Marna Jean Davis- Clothing Historian
  • Home
  • My Work
    • Museum Exhibits
    • Dress Gallery
    • Antique Sewing Machines
  • Books
  • Patterns
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Etsy Shop
  • Classes

Domestic Lady's
​Dressmaker

Everyday is Sewing Machine Day

6/13/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Yes, On the condition you buy me a Domestic sewing machine!
Today is National Sewing Machine day, but in my house EVERYDAY is sewing machine day. In my specialty area of dress study, the sewing machine had become very available and very affordable, and women everywhere were using it to their advantage. When you think of the sewing machine, the name Singer immediately comes to mind. I like to joke that while Elias Howe may have invented the sewing machine as we know it, Isaac Singer invented something that got it into the everyday seamstresses hands much faster, the payment plan. 
Picture1873 Petersons Sewing machine Advertisement

​​Elias Howe's workable invention of 1846 would not catch on until Isaac Singer would seize upon the marketing idea of buying "on time. " This meant the costly, but time saving, machine could be purchased one small payment at a time of only  $3- 5 a month in 1856.  The sales of sewing machines would triple that year from the previous year. The sewing machine would be a treasured possession for many women, but the start of the Civil War would prevent the sewing machine from becoming truly widespread until about 1870. Prices ranged from $3 for a simple chain stitch machine to $70 for most elaborate models. In 1870 Demorest offered as a premium for selling 50 subscriptions to their magazine a Grover and Baker sewing machine worth $55. In 1873 the Common Sense Family Sewing Machine priced at $15 was offered in Peterson's magazine. By the 1890's a very nice model could be purchased for $13.25

Picture
1870 Demorest Advertisement
Picture
             Year   Number made
​1853       2,259
1857     12,713
1861     34,566
1863     49,808
1866     81,192
1870   462,317
1876    578,352
To give you an idea of how fast the sewing machine industry grew here is a table of machines licensed annually
(Because all sewing machines relied on Elias Howe's patent- sewing machine makers had to pay royalties to him, so a fairly accurate number was kept until his patent expired)
Picture
“A good hand-sewer makes an average of thirty-five stitches per minute; the fastest machines on some kinds of work perform three thousand per minute. There are in a good shirt twenty thousand six hundred and twenty stitches; what a saving to do them at machine speed!...
...As soon as lovely woman discovers that she can make ten stitches in the time one used to require, a desire seizes her to put ten times as many stitches as she formerly did."- A Lady's Friend, January 1868

Picture
Picture
A Mid-1870's wash dress from my personal collection showing machine sewn hems that are cut on the bias and turned to the outside.
​A clever use of the sewing machine. 
Picture
Advertisements increasingly show how unhappy women were without a sewing machine, as this New Home ad with the wife demanding a New Home machine or a divorce!
As well as how happy it made a household to own a sewing machine!  -
​From a domestic advertising booklet 1880's 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
 
Most machines came with an assortment of specialty feet, that don't often come with modern sewing machines. Examples are: gathering feet, ruffling feet, hemming feet (in multiple hem widths), felling feet, and tucking feet.  All for machines that only sew a straight stitch, but could be more labor saving and versatile with that straight stitch than we could imagine. ​https://archive.org/details/DirectionsForUsingTheAttachmentsForTheWheelerWilsonNo.9Family

I have found antique sewing machines very basic machines that are easy to learn to run and self repair. 
A good source for all things antique sewing machine is http://ismacs.net/
​
Identify your antique singer sewing machine by going to
 http://www.sandman-collectibles.com/id-singer-machines.htm
​

Images are from my personal collection all rights reserved
For more reading
The Encyclopedia of Early American Sewing Machines by Carter Bays
The Invention of the Sewing Machine by Grace Rogers Cooper
https://archive.org/details/geniusrewardedor00newyuoft
 https://archive.org/details/singerinfamily00sing_0/
​
0 Comments

Kay's Housekeeping Dress

2/22/2019

1 Comment

 
INTRODUCING
Picture
Picture

​I am currently offering this pattern as part of my indiegogo campaign- Patterns for the Everyday Victorian to be able to afford a new printer/scanner as an upgrade from my blueprint copier. 

