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Description
I do not want to talk about how long it took me to make this thing and especially to get the courage up to make that darn skirt. I studied the gown from the big book as well as exhibit photos and am pretty sure I worked out the pleat arrangement pretty darned well. I have made three full kilted Victorian skirts before and a ridiculous number of finely pleated 16thC gowns but this required shaping that none of my other projects really prepared me for. I lost count of how many pleats I did but there is something like 16m of silk hand pleated (I measures each pleat by hand pinning and matching pins as I went) each pleat between 2.5 and 3cm.
The gown breaks down into multiple parts for ironing and storage and for refitting. I thought I had accounted for the lack of stretch in the silk in my lining but I wound up with a bit of a fitting issue around my lower ribs up to my bust. Luckily I used scraps for the bodice and each leaf (between 350 and 400 in total) so i have more than enough to remake the front of the bodice.

If you are wondering about the background, we were taking photos of the back of the skirt and this is a gown you get posed around you, not in. You need a team of dressers to get the train to splay out like that (I could have sewn some horse hair braid in to the hem of the skirt lining but I really do like being able to store this skirt on three hangers and never have to iron it! And even then you run the rist of the pleats flipping and showing the lining or the braid showing.

There is a short cage bustle, or tournure, which nearly collapses under the weight of the skirt despite being inch wide steel in the channels. And over that is a petticoat with heavy interfaced ruffled that had to be box pleated and gathered to fit. I may actually need to make a full length cage bustle as the skirt really is so very heavy.

The leaves are all sewn to a ribbon support. This is so I can easily make alterations and adjustments when needed. The drapery is also totally separate and whipped to the bodice again for easy ironing. You can see some of the drapery lining at the vertical draping on my right. This can be seen in the original gown (though here I was a bit rush and it shouldn't show quite so much) which is why I lined it all in the same charmeuse as the sleeves. Which I had to dye! there is about 5m of silk in the drapery alone and the price of that in silk here is very high. I used a rayon that is so soft you could be fooled in to thinking it was silk. A very lucky find at just the right time!

So far it has used about 20m of full width silk taffeta and 5.5m of charmeuse. and then all the under support. I have since had a better wig and since then ruined said better wig (but it is a perfect Daae wig!) and bought yet another that is currently in used as the base of my Regina gown (the huge collared gown with tight pants ). I will save wearing this gown again until I can do a few changes (new bodice, hooks and eyes for drapery so no pinning!) but for now I am just happy to have her in my closet after being in love with this gown since before the film came out!

Description
I do not want to talk about how long it took me to make this thing and especially to get the courage up to make that darn skirt. I studied the gown from the big book as well as exhibit photos and am pretty sure I worked out the pleat arrangement pretty darned well. I have made three full kilted Victorian skirts before and a ridiculous number of finely pleated 16thC gowns but this required shaping that none of my other projects really prepared me for. I lost count of how many pleats I did but there is something like 16m of silk hand pleated (I measures each pleat by hand pinning and matching pins as I went) each pleat between 2.5 and 3cm.
The gown breaks down into multiple parts for ironing and storage and for refitting. I thought I had accounted for the lack of stretch in the silk in my lining but I wound up with a bit of a fitting issue around my lower ribs up to my bust. Luckily I used scraps for the bodice and each leaf (between 350 and 400 in total) so i have more than enough to remake the front of the bodice.

If you are wondering about the background, we were taking photos of the back of the skirt and this is a gown you get posed around you, not in. You need a team of dressers to get the train to splay out like that (I could have sewn some horse hair braid in to the hem of the skirt lining but I really do like being able to store this skirt on three hangers and never have to iron it! And even then you run the rist of the pleats flipping and showing the lining or the braid showing.

There is a short cage bustle, or tournure, which nearly collapses under the weight of the skirt despite being inch wide steel in the channels. And over that is a petticoat with heavy interfaced ruffled that had to be box pleated and gathered to fit. I may actually need to make a full length cage bustle as the skirt really is so very heavy.

The leaves are all sewn to a ribbon support. This is so I can easily make alterations and adjustments when needed. The drapery is also totally separate and whipped to the bodice again for easy ironing. You can see some of the drapery lining at the vertical draping on my right. This can be seen in the original gown (though here I was a bit rush and it shouldn't show quite so much) which is why I lined it all in the same charmeuse as the sleeves. Which I had to dye! there is about 5m of silk in the drapery alone and the price of that in silk here is very high. I used a rayon that is so soft you could be fooled in to thinking it was silk. A very lucky find at just the right time!

So far it has used about 20m of full width silk taffeta and 5.5m of charmeuse. and then all the under support. I have since had a better wig and since then ruined said better wig (but it is a perfect Daae wig!) and bought yet another that is currently in used as the base of my Regina gown (the huge collared gown with tight pants ). I will save wearing this gown again until I can do a few changes (new bodice, hooks and eyes for drapery so no pinning!) but for now I am just happy to have her in my closet after being in love with this gown since before the film came out!