Original: Print Dress, c.1825

I like the stripes on this one: the contrast between the vertical stripes on the bodice and skirt, the horizontal stripe on the skirt, and diagonal of the bias-cut sleeves. The maker even made the effort to align the stripes on the cape and bodice at the center front.

Dress, cotton, c.1825. From LACMA.

Striped Dress, 1956

This project was drafted from the first design in the Haslam Book of Full Figure Draftings No. 3 (1956). 

The Goal.

I used a striped cotton seersucker (white and pale lavender); the three flower-shaped purple plastic buttons (recycled off a pair of pajamas my mom made me c.2001). As usual with the Haslam drafts, making/finishing instructions are sparse, so the sewing was up to my own interpretation. The main issues here was in the closure, which runs down the center front of the bodice, where the skirt is a solid panel. I took this as an offset closure, and made it with half of the front panel attached to a hidden waistband of white grosgrain. The bodice closes with three functional buttons, as shown in the drawing; I worked the buttonholes by hand, because I think they look nicer than my machine buttonholes.

Still need to fix the mannequin. The dress looks much better on a person.

Other than the waistband interpretation, my intentional change to the garment was adding a pocket in one of the right side seams. My unintentional change was not lining the lower bodice, which I was tempted to correct after-the-fact. However, I've found the dress comfortable and sufficiently opaque without it, though I wonder if the extra body would help the center front lie flatter. 

I was concerned that this dress's closures are all below the bust, though I've found that the fabric does stay put and provide decent coverage. Where it's giving me problems is actually lower down, as the fabric tends to gape between the buttons. I think I can solve this with the addition of some carefully-placed hooks and eyes. To get a fit more like the model, I'd need to bone the lower center front of the bodice, and possibly add shape-wear beneath it. Instead, I'm leaning towards keeping this dress unstructured, and easy to wash & wear.

Cotton Paisley Dress, c.1873

And now for the final dress from railroad living history day: my 1873 printed cotton. My character, Mrs. Mary Ann Montgomery, was living in railroad camps on the frontier, and recounting her travel exploits by train, boat and horseback, so I wanted to give her an identifiable 1870s outfit, which would also be practical and washable by the standards of the time.

A dark calico in a fun pattern seemed just about right.

I previously posted some of the original garments I consulted for this design, as well as the corset, bustle pad and petticoat used to give it its shape.

As previously noted on the petticoat, I used the gored skirt instructions from The Complete Dressmaker (1875). The bodice and sleeve are draped, using my 1850s methods out of The Dressmaker's Guide, but with an eye towards the bodice shapes shown in The Complete Dressmaker. The upper skirt/tunic is taken from an original in Patterns of Fashion II.

More bustled overskirt, because it's my favorite part of the dress.

 

Although it's the same pattern as the en tablier over-skirt from 1865 Lincoln Funeral dress, I handled the overskirt a bit differently. Last time, I gathered it vertically along the seams to get that mid-1860s 'swag' effect. For a more 1870s bustle, I followed the original shaping this time: the back lengths have three pleats in the side seam that joins the front, and then a series of five tapes at tacked at key points one the back width and then attached at the waist.

The secret to cool bustle effects: tacking things to twill tape.

This whole dress is in two pieces: the gored underskirt is set into its own waistband (flat along the front gore, pleated in the back), and overskirt is joined directly onto the bodice's waistband.

 

I technically did not put fasteners on the bodice, but instead used pins to close it.. After recent difficulties with my brown 1850s calico, I'm not feeling charitable towards books-and-eyes, so the pins will stay for now. Instead, my alteration priority is to add a pocket.

1870s Cotton Print Dress Research

Still on the train projects, specifically my living history outfit. This one was almost weirdly hard to research: a cotton print dress for c.1873. I did find some written instructions, such as the statement that plain cotton should be made with no ruffles or trim when intended for housework

The shape which I wanted for this dress is the layered 'tunic' (bodice joined to a half-length skirt) over a matching skirt/petticoat, as seen in this silk example:

Dress, c.1870, in the Met. Conveniently with each piece photographed separately.

Similar dresses, in cotton, appear in the July 1871 issue of Demorest's Monthly Magazine:

Cambric and striped percale cottons, per the descriptions.

Cotton walking dress, c.1871. VAM.

 

 

The material I have in mind is not a sheer, but I will include this lovely example just because there are so few cotton dresses to look at: 

Sheer dress, c.1872. The Met.

The Met also has a couple of cotton wrappers or morning dresses from this period what are made of more substantial cotton prints, like this:

 

Morning dress, c.1872-4. The Met.

There is no fiber content listed for this dress, but I find the simple lines of it (if not the exact sleeve shape) useful for envisioning the plain dress described in the magazine. For the record, the skirt appears backwards in this photograph:

 

Dress, c.1868-72. VAM.

