The Gown

April, 1875

March, 1877

I've wanted to make a bustle dress for years now. Actually, I've wanted to make a bustle dress for most of my life! This period of fashion history was my first love, and I still have some Harper's Bazar paper dolls that I have dreamed over since I was just a girl. The only thing that has kept me from making one of these dresses is the fact that I have nowhere to wear it... but I finally decided that I just don't care anymore. Costuming for me is more about the journey than the destination anyway. But at least there are a few Dickens street festivals in Texas, so even though bustles aren't really Dickens-era styles, I'll probably wear this outfit to one of those events next year.

I think the biggest challenge of this entire project was just deciding on a style. I've gone though at least a half-dozen plans over the past 6 months, and every time I thought I decided on something to make, I'd find something else that was even better. But I finally narrowed it down to two similar fashion plates from my wonderful antique Peterson's Magazines. They are both house/walking dresses made of narrow striped fabric - the main difference is the treatment of the skirt back. Although I really prefer the sleaker natural form style of the of the '77 dress, I finally decided that the train would be unpractical if I wore it to a street fair. Even the fashion editors of that day complained about how the trains were "very inconvenient and untidy for walking", and they longed for the return of more sensible "round-skirts" that were made just to touch the ground. But the '75 dress is gorgeous as well, and I really love the drape of the bustle and the charming turn-back collar - so 1875 finally won out. And the thing that really cinched it for me was that this dress is from exactly 100 years before I was born, to the very month. That's such a cool thing, and it really gives this project an extra layer of meaning for me. It'll be my Victorian "birthday suit"!

So anyway, here's the description that went along with the 1875 dress:

"We give, first, this month, a walking-costume of black and white striped material: it may either be of silk, poplin, or mohair. These fine striped silks are now selling in the stores for seventy-five cents and one dollar; mohairs and poplins, in half wool, at from thirty-seven and a half to seventy-five cents. Our design has but one skirt, made just to touch, and trimmed all round with one flounce, nine inches deep, without the heading; cut on the bias; made very scant in front, where the skirt is additionally ornamented with three smaller flounces each, put on with a heading, each five inches deep. These trim the front breadth, and are finished with a stylish bow, made of black and white taffeta ribbon, as may be seen in the engraving. Another bow of the same description is placed further around on the main flounce. The tunic is composed of two widths of silk, fifty inches in length, finished with a narrow bias binding, gracefully made into puffs, and looped at the sides, where it is caught up with another bow and ends of the same description as those used upon the bottom of the skirt. A basque bodice, simply bowed, for a finish. Coat-sleeves, with deep cuff, nearly to the elbow, where it also terminates with another bow. The rolling collar is lined with black silk, which turns over the bodice. Twenty yards of silk, or sixteen of mohair, will be required."

Finding a suitable striped fabric for this project has been surprisingly hard. The original called for black and white stripes, but I find that combination to be a bit eye-crossing. So I decided to look for a black and white striped fabric and overdye it with some pale pink to reduce the contrast and give it a hit of color. I was trying to find some material where the black stripes were significantly wider than the white ones, but I didn't have much luck with that. I eventually found a yarn-dyed cotton twill with very narrow black and cream stripes, so I decided that was close enough. And best of all, my mom offered to buy it for me as a Christmas present. I love having a family that supports my costuming habit!

So for the past 2 days, I've been dyeing fabric. The first version created some very pale peach stripes, but I really didn't think that had enough impact from a distance. The black and peach blended together when you looked at it from far away, which created the effect of a muddy grayish color. The next dye bath produced screaming fuscia stripes, which looked cool from far away, but it made your stomach turn up close! For the third try, I toned it down with some brown and green dye, and you can see the results on the right (along with a scrap of the original fabric). Anyway, I think I finally found a color that I can live with. It's darker than I originally intended, but salmon and black makes such a nice combination.

6/30/05
Back after a long hiatus:

Well, I'm finally in the mood to sew again after several months of much-needed rest from the stresses of costuming. Anyway, I saw some pretty Victorian earrings at the store earlier this week, and like a lightswitch, my desire to make Victorian things just magically turned back on! My sewing muses are obviously very capricious things... so I figured I better jump on it quickly before the mood wears off!

So to back-track a bit, I started making mock-ups for this dress back in March, but I was using one of the Truly Victorian patterns and my first try totally crashed and burned. I tried it again this week, and now that I am a bit more sane, I figured out that most of my problems were due to some bad measuring and screwing up the seam allowances when I tried to change a few things. Ultimately, the Truly Victorian pattern was good for giving me some general shapes to go by, but after seeing the mock up, I was unhappy with a few nit-picky details and wanted it to be more authentic for 1875 (the pattern I was using is based on a slightly later style). I ended up redrafting my bodice to have a body more like this pattern and tails like this one. The Peterson's pattern for the tails doesn't end up looking exactly like their picture, but it is still pretty cool, and I think I can tweak it a bit to get something that I really like.

So on to the first pictures! I still have to draft the pattern for the collar and cuffs, but I'm impatient to cut my stripedy fabric, so I may skip that for now and add them later.

I have been working on the bodice all weekend, and let me tell you - I am HATING stripes right now! I sewed the bodice a total of 3 times, the front darts 6 times, and I'm still not totally thrilled with the way the stripes are lining up. But I'm sick of messing with it, so I'm just going to move on. Anyway, there is nothing much exciting to see at this point, but I thought I'd give you one quick pic to show how the fabric is looking. Now I have to add boning, a collar, cuffs, finish the edges, and give it some buttons... so I still have a lot of work left to do. But I'm sick of of looking at the thing after fighting with it all weekend, so I may work on the skirt next and come back to the tedious bits after a short break.