I’m having some problems with my hand due to an injury, so I can’t do much computer-y (or exciting sew-y, sigh…) stuff at the moment, so things may be a bit quiet here on the blog front here for the next few weeks.  Not too quiet though – the amazing and wonderful Mr D* is helping me to write this post, and to finish off all the draft posts I’ve had sitting around waiting to publish, so there should still be some interesting stuff. Last week’s 18th century frothy pink masquerade Rate the Dress was quite popular, although some of you didn’t care for the darker bead (?) trim, while others thought it worked, but needed more black.  You did notice the asymmetry of the skirt, but no one seemed to mind it much.  So Arabella managed a very rosy 8.8 out of 10, with only a few tiny flies marring the ice-cream sundae perfection of her confection (the spots, not the poor ratings). This weeks Rate the Dress is the first thing I randomly chose from my …

I was rather surprised at how many people didn’t like last week’s ivory and gold lace-embellished frock.  I thought, in the general scheme of ca 1850 evening wear, it was rather fetching without being too frou-frou, and while a lot of you agreed with me (Kate said everything I might have by describing it as “Sweet and demure, but lustrous and rich, ethereal and pretty”), a lot of you also thought it was totally blah and forgettable. So it only came in at 7.4 out of 10 – not very impressive at all. Since I promised colour, this week’s Rate the Dress goes back a century to another lace-embellished ballgown. Here is Arabella Astley Swimmer in a very pink frock embellished with poofs and ruffles in delicate white silk, with spangles in silver, and beads in black. I’ve provided two version of the image: a smaller one, with slightly better quality details, and a larger version. Arabella is shown carrying a masquerade mask, but that reflects more of the fashion in portraiture than that her dress …

Reactions to last week’s 1930s gold lamé Jessie Franklin Turner number were actually surprisingly similar to the smocked Liberty frock from the week before – a mix of strong love, a tiny bit of strong dislike, a fair smattering of blah, and sleeve-dislike. What do you get with surprising similarity?  An identical 8.3 out of 10 rating! I really struggled to pick a dress for Rate the Dress this week.  As a juxtaposition to the last few weeks, I really wanted something bright, and sweet, and girlish.  Alas, nothing I found seemed to be the right contrast.  I finally settled on this 1850s evening dress, because the gold, and the lace bertha, seem to resonate with last week’s gold frock, and its flutter sleeves.  Next week I’ll definitely have to find something with colour though! (of course, knowing me, that could be a warning rather than a promise 😉 ) This ca. 1850 evening dress in white damask silk satin, with gold brocading of rather exotic, parasol shaped flower heads, is trimmed with silk net lace, embroidered with …