Portfolio: Lady Maude Warrender’s Evening Gown, 1909-10

The Idea and Inspiration:

A collaboration with the divine Mrs C to create Lady Maude Warrender’s 1909-1910 laurel themed evening gown from Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion 1860-1940.   The gown fit perfectly into my Pompeii to Paris project, and with Mrs C doing the detailed embellishment, tackling the gown was feasible.

Fabric and Materials:

Ivory silk charmeuse lined with cream cotton voile, with linen bodice lining for the underdress.   Bodice boned with featherweight boning.   Overdress of cotton/rayon net in gold and dyed black.   Laurel embellishments of gold organza and embroidery floss.   Sash and trim of silk and rayon blend velvet.

Research and Resources:

Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion 1860-1940

Jordan Bently’s research on the  original dress

The Dress Diary:

Introduction and inspiration

The under-bodice and sleeve toile

Dyeing the tulle

Skirts and sashes

Bodice re-construction

The finished underdress

The sleeves and overskirt

The gown at Pompeii to Paris

A photoshoot at the old Museum building

A model in the gown

The full photoshoot:


5 Comments

  1. The link to the original research is broken. 🙁 It links to MrsC’s old blog and the page is empty. As she shared this recently, I became curious again. 🙂

  2. Ella D says

    Hi there!

    I bought this book ages ago and I’m trying to adapt this exact dress for my current project, but I’m having some issues trying to assemble the pieces – especially with the shoulders and bodice! Do you have any advice??

    Cheers,
    Ella

    • Unfortunately I can’t really help. I made this dress a decade ago, and no longer remember the exact details of how I put the pattern together. Best of luck.

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