When I began drafting this pattern my goal was a good basic pattern that was useful for ladies doing impressions of middle and working class ladies. Something that they could do their housekeeping chores in or be at ease on a summer day. 
​
​The first dress I looked at in my collection was one that matches patterns from the 1880's in both Butterick and Demorest fairly closely. It was well made, but definitely created by the home seamstress- using scraps from another dress to create the half lining in the bodice, and the hem at the skirt. One of the key things about this dress is its extensive use of machine sewing. There is very minimal hand sewing on it. Another point making it a good dress for household chores is the fact all trim is "sturdy." The trim on the dress is a printed fabric rather than a braid or lace that has been applied flat by machine to the dress. This is an easy replication done by choosing a historic reprint with a striped pattern and cutting it up into strips for the same look.

Picture
1885 Butterick house dress/wrapper
Picture
1883 Demorest housekeeping dress
Historical notes are an important part of my pattern. In it I talk about many of the shortcuts in sewing used by the woman making workwear in the late Victorian timeframe.  This image shows the half lining in the extant dress- it is not hemmed at bottom and extends to about the hip line.
Picture
Picture

Collar attachment on the extant dress from my collection.

Picture
Machine stitched hem from extant dress. One side of the sleeve is sewn together, the separate hem piece is sewn on and sewn down by machine, as is the trim and ruffle.  ONLY then is the second of the sleeve seams sewn.

Picture

Back view of extant dress in my collection.
There are 3 sets of box pleats in this particular dress,
at center back seam and the side back seams.
Dresses from this timeframe usually had at least one center back pleat, but the side back ones were somewhat optional. It allowed the skirt to fall over a small bustle and give you movement room.

Picture
The second dress I took features from when designing the pattern was this cotton sateen dress in my collection. This dress is likely from the first half of the 1890's. It has the full sleeves of the 1890's, but it has a full width set into the back of the dress from about two inches below the waistline on the back and side back panels. 
Like most sateen dresses this one is fully interlined.
Picture
Picture
)Back of Sateen dress
The seamlines and skirt width on the dresses were actually quite similar and it was easy to be able to turn one master pattern into several options using primary sources in my possession. My final pattern ended up with an early 1880's style sleeve, a late 1880's style sleeve, and a practically full 1890's sleeve (full enough to be fashionable, not so full to be in the way). Cutting guides are included to shorten the shoulders to a more appropriate 1890's length, and for a gathered back, a pleated back and a gored back skirt.
We gave the pattern a test run with a class of 13 people at the Texas living history conference the end of January 2019 and it was a rousing success.  I came home and made minor pattern notes (mostly labeling cutting lines or stitch lines more clearly and started the final editing of pattern directions and the compiling of good historical notes. 

Picture
These are the two dresses I made for myself from the pattern. They are comfortable and I was so pleased when little girls ran up to me on the street in Grapevine TX telling me how pretty my dresses were! 

Picture
1 Comment

Aprons- Insight into an Exhibit in Grapevine, TX

2/9/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
I was absolutely thrilled to be contacted to do research for an apron exhibit to be featured in the visitors center in Grapevine, TX .  The goal of the exhibit was to show how aprons represented different skills and trades in Grapevine. 

​In late January 2019  I got to see the research come to life and it will be available for viewing through the end of February 2019.
​The exhibit features the Millican Blacksmith Shop, Cotton Ginners Museum, Settlement to City Museum (printing), Nash farm and the Grapevine Vintage Railroad operating on the old Cotton Belt Route.
NashFarm.org And GrapevineTexasUSA.com



One of the challenges of putting together copy and research for an exhibition is, you can't turn it into a book, it is meant to be a quick learning experience to inspire you to find out more. I decided for those who want a "bit more" I would blog about some of the reproduction aprons we used (the light level is too high in the area for originals) and a bit more about the dating and history of some of the images.
Picture

​ As you enter the exhibit this image is featured.
This is 1890's and seems to be ladies canning peaches. The aprons here are pretty typical of late Victorian everyday wear aprons.  A simple long rectangle gathered to a waistband that covered most of the skirt.
I could imagine this happening on the porches at Nash Farm when I acquired this image for my collection.

