FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Miss Havisham Regency Gown
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
The idea was formed for the Regency-inspired bridal gown when I found the curtain panel at a local thrift store. Immediately, I felt that it would make a beautiful regency wedding gown. An image came to mind of a drawing of a French bride titled, “Une Mariée”. This, almost instantly, brought to mind the strange and grotesque, jilted bride – Miss Havisham, from Charles Dickens’ novel “Great Expectations”. This novel has been a favourite of mine for most of my life, and the description and imagery of Miss Havisham has always stuck with me. Set between 1812-1840 - two of my favourite eras, Regency and Victorian - I was inspired to make a Regency inspired wedding dress and decided to use the cream-coloured curtain to represent and illustrate the dress aging as Miss Havisham does. Using second-hand or thrifted materials and fabrics is something that is especially important to me and I wanted to make sure that my entire ensemble incorporated that. Being a new sewer, using thrifted fabrics is a great way to learn and identify new fabric types, best methods to work with them, practice new techniques, and it brings new life to unwanted/discarded items that would otherwise be left to a landfill.
Outline the construction…
Regency Short Stays Toile– Pattern: Laughing Moon #115. Made completely from thrifted material and notions. Fabric – Cotton blend. Lining – Satin. Cotton Cording. Busk – Paint stir-stick (cut) and hand-painted. It was my first time making any type of corset/stays and my first time with the dress pattern. I decided to make a wearable toile for the stays. Most of the techniques called for in the pattern were new to me, so I decided to make the stays as a mock-up to practice with different types of flossing, channeling, sizing, and hand-stitching eyelets. Regency Inspired Wedding Gown – Pattern: Butterick 6630. Made completely from thrifted fabric and notions. Under dress – 100% Polyester King-size bed sheet. Topcoat – Large Lace and Cotton Curtain Panel. The topcoat was most important to me, I absolutely loved the curtain panel and I wanted to use as much of the fabric, lace, and embroidery as I could. The biggest challenge was to manipulate the pattern pieces to fit and to encapsulate all the details and the essence of the curtain that I loved so much. Cutting off sections of the delicate lace and trim to stitch them into the hem and waistline and having the front bodice symmetrical across the bust were the most difficult, but most rewarding as it made the details pop and tied the dress together. With the last piece of fabric from the curtain, I created a veil “hair clip” for the final bridal look.
Love love looooooooveeeeee. The way you transformed that curtain and incorporated all of its texture and character is mind blowing. I haven’t read the book but now I’m inspired to!
I totally enjoyed your video on YouTube for this – and all your videos in fact. Your dog is a great co-star! Very imaginative and environmentally responsible to use curtains for Miss Havisham’s gown – lovely work.
Thank you so much!! That means a lot!
You turned curtains into THAT??? Pure magic, it turned out beautifully and absolutely looks like a regency Havisham!!
Thank you!! Happy I was able to make the curtains work for me!
Lovely depiction of an intriguing literary character! As a sewist and an English Lit teacher, do allow me to rave of your exquisite transition from thrifted curtains to wedding gown in true historic glory. I’m absolutely impressed with your design, use of fabrics, pattern matching, accessorization, and arrangement of photo settings. Were I a judge of this competition, I’d cast my vote for this victory, madam.
Dress is so lavish and elegant. Congratulations on great job!
I love this! It’s really very well done! Thank you!