Interestingly, with over 20 years of costuming under my belt, I don’t think I had ever made a replica. I am too tempestuous, and always end up wildly veering off in my own direction.  This dress though. Gotta Have It.

The project began with finding the right fabric.  A burgundy stripe, soft looking and at least 5 yards of it, preferably on the cheap.

Of course on the ebay listing it didn’t look *this* sheer. Or Plum. Not off to a good start.

It was, however, already purchased and the color is one that shifts in the light, so I went with it anyway.

Here are the bodice pieces lined in burgundy, and stitched together. It is looking pretty good here, but the over fabric is so light and airy that everything has to be steamed and hand pressed into shape.

Next problem- nothing matches this color.

The only trim I could find that matched the plum fabric was a sheer nylon ribbon, that was also sheer. By this point I was going pretty far down the rabbit hole of veering away from the pretty burgundy zone front dress above and into the realm of “whatever is at the fabric store today” and that is a dangerous slope.