So, last night I began my second 1880s dress, this time the more formal version of my 19th century self. Madame Estelle runs a brothel, takes certain liberties with the girls she employs, and smokes opium. Yes, pretty much me in another century.

This dress is a recreation of a fashion plate from 1884. It's what I like to call an epic ball gown: big bustle, long train (mine is going to be about 70" waist to hem) and loads of trim. The craziest part is that I'm going to try to complete this by Momocon (about 5 weeks) to enter in the contest. The only downside to my plan is that this contest is just a walk-on fashion show, so I don't even get to pick my own music. I was thinking "Big Balls" by AC/DC. I guess that will just have to be Madam Estelle's theme song.

As for the dress itself so far I have the skirt (aside from trims) done and I'm planning on finishing up the train/overskirt tonight. the skirt is navy blue and silver brocade (it's gorgeous!) with loose white chiffon ruffles on the front panel. The rest is navy blue taffeta. It's a little plain looking, but the brocade is so bold that it's actually for the best. For trims I'm going to load it with silk flowers at the hips and shoulders. It shall be truly epic!

This is also my first attempt at drafting patterns. For my skirt I started with the Truly Victorian 1889 draped skirt and changed the front panel so that it's flat instead of drapey, to accommodate ruffles. Completely drafted the overskirt and train, and I'm using TV's 1885 cuirass bodice.