Mid-Victorian Blue Silk Ballgown

Pictures of the latest custom order for an Etsy client, for a lovely lady from merry England who is going to be attending a Victorian Christmas ball!

We had to do a bit of searching to find just the right shade of blue silk taffeta. This was a blue/white shot silk, found on Ebay, actually! But - there were only 5 yards of it, so that caused a bit of a panic for me. 5 yards is *enough* for a ball gown, but it leaves absolutely no room for error, which is a bit terrifying! Especially when working with silk taffeta! But, thankfully, no tragic cutting error occured...

Her inspiration pictures, two cornflower-blue silk ballgowns, one with cream lace.

From the films 'North and South', and 'Our Mutual Friend'.

Detail of the bodice ruching and the cream English netting lace.

Eyelets!

Target years were late1850s-early1860s

Back lacing. (didn't fit my dress form exactly right...but you get the idea.:)

Shown with a flower bouquet pinned at the center front. There are so many colors that could be used to trim this dress, pink, red, white, lavendar, plum.....and they would all look scrumptious. I love being able to change up the trims for a whole new look!

The dress is now on it's way across the ocean, leaving me rather wishing I had an exuse to make a silk ballgown for myself.....*sigh*.

...someday I shall!



Three New Regency Dresses

Three ready to ship historical Regency dresses now in the shop!

Navy blue sheer cotton voile dress, size 6.

Drawstring gathered bodice, with one decorative tuck around the hem.

I love dark-colored sheers, they are so elegant!

This dress was inspired by the navy blue sheer dresses worn by Elinor and Marianne in the Ang Lee 'Sense and Sensibility' film.

A fun orange plaid cotton apron-front dress, with a sweetheart neckline detail, size 14-16.

I love the summery feel of this dress, I think it would be perfect with a lovely straw bonnet and a light shawl, at a Jane Austen themed picnic perhaps?

Spring-green cotton lawn dress in a lightly gathered bodice style, and half sleeves. Both skirt and sleeves are decorated with two rows of tucks!

Size 10-12

I love tucks!

More Regency dresses will be coming soon to Bonny Blue Arts on Etsy!

Historical Dream Wardrobe

...or "What I Would Have Worn"....



I have been gleaning a lot of inspiration from my Pinterest files lately. There are just so many images of breathtaking original historical garments floating around in cyberspace - it's wonderful to just look and dream! Sometimes certain items will jump out at me as something that I *know* would have aboslutely been in "my" wardrobe if I had lived in a certain time period of the past.....(don't you ever get that feeling??) So, these are the items I have laid claim to, organized by era. Enjoy!

18th Century...

Perfectly charming jacket, sash, and scarf ensemble

My favorite colors - and with bows!

Regency...

1790s, rose silk day dress

1810, Ball gown in bright yellow? - Yes.

1820, perfect walking dress

1820s -Everyone needs at least one crazy spencer jacket, right?

1820s-30s A day out shopping...I love the eccentric hat!

Victorian...

1830s soft summertime dress

1830s ruffled wrapper

1840 silk dinner dress

1840s yellow tucked sheer

1850s brown and blue. I adore this one especially!

1850s-60 wrapper. The colors are best!

Corded cotton bonnet for outdoor work

Ball gowns! 1850s-60s

Swiss waist and attached bows and sash.

This I plan to make to accessorize my next ballgown...

White sheer summer dress, accented with blue silk. Perfect in every way.

Edwardian...

I love ridiculously frilly dresses, and this defines it - 1890s.

1905 cook's dress and apron

(yes,I think I could do some very inspired baking in this outfit....)

Sweater, 1905. So feminine and sporty!

1900s, gold and yellow Worth evening gown

1910 French silk petticoat

 

1910 evening dresses

1930s-40s...

1930s cotton polka dot!

1930s flowy red stripes

1942 plaid heels......:) 

Do you have any speical historical favorites? Ones that you want to create, or just like to dream about? Please share!

To see more finds, check out my Pinterest account!

Jane Austen Convention - Part 4

Our last full day at the Jane Austen convention! We were busy busy, as you can tell from the above picture!

In the morning, we decided to model some of our items for a while - Rebecca is sporting a darling brown linen apron, a la Molly Gibson, and below I am wearing a printed half-robe.

About 3 in the afternoon we had a very long lull - and complete silence, as all of the attendees were in the grand ballroom to hear a talk given by the famous screenwriter, Andrew Davies!

After that was over, the most exciting thing of the entire weekend happened! The BBC film crew came into our room, and got set up for filming the tea booth! Rebecca and I were so excited to see the cameras 'in action'! Then, while that was going on, one of the crew members came over to our table and asked 'did we mind if they came over and did a bit of filming at our booth afterward'?

 Of course we didn't mind at all! We couldn't believe it! We were booth in such a state - kicking each other under the table we were so excited, and frantically tidying up our booth!

Basically the lady just interviewed us a bit and asked questions about what we were selling, and the different types of dresses.

It felt so strange to be surrounded by cameras and British-speaking people! Too much fun!

At the end of the interview, the lady even bought one of our children's dresses for her little girl!

Apparently the filming at the convention may be part of a Jane Austen documentary airing on BBC in December. I doubt our bit of filming will make the final cut - but it was great just getting the experience! Something we will certainly never forget!

The last day, as we were packing up we got a glimpse of Mrs. and Mrs. Edward Ferrars, Colonel Brandon and Marrianne as they were making their way to the Grand Ballroom for the long-anticipated wedding!

We thought it made a fitting end to a lovely week, full of memories!