An 1865 Spring

I am really starting to admire and enjoy the late to post war fashions.  I really am.  There's just something very elegant about the elliptical shape.  Up until now, I've only had the red dress but this past March, I was really craving a springy-green dress for Liendo.  The weather was super nice, I was planting a garden, we were hatching chicks at school-spring was just on my mind!

I only had one dress length of silk that was a springy-green in my fabric stash.  It was destined to be a late war dress so I went with that.

In preparation, I took apart the old elliptical hoopskirt and remade it-correctly-and a bit smaller for my height.  My goodness-I can actually sit in it now!!  I also could not find my elliptical petticoat (turns out I had left it at Liendo) so I cut and sewed another one.  Then I was ready to move on to the dress.

The fabric is actually striped with black and green on the warp, but the weft is all green so it's minty green with just a touch of black.  In addition to the stripes, there are little green and black embroidered dots throughout the fabric.  I don't know.  It was just screaming to be elliptical!

I used this original dress as trim inspiration:

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Then I went to town sewing.  I've actually worn this dress four times in two months-it's quickly becoming a favorite!

To dress it up, I wore my grape earrings from Etsy, as well as a reproduction of an 1864 brooch from ItsHistoricallyYours on Etsy.  I also wore my lavender hairnet from Timely Tresses.  To go out, I replaced my hairnet with my 1864 black bonnet made from Timely Tresses' pattern, Clara Christine.  I also used my 1860's Chantilly lace parasol for sunny days (it's Texas-most of the days I wear 1860's clothes are sunny.  That's why I haven't invested in rubbers or raincoats/umbrellas yet).  On my feet, I worn my American Duchess Renoir.  Hopefully the next time I wear the dress, I'll have the presence of mind to have pictures taken!

Enjoy!