White Chintz Robe L'anglaise

To end the year out, I decided to crack open my fabric stash I bought from my birthday trip to Colonial Williamsburg and make myself a new Robe L'anglaise. Now, as many times as I have made them, they mostly end up looking funny around the shoulders due to the pattern's construction (Mill Farm). So what I did to fix that was combine the pattern from Mill Farm and J.P.Ryan in order for it to look a little better than the previous jackets. Thankfully, I got everything on point.


Hung remaining 3 yards to gage what I would need after the bodice was made




I made a mock-up of the modified bodice and tweaked some things to make it look more form fitting. Thankfully it worked. 
My mock-up
Long story short, I added the proper pieces to their places and even sewed the bodice overnight. By Monday, I got started on the skirt. Instead of sewing with the machine, I decided to take a more traditional approach and sew it all by hand; each stitch was very small and uniform to ensure its durability. I did not want the sewing machine to chew up the thread and fabric (it has a nasty habit of doing so).
Back View of the Bodice (done in 24 hours)

By Wednesday the dress was 100% finished. Instead of sewing the lace on the sleeves like I've always done in the past, I just pinned them to the sleeves (that way I can have the option of switching them out). I am really happy with how it turned out, that I even paired it up with a white flounced petticoat (not shown) I made out of thick cotton muslin.








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