Blue Venetian Dress

My newest dress!  It's actually still in progress, as I realized when I put it on to take pictures that I messed up a little and the hem is a couple of inches longer in front... more on that later!

This style of dress is one of my favourites ever.  I love the simplicity compared to a lot of contemporary styles.  Fewer layers I have to make, yet the finished outfit looks just as fancy!

Portrait of a Lady in White, Titian, 1561

Unknown English lady, possibly the Marchioness of
Northampton, painted in 1569

See what I mean?  The first portrait is by the Venetian artist Titian, painted around 1561, and her gown is pretty typical for Venice in that period.  Note the simple lines and the almost complete lack of decoration- just a little lace on the sleeves, a silk partlet, and a little jewelry.  While the fabric of the gown is a very luxurious white silk satin, there isn't really a lot of decoration.  Next to this outfit, the second portrait, from England in 1569, looks really busy!  Guards and shoulder rolls on her bodice, neck and wrist ruffs, all that embroidery (I think?) on her partlet and sleeves, three distinct necklaces, a bonnett... There's a lot more going on here, yet the Venetian style looks every bit as formal.  While an Elizabethan ensemble like this one would take me months, I just made a Venetian dress, sleeves, and ruffled chemise in two weeks.  Yay for less effort!

So based on the principle of least effort to coolest dress, I decided to go with a Venetian gown for my one fancy "court" gown.  No, that's not what this post is about.  You see, I ordered a whole bunch of very pretty green silk for my fancy gown, but I'm terrified of messing up a project in fabric that expensive! I know myself, OK?  The number of mistakes I make is directly related to how expensive the material is!

Instead of just mocking up the bodice and then cutting the silk and going for it, I decided to try making the whole thing in some blue linen I had in my stash as a practice round before working with the expensive stuff.  This was a good decision, as it turns out, because I did make a couple of mistakes and learned a lot in the process that will make my fancy dress even better when I finally get around to making it.  However, mistakes and all, this is my new favourite dress!  I'm looking forward to having somewhere to wear it!

Check back for the full step-by-step dress diary in a couple of days, when I've had time to fix the hem!

Update!  Full dress diary here.

Can you tell the front is longer than the back?
This is why we don't cut out pieces when we're tired!