​
Many of the original aprons like this I have seen make use of selvage edges as the sides of the apron, leaving two less hems required when making an apron.

Picture
By the King Cotton panel in the exhibit, you will see this 1870's image of two millworkers.
​These would be the ladies who worked in spinning mills turning the raw cotton into yarn and fabrics. The leather belts they are wearing over their aprons are specific to their trade and have a sley hook and a small pair of scissors. The reproduction of this style apron was made with a "pinner" bib front. Of note, sewing machines were very much in use by the 1870's and this apron features bias tape put on the apron with a machine bias binder that allows you to apply curved bias bindings on an edge with one pass of the machine, speeding up the work. This binding foot was included with many antique sewing machines when they were purchased.
​This apron was designed using images, and aprons I had studied in the past.

Picture
Picture
Picture
The red striped apron by the farmhouse panel is what is known as a kitchen apron. It provides fuller coverage for the kind of messy work that can be found in the kitchen.  This apron pattern was first seen in the Butterick pattern catalog in 1885, but similar ones were found in the earlier 1880's.  This apron pattern could still be found in the Diamond Cutting System in the 1890's as well.
Picture
Picture
1895 Diamond Garment Cutter

Also on the farmhouse panel is an image of two ladies at their housework.This image is taken from a tintype in my collection and probably dates to the second half of the 1870's. It shows other types of bibbed aprons being worn.  
Picture
From 1880 Butterick catalog
Picture
Picture
By the needlework panel you will find a knitting apron. This was modeled after an original in my collection. It is meant to be a portable "pocket" that holds your needlework or knitting. If you have to put it aside to tend to another chore, simply remove the apron and it is all neat and tidy for the next spare minutes. The original apron is a white barred cotton. The strings are not made long enough to tie, but instead would pin together. I chose slightly wider ribbon on my reproduction and a sheer ivory barred fabric.

Picture
Original knitting apron detail
Detail of knitting apron showing lace and machine stitching used in construction. Fabric is cotton. This style of needlework apron is shown from the 1860's through the turn of the century.
Picture
Original knitting apron
I hope you get a chance to visit Grapevine and see the exhibit and stop by Nash Farm and say Hello!
below are a few images of me and my visit to the finished exhibit.

Views from Grapevine, TX- Aprons of the Past

0 Comments

Show me your Seams, Baby! Late Victorian Bodices

10/11/2018

0 Comments

 
Trying to replicate a Late Victorian Bodice can seem daunting. Patterns are available, but some are more correct than others, and some companies take modern shortcuts that can make fitting harder later on. They seem complicated in construction, and endlessly varied. In reality if we follow the sewing techniques that the ladies of the time used, we are more likely to get a better end result, that is closer to how the originals would look. One of the main differences you will immediately see between modern pattern instructions and extant garments is that bag lining was not used. The most common method was flat lining with bias hems applied to bodice bottoms.
​
How did they get the lining and outer layers to match? What kind of linings did they use?  Do you have to use linings? How was the interior finished?  How do you finish the bottom edge? Today's post is some views of bodices from my personal collection that are good representations of general guidelines for construction of a reproduction bodice or waist. 

Click on images to see larger views.
Picture
1880's  Cut Velvet bodice - This isn't a high end bodice, likely made by an average lady of reasonable means. 

