Sheer Striped Chemise a la Reine

My next project is something I’ve been planning for a while, but only have about a month left to finish!

More than a year ago I bookmarked the painting “Portrait of a Lady with a Book, Next to a River Source” by Antoine Vestier, from about 1785.

For the Rite of Spring Ball our Hopeless Romantics group is turning into “Our Favorite Things.” We are doing a “Girls in White Dresses with Blue Satin Sashes” theme for April. This dress is perfect, but now I’m running out of time!

To recreate the outfit I will be wearing a cotton voile chemise a la reine, and a sheer striped silk overdress.

I had a hard time finding the right sheer fabric. I found many fabrics where the stripes were much too wide, or much too thin, and most of them were synthetic. I finally found a 1 inch wide striped sheer silk organza in a nice ivory color.

I am in the process of draping the voile. I studied a lot of blogs, and Nora Waugh’s pattern, but will be making my dress according to what makes sense to me (translation: what’s the easiest way), and combining construction ideas from various dresses.