Cinderella HSF

Because I don’t have enough to do *snort* I signed up to be part of Historical Sew Fortnightly. Basically, every fortnight there is a new challenge. It must be historical, and based on the category of that particular fortnight. I saw Fairytale, due on April 1st, and jumped on the wagon.
I knew exactly what I wanted to make. A dress based off Abigail Larson’s beautiful artwork. Seriously, she is amazing. Not only is she a wonderful artist, she also loves Poe and Opera. Um…can I just saw how much I want to be her best friend? Because she sounds way too awesome, and honestly I didn’t even expect her to answer me, never mind answer me so nicely!
Anyway- I contacted her to ask if I could make one of her dresses. I check all day at work for plagiarism…I’m not about to commit it myself. I also offered to make it for her, because let’s be honest- I have three huge boxes of costumes. My sewing “room” is a closet. I have zero room to store all the projects I’m working on. So I am making this dress for her:

Excuse me while I fan-girl a tiny bit….


The costume isn’t completely done yet, but I wanted to post my progress. Because you cannot have an 18th century dress lay correctly without the proper undergarments, I started on those first because I had about two weeks until I could officially start on the actual project.
Stays, chemise, bum roll, and petticoat!

I drafted my own patterns, but I tried to stay as historical as possible.
Then I made the fichu…not exactly historically accurate as the patterns I saw for fichus were a whole lot smaller than the one I made, but I wanted a really full look, so I made it a whole lot larger.

Then I made the pattern for the Robe a la Polonaise and started sewing. I cannot even begin to describe how amazing it was to have Abigail Larson send me the reference photos of the historical dress she used as inspiration for her art. Literally a jaw drop moment. I appreciate people who do their research :D
I was a tiny bit worried that the arm holes were not deep enough, so I had my mother try it on. Surprise. The arm holes were not deep enough. So I fixed that.

I cannot wait to see this dress on Abigail. I just hope it fits…and it is long enough… If my math is wrong…I may just sit down and cry.