Shot purple Empire gown
Here is another gown made from the Folkways Empire Gown pattern, my fourth ball gown altogether. 
This time I added a simple frill at the front neck, which was made by extending the turn fabric for the casing so that the casing is lowered from the fabric fold, and when the drawstring is pulled up, a frill results. The drawstrings exit in two places in this dress: one at the front inside, so that I can adjust the closing over the bust, and one at the back to close the back opening snugly. The trim is also around the hem.
The sleeves were enlarged (1″ to length, 2″ to width) and a ‘waist band’ (really an under bust line band) inserted to lower it a bit to the slightly later time period that goes with the flared skirt. I added some stiffer linen to the gathered sleeve cap in an attempt to make the sleeves stand out more, but really you need interfacing in the whole sleeve if you want the “big sleeve” look. Again, this pattern is very adaptable.
Here is the whole dress, with the back shown below (out of focus slightly, sorry!)
