Have you ever made a project, finished it, and then realised something was...off? I had this almost instantly with my first chemise a la reine. It was made from a lovely floral fabric, and I thought I'd be so cool and make a traditionally white (or block colour) chemise a la reine out of it. What a mistake. It just didn't look right. By fortune, or laziness, I never managed to put a gathering channel at the waist, only the neckline and underbust. When I was taking it on and off way back in 2018 I realised that it would actually look better as a 1790s gown rather than a chemise a la reine.
Cue 3 years later and I have some time on my hands. Let's see what it's like to alter something from a previous decade, just like women in the 18th century would have when the empire-waisted fashions came in during the 1790s.
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Alteration....
Honestly, this project was so easy. I thought I'd have to faff, fangle, and use the remnants I'd kept over from this project. I did none of these things.
I started by removing the skirt from the bodice. I then fit the bodice on me to see where I needed to shorten the back. Rather than a traditional chemise a la reine, I prefer mine with fitted back panels, similar to an Italian gown. I shortened the back, shortened the front lining (and added extra boning for a scandalous purpose), re-attached the skirt (after adding a small panel to the bottom to make up for the shortened length), and that was it.
The scandalous purpose is that I don't wear stays with this new dress. My 1790s stays have always bugged me slightly. Rather than curved at the front, they're very straight and end up flattening me out more like stays from earlier decades. Instead, I preferred the gentle curved look of my natural bust. I added a few bones to the lining for some bust support, and that was it. Scandalous.
