern to have no overlap in the front. I used hook and eye tape to close, as this fabric leaves very bad pin marks! I will cover the seams from the closure insertion with pinked trim.
Front 
Front Closure
To save fabric, I faced the hem with bias tape:
And here is a photo of the pleating on the back. There are a few pin holes, but I know of no way to do an en fourreau back without using pins!
