Madame Pompadour Dress

This isn't based on any particular dress owned by Madame Pompadour but the echelle reminded me of her style of dress so I started to refer to this as the madame pompadour dress.

I started with the fabric, which sounds odd but usually people start with a design. I really liked this fabric when I saw it in the shop and so sat down and though of things I could possibly use it for, it took a while as most things I make are black. In the end I decided to make something for my panier as a sort of practise run for a very big dress I am making and thus get the pattern right. I think it turned out really well for a test run.

The dress was going to be very simple bearing in mind I have no idea when I'll ever wear it, but I got a bit carried away.

The cream/blue fabric is upholstery fabric and the blue ribbons and petticoat are cotton. Most of the hem is hand stiched to prevent the stiches from showing. The trim around the neckline is a length of cotton (same as petticoat) that I pleated in place of the navy lace as I had run out (It took me so long to find any navy lace at all)

Panier [link]
Back of dress [link]
Sleeve close-up [link]