Where the previous dress may be a little early for this project—the target year being 1873—this last dress is verging on being too late, with an estimated date of 1880. However, it's the dress most like my intended project (a plain tunic and matching skirt out of an opaque printed cotton), so I think it worth including. If I'm careful to keep to 1873 norms with the shoulder seams, waist position, sleeve shape, something like this would do nicely:

Dress, c.1880. LACMA.

Cotton Print Dress, c.1895

Another for the railroad event. I fear the picture doesn't do justice to its amazing puffed sleeves. I like to think Anne Shirley would approve.

 

Cotton print dress with yoked bodice.

For this dress, we were trying to outfit a female telegrapher of c.1895. The goal was a washable, practical garment for a working woman, while remaining identifiably 1890s. 

I draped the bodice and sleeve, using a narrow coat sleeve as the base, and more-or-less adapting my 1850s methods to the diagrams given in Bertha Banner's 1898 Household Sewing with Home Dress Making. The sleeve puff is copied from an 1890s dress in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 2, though without the paper interlining which made the original nigh-spherical. The skirt was cut following instructions for goring skirts from Jeanette Davis's The Elements of Modern Dressmaking (1896) in conjunction with the description of a print "housemaid skirt" from Banner. The dress is worn over the corset previously mentioned, and a gored petticoat, which I neglected to photograph. The petticoat is cut along the same lines as the dress skirt.

Original: Black Gown With Beadwork (1922)

 Happy New Year!

Woman's Dress (1922) by Lucille, Lady Duff Gordon. At LACMA. 

Zigzag Dress, c.1956

Cotton dress, adapted from figure 4 in the 1956 Haslan Book of Fuller Figures Drafting No. 3.  What I like about the design is how lightly-fitted and comfortable it looks: a practical, casual garment for moving around in.

 

The material is a black and white zig-zag patterned cotton, with black plastic buttons. Machine sewn, except for the buttonholes, which are worked by hand. The diagram didn't specify whether the sleeve was to be faced and folded up, or have a faux-cuff attached. I opted to apply a separate band in imitation of a turned cuff. In the illustration, the garment is shown with a matching (self-fabric?) belt with two buttons. I converted this to a waistband, mostly because I don't like sewing pleats directly to other pleats (skirt to bodice). Also, the drafting instructions didn't given any directions for how to handle the waist-treatment.

Evening Gown with Bolero, c. 1956

I made this ensemble last summer for a wedding, but somehow got no pictures of me wearing it. The zipper also decided to shred itself the second time I put the dress on, so it's been languishing on the repair pile for a while.

Green dress!

The outer material is an apple-green silk shantung, lined in magenta silk habotai, both from Fashion Fabrics Club. The shantung came fully interfaced, which did some interesting things with the skirt drape, but didn't make it unbearably warm to wear (as I had feared). I drafted the pattern from a custom sloper using the Haslan system. The design is outfit No. 8, in the 1956 Haslan Book of Fuller Figures Drafting No. 3

The dress has a skirt of four sloped panels (nearly forming a complete circle) with a dropped waistline, princess-seamed bodice (and extra darts), and sweetheart-neckline halter. The bolero is made from the same material as the dress, with intrinsic sleeves and stand-up collar around the back of the neck. The dress zips down the left side; the halter back is fitted an has no separate fastener. I opted to use self-fabric-covered buttons for the two decorative points/flaps.

Original: Girl's Print Dress c.1837

Girl's Dress, c.1837, from LACMA.

Sleeves at the end of the 1830s are just so fun and odd. They really can't get any bigger, but I find it intriguing how instead of making them smaller up top or larger towards the wrist, the makers experiment with shifting the bulk towards the elbow, and just containing the large quantities of fabrics retained through the upper arm area.
 

Original: Gingham Bib Gown, c.1800

Silk/cotton gingham dress c. 1800.
In the John Bright Collection.

I picked this dress because it's a lovely example of a bib-front dress that's not in white cotton. Also, I wish I'd found this back when I was making mine, as the the museum obligingly photographed the bodice under-structure (click through for that, as well as a back view). There's also a very interesting layered detail on the sleeve.

 

1832 Dress Ideas

I'm trying to find inspiration for the two 1830s dress lengths I have lying around. I'm tempted to make one of them up in a c.1832 style, and the other closer to the end of the decade (& The Great Sleeve Collapse), but the exact dates are flexible. It's not like I have a particular place to wear them at this point.

This first dress is from my target year. The sleeves look ready to devour the unwary, but I like how the bodice fullness is handled with the wide waistband and low yoke.

Dress, American, 1832. From The Met.

This c. 1830 dress caught my eye due to the shaped jockeys on the sleeves:

Dress, American, c.1830. From The Met.

