An upcoming murder-mystery dinner, set in the year 1919, offers me an opportunity to pursue several desirable ends, viz. to dress my friend, to use up some stash, and to practice draping! 

Dressing my friend is like dressing my sister... when I care about someone, I want to dress them!  I think of Proverbs 31: 21: "When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet."  "Scarlet" is not a reference to color in this verse, but to the fine woolen cloth called scarlet in the Middle Ages, which was often dyed scarlet in color, but not necessarily.  So the Proverbs 31 woman isn't just dressing her family in red, she's dressing her family warmly as a sign of her love and a product of her industry.  Wrapping people in nice clothes is such a potent signifier, isn't it? 

Of course, if I can also use up some of my stash and reclaim my room, all the better!  And I do need practice draping clothes on a dress form. 

Way back in 2015 I took it into my head to make Teens Era dresses for myself and my sister, so we could have a "Titanic Tea" together in costume.  The process started with a shared Pinterest board where we batted around ideas and identified our favorite elements of various dresses.  Then I collected fabrics in the color schemes I liked: green and gold for myself and purple and burgundy for her. 

For each dress I started with muslin and made a self-draped bra-bustier contraption (to approximate the bosom support that the Edwardians would have achieved with a long line corset).  Then I draped the dress on top.  However, as this was a few years ago, and I had neither blog nor camera at that time, you only get the finished pics. 

Remember I mentioned that I was making Butterick 6190?  Time for the details of this lovely project! 

My client this time is my friend Rosanne, who shall be attending an autumn ball with me this year!  She picked the pattern and bought it, selecting the top from view D, but the skirt from the other views, since she didn't want a train.  As for the fabric, she requested a dark purple or blue-violet, preferably satin, with silver contrast.  She trusted me to pick the material as she wasn't around when I went shopping.  I've dubbed it the Lady Aubergine gown, because of the eggplant color.