★★★★★ M7493
The Arsenic Dress
If I did not enjoy Victorian reenacting so much, this pattern and dress would be enough to convert me to regency. The idea behind this dress was spawned by the suggestion of a friend to attend a regency ball in our area. Intrigued, the quest for the perfect first early 1800's dress pattern was spawned. After all, I am an avid Austen fan and drool over Kierra Knightly dressed in her beautiful flowing outfits. The fabric I chose due to its resemblance to the Scheele Green or "arsenic green" that woman between 1755 and the late 1800's were dying to get their hands on... literally. It was made literally from the green color of powdered Arsenic, and its deadly beauty lured in many an unsuspecting maiden. With the perfect fabric, only the perfect pattern would do and I chose the McCall's M7493 due to the jacket and the simplicity of the dress.
Construction was fairly easy. The bodice, not including the sleeves has five pieces, a front piece with darts, two side pieces, and two back pieces.
For this I decided to sew the fashion fabric and the lining seperately and sew the two together around the neckline for a clean finish.
I chose to have button closure in the back, although it could easily be closed with hooks and eyes. I also decided to leave the sleeves plain instead of having a puff since I have..ahem.. fluffy arms. Period sewing books often refer to adjusting pattern sleeves to accommodate the wearer's arm type to I didn't feel too much as thought historical accuracy was being compromised.
This might be cheating but I like to make itty bitty pleats to work the sleeve into the hole instead of gathering it. Just make it turn out more even and provides more control of fullness etc.
The dress came out beautifully. As for the balancing of the skirt, the front panel is completely smooth no pleating with the majority of the back two panel's gathers gradually increasing in size to towards the center back, making the area extra full. After trying it on I spun around the living room a few times (a completely normal thing do), and it is light, not bulky in any way, and as long as one does not get the urge to do the splits, is spacious enough to perform most dance moves. Now to try and finagle an unsuspecting male into taking me.
In short, the pattern was easy to use, fast, instruction were great, and the pieces matched up well! It isn't 100% historically accurate, but besides that it was an amazing pattern to work with. Anyone confident beginner or higher sewing level will enjoy this.
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