Introducing Lady Hamilton: a Green 1790s Round Gown in Malta

The green blob is done! I finished sewing my green 1790s round gown! After stitching and sewing my way across Europe, I have arrived in Mellieha. And so, without further ado – introducing Lady Hamilton in Malta!

Tabubilgirl sits on a bench. She is wearing a green 1790s round gown with a purple sash.

About 3/4 of the way into the construction of the Green Blob, I went on holidays!

A green dress sits on the fold-down table on the back of a the seat on a moving train.

Vaxxed, double-boosted, and in the heightened immunity window of having recently recovered from the C myself, I flew off to Europe.  Knowing I was heading to places with  far more scope for neoclassical backdrops than can be found in Iquique (known neoclassical building count: zero), I bundled the Green Blob into my suitcase and brought it along.

I put the last stitches into the Green Blob on Malta, and very early one morning,

Tabubil girl takes a selfie photo. She is wearing a white cotton shift and a pair of short regency stays. On her head is a wig cap.

before the heat rose up

Tabubil girl takes a selfie photo. She is wearing a white cotton shift and a pair of unlaced short regency stays.

we drove over the hill to the parish church of Mellieha, and brought her out to show her off. 

I took off that bloody petticoat- and now this voile 1790s gown MOVES! There is no bustle pad at the back, as the bustle pad had been sewn to the under-petticoat, but that’s a small loss when I’m looking like a Greek goddess on a spring picnic instead of like her laundry hamper.

Lady Hamilton stands facing the camera. She wears a long green 1790s round gown with a purple sash.

And the purple silk sash against the green in the strong Mediterranean sunshine is just…(chef’s kiss).

In front of the facade of the Mellieha Parish Church, woman in a green 1790s round gown faces away from the camera, catching her green skirts in the wind.

Lady Emma Hamilton is very fashion forward with her stylish sandaled feet, but she is also sentimental, and she is wearing a necklace that her husband (Sir William Hamilton) bought for his first wife before she died (in 1792).

And Lady Hamilton didn’t have time to style her wig before she got on the airplane to Malta, so she slapped it onto her head, tied a scarf around it and hoped for the best.

Which she got, of course. Emma, Lady Hamilton makes her own chic.

Tabubilgirl wearing a 1790s round gown bends to tie her sandal

I do declare – Emma, Lady Hamilton, is something of a vamp.

Lady Hamilton stands facing the camera with the train of her green 1790s round gown over her arm, showing a pair of leather Roman-style sandals.

(Historically accurate photograph of a merveilleuse wrangling her acres of silly skirt.)

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