I barely had time to make a first draft of my sewing Kanban for 2018 when my life was completely blown apart.  My 19 year old son, Henry Campbell, was killed in an accident on March 24, 2018.  I have not sewn anything for two months, but now that I am at the very beginning stages of adjustment, I am planning to wear mourning for costume events for at least the rest of this year.

This reminds me of a few years back when several prominent costume bloggers did posts about what was going on in their lives at the time costume photo shoots were done to show they are human and have the same struggles as everyone else.  This would qualify as my belated entry.

I do not have the option of skipping out on costuming – we have music gigs booked and the show must go on.  The first few gigs I wore either my dark blue silk gown with black accessories or my white chemise a la reine with black accessories, but I wanted to do a black gown.  Most of our events are late 18th century so I decided a black chemise a la reine would be a good choice.  Several years ago I ordered what I thought was dark blue cotton voile and when it came it was black, but it was so nice I didn’t return it.  Funny how life works.  This fabric will now become my mourning chemise a la reine.

First, inspirational photos.  I spent many hours pinning 18th century mourning things on Pinterest.  It was not as developed then as it was in the 19th century with the black crepe wearing for long periods of time.  In the 18th century it was more wearing somber colors with some black accessories or black with white accessories, and sometimes lilac or mauve which are considered second mourning colors.

The next two examples are not chemise gowns but do show how a black gown can be accessorized with white:

The first question always is, pre-wash or not pre-wash?  For a white cotton gown this would be a no brainer – they need to be washable.  However this black fabric has a very subtle sheen to it that would probably wash away, so I decided to make this one dry clean only.  Black will not show dirt.   For the same reason I am going to give this gown a moderate train.

For the lining, I decided to use black cotton organdy.  I thought about using some of the black linen / cotton blend fabric I bought to make Henry an 18th century suit for this coming year, but decided to keep that piece intact for now.  The cotton organdy will be lighter, which will help when I have to wear this in July.

I was concerned that two sheer fabrics would not provide enough coverage to prevent my stays from showing through.  I have been wearing my white pair with elastic sides which enables me to play flute, but I’ve lost some weight and they are fitting pretty loose these days.  So I tested it over my red silk stays:

This made me confident enough to start cutting it out.  For the pattern I am using Laughing Moon Mercantile’s #133 Chemise Gown pattern:

As I want this dress to be more early 1790’s I am going with View B, fully ruffled but with the high neckline, long tight sleeves, and no ruffles.  I choose the closest size.  Since I have lost some weight – but are likely to get it back someday – I used one size up from that.  For the normal sized pieces I trace them with pattern ease to preserve the sizes.  The large skirt panels I measure and cut out without the pattern piece, so I do not waste pattern ease tracing these huge pieces.

As I tend to be long waisted and I do not want the waistline high taking it more into the late 1790’s, I lowered the waistline by one inch.  The pattern says the waist should be 1/2 way between your underbust and natural waist.  I felt this was too high for early 1790’s.

Here is the front lining being cut out:

And here are all the lining pieces cut out.  I will use these as a mockup to fit the pattern.  If they fit, they will be used to make up the dress.  If too many alterations are required I will update the pattern and cut out another one.

I sewed the lining together for a fitting.  Not bad!  The waist was a little loose so I took in the side back seams 1 3/8 inches on each side.  This left 1 1/2 inches of overlap in the back at the top and the bottom.  The pattern says it is supposed to just meet in the back – this makes me nervous.  I plan to let mine overlap 1″ and if I gain some weight back, I can adjust this without having to take the whole thing apart.  I also plan to hide a few hooks and eyes up the center back to prevent it from gaping open as I move.

 

Next step will be cutting out the fashion fabric and assembling the bodice …

On to Part Two …