RSV Ladies' Retreat - Day 4: Yellow Sprigged Dress and Saying Goodbye

Sunday, our last day, was bittersweet.  We had a hard time leaving this beautiful house. 

Back to the 21st Century.  

We had to check out of the retreat center by 10:30 AM, so we only had time for breakfast and some group photos.  I had done so much work on my new dress that I was determined to wear it and get some pictures before we left the manor.  

(Sorry this post took so long - I started it ages ago and got stuck and never came back to it.)  

Before I can talk about the dress, I have to discuss my underthings.  I made the chemise back in June, and started on the bodiced petticoat the week before the retreat.  I was still finishing it up on Thursday before I left for the retreat. 

I used the pattern from La Mode Bagatelle, but instead of cutting out the pattern pieces for the skirt I simply divided the remaining yardage (after cutting out the bodice) into three equal lengths and made a tube using the full width of the fabric.  Then I pleated the sides and back into the waistband.

The skirt was too long, which I had anticipated.  I took up the extra length with three narrow tucks.  

Now I could finally start on the dress!  I had been itching to get started working with this fabric ever since I bought it from Julie back in June.  It's so lovely and lightweight, with a bit of sheerness: 

One interesting thing I discovered when it arrived is that the design must have been printed after the fabric was cut.  Here is one edge:

And the other edge shows signs of having been wrinkled when it was printed:

I found it fascinating.  Anyway, I serged the raw edges and washed and ironed it, as I always do.

Having already had success with La Mode Bagatelle, I used it again.  I chose the cross-front bodice with the short sleeve option.  I meant to take a picture of my pattern laid out before I cut it but forgot.  So here are all the pieces in approximately the positions they were in before cutting:

I disobeyed the grainlines on the pattern for the bodice front, setting the neck edge along the straight of grain rather than the bias.

This was because I did not plan to line the dress, and I didn't want to allow the neckline to stretch out.  So instead of using the bias strip as a drawstring casing, I used it to bind the neckline edge the same way I did on my first sheer Regency dress.

This is as far as I had gotten before I left for the retreat.  I sewed the bodice pieces together and attached the bias strips by machine.  Here the bias is folded over and pinned down, and the sleeve is pleated and pinned in place. 

I wasn't bringing a sewing machine with me to the retreat, so I got as much as I could done before leaving.  The last thing I did was sew up the panels for the skirt, which I had made in the same manner as the bodiced petticoat.  Then I packed everything up and made sure I had my thimble in my sewing kit! 

So in case you were wondering why I spent so much time at the retreat sewing, that's why.  I didn't get any more in-progress shots of the dress itself, but several people took pictures of me sewing! 

So much sewing! 

It was many hours of hand-sewing. With the sheerness of the fabric and the lack of lining, I had to flat-fell all of the bodice seams by hand.  Fortunately, since I had cut panels of the full width of the fabric for the skirt, I left the selvedges at the seam allowances.  This cut down on a LOT of flat-felling! 

I had much help with fittings, with so many other sewists in the house.  My roommate Jenny helped me re-set the side back seams to fit me better, Jillian marked the buttonholes for me, and Megan helped me mark the hem!  I hand-tacked the bias binding on the inside of the bodice, set in the sleeves (which I also bound with bias), attached the waistband to the bodice, and pleated the skirt into the waistband.  Here I hit a snag, because when I tried it on it fit really loosely in the waist.  I realized that the fabric must have stretched as I was sewing, which is hardly surprising as it is a rather loose weave.

My solution was to add twill tape to the inside of the waistband to create a casing.

On the left side I folded over the edge of the twill tape to create an opening for the drawstring just inside the buttonhole.

On the right side I attached it all the way to the edge, and cut a buttonhole a couple inches in from the edge for the other opening for the string.

Now the drawstring pulls in the slack at the waist, and it buttons snugly in the back.  I hemmed it, and it was finally done!  I'm pretty sure I finished it right at midnight Saturday night.

So here we are Sunday morning, and I'm wearing my dress!  You can see how the bodiced petticoat is very necessary with this dress. 

And for once I dressed for breakfast!  Which was amusing, because no one else did.  :p

Our last breakfast together.  *sniff*

After breakfast, Stacy was kind enough to take some pictures of me out front. 

See?  I told you my yellow shawl would match! 

Look, more butterflies! 

And we took a few inside shots, too.

The dress is so comfortable!  It's light and breezy, which makes it the perfect summer dress.  I really love wearing it.  I was sad I had to take it off after the photo shoot, but I was even sadder to leave the manor!

I wasn't the only sad one.

But we put our bright faces on for a group shot on the stairs.

