The Buttercup Dress

I made Reptar's second Regency dress from a soft yellow striped wool because it was for a winter event - the Regency Society's Twelfth Night Dinner I've blogged about previously.  I wanted her to be warm and comfy, and the yellow is so lovely with her complexion:

Isn't she cute?

I made the dress Regency-esque, from a modern pattern:

I used scraps of wool left over from my (unfinished) yellow gown I started in the Burnley & Trowbridge workshop last fall.  First I made sure I had enough to make a matching petticoat for my gown, then gathered the leftover pieces.

I used the pattern as a guide for the basic shapes, but cut them much wider than the pattern called for:

I have no in-progress shots, because of course I was sewing on a deadline.  So here are photos of the finished gown:

The bodice and skirt are all one piece, with just the drawstring to create a waist:

I turned down the top edge to make the neckline casing, and used bias tape to make the drawstring casing for the waistline.

The sleeves also got drawstrings in the hems:

AndI decided I wanted double-puffed sleeves, so I added a second drawstring to the middle of the sleeves:

I was gifted both the adorable cap she wore, and two children's shifts (which were too long, so I added growth tucks to the skirt of the one she wore), and I bought a pair of children's cotton stockings from Colonial Williamsburg which I altered to fit her:

She was the cutest little buttercup!

Twelfth Night 2018

One of my favorite annual events that the Regency Society puts on is the Twelfth Night Dinner.  It's always a treat to get together with other Regency enthusiasts, all dressed to the nines, and eat delicious food while socializing in a historic atmosphere.  And this time there was dancing!  Sadly, I got no pictures of this.  However, I had a good excuse:

We brought Reptar!

And she was a little distracting.

Amazingly, there were many willing volunteers to hold her when Brian the Engineer and I needed a break.

Megan and Reptar

RSV photo

Samantha takes a turn

Stefanie enjoys feeding her

Shhhhhh!

Stylish ladies in yellow!

I think Stacy likes Reptar.

She was very well-behaved, even though the poor kid had a pretty bad diaper rash at the time.  She happily sat in the high chair while we ate:  

There are more photos of the event on the RSV Facebook page.  I mostly have photos of myself and Reptar:  

She spent a lot of time testing the strength of my Dames a la Mode necklace:

RSV photo

This may be my favorite photo of the two of us ever:

I wore my Sheer Striped Gown and Blue Wool Spencer with my Shocking Bad Hat.  Brian the Engineer wore his Black Wool Tailcoat and Purple Velvet Waistcoat.  Reptar debuted a new dress I'm calling the Yellow Buttercup Dress, along with an antique embroidered cap that was given to me at my baby shower last year.

I'll do a separate post on her ensemble soon, with details of how I made her dress.