Laura's 1910s Tea Gown

Laura used my 1910s Tea Gown pattern and the inspiring image of the original vintage dress on the right to create her exquisite evening dress. WOW! She writes,

I wanted to send you the first photo of the dress I just completed. I used your tea gown pattern as a base for the bodice; I lowered the waistline and raised the back neckline. I wanted a slimmer skirt than your pattern, so I draped it on my dress form and included a train. I then draped the red chiffon overdress. All my fabrics were silk. I chose a devore silk (the bronze print is bamboo leaves) for the main dress, red chiffon for the overdress, and bronze habotai for trim. You can just barely see the habotai in the photo at my shoulders and over my bust and at the waist sash, which snaps closed at the left side seam. The other photo is from Karen Augusta's website and was my inspiration for the dress design. It is item #2103, and she dates it as a 1908-1912 tea gown. Her website includes many photos of the gown, and I recreated several of the original's effects, including gathering up the silk chiffon overskirt in the back and anchoring the drapes with black chiffon rosettes. I plan to add two chiffon flounces to each sleeve - a red one and a black one--to mimic the original gown's sleeves. I wore the gown to our local historical society's costume ball fundraiser on Saturday, and people complimented me all night long. It was wonderful! A few people even asked me if it was an antique gown. :)Take care,Laura

See how you can take a pattern and just "run with it" creatively to design something all your own? What a wonderful inspiration!