XVIII century costume: Marquise

Hello ladies! Today I wanna show my last creation, a rococo' inspired costume :3

The XVIII century was one of the few historical periods I never met in my modelling life. I've never been a huge fan of panniers and high hairstyles, powder and wigs, but as a beginner costumer I wanna try everything. I found a good offer on Ebay for a Simplicity pattern (number 4092) and I bought it. While doing some research about the pattern on the web I discovered it was released in 2006 when "Pirates of Caribbean" came out; the first model shown on the envelope is a classic XVIII century gown with lace sleeves and decorative ribbons (a simpler version of a robe à la française) while the second one was inspired by the movie itself, and looked easier to make. 

The reviews described the pattern as very good for beginners and I've to admit they were right. I had some problems with the panniers but I'm not good with heapieces and accessories. This dress was the first fully lined and boned costume I ever made and I'm soooo pleased with it! I finished to sew it in a couple of weeks and I would recommend this pattern to every lady who wants to start a rococo' inspired dress. 

The fabrics I chose are midnight blue taffeta and light blue satin. The dress asked for a petticoat but I chose to sew the underskirt and the main dress together (this is not historical accurate). On the back I went for a pair of hidden buttons instead of the zip asked by the pattern. The bodice has been really easy to sew together and I was a little bit frightened by the boning part. I was wrong! My boyfriend helped me to draw the boning channels and I did the rest, using linen as interfacing (so I have 4 layers in my bodice: fabric, lining, linen and lining again). The result is sooo lovely, the central panel falls perfectly and gives a good shape. I used spiral steel boning for this project and since the dress fits me quite fitted (I used a size 8 instead of a 10, the pattern runs large) I avoided to add extra boning except the central panel. 

The second step has been the lining. Lot of love! The dress falls on the body like a feather and the inside of the garment looks so professional. 

After sewing the lining to the bodice I stitched by hand this beautiful blue organza trim along the whole neckline. 

Then I started to decorate the bodice attaching the sleeves and this beautiful ivory lace. 

The skirt has been very easy to sew; I pleated it instead of gathering it and I'm so satisfied of the result. This is how the dress looks without the panniers: 

I started sewing the panniers in a second moment, when I saw the dress looked so "empty" without a proper underpinning. The problem with the panniers is the back: the dress doesn't hang straight on my hips (it's obvious, this model wasn't designed for panniers) and so the back looks quite big. For the panniers I bought two metres of natural/ivory linen and white bias tape as boning channels: 

These are the several layers of the dress. I use a burgundy taffeta petticoat to hide everything. 

.  My bf took some detailed photos with his Reflex to show you some details:

That's the dress in action during a shooting: 

For this dress I spent less then 100€: the fabric costed around 60€, the lace was really cheap and I already had at home the blue satin ribbons I wear around the elbows. The choker has been done by my own, it was an old strip of black lace hidden in my sewing basket from ages. And you? Did you sew a Georgian dress as well? Show me your work!