Picture
Picture
Inside look at the above bodice.  Things to note:
  • Standard 4 piece construction for a bodice from the 1880's through the 1890's consisting of Back, Side back curving to armscye, Underarm and front with two darts. 
  • Underarm to Side Back seam allowance is wider than the other seams. This allows for easier adjustment. A properly fitted bodice from this era has very little wearing ease (about 1/2 inch)  Allowing extra in this seam gives you a quick easy way to let it out if needed.
  • Because of the bulk of the velvet, a matching color silk fabric is used for hems and facings
  • A wide inner belt is used at the waistline to reduce stress on buttonholes. This is attached at the bust dart seams (it can be seen on inner or outer darts. It closes with hooks and eyes slightly snugger than the bodice.
  • Brown cotton twill lining is used - this is a very fine thin twill with a smooth feel.
  • Boning is used on main seams and darts.  (a mixture of casings and using the seam allowance to case the boning is found in this instance) In this instance it is baleen boning.
  • Seams are hand overcast to finish
Picture
Basic bodice pattern pieces for 1880-1890's
Picture
A bit closer look at the side back and underam seams. The wide seam that is pressed open is the side back to underarm piece seam. Notice that it is notched slightly at the waistline to allow for the flare of the hip. The casing for the boning is whip stitched on, you also will see it feather stitched on at times.

The seam to the right is the undearm to front seam, the edges are whipped together and boning is inserted into this channel. you can barely see it peaking out. 

On the bottom edge is a silk twill used for the bottom facing of the bodice. Most bodices do not have shaped facings (the exception being sometimes the back panel for pleats) Usually a simple bias  cut about 2-3 inches wide is used to finish the bottom edge. This makes it easier to adjust your bodice for good fit. If you cut a shaped facing, then to get a good fit you must cut your facing after the bodice has been fitted, which is much more complicated. Using bias lets you adjust for curves of the bottom and be flexible after final fitting.

Picture
Inner "belt" attached at darts, to take strain from waistline buttons.
​Notice that the excess dart fabric has been trimmed away.
Picture

Button facings. To reduce bulk in heavier fabric, the extension behind the buttonholes, and the facing for the overlap are both cut from a matching silk fabric. Thinner fabrics and cotton fabrics usually just have the edge extended and folded back. 

Picture
A blue velvet bodice 1880's showing many of the same techniques as the above bodice. This one also shows much more wear and the possibility of being scavenged for trim/boning and re-made at some point. In case you noticed the right side looks a bit different in the lining, you are correct- while it is all a thin twill, it is not the exact same fabric.

Picture

Picture
Blouse or Waist 1880's
Picture
This is blouse or waist made to be easily washable. From the outside you would expect it to be unlined, but the bodice portion is actually lined. This helps reinforce seams, and gives you a longer wearing garment by absorbing body dirt and giving strength to the outer fabric.
Picture
 The waist is only lined to just below the waistline level, and is fitted. both the back yoke and the back bodice have linings that have been pieced to make them big enough to cut the lining pieces out. The piecing is sewn together selvedge to selvedge. The bottom of the lining is not hemmed, ad the seams are not overcast. This is fairly typical in wash dresses. Washing by hand and the fact the fabric is of a good tight weave keeps them from unraveling in the wash. Pinking would not be used to prevent raveling on inner seams until the 1890's. The hem of the waist is done by machine stitching. Lining is darted with standard two darts on each side. Front facing for buttonholes and buttons is simple an extension of the front line that is folded to the back. They are most often cut on the selvedge edge of fabric so that the edge does not require finishing that would add extra bulk.
Picture
Above I mentioned that bodices from the 1880's and 1890's generally had the same standard 4 pieces. In a less fitted washable waist like this pieces may be combined. IN this one the back and side back pieces are cut as one, and the underarm and front pieces are cut as one.  The outer gathering of fabric to yokes allows for the needed hip room instead of the extra seams flaring out at that point.
The sleeves are not lined in this garment. Also notice as this is not as tight a fit, it has no inner belt.

