The Edwardian Tea Gown

Last month a friend of mine turned 16 and had an Edwardian Garden party.

I've always (like, always) wanted to make an old fashioned dress so it was the perfect excuse to make a lacy Edwardian tea gown! 

I looked around for a pattern for a while and finally settled with Sense & Sensibility's 1910's Tea Gown pattern, though I altered it to make it more like Katrina's gown on Edelweiss Patterns. 

The pattern was pretty straightforward and simple, though if I did it again I'd do the sleeves differently. (The sleeves and bodice were the same piece so it puckered and didn't really sit nicely). But apart from that, I had heaps of fun finally making an old-fashioned dress!

I bought the hat from Big W and tied a matching dusty-pink satin ribbon around it with a few fake flowers.

The pearl necklace and gloves I already had, and the lace shawl was a gift from a friend.

The party itself was lovely - out in the garden under the blossoming trees... everyone put a wonderful effort into their costumes and looked absolutely fabulous!

My dear friend Kenzie (in the red dress below) looked like she'd just stepped out of a book (simply smashingly gorgeous! She even looked like Diana Barry, in fact.) and India made her and Holly's skirts. Aye. They all looked lovely!

And so, my dream came true. 

And we all lived happily ever after.

THE END

P.S. There are many more photos of the wonderful party here and here.