(Photo by Zeb. Ahmed at the Doctor Who Symphonic in Auckland)

Status: Wearable

Year finished: 2012

To Do: n/a

Updates since last photo: n/a

Inspiration: Reinette, Madame de Pompadour from Season 2 of Doctor Who, Girl in the Fireplace.

The shell fabric of this gown was made by piecing together and extending the embroidery by hand, of a georgette saree (sari) covered in fine glossy rayon patterns with beads and sequins scattered across.

The striped fabric was my stunt/test pattern for a francaise. It is based on a pattern from Diderot and can be found in Patterns of Fashion 1 or online at The Costumer’s Manifesto: http://45.33.57.149/wiki/History100pagesDiderot

This page has many of Diderot’s plates and so is well worth visiting.

Matching the embroidery panels in the back was relatively easy as the embroidered patterns were raised and so disguise the stitches ans tiny seam allowance.

The saree had sleeves embroidered to shape so I used them and extended the embroidery over the should cap.

The stomacher was pieced from oraganza embroidered pieces. The grown was duchesse satin to match the underskirt.

The lace robings were made by joining single edged lace strips with zigzag stitches. These then were gathered and finally topped with silver braid.

The lace engageantes were made from a wide of vintage bridal lace over a layer of georgette recycled from the saree. The georgette had vintage lace zigzagged to the very edge.

To extend the length of the skirt, the narrow border from the other side of the saree was stitched to the hem.