The Georgian Era of the 1700's was an interesting time. Why women wanted huge hips I don't know but this dress sports only smallish side panniers. Some panniers were extremely wide and a lady couldn't even walk through a door without turning sideways! These photos were taken in the gardens of Alberton House in Mt Albert, Auckland, New Zealand.
The dress is mainly made of a lovely purple satin with an underskirt and stomacher of cream satin. The cotton shift underneath the dress has large lace edgings at the bottom of the sleeves so when they are poking out from under the main dress sleeves they actually look like part of the dress when in fact they are part of the underpinnings. The whole outfit is made up of the shift then a corset with a wooden busk which has the stomacher attached to it with ribbons. The pannier is attached around the waist before the skirt goes on and then over the top the dress which is then attached to the stomacher with hooks. You can see why "ladies" had to have maids to dress them.
White stockings and uncomfortable shoes with big buckles were the fashion of the day!
Here you can really see the panniers poking out to the sides.
I made the hat from a straw summer hat I bought in a local shop. I cut out the crown and lowered it back into the hole and stitched it back on as a much smaller crown. I covered the seem with small flowers and attached ribbons to hold it on. Underneath the hat I am wearing a mop cap which is kept on indoors when the hat is removed. Married women wore these.
The light on this photo shows up the decoration on the darker material.
The back of this dress is called a sack back. The back piece of the skirt and drappings are made as one piece and sewn so that the drappings fall from the back of the neck line when attached to the bodice. This was fun to work out as I didn't have a pattern. I had made a dummy one before making the final dress so I could work it out. I love the effect of the sack back falling to make a small train.