Late 1870's Basque
 wash dress(natural form) 
The lady who wore this, wore it nearly to death. It has been much mended and came to me in very fragile shape. The seamlines with side back pieces  extending to shoulder and piped armscyes date it to between 1876-1881.
Picture
Picture
Picture
 This is a great example of an everyday type garment. The basque (a basque is a fitted bodice that extends below the hips) is lined with what seems to be the leftovers of another garment. Both bodice and sleeves are lined. The body of the garment wrong sides of fabric are placed together and then treated as one fabric piece. The sleeves the right sides of the lining is placed toward the wrong side of the outer fabric. I suspect this was done on purpose, as one sleeve has been mended several times with  patches but the other sleeve the worn through outer fabric was enough damage it has been cut away and the edges neatly folded under and stitched to the lining fabric as a mend. The bottom edge of the bodice is bound by machine with self fabric binding. The width on the inside is about 3/8" of an inch and turned to the outside of the bodice and stitched down at about a half inch width. Sleeve hems are 3/4 inch bias turned to the outside and stitched down by machine. 
Picture
sleeve finish
Picture
Bottom edge of basque- showing hem finish and front opening treatment.

1899-1901 Wool Dress and Jacket
Picture
Picture
This set in my collection came with both a bodice, and a jacket meant to be worn over a shirtwaist. The jacket has been worn for a longer period or in more sun as it has some distinct fading, but it is definitely from the same outfit.
Picture
Picture
Picture
First the bodice.Printed cotton sateen lining(solid color dark grey on back of sateen. The lining is cut in the standard back, side back, underarm and front pieces and closes center front. You can see that the fashion fabric wool back is cut back and sideback in one piece and the excess at the waistline from doing this is taken in by small sewn down pleats radiating up from the waistline. Inner seams are finished with pinking. Boning is steel and is applied in casings by feather stitching to seam allowances.
Picture
Picture
The matching jacket is constructed without boning. Has a flat lining similar to the bodice, but then is lined like a normal man's coat.  The red lining is cotton sateen or farmer's satin. I have seen coats for women both treated in this manner AND I have seen them flat lined- usually with bound seam edges.
This photo shows near the collar where the hand stitching has come loose and you can see the flat lining.

So there you have a peek at the "innards" of a few of the pieces in my collection. 
There are some great online resources for Victorian/Edwardian Dress construction
some I recommend are:
Instruction book for the French and English Systems of Cutting Fitting and Basting- 1881 J. McCall

Keystone - a Textbook of Cutting and Designing Ladies Garments

The Dressmaker
0 Comments

Deciphering Draperies- Recreating draped overskirts

8/7/2017

0 Comments

 
Have you ever seen a dress you wanted to reproduce, but did not have access to it in person? This post is going to help you try to read the lines of a draped overskirt to bring a bit of understanding to how draping works, and how to read a photograph to give you some starter guidelines while you are draping. 
1. You HAVE to have a mannequin to do this- Or a good friend who is willing to stand while you drape. Draping involves fussing and adjusting to make sure the lines are reading like you want them.
Picture
 2. Your mannequin (or friend) MUST have the proper petticoats and underskirt for you to drape over. Even with a mannequin, you will lack a bit of bulk where your petticoats will want to collapse over the single pole instead of your legs. Wrapping quilt batting or folding a pillow and taping it in place around the base of the pole will help offset this issue.  In the case of the base I am using for example in this post- I used an extra small bridal petticoat I found at the thrift store for a couple of bucks to fill out the space my legs would normally take up.
Picture
Picture
Picture
I'm putting a basic skirt on my mannequin that will serve as a nice contrast.  I also prepped a 42 inch by 42 inch piece of fabric with vertical lines (black except for center back which is red) and horizontal lines in varying colors so that you can see the draping just a bit better. In the photos below this is the piece of fabric being used. Bits outside the heavy black lines (or blue tape) would simply be trimmed off after I am finished draping.

Picture
This is an early 1870's extant dress from the Met.

The front overskirt is cut shaped narrower at the top, without gathers and is a flat "apron" shape.

The back shape is soft and rounded and draped.

​Notice that it curves down and back up from side seam to side seam.

It appears to be gathered along the side seam. 

​We are going to focus on re-creating this back drape.

Pictureclick to enlarge
Heavy black lines show the waist and side seams.
 
The colored lines trace the drape of the skirt. A drape that follows a round shape all the way across the back will need to have the bottoms of the pleats pulled forward. If this does not happen then the center back will fall straight rather than continuing a curve around the back.
Try  printing out an image and tracing the lines to see what is happening with your drapery
​

Picture
WAIT you are saying- you cheated that one is pleated while the other one is gathered.

