Fabrics for the 1870s dress

I never shared the results of the last fabric quest to the suburbs. Well, I pretty much struck out. I was really shocked, actually; they have tons of silk and I was sure I would find something that would work. But there was no green, no blue, no teal of any kind in taffeta, satin, or even shantung. A couple teal chiffons. A gorgeous white faille. Ok, there was ONE green taffeta, a dark spruce-y forest color which is my least favorite green ever. I considered it for a while, but at that price I needed something I loved.

So then I headed online. Puresilks.com had some promising colors, but I wanted to check at Treadle one more time before I ordered anything. I was working last night and found these.



I bought out the rest of the roll on each. 7 yards of the green silk taffeta and 3 of the blue (same), 60" wide and 54", respectively. The grey taffeta is the one thing I found at Harris, I got 4 yards just so I wouldn't leave empty handed. I think I can work these into a design somehow. The green was a good price, but the blue was a little spendy. I get my employee discount but still, I haven't spent this much on a dress since the pink ballgown. I was scared to look at my receipt! And I still need linings and underlinng and notions. . . eek!

I've narrowed my design inspiration down to these:

Love the use of two colors here: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/540994973962954674/

I am particularly fond of this just for being made here in my home city: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/73746512624065768/

The triple apron front drape is a neat detail (left): http://www.pinterest.com/pin/540994973962954109/