How to make the Beige Edwardian Dress

This dress didn't make it into the envelope of Edwardian Dinner Dresses, BUT all but two of the pattern pieces needed to make this dress did.  So, today I am going to show you how to recreate those pieces so you can make up this dress using pattern #1517.

First I have to pull out my working patterns.

And push aside my current project ... can't talk about that just now.

Then I need to pull out patterns I haven't looked at for about 6 months.

As I said before, there are only two pattern pieces to recreate in order to make this dress and one of them is simply rectangles. Take a look.

And here is the front bodice (on the right) that comes in the pattern envelope next to the pattern for the cross over front bodice that you need to recreate to make the beige dress.

To make the cross over top, first the large dart like side tuck need to be folded in and pinned or taped.

Now to give you an idea of the difference between the two fronts, I've laid the front that you have (lining up the side, arm hole and shoulder seams) with the dart now folded out over the pattern piece you need to create.

You will need a large piece of paper or a few pieces of paper taped together. And, I recommend once the pattern piece is ready, you sew a muslin of the outer bodice with the back pattern from the envelope and the new front pattern you will have made following the diagram below.  It is very likely your new front will need some adjusting.  But, you know, it might have needed adjusting to fit you anyway even it if was an official Simplicity pattern piece.

So, the pattern you are starting from is in pencil.  The new lines for the crossover top are in red.  The sample size 10 for the starting pattern is 8 1/2 inches along the bottom edge not including seam allowance.  The crossover top pattern is 14 1/2 inches for size 10 along the bottom edge.

The bottom line DOES go below the line of the original pattern by about 3/4 of an inch for the size 10.

You are going to have to take ratios to estimate how much needs to be added for your size.

Seam allowance needs to be added along the neckline of the front and back, because the lace outer bodice for the beige dress is finished with a narrow hem with very narrow trim added. The hem all around the lace outer skirt is finished the same way. You will have to measure all those edges to know how much edging trim to buy.

The back sash detail is easy! The basic belt is the same pattern as the cumberbund for the other dresses, but only use the base pattern, not the outer gathered piece and then cut the two hanging pieces (what should these be called?) for the tassels following the measurements below.  

So, you can see that the pattern for the over skirt with the train is used from the pink dress without the extra shorter skirt over that.  And the sleeve from the pink dress is used but without gathering it up in the center.


And, the foundation bodice and basic skirt are exactly the same for all the dresses.


If this isn't clear, or you need more information, please leave comments.  I will answer any questions. I'm sure that will be useful for other's as well.

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