The key is to put pleats in first to control the way the draping falls.

If you want a gathered look the sides as pleated will be  longer than you want the finished length of the side to be. You will then run your gathering stitch OVER the pleats, and draw it up to the finished length.  

Pin drapery center back
Pin to sides
Pleat to fit waistline (or gather) I find pleating lets me control drape a bit better. Notice the fullness is concentrated at the center back third of the overskirt,
Pleat up and pin in place. Even if you want a gathered look, pleat with a longer finished length and then gather after adjustments are made.
Notice that the bottom of the pleat will be pulled forward. As you pin each pleat in place, adjust and repin the one above it to keep your lines smooth.
Overskirts with rounded bottoms like this one I usually tuck the bottom hem to the back and pin in place before the last pleat is pinned in place.
Moving the bottom fold of the pleat forward pulls the underside of the drape to the skirt and allows the top edge to fall outward in a curve.
Picture
Here is a similar rounded drape except on the front of a dress.
Picture
The front drape is on the right- notice the jagged looking side seam? This is much the same as your drape would look if you unfolded the pleats after trimming off the extra.
Picture
You can see if you follow the fold lines that the bottom edge is actually pulled up to within about 8 inches of the top.  
Picture
This is another Met dress from the 1880's 
This time we are looking at the front drape.

The heavy black lines on the two final photos show where the fabric is trimmed away after it is draped.
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Color My World

8/4/2017

0 Comments

 
 When I was a young thing in my early twenties and beginning to skip down the slippery slope of costume history research I was told I could NOT wear red dresses. Cue the horrified reenactor voices, "But HONEY, only BAD women wore red!" This statement had the effect of making me dive into research as I never had before.  Reading through pattern magazines and fashion tomes of the 1880's I would find that red was a very fashionable and often chosen color for the "proper woman." Red was a bright color that could be relied upon to be fairly color fast even in cottons.  When I had the opportunity to add red work dresses to my personal collection, they were included while I smirked in my mind at all the times I was told I couldn't wear red.  This was the beginning of me truly digging into textile colors of the 19th century.  
Picture
1885 Red cotton Princess back Mother hubbard Wrapper from Marna's collection.
Many people think of the Victorian dress as dull and drab, and to be sure there were many browns and blacks chosen as best dresses, because they were appropriate for nearly any occasion one might require.  Demorest Magazine reported in 1883, "In this country prettiness in prints has had to give way: to utility, to such samples as could be depended upon to stand the brutal kind of washing to which they were subject to; having no confidence in the permanence of pretty colors, the housekeeper took refuge in dingy neutrality, giving an impression, based on experience, that the uglier the pattern the more certainly it could be relied upon to 'wash'. " The more neutral the color the more confident the average woman felt it would last well throughout its wearing. All of this however did not mean there were not some VERY vivid colors available.
In 1856 William Perkins, home on break from chemist school, was experimenting with a way to make a synthetic quinine, accidently discovered the first of the aniline dyestuffs- a bright pinky-purple that would become known as magenta or "aniline red". Initial experiments with this color showed that it would dye silk in a manner that would make it colorfast even in light- a severe problem with most natural purple dyestuffs.  Other brilliant colors such as Fuchsine, Perkin's green, Britannia Violet and many more (Check out the Dreamstress's article on his dyes!) 
Picture
 At any rate, by the time the 1870's rolled around there were some phenomenally bright colors available in textiles, especially the protein fibers of silk and wool that were easier to dye than cotton textiles. While the cotton prints might remain somewhat more subdued and prone to light sensitivity- fabrics for dressy outfits might really shine. 

The outfit to the left is one of my favorite "brilliantly colored" extant dresses online.  You can find it in the museum section of antiquedress.com website.

When choosing fabrics to reproduce beauty's such as this remember to shy away from cottons and cotton prints.  

