bee toile #3

I’m beginning to think this dress may be the death of me! Ack – I keep thinking I’m getting close but I seem to be just one toile away from what I want. Just a bit frustrating. But I’m determined to get it right or die in the attempt.

My – aren’t I dramatic tonight! :>


I was trolling on the web the other night and stumbled upon this cool site for high quality Jane Austen film screen captures. SO KEWL! I’ve had way too much fun going through the S&S ones particularly, noticing seams and textile details I’d never noticed before.


Interestingly enough most of Eleanor and Marianne’s gowns are the same style, front fastening with a drawstring neck and “bib front” type skirt. Some of the skirts appear to tie while others button at the waist. Above is a great shot of one of Marianne’s frocks. Because it’s wet you can see exactly how it’s fastened. :> (All the captures above are from Longbourn. I've made them smaller to save space on my site, go to L for the large file versions. :>)

I thought about doing the same with my bee gown but in the end decided against it. I don’t need complicated skirt fastenings at this point… maybe next time. I did rediscover my love for the basic line of the film’s frocks though. *sigh* I looked through my books to find inspiration. Kyoto won out as usual and so my inspirations for my dress are the purple & yellow frocks from Kyoto and Eleanor’s white dress.

With that in mind I decided to draft the shoulder strap into the bodice. It’s hard to tell but I’m pretty sure that is how the two Kyoto gowns are done. It’s definitely the way E’s white gown was cut. It makes the neckline a bit more rounded but it should also make a drawstring along the entire neckline (my plan) easier.

Other changes to the toile were adding a hint more fullness to the front, adding quite a bit of fullness to the back and moving the back/side seam 1” towards the center back. I just tried on that toile (no pics – sorry!) and it looks pretty good. The side/back seam could come back a bit more. The sides now have way too much fullness to them. I think I need to concentrate the fullness in the center back and front more and have less on the sides. I think I need to shape the side/back seam to more of a concave shape as well. It sticks out in an annoying way right now. I seem too recall the Chancey pattern being concave with better results. I’ll put that out and have a look at it.

*trots off to work on let’s see… toile # 4* *sigh*

getting there!

Okay I think I finally have it! Just one more toile… famous last words I know! :> I’m actually on toile #5. Number 4 was close to disaster so I didn’t bother to stop and do an entry for it. It got me to #5 though so…

I ended up taking too much fullness out of the side area – it was way too tight. I also added more of a curve to the side seam, using the S&S Regency pattern as my guide. The seam looks much better but using the S&S pattern totally messed up my armhole so that needed a lot of work. I’m going for the period small back, sleeve-in-the-back, almost-18th-century-thing but the S&S is designed as a modern round hole so yeah… needs some work.

Toile #5 corrected the fullness issue. I think just a hint more in the back and I’m done. I also pinned up a section of the shoulder strap area. That was a eureka moment when I tried it on. It instantly got rid of the pulling under the arm, put the gathers in the right place, lined up the shoulder strap with the stays line in back and pulled the hole arm/side into the correct position. Isn’t it great when so many issues are solved with one little adjustment? *hugs pins* I’ll just draft that little bit out of my next toile.

The armholes still need a lot of work but that’s to be expected as I didn’t mess too much with them from toile #4. I’ve marked them this time though and will cut them down for the next toile. I think I’m finally ready to start toileing the sleeves! So I’m at a good stopping point. I’ll make the changes to my master pattern, cut the next one and call it a night. Or maybe I’ll do a bit of embroidery instead and worry about toiles tomorrow. Only about 10” to go and I’m done with the front of the Bee! I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel on this project!

edit:
Gee, you sure can tell I'm tired in the pics. I look a little punchy in the first one. Just two I promise! *wink to B, C & L*