We decided to host a dragon themed ball, my friend and I. This of course left me with a burning question, what would a historical dragon ball gown look like??
Now, to be clear, the ball was pure fantasy. I just like to take any excuse to make, or wear, a historical gown so I wanted to add some history to my fantasy and make a fantastical historical dragon ball gown. But where to begin???
Red and Gold. Those seemed like good dragon-y colors. An excellent starting point!
Especially considering I already had both red and gold silk on hand.
Now why Red and Gold you ask? Because I'm a Gryffindor of course!
About 10 years ago, give or take a couple years, there was a trend going around the historical sewing community of making bustle dresses to correspond with one's Hogwarts house. At that time, I began gathering silk to make my own Gryffindor bustle dress. A silk plaid drapery remnant of 3ish yards featuring some red and gold, a gold crinkled taffeta remnant of 3ish yards from Fabric Mart, and 7ish yards of a red silk from Fabric Guru.
I gathered these silks slowly, one length every couple years as I came across good deals on the colors I had in mind. I paid less than $10 per yard for each piece. As I gathered my materials, I daydreamed about and a designed my 1870's Gryffindor Gown between other projects. Finally, in 2024, I had all my materials, I'd picked a fashion plate from 1874 I wanted to re-create, and the red and gold gown was at the top of my project list. Of course, by this point Hogwarts themed historical clothing had fallen out of favor online, but I'd spent so long dreaming of this gown I was going to make it!
I figured out my base patterns from the Truly Victorian patterns I'd been given over the years and began cutting strips of red and gold silk to make the magnificently ruffle-y skirt from my inspiration fashion plate. And then. . .
And then, in a single afternoon almost two years ago, my life drastically changed. One morning I went to visit my parents and sister with my rolls of silk for this project hanging out in the back seat, and that afternoon I came home with three children in the backseat instead and the rolls of silk had been unceremoniously booted to the very back.
Two months after being licensed as foster parents we had our first kiddos to parent, and love, and provide a safe and stable home for, and sewing fancy historical dresses was quite literally taking the back seat. The very back seat. The trunk actually, seeing as my seats were suddenly full of living, breathing, very active human kids.
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| Ok, yes, this picture has nothing to do with the subject at hand, but my brother took it at the dragon ball, and the colors are perfect! Thus, here it is. |
Soooo, fast forward a year and a half, and my red and gold silk is sitting stuffed in a box somewhere. Somehow, we have learned how to be parents, added an additional child to the mix, and I have occasionally found time to sew. Wild.
And I need a dragon ball gown. Preferably historical. After brainstorming a few ideas I thought of my red and gold silk bustle skirt I'd had pretty much cut out before the kids arrived and I shelved the project. Red and gold were good dragon-y colors. What if I pivoted on that project and instead of making a Gryffindor Quidditch robe inspired day bodice to go with that fantastically ruffled skirt, I made a dragon inspired evening bodice?
The gold and red ruffles down the back of the skirt that I'd intended to represent the Gryffindor Lion could just as easily represent a dragon's tail. I just needed to pick the right bodice design to go with it.
The diagonal folds on this 1874 evening bodice made me think of the texture of a dragon's belly. That was it! I'd finish the skirt I'd started, and make a bodice inspired by this one to go with it. I might be over dressed for a 2026 dragon ball, but it was going to be fun!
I ordered some dragon buttons for the bodice off Etsy, and I got started!
At long last, it was time to actually sew this red and gold silk gown. It was going to be different than I originally planned, but my entire life is different than originally planned, so that seems to be fitting.
