When I decided to make a 1900s tea gown I also decided that I didn’t have the budget to go buy fabric for it.  Whatever I made was going to have to be stash-based.

I kept what I had in-stash in mind as I looked at designs.  My primary inspiration is this satin and lace extravaganza from 1899:

I bought almost 15 metres of a really amazing poly-cotton sateen with a little metal woven through it in ivory last year.

I know you are all gasping in horror and thinking “poly-cotton!?!  Ewwww!!!”, but really, this fabric is fabulous.  I’ve had dozens of fabric snobs inspect it, and not one has guessed that it has a synthetic content.  Most guess silk, or a silk-cotton or silk-linen blend.  I looks rich and sumptuous and not at all synthetic-y, and it acts rich and sumptuous and natural and not at all synthetic-y.

When I bought it I first bought 3 metres, and took it home and ran it through a number of tests, determined that it fits my exacting standards, and I could even dye it – granted only pastel tones, but I’m happy with that!  So I raced back to the shop and bought the rest of the roll at $10 a metre.

The only thing I don’t love about the fabric is the metal content.  Because of it, the fabric never properly smooths out.  It doesn’t really wrinkle or crease (thanks to the poly-cotton), but it doesn’t press smooth.

I’m calling it a sateen for now, but you could call it a satin, because of the polyester.  What do you think?  Sateen because of the cotton, or satin because of the polyester?

Right.  So that sorts the over-robe.  I’ve been criticised in the past for sewing with too many whites and barely-there tones, so I wanted the front of the gown to be an actual colour, even if only a pastel.

I bought an amazing robins egg blue silk razimir at a 40% off sale at Global Fabrics a few years back.  I only bought 2 metres (they gave me an extra 20 centimeters, because they are wonderful) because it was so expensive, even on sale.  I’ve regretted that I didn’t buy more so many times since.  It would have been the perfect fabric for Emily’s dress, and a dozen other projects.  But I thought that I could just squeeze the front of a petticoat and a bodice out of the fabric, and it would be perfect for the front of my tea gown.

It’s gorgeous fabric.  Soft and buttery with a slight rib and a delicious sheen.

My decision to go with it was made easy by the discovery of a few metres of vintage kimono silk in the same shade of blue.  There wasn’t a lot of it, and it wasn’t in perfect condition, but I thought I could get a lining for the robe out of it, so that you would get delicious glimpses of blue when the robe fluttered open.

I like the faint stripes and brocaded patterns in the kimono silk: just another bit of interest to the lining.  And Japonisme is so very appropriate for 1900s and tea gowns!

Finally, I needed some truly gorgeous lace to finish the tea gown.  Darn.  I do have some fabulous vintage spider-web patterned lace, but it is far more 1930s than 1900s.  It didn’t seem right for this, and I love it too much to commit it to something it isn’t right for.

Then, on a trip to the Fabric Warehouse  I found the perfect lace.  Darn.  I was not supposed to buy fabric for this project!  But it was so perfect, and I found everything else in the stash, and it was very reasonably priced (for lace).

Isn’t it perfect?

Yum!  I love it!  And it has a border on both edges, which makes laying out the pattern pieces much easier.

So, that’s my fabric.  It’s good to have a design come together!