In may I heard that “Romantic Recollection” Started a Regency challenge where you were to make something from the Regency period and then embellish it with some kind of embroidery during the course of may-June.

And as I’m always up for challenges and reasons to try new things I decided to join.

After some thoughts I decided to push myself to make a dess i’ve been thinking about for quite some time but never goten round to make.

The 1800s Apron/dropfront daydress from the Snowhill Manor Collection and Janet Arnolds “Pattern of Fashion” (thats also where this dress got its name).  love the detailed drawings of it’s construction and the enlarged detail of the fabric pattern made me think of something I my stash. Remember this fabric?I’ts what I used for my 1825s Biedemier ball gown

You might aslo recall my disappointment when discovering the back of the bedsheet was white instead of purple.Something that turned out just perfect for this dress 😀

After carefully cutting the les then 2 m of fabric, I started by stitching the pin-tucks on the front flap. 

Then I assembled the bodice and stitched it to the skirt. With the front down.

Then I stitched together the sleeves and added them to the dress.  lastly I made and attached strips of fabric for tying and a small pad for the back to hold out the skirt

The finished dress:   

Just the facts:

Challenge: Romantic Recollections “Regency summer challenge”

What: a 1798 – 1800s Regency dress

Pattern: I used a mixture of “Simplicity …” and my own draft based on Arnolds pattern diagram för the Snowhill Manor daydress.

Fabric & notions: 1/5 a beedsheet, 0.5 m white cotton and thread.

How historical accurate: Pretty good. The print’s not period but the fabric and the look of it is good, and even though it made mostly by machine all the finishing are made by hand. So maybe 8/10.

Time & cost: About 10 hours and 100 Sek (10 Usd)

Final thoughts: I really like this dress  and it makes me quite happy. The only thing I would change is to fix the front slits which now stands away a little from the body.