Monday, November 25, 2013

Sneak peeking the robe à la Française

Time for a few sneak peek photos of the almost finished robe à la Française. Although I'm not sure if I can call it "almost finished" because there's still relatively lot to do... But the back side of the gown is actually at it's finished stage so I decided to take some photos of it to finally show you the progress on the dress and also to motivate myself. This dress just looks so dull when it's laying on my lap as I'm stitching it but once I put it on the dress dummy to take photos of it, it looks a whole lot different. I've had so many difficulties with this gown I've basically felt like giving up almost all the time but now I'm really happy I haven't done so. It's shaping up to be my first (but not the last, I promise) "pretty pretty princess dress".





The silk organza trim is actually striped. I was a bit disappointed to notice the stripes are barely visible once the trim was stitched to the dress. Oh well... at least the fabric was easy to cut straight.


I'm not particularly fond of the too synthetic looking lace on the neckline but it can be easily replaced as soon as I find something more suitable.


Being inspired by the painting below, I'm considering adding gray or black bows to the sleeves and the front of the dress....


And since Leo is my best (and worst) sewing buddy ever, he's doing what he does best and demonstrates how hard work sewing is.... 

26 comments:

  1. Ah, Sanna, it looks gorgeous! I can't wait your photos in this wonderful gown! :)

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    1. Thank you! I can't wait to get this finished either! :)

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  2. It's beautiful! A perfect party frock! I can't wait to see it on Saturday!

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    1. Thank you! :) I can't wait to see your gown either! I bet it's even more gorgeous in reality than in the photos you posted!

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  3. Lovely dress and so accurately done! And your Leo is such a handsome boy :)

    Sabine

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    1. Thank you! :) Leo is a pretty boy indeed and it's fun he always keeps me company when I sew by hand.

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  4. The shape is perfect! I'm sure the finished dress will be splendid :)

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  5. Pretty! And i think bows would be a very good idea!

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    1. Thank you! I think so, too! :) It wouldn't be so plain white then...

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  6. If you are looking for good laces I can recommend you ebay france :)

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    1. Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely have a look at them!

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  7. This is so incredibly beautiful & well done. Very elegant.

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  8. Pretty, Pretty Princess Dress indeed!!! I have never made a dress from this era and truth be told am exceedingly intimidated by this silhouette, but your dress...oh my gosh....it is, divine! The color and shape are so gorgeous! I cannot wait to see pictures of our wearing it!! Oh and your sewing companion is adorable!!

    Blessings!

    Gina

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    1. Thank you! :) To be honest, I, too, was quite a bit intimidated by the sack back gown silhouettes when I first started with the 18th century!

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    2. That is a nice thing to hear! Only because look at what a lovely creation you now have and once you were intimidated! Makes it a possibility for me in the future!

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    3. Definitely! You're such a great seamstress I'm sure you could make one as well! :)

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  9. It is lovely, hope my polonaise works as well; as for lace, I get most of mine now from wholeport.com; no affiliation, just been really happy with my purchases there. They do have cotton lace which is more appropriate than nylon for any historical costume uses.

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    1. Thank you for the link and have fun making the polonaise, I'm sure it will work just fine! :)

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  10. Eeeep this looks so breathtaking! And how on earth did you manage such straight stitches along the watteau pleats? Absolute perfection!

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    1. Thank you! :) I needed to use a ruler and patience to try again in order to stitch them straight.

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  11. OMG I've never seen so perfect pleats *-* That's pure beauty !

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    1. Thank you! It took me a few hours to iron them down :D

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  12. Whoa, this is GORGEOUS! And, as I said previously, the fabric is absolutely stunning. It's funny because I noticed almost every costumer owns a cat :D My is definitely an annoying sewing buddy - he just loves sliding on the pieces on fabric once they're settled on the floor to get cut, and chewing pieces of boning.

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    1. Thank you so much! :) And hahahahah, I so know what you're talking about! Leo is exactly the same. I said his my "best" sewing buddy because he's so eager "to help" with all the ribbons, threads and measuring tapes and all.

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