This gown was inspired by a photo of a 1795 gown in my big beautiful books of the collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute

I loved the bodice detailing with the criss-crossing pintucks, the ruched band  at the lower bust, the ruffle around the collar. (Mine was in the same fabric as the dress and a little wider than the original)

The edge of the little cap oversleeve is hand embroidered with a leafy vine. I used a gold trim around the base of the ruffle and fed a green ribbon through it along with some tiny orange and red seed beads to tie it in to the embroidery I did at the hem of the skirt.

I used a piece of the dress fabric as a backing for the embroidery, it shows a little in the photo views but once over a petticoat would be a little more discreet. I didn't want to use interfacing since the white showed through the openwork of the fabric.

I used green ribbon to gather the band under the bust since none of the cream/ivory/off white ribbons quite matched the tone of the dress I decided contrast would be better.

I gave it a back button closure with self-cover fabric buttons, though the original was probably closed at the side/front.  I went with a straight long sleeve with the  same embroidery at the wrist. The original had a bent sleeve but since I had no idea who would be buying this dress I wanted to leave some flexibility in the fit of it.

As always there are things I would do differently if/when I make this sort of dress again. Over all though I was quite happy with the way it turned out. (Though I do wish I'd photgraphed it over a petticoat to give the skirt more fullness)