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Anne’s Dress of Dreams
(click images to to enlarge)
Other Credits
My delightful roommate Austin took the pictures
Outline the story …
As a redhead, Anne of Green Gables has long been a kindred spirit of mine. Despite many of the TV and movie adaptions being set in the 1890s, the original book timeline has Anne born in the 1860s, which means she would have grown up during the 1870s, which is the decade I picked for my ensemble. The 1870s is perfect for Anne. Frilly, full of flouces and ruffles and the odd fashion plate even shows a puffed sleeve. I wanted to encapsulate her vibrant spirit, love of frills, but also something she could wear wandering the woods. I tried to make it equal parts frilly, practical (ie Marilla-Approved), whimsical with nods to her romantic nature in the bows and roses on the hat, her love of the woods with the fern fronds and the color, and whimsical with the cherry buds and blossoms representing her love of cherry trees and unique perspective in life.
Outline the construction…
This outfit is mostly made of an upcycled ikea duvet cover, an upcycled bed sheet for lining, and four yards of matching green cotton I got on sale. The bodice and overskirt are self-drafted and the underskirt is a heavily modified version of the Black Snail Seaside Dress skirt. The bodice was flatlined with contrast piping and boned at two of the darts, the back and side seams. I did all the buttonholes by hand and all the finishing and hemming by hand. The flounce on the underskirt is 25 feet around so that took a very long time. I know that the piping and self-trim on the skirt would traditionally be cut on the bias, but I ran out of fabric and I ended up liking the way the horizontal trim stripes looked, so I tried to incorporate that playful attitude toward the stripes in other areas, such as the sleeves. I ended up having to do all the trim on the straight grain, so making it ease around curves was a challenge. I had a lot of fitting issues with the sleeves and one ended up being a smidge too tight, but I didn't have enough fabric to recut it, so I let it out as much as possible. I can also see now in the pictures that I need to reinforce the overskirt waistband. I wore it over a self-drafted corset, combinations, petticoats, Truly Victorian Bustle and some fab American Duchess boots.
So happy to see an Anne dress! I love the color.
Anne would have loved the fluonces! 😃 I don’t see any issues with the sleeves.
Oh, that stripey fabric is so cuuuute! I love it!
Lots of details! I love your gown, you did a great job♡
What a lovely look! I really like how the striped fabric reads as a soft mint colour from afar. It really balances nicely against the matching green fabric.
The fit is good, and the colour is fantastic. I love it.
Oh, this dress! The puffs! Yes! Marilla would have been horrified at the volume of fabric, which means Anne would have been in heaven! I so admire and appreciate the frilly flounces and sleeves, and your attention to the time period in the novel. The whole story about Rachael making her first dress is something I wish was captured more, and I really do think Anne would have loved the gown you created from head to toe. Excellent work!