An 1840 Smocked Day Dress

When I made my smocked 1840s ball gown, I knew I wanted to do a day version as well. All of that smocking deserved a little more wear! It was an incredibly easy update--just add long sleeves. The long sleeves are just the lower half of my sleeve block and are basted into the short sleeve. During the 1840s, day dresses could have low necklines, so I left that unaltered.


Another alteration that I should've made was to shorten the waist a bit--the cause of the wrinkling here. (The front wrinkling is a bias wrinkle. Evil bias.) I knew from wearing this before that it was slightly long waisted, so I moved the buttons on my petticoat to give me a little more room. That helped, but not quite enough! Still though, I love the dress. Wearing it again, I probably would shorten it properly, but reattaching the skirt just isn't appealing! The wrinkling is less noticeable in person--silk taffeta has a tendency to make wrinkles stand out in photographs.

I'm wearing a Regency chemise from the Kannik's Korner pattern, my hand sewn corded petticoat, Past Patterns 1840 corset (also seen in the petticoat link), and a plain petticoat underneath the dress. All of these were made very long ago, but still work quite well! The shoes are Robert Land dancing slippers.


And a good picture of my sleeve and the little ruffle, and my attitude towards the very loud Sunday pool party at the Costume College hotel.