Picture
Mid 1890's Silk faille wrapper or tea gown from Marna's collection.
A few more of my brightly colored favorites in the nicer dress category! 
Picture
Mid 1890's silk dress from Whitaker Auction
Picture
Cherry red turn of the century dress from antiquedress.com
Picture
Magenta silk faille dress from House of Worth circa 1890
Picture
1870's silk taffeta from vintagetextile.com gallery
Picture1902 cotton wrappers- chambrey- from Marna's collection
    So does this mean there are NO brightly colored cottons? Purple dye on cotton was notoriously fugitive until after the turn of the century. So while there are "some" brighter colors to be found in cotton fabrics you are going to see pinks and reds as your most common options for bright colors.

The KEY is to do your research!  English Women's Clothing in the 19th Century is a good place to start- each decade and year is listed with some popular colors during that time frame (note these are likely referring to silks and wools). Read the articles in the fashion magazines rather than just looking at the dress plates.  Books like Manners Culture and Dress have chapters on dress colors and harmony of colors in dress.  Check out original dresses on the Met  and Whitaker's Auction SmugMug pages.  Swatch books from the 19th century are another great resource like these  from The Met. Don't rely on "but everyone knows" get out there and do your research and be prepared to name your sources- but be proud you can color your world beautiful!

Picture
1892 wrapper pink cotton print from Marna's collection
Picture
Dark Plum purple cotton wrapper circa 1878 from Marna's Collection

Sources & Further Research

English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century by C. Willet Cunnington
Wearable Prints 1760-1860 by Susan Greene
​Elephants Breath and London Smoke by Deb Salisbury
Costume Language by Stephanie Davies
A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion by Mary Brooks Picken
Dating Fabrics - A Color Guide 1800-1960 by Eileen Trestain
0 Comments

The Importance of Being Earnest- Artifacts in Exhibits

2/15/2017

0 Comments

 
PictureBlevins buckles and a breast collar ? And you are supposed to be an 1860's man!
I’ll admit it- the discussion that ensues during most late 19th century historic films in our home would drive most people to madness. Never mind the hero of the movie has been shot, is lost, out of ammo and the girl still hasn’t been rescued. NO we are exclaiming things like “WHY did they put a 1940’s saddle and gear on that horse, isn’t it supposed to be 1870’s?”  And did you SEE the neckline on that dress for day? And in PUBLIC?  That girl would have been shamed into propriety by the town ladies AGES ago.”  OH we realize it’s just a movie, BUT THEN we go to the museum or reenactment events and see those folks who have done their research “via film” and are mis-representing the past, and the domino effect goes on… We HEAR the mom whisper to the child, “Look, this is just like they did it in the olden days!” It makes us sad.

​Film I can forgive as artistic license. However, when I walk into a museum that has not done a good job of research and representation of a time period, it makes serious shudders run up my spine and my stomach go all wobbly. As the keepers of our history, museums should be held to a higher standard of correctness. Simply by being in a museum display the item now carries “weight” as history. This is where the importance of being earnest comes in.  Earnest is defined as a noun as “full seriousness, as of intention or purpose” and as an adjective as “serious in intention, purpose, or effort; sincerely zealous” or “seriously important; demanding or receiving serious attention.” 
History in a small museum can be HARD! Many of them were begun around the time of our nation’s bicentennial by enthusiastic citizens who only had their stories, and their parent and grandparent’s stories to guide them. While oral family histories are a good place to start, any competent detective will tell you memories are easily contaminated  through discussion and re-telling. Good research needs to be a part of verifying artifacts, especially those used in displays. The world is becoming a more visual place all the time, and so the visual aspect of an exhibit bears serious consideration.
PictureSome of my Grandma's 1940's quilts.
Grandma’s wool quilt she made in the 1940’s becomes the one that Great-Great Grandpa carried during the civil war.  To a practiced eye this unintentional misinformation can be easily ferreted out, but convincing the family of it may be another thing altogether! Another issue in many small museums is that the accession records really have very little useful information to the historian. “Beaded moccasins donated by Mrs. B in honor of her son” might be 1880’s brain tanned Sioux, OR they might be 1940’s made for trade. Other than showing the donor, no other info is given.

