1910s tea gown Pattern: Sense & Sensibility's 1910s Tea Gown Fabric: silk georgette (dusky rose overskirt & bodice; ivory underskirt & bodice inset), polyester "sheer" (light pink overskirt, sash, and rosette), polyester lining, lace trim. Construction Notes: The skirt has four layers -- a lining, an underskirt, and two overskirts. The bodice has kimono-style sleeves, two bust darts, and the whole thing zips up the back. The pattern is actually very simple, but it is made difficult by the delicate fabrics that are recommended. Miscellaneous Ramblings: Whew! What a project. This dress was completed for my long-time friend Emily (who has been living with us for the past 2.5 years as she goes to college) to wear to her senior lecture/recital on November 5. A month previously, while her family was in town, Emily and her mother consulted as to possible dress options for her recital. Emily was not happy with the pattern her mom had brought, nor was she excited about a store-bought dress (and having seen the styles available lately, who can blame her?!). I suggested that she wear a style from the 1910s, and showed her the patterns on the Sense & Sensibility website. Emily liked the styles and we chose the tea gown as being more appropriate for an autumn recital. Emily's mother, having a lot on her plate, asked me if I might be willing to sew the gown for Emily. Of course I said YES!! I was going to Denver the following weekend, so I arranged to stop at Denver Fabrics to buy the fabrics. Emily had specified a "dusky rose" color as her #1 choice. As the summer season had ended, the silks were a bit picked over, but my mom found two remnants of the dusky rose georgette on the remnant rack, and we settled on the light pink polyester "sheer" (whatever that means) to go with it -- not an ideal choice, because it does not drape as beautifully, but I had to make do. I also picked up the ivory lining, ivory georgette, and the lace for the bodice inset. We returned home on October 12, and I was able to get started right away. It took me about two weeks of off-and-on sewing to get the dress assembled -- then the finishing details started bogging me down! Hemming the dress was definitely the biggest pain. It was extremely difficult to measure the hemline of the silk correctly, and I did not have much room for error. I bought a rolled-hem foot for my machine, which was helpful on the vertical edges of the overskirts, but I'm not sure how much good it did me on the horizontal hems!! Thankfully, my lovely mother was there all throughout the project to hold my hand. :) She gave me quite a bit of help and encouragement in the last week when all of the finishing details were getting me down!! The finished result was worth the work -- Emily looked so beautiful, feminine, and graceful while she played the piano in her lovely, old-fashioned gown! (For those who are interested, she played pieces by J. S. Bach, Debussy, Ravel, and Poulenc -- and gave an informative lecture on them, besides!) Emily and I are the exact same size, so I was tempted to steal the dress back afterwards. :) But, hopefully she will get a chance to wear it again!! back