Ballgown Progress

I sewed up the sheer overdress today! It's still lacking closures and I'm not sure what to use. I was thinking either a sash at the back waist with snaps at the neckline or snaps at both the neck and waist. However, I was worried that snaps might come undone unexpectedly. I was also trying to squeeze a headband and the uppers of slippers (and perhaps the binding for a straw bonnet) out of the red silk so the sash could use way too much fabric. I guess I could make the slippers out of the peach scraps if there's not enough red. Sigh, 1 yard of fabric isn't a whole lot to play with...

The overdress turned out exactly how I had envisioned it (minus the gathers in the front skirt to make room for babies...). I'll post pictures as soon as I have something not so sheer to wear under it ;)

I'm not trying to figure out if I should use the same modifications to the regular S&S Regency pattern to make the underdress/petticoat, or whether I should use the drawstring dress from the Elegant Ladies Closet pattern. There a pros and cons in either direction.

The back closing Regency may be hard to pull off because the China silk is so thin! I could use a buttonhole facing, but even then I'm afraid buttonholes would put runs in the fabric. But if I used the regular pattern then I could be sure that the petticoat neckline would be lower than the overdress without doing any tinkering beforehand.

The ELC has the positive of having a drawstring closing so that there is both room for babies and no closures to worry about. But I'd have to do some tinkering to make sure the neckline was low enough and there would be gathers in the bodice of the underdress that may distort the pretty fan front of the overdress.

Decisions are tough to make with $10 a yard fabric.

On an exciting note I get to pick up a new sewing machine tomorrow! I love my 1952 Singer; she's a workhorse who makes perfect straight stitches. However, I need zigzag stitch to sew knits and would love a some more stretch stitch options. I'm getting a Viking Emerald 116 since I like simple to operate workhorses. :D I don't know how I feel about using a foot pedal rather than a knee pedal, but I'll sew up a few things I already have cut tomorrow and see how it goes!