Janet Arnold's Pet en L'air

I began this garment thinking I could sprint to kinkos, grab a decent copy, cut it out and boom! Have this lovely gown that would only need minor fixing.

Ha! Hahaha. No.

First of all, it took at least an hour working with a Kinko/Fed Ex working to find what size to blow this up to. THEN they informed me it would be about 22.00. WHAT? And that was just for a portion of the grid, not even the full set itself! I declined, but did pay the few bucks for a slightly bigger version.

Then, I went to Walmart and got this grid thingy used mainly for quilts. With my roll of transfer paper and an urn of markers I counted, measured and copied my way to the pattern.

Not half bad if I do say so myself. This wasnt even as difficult or as time consuming as one would think. It was kind of enjoyable, in the way that adult coloring books and sudoku are. After getting the basics down I determined to make a mock up in a linen fabric I had and work from there. 

 

Miraculously, it was a decent fit. I dont know how, maybe due to the generous allowances that the watteau back affords? Anyway, it fit, so after sewing up the mockup/lining I began the fashion fabric.

I dont know why I love this fabric so much. Its your basic wallpaper-y, furniture fabric but the colors and shaped of it give me a happy. There was just enough t squeeze a pet en l'air out of the yardage. The attached cream sleeves were from a linen table cloth that I used to my advantage. I love it when they have interesting hem lines, dont you?

Here it is, haphazardly pinned to me in an unflattering way, but gives a general idea of the gown

The petticoat shown with this was to be the end result petticoat but after working my moms dress I found it lacked a formal appeal. All other garments for the portrait have 'shiny' appeal, weather it be satin or shimmer. So to up my umph factor, Im using a pink dull satin for a petticoat over this cotton one.