Upcoming: Day dress

Upcoming Project:Civil War Day dress

I should take a moment to define what I mean when I say "upcoming" versus "future" project. Upcoming means that I have the pattern in my house, and could start any day now. "Future" means I'm playing around with the idea of making an outfit someday, but no actual steps towards making one have been made.

I actually do have this dress, and since the undergarments are all completed, it's a project I've been looking at starting. The only thing that's stopping me on this one is that it takes a ridiculous amount of fabric - 24 yards to be precise!! (17 yards for the dress, 7 yards for trim). Even if I made this dress out of cotton, that would really set me back a bit. And of course, I would rather have a silk day dress.

I'm considering ways to fix this problem - I've thought about not sewing the three tiers of flounces. They're all sewn to a base skirt. The only catch is I'm not sure how full the skirt is. Another option is that I could order a different skirt pattern, and then just make the bodice.

The other problem is that anytime you wear this outfit to a historical event, you're almost guaranteed to find several cookie cutter dresses there (this pattern has been a huge success...and it's also very recognizable). But, oh well. I fell in love with this pattern, and have been dying to make it. In fact, this is the very first historical pattern I ever bought.

Above, I've attached a fashion plate from the 1860's of two dresses I think are very nice. I might use the color combination for a bit of inspiration.