Welbourne 1864: Greek Key Dress

I am finally sitting down to write one last post about the Welbourne 1864 event - and then I can share pictures of the Fancy Dress costume that I just finished to wear at The Civilian Symposium in Harrisburg, PA.

A Royal Blue wool Greek Key dress has been on my to-do list for years. It was so nice to finally use this blue wool fabric!

This dress was inspired by the original image at the bottom of the post. I changed the sleeve style to coat sleeves, and it looks like the Greek Key on my version may be a bit larger in scale than the original. I originally hand stitched 1" wide black velvet trim in the Greek Key design along the bottom of the skirt, but upon completion the trim was not as wide as desired for the overall look. I went back and attached 3/8" wide strips of black velvet trim to either side of the 1" wide trim to achieve the finished width. I was happy with the result. Although it took much longer to achieve the desired look, having three rows of black velvet trim added interest to the skirt when viewed in person. I didn't have enough yardage of the blue wool fabric to make the skirt as wide as I would have liked, so I made it as wide as I could. Just before the event - after the dress had been completed - I found some matching blue wool. I will go back later and add additional panels and trim to the skirt to make the skirt circumference larger. To make the Greek Key design I calculated the scale and number of Greek Key motifs that I could fit around the circumference of the skirt. I then created a stencil of the Greek Key design that I could use to mark the motif on the skirt.

I had my Tintype made in the dress in front of Welbourne by Jim Pfeiffer.

Sewing on the back porch.

My mother and I had our Tintype made together.

Above is the original that my dress is based on.

Original collar and brooch. Hairnet by Beverly Lister.

Jenny D'Onofrio and I pose by the sundial at Welbourne Plantation.

Photos taken by Jessica Craig.