The Bedroom Dress

My first project for Costume College 2018 is what I've come to call the bedroom dress. It's not anything you'd necessarily wear in the bedroom, more so...things you might find in a bedroom.

My underpetticoat and outer petticoat are made from bedsheets, and the bodice will be made from a curtain panel. Hence: The Bedroom Dress.

The underpetticoat was a simple cotton flat sheet I had recycled from a previously attempted curtain project. It was already cut out for the most part, so this weekend I pleated that baby up, stitched on a wasitband, and called it a day.

The outer petticoat is a beautiful heavier weight striped cotton bedsheet I've had for years. The only reason it made its way to my fabric pile is that the fitted sheet ripped in the corner. I tried to fix it but to no avail, it kept ripping and I finally gave up. I have a king sized bed so there's a lot of fabric there and I knew some day I'd make it into something.

Simplicity 8161 (photo sourced from PatternReview.com)

The pattern I'm using for this dress is Simplicity 8161, the Outlander dress pattern from American Duchess. I had already sewn up the undergarments pattern (Simplicity 8162) and decided to ease myself into this costume adventure with a pattern I already had. It's not the most historically accurate pattern, but I'll be using some of the HA pattern hacks released by American Duchess, as for the rest...well frankly, Scarlet, I just don't give a damn!


There are a few things I've changed to how I plan on sewing the pattern. I've omitted the neck ruffle from the chemise pattern, which I'll cover in a separate post later. As for the gown itself I'll be doing something more along the lines of View B, with the petticoat and separate bodice. Although, I will be adding a bit to the bottom portion of the bodice to give it a little something extra. I haven't decided 100% what I'll add, but in my sketch I've drawn it as tabs, but we'll see when I get to cutting out the mock up.

My colored pencil sketch of what the dress should look like

For the bodice I went with a red floral print. The fabric is a curtain panel by Waverly. I got the inspiration from Festive Attyre's Curtain Along project a few years ago, and was able to find the panel on Ebay.

Waverly Felicite curtains (photo sourced from Lowes.com)

Here are a couple of in progress photos from pleating the outer petticoat. Pro Tip: Pleating striped fabrics is SO AWESOME, no marking the fabric, just grab a stripe, fold and match. TADA!

Laying out the fabric and pleating away

Close up view of the pleats. Starting larger in the middle, and smaller towards the waist to center the fullness of the skirt at the hips to help fill them out.

Pinned to my dressform, all dressed in proper undergarments!

I'll post again when I start the bodice mock-up and start fitting that. So stay tuned!