The Secret Dreamworld of a Jane Austen Fan

I promised you I would post pictures of my new dress here soon. Well, now I will.

After I finally decided that I am going to the Jane Austen Festival later this year, I realized that I really should finish my dress before then, as I would need it. And I can tell you, just the fact that I really needed a Regency dress, was motivating enough to get me to actually finish it!

I made the dress using the same pattern I have used for my previous ones, this one. I did make some slight changes to it though. I did a ‘fan gathering’ for the bodice, having been inspired by one of Elizabeth Bennet’s beautiful dresses in the BBC series And then I used box-pleats for the sleeves, I liked the effect of that. I also made the sleeves with detachable undersleeves, which makes it two dresses in one in a way. Really neat!

The fabric I used was a cotton (and a little bit of linnen I think) fabric that I picked out at a store clearance several years ago. The fabric just looked like it had Regency dress written all over it! It seemed perfect in my opinion! So I got it with the plan to soon cut it out and put it together again, though this time in the shape of a dress. But it wasn’t until a couple of years later that I actually did it. Wonder why…

All right, enough talking now and on to the pictures!
These photos were taken by our German friend Gabi, who is an amazing photographer (check out her website at www.5reicherts.com for some examples of the breathtaking pictures she takes)! She and her family have been staying with us for some days now on their journey south from northern Norway where they have been for a couple of months taking photos. And as I had just completed this dress I asked if she would take some pictures for me. Which she very kindly did.

So, without further ado….

And then, you just undo a few buttons and jut like that; you have another dress!

And then this one which Gabi worked some on to make it look like a portrait. Isn’t it cool?!

And then I just want to show you some details (by the way, I took this picture, that’s why it’s not so good…): the buttons that I am very proud of, and the fabric. You can see some of the embroidered flower details on the fabric here.