A bit early, but the cross-over bodice on this 1829 dress is lovely. It's also something I could do in an 1850s dress, so maybe it's not something that I have to work into this project...

Dress, British, 1829. From The Met.

This is brilliant, but I'd want a striped print to really show off the lines on the bodice:

Dress, American, 1832-1853. From The Met.

One of my prints does have similar floral motifs on a cream background like this one. And the horizontal interest on the bodice is handled with softer gathering instead of flat bands, which is an interesting variation.

Dress, American, 1832-1835, from The Met.

A high-necked dress! With no offense intended towards this dress, it has helped me decide that I'd like to make this project a lower neckline.

Dress, American, c. 1830, from The MET.

Surplice bodice and scalloped jockeys. Not sure I could pull it off, but I sort of want to...

Walking dress, British, c.1830, from The MET.

Higher-but-still-open neckline on this one, with some lovely self-fabric bias bands. Definitely keeping the bodice styling in mind, though I find myself put off by the skirt. It reminds me too much of badly done ruffles on c.1860 repros. 

Dress, British, c.1830, from The Met.

The sleeve fullness on this one goes down to the forearm, where it appears to be controlled by smocking or shirring. In addition to the monster sleeves, I like the closely-spaced bias bands around the neck; the remind me of an early 1860s bertha.

Silk and wool dress, c.1830, from LACMA.

This dress has the same color scheme as my other dress length (bright floral print on a black ground), and much more moderate sleeves. I could certainly see myself making up something like this as well as wearing it. Though with that higher waistline, I wonder if this dress isn't more late 1820s...

Dress, c.1830, from LACMA.

1850s Opera Gown (Red Stripe)

Evening gown of striped red tafetta.

My dress form is broken (see above bad fit, despite attempts at padding it), so I've delayed posting this dress. It was made for attending a performance of Rigoletto last autumn, with the fringe finally attached for Burn's Night. The fringe is hand-made, of the same striped tafetta. The style details (sleeve shape, fringe, darted bodice, center front concealed closure) are based on this 1850s evening dress from the Met:

Evening gown, French, 1850s.
From The Met.

 

Black Ground Calico Dress

Final adjustments are underway, but here's another of my autumn projects for the annual 12-Days-of-Christmas-Blog-Backlog-Reduction-Blitz. It's a mid-19th century reproduction dress (mid 1850s to early 1860s), with gathered bodice and bishop sleeves.

My camera gets weird about dark ground
fabrics; in person, it's quite cute.

Sleeve close-up, showing the colors better.

Plaid Wool Dress, late 1850s

I've been sitting on this one for a while--that is, I made up the skirt 2-3 years back, wore it with different contrasting basques and waists, finally made the bodice for last year's Christmas Regale, fit the sleeves badly so they tore out during use, and now have it in approximately working order. Ish.


The inspiration piece is this plaid wool from The Met, dated to the latter half of the fifties.  I'm mostly in 1855 at the fort (with forays into 1857/1859), so it's a good fit.

Wool dress, c. 1855-1860, from The Met

The original dress has open sleeves which appear to be pagodas (they could be funnels, but seem to curve at the seam as pagodas do); both the wrist edge and the sleeve caps are edged in fringe, a popular trim choice for the mid-to-late 1850s.  The bodice is fitted with three darts on each side of the center front opening, which fastens with functional buttons (button holes are visible on the left side of the three lowest buttons).  Self-fabric piping finishes the bodice at the armscye, waist, and possibly at the neckline, though the latter may simply be bound.  There is no waistband.  The skirt is finished with hem tape, which appears to be tacked on the wrong side of the hem, or sandwiched between the skirt and facing (it is not folded over the hem edge).  The skirt is gauged at the waist--uncommon for wools by the 1860s, but not unknown in the 1850s.

So far as I can tell, the sleeve cap takes up about 1/4 of the total sleeve length (at the inner seam), and 1/5 at the outer; adapting for my sleeve length, that's about a 4"-4.5" long jockey, and suggests that the fringe is about 2.5" long. My version has shorter fringe due to fears about tangling it (and the time took to make). I do like the look of the deeper fringe, though...

The dress form is stuck on its lowest setting,
so nothing really sits right on it.

Opera Dress Research, 1817

The most useful fashion plate and description is from Ackerman's Repository, for none other than an opera dress (March 1817):

Opera Dress, March 1, 1817, in Ackerman's Repository
Accessed through LACMA

Description: Plate 16.--Opera Dress
A blue crape dress over a white satin slip; the dress trimmed round the skirt with a deep blond lace, which is headed with a light and novel trimming, composed of white floss silk and small pearl beads; this trimming is surmounted with a beautiful deep embroidery of lilies surrounded by leaves. The body and sleeves of this dress, as out readers will perceive by our print, are extremely novel. Head-dress, tocque a la Berri; it is a crown of a novel form, tastefully ornamented round the top with lilies to crorespond with the trimmings of the skirt, and a plume of white feathers, which droop over the face. Earrings, necklace, and bracelets, sapphire mixed with pearl. The hair dressed in loose light ringlets on the forehead, and disposed in full curls in the back of the neck. White kid gloves, and white satin slippers.

