A Quest to De-stress

This morning I finished my exams! Cue my massive sigh of relief and pleasure.  Tomorrow I need to do practical things like clean my room, organize this semester's academic ruffage, go to the library, and go to work.  Today, though, I am taking some time to de-stress and work on a project I've been thinking about for a while but haven't been able to investigate.
That subject is my next (some day very far off) sewing project.  Last summer I started playing with the idea of making a new 1860s ball gown.  The dress I have now is very special to me, and was made by the lovely Katy Bishop from shot silk.  Shot silk is woven from two colors, so it looks different from different angles/in different light-mine is blue and green.

on the carousel at the Rotunda Ballroom in Newport, RI in 2008 

Being in Scotland has really inspired me to do something with tartan.  One of the things I learned in my Scottish history class this semester was that the whole tartan/clan connection became a much larger phenomenon thanks to royal interest during the early nineteenth century, and became an fashion craze during the mid-century after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert purchased Balmoral Castle in the 1840s.  Queen Victoria seems to have been a great fan of tartan herself-check out all the tartan in the Balmoral drawing room:

you can see more pictures at Victoria's World

So knowing that much, I had a feeling I could find evidence of tartan in ladies' evening wear from the 1860s.  It turned out to be a little harder that I was expecting, but after some serious digging today I have choices!!  As I mentioned, Victoria liked tartan, and I found this great portrait of her in a cream dress and tartan sash from the 1850s.

 So that's option number one.  I don't know what tartan she's wearing (so I don't know what tartan it is), but based on some of the research I've been doing and the light areas I'd guess it's the Stewart Dress tartan, which looks like this:

or rather, this is what it looks like in wool, which is not what I'd make a dress out of.  Because tartan is woven, if I want real tartan I have to use woven fabric, which means any tartan on my dress will have to be silk.
Anyways, I kept looking.  I found an auction site with listings for pieces from the wardrobe of Queen Alexandra, which were being auctioned for charity in 1937.  One of the dresses was tartan! And better yet, not hideous!

This is the original auction description:
"27
SCOTTISH TARTAN AND WHITE SATIN CRINOLINE BALL DRESSPlaid satin panniers in the Royal Stuart tartan over a separate skirt of white satin ruffles outlined in red, with internal stiffening. Pointed bodice with pleated bertha trimmed with black lace, and short white tulle sleeves. With belt and separate collar. Worn at the Scottish Balls at Balmoral when H. M. the Queen first came to England"


However, this dress is later than the period I'm aiming for (mid-nineteenth century).  So I started looking for other pictures from balls at Balmoral castle.  In 1863, the Princess of Wales wore this dress to the annual ball:

It looks very similar to the previous one.  My guess is that one was a copy of this dress (done without the hoops), and that both are Stewart tartans, since the auction listing says that tartan is the Royal Stewart, and the white on this one makes me think it's the Dress Stewart.  
I don't love the underskirt on this one-it's too fussy for me, and I think the red trim would be a little too much with a bright tartan.  However, I'm very pleased with the overall style of the dress.  I think I would prefer to make something similar to this, rather than a plain dress with a sash in tartan, but we'll see.  I've found a great source for silk tartan, and scans of 19th century tartan sample books so I can cross-reference patterns for historical accuracy.  I'd like to do a cream/gold underskirt to bring out the yellow in the tartan; if I use a different tartan I'll use one with yellow highlights.  


Off to celebrate the end of exams at dance tonight!  I'll keep my eye out for any tartans I like.