Finally, just before we all packed up our cars to leave, we left a note in the house's guest book: 

RSV Ladies' Retreat - Day 3: Sewing, Archery, Sewing, Writing, & More Sewing

*happy sigh*  It was so lovely to stay in such a beautiful house on such lovely grounds, and to wake up each morning to a magnificent view of the river out of any given window at the back of the house.

This is how I woke up.

Freeing the curls...
RSV photo

And taming them

I do so love rag curls!

 After another delicious breakfast (ham, eggs, fresh fruit, fresh bread), I resumed my sewing again.

All I need is a sunny window!
RSV photo

My diligence attracted several cameras.  :p
Photo by Bonnie Britz

I had dressed for the day in my classic white Apron-Front Gown, my first sheer dotted chemisette, new shoe clips for my Pemberlies, and the same cameo brooch from Friday with a green brocade ribbon sash.

When I needed a break from constant sewing, I joined a group of ladies who were busily writing letters in the dining room.  I had brought along my new writing desk and pen, so I took the opportunity to write a letter to my sister.  

And then it was back to sewing.  This dress was not going to sew itself!  

My sewing kit - everyone loved my hedgehog pincushion! 

It was incredibly hot and humid on Saturday, so we spent the day largely indoors.  We had wanted to have a picnic on the lovely grounds, but it would have been miserable.  Somebody had the bright idea to have it anyway, just inside on the floor!  So that's what we did.  :)  

Jenny, Cathy, Stacy, Jillian, me, Kimberly, Rebecca, Denisa
Photo by Bonnie Britz

Kimberly, Denisa, Jillian, Heather, Rebecca, me, Cathy, Jenny, Stacy
Photo by Bonnie Britz

Yummy!
RSV Photo

We ate delectable finger food - turkey & arugula sandwiches, ham & cheddar biscuits with Grey Poupon (fancy!), watermelon, mini fruit pies, and meringues.  Rebecca even made the biscuits from scratch!  

Photo by Bonnie Britz

After our parlor picnic - guess what I did?  

That's right - more sewing!  :p

When I finally got to a point where I could try it on, I had to change.  I wanted my new dress to fit over my new bodiced petticoat, so I needed to put that on first.  Unfortunately changing in and out of Regency clothing can be a bit of an ordeal.  :p  But I found someone to help me, and got the bodice fitted.  Then I continued to sew for a while in my undergarments.  I believe at this point I was adding the buttons.

As you do.
Photo by Bonnie Britz

After I tried it on again and got the hem pinned, I took another break from sewing and changed back into my white dress again for a quick archery lesson outside in the sweltering heat.  Stacy was kind enough to teach me how to use her longbow, and to take these pictures for me:

Look, I hit the target!  :D  (Ignore the three other arrows sticking in the ground.)

Jenny was totally my cheerleader and reticule-holder.  :p

I shot a total of eight arrows, one of which hit the target, two others hit the stump behind the target and bounced off, and the rest hit the grass and probably startled some poor worms.  :p  But it was much too hot to continue the exertion, so we retired again to the library and had another Horatio Hornblower viewing party!  I continued sewing until it was time to dress for dinner.

I had the chair by the lamp, which I only vacated to take this picture.  Then it was back to sewing.  

Are you sensing a theme to this post?  :p

For dinner, I wore my Green Sari Open Robe over the Apron-Front Gown.  I left off the chemisette, and switched the shoe clips to my Chelsea green flats.

Probably my favorite part of my evening ensemble would have to be my new turban.  

Do you love it?  I know I do!  

I bought the turban - along with the fabrics for both my Yellow Sprigged Dress and my pink bedgown, my new shoe clips, and the cameo and rhinestone brooches I wore throughout the weekend - from Julie Rockhold's recent sale.  The turban was made by Julia Nelson, who I know nothing about.  :p  But isn't it lovely?

Bonnie liked my turban a little bit.  :p
RSV photo

 These are Bonnie's photos of my awesome turban:

And she was kind enough to take these for me on my camera:

I love how my hair looks, but I hate how the chemise is showing in the back.  :(

Dinner was - once again - delicious!  We had beef prime rib, roasted potatoes, carrots cooked in the Dutch fashion (which according to Kimberly means "with lots of butter!"), stuffing balls, squash pudding, rolls, and lemon cream for dessert.

Did I mention we dined like kings?

Jenny and me with our coordinating cameos - I got a lot of mileage out of that brooch!

After dinner there were more games of Whist, but it was my turn to help with kitchen cleanup.  Then several people changed into comfy clothes for more Hornblower, and in my case - you guessed it...

More sewing!  I was hemming at this point, and *so* close to the finish line!  

 When I finally finished my dress, it was nearly midnight.  But since we were leaving in the morning, I had to seize one last opportunity to write a letter by candlelight to my darling husband who was missing me all weekend.

Then I dragged my weary (but happy) self off to bed.  I never wanted this fantastic weekend to end!