The above opera dress mas much in common with other formal attire from that year: the dress trim is concentrated near the hem of the skirt, and with similar motifs repeated on the sleeves (here a bit less so, though the white and blue color scheme is repeated there). Other examples of evening dress from 1817 also show very short bodices, heavy trim around the skirt, and often two layer construction (gown of net or crepe or some other sheer fabric over a silk slip, usually a satin). In April, the magazine mentions that gauze is replacing tulle in full dress, there is an example in the June issue (fashion plate).

[The April issue of Ackerman's observes that short bias-cut 'gipsy' cloaks, lined with blue or pink sarcanet, are worn to the opera.]

A few extent dresses that may be useful, though some are slightly later. The first is a sheer dress for wearing over a colored slip (early 1820s). There's an example in Costume in Detail where the sheer dress and slip are joined at key seams, but I was intrigued at this one being an entirely independent garment.

Sheer dress, c.1820-25.
The Met.

And a few more from LACMA:

Sheer dress c.1815. LACMA

Another, c.1820. LACMA

There are also a few intrinsic dresses, including this one c.1818, which is closer to my target date; I'm including it here for reference, because I'mm interested in several of the design elements. There are two rows of trim at the bottom, the sheer material is pleasingly full on the sleeves, and I like how it's also been disposed over the bodice. The descriptions for 1817 prescribe a plainer effect there, unfortunately.

Evening dress, c.1818. Met.

And another later dress (c.1825) which shows the two-layer look very well:

Dress c.1825. LACMA

[The other specifically "opera" dress I've found is from 1813, and it's mostly covered by a wrap.]

Originals: 1859 Silk Dresses

Two-fer this month, in honor of Fort Nisqually's Candlelight Tours, which are portraying 1859 this year. [Tickets are available here. They sell out every year]

Love the effectiveness of a pagoda sleeve with epaulette on that patterned silk.
Dress c.1859-1860, LACMA. 

Subsitute the pointed bodice for a basque, then add some trim.
These are fundamentally very similar dresses. 1859, 

Original: White Empire Dress, c.1815

Woman's dress of figured cotton, USA, c.1815
LACMA

I like the diagonal stripe on the bodice, and the overall aesthetic of simplicity.

Original Empire Style Dresses

Sometimes, you start collecting images for a potential project, only to change course. Not entirely sure when I started this set, but enjoy:

Cotton print day dress c.1800-1805, VAM.

Neat bias bodice on this c.1814 day dress.
VAM

Delicious neo-classical gown, c.1797-1805
VAM

And a nice insight into a front-fastening silk gown:

Evening gown, Italian, c.1800-1825.
Europeana Fashion Project

Original: Silk Dress, c.1845

Silk dress c.1845. From the Met.

Long waist, heavily-gathered bodice, tight sleeves with faint echoes of the 1830s puffs. Not really my style, but it has its merits. And is that a shot silk I espy?

What Should Be Worn and What Should Not

Frank Leslie's Lady's Magazine January 1864

WHAT SHOULD BE WORN, AND WHAT SHOULD NOT. 

Novelty is ever one of the principal charms of the toilette; even those who care but little for personal adornment, and are apathetic on the subject of the latest arrival of fashions from Paris, seldom fail to make the inquiry from their dressmaker when issuing orders, “ Whether there is anything new ?" Such is the love of the toilette at the present day, and so great, indeed, almost fabulous, are the sums annually expended upon it, that those dressmakers who make a study of their business might always be prepared to answer in the affirmative; for whether their customers choose to adopt it or not, there is always something new. The demand is great, and, thanks to inventive brains, the supply keeps pace with it. The French Court, with the fair Empress at its head, leads the way, and finds a host of imitators and‘followers in almost every eccentricity it chooses to adopt; and these followers are not confined to France alone, but may be found in every capital of the civilised world.
Sometimes it happens that, for the sake of change, an old fashion is taken again into favor, not precisely in the same proportions it formerly assumed, but the same style, with some slight modification...

TL,DR: Basques are back, but now cut with a waist seam. Flounces are in...and not in; mind how they are arranged! Also, crinoline shape is round for day wear, trained for evening. Dresses should be trimmed with bands of color-coordinated velvet or plush or those nice chenille fringes... Ball dresses have lots and lots and lots of light, diaphanous ruching.