Regency is not a New York State educational test

Yeah, okay, so the title of this post is lame, and you won't get it if you didn't go to school in New York State...so sue me...;-p

I've been suddenly struck by a mad frenzy of creativity after a long bout of malaise in matters concerning needle and thread. How can you blame me when I have had to endure not one, but TWO college level Algebra classes and you KNOW how I hate Algebra! (Well, maybe you didn't know...but you do now!) It's enough to drain out anything in the left brain...or what's left of my brain...

Quite some time ago I had made a really fabulous Regency stovepipe bonnet of an olive green silk with pink accents;

Of course, one needs a dress to go with it...There are several Regency era costume patterns out on the market, and since my draping skills are non-existant (one of these days I will remedy that), and I wanted something fairly accurate, I decided to go with the pattern from Sense and Sensibility. This pattern has had very good reviews and looks fairly easy to work with and alter.

I bought the pattern a while ago, but then put it on the back burner. I decided to get it out again and finally make a gown to go with the bonnet. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to make, but did I want long sleeves, short sleeves, removeable sleeves so I could have both?...I scoured the Internet for examples of extant Regency gowns for inspiration but couldn't quite find what I wanted. I had this fabric that I wanted to use, because it went nicely with the colors in my bonnet.

In the meantime, I decided I had better start somewhere, and what better place to start than with underpinnings, because, afterall, you need the foundation before you can build the building. I also purchased the short stays and shift pattern from Sense and Sensibility. I made them entirely by handsewing, no machine at all! It's the first thing I have actually made to wear that I made completely by hand. It was actually a quite relaxing endeavor and gave me something to do whilst watching movies.

I still had no idea exactly what I wanted to do with the gown, until a few days ago while perusing Tumblr when I stumbled upon the perfect dress, which is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC! My fabric will work nicely with it and I like the simple, yet sweet look of it...