​Until recently it has been hard to even start to properly label items, but with the internet, access to good research has become so much more available. Amazon can be used to not only look up identification books, but see other’s reviews of those books. As a professional, my personal library is massive and there are always new books on my “want to buy” list. Facebook offers many groups with specific areas of study that can often provide a good lead on where to research (ALWAYS ask for sources to read when dealing with facebook!). Networking of historians with specific interests can ease the burden of having one person having to “know it all”. Personally, I have a group of friends that I know to be well versed in areas that I am weak in. These are the people I can rely on to ask, “What is this item and where do I go to learn more about it?” I hope they feel they can do the same with me in my own specific concentration area of study. 

Many large museums with funding and better access to experts in specific study areas have put collections online and can be a great help for the local museum in doing beginning research for their collections. This does not mean they are necessarily infallible. I have seen mis-dated clothing items in online galleries as big as the Met, although those are few.
​So EVEN realizing the challenges presented to smaller museums for identification, I still expect earnestness.  When putting together an exhibit centered in the 1870’s using a 1930’s candy store jar with its bowled base and aluminum lid is nothing less than lying to the public.  Simply putting something in an exhibition because it looks “old fashioned” and “We already have it” is not good enough. By doing so we are, in fact with our own full knowledge, re-writing history.

​Our viewing public is generally innocent as to knowledge of artifacts. We must in “FULL SERIOUSNESS” attempt to present as accurate a picture of the past as we possibly can. This sometimes means admitting we do not know everything and asking for help, and it sometimes means removing an item from an exhibit that skews history.  Sometimes it means relying on well done reproductions to fill in gaps in the museum’s collection to give the public a visual that they can relate to more concretely. This may mean weeding out the 1920’s graniteware from the 1880’s graniteware and putting each in the exhibit where the time frame makes more sense. Sometimes it is making a tough call knowing someone will be sad, hurt or angry because an artifact has been moved or removed from an exhibit, but our responsibility to our ancestors and our history remains above all lesser concerns. 
Picture
A couple of the spinning wheels in my personal collection.
​A museum’s job is to PRESERVE history, even with its flaws, not to re-imagine it to our own whims. Many treasures with important stories can be discovered in small/local museums, and the public needs to be able to trust in the museum for accurate information. Museums should be a place to invoke a curiosity of the past, but one should not come away from them having learned incorrect information. In my personal collection at home I have the advantage of being able to talk to every viewer of my artifacts from spinning wheel to arrowhead, and day dress to shoemaker’s tool.

A museum’s displays have to speak for themselves.
​Are yours representing your history earnestly? Or are they whispering falsehoods to the public? 
0 Comments

Re-imaging the Peacock Dress

12/23/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
For my Christmas ballgown this year I decided I wanted a version of Queen Kapiolani's Peacock dress that was created for her attendance at Queen Victoria's jubalee celebration in 1887. My goal was to make the construction as close as I could to historic methods, taking clues from the description of her dress in the New York times as well as the photographs in the gown. The fact that she was a larger woman appealed to me, as did the chance to make this dress more than a "costume copy"  and more of a historical endeavor.   My first challenge was finding fabric in the colors I desired. I had my heart set on the azure blue velvet and sky blue moire as described in the 1887 newspaper article. Knowing that I would be spending a hefty sum on feathers, keeping the price reasonable was also a concern.  I finally settled on Kaufman's Lush cotton velvet, which has a nice sheen in person and was very lightweight. (another concern is the weight of the removable train). I found matching cotton/silk satin, and a light blue bengaline moire in  rayon/cotton blend and I was ready to start!. I decided to build a foundation skirt typical of the late 1880's and the feathers would be sewn to the top layer of fashion fabric only.  You can see some of the progress in the slideshow below. The advantage of building a ballgown like this in a period manner is that it really helps to support itself. The photo on the mannequin above only has a small bustle pad underneath the skirt of the dress and no petticoat (although I did drape the skirt over the petticoat I would be wearing, this was after the first wearing and my petti was still rumpled in the bathroom floor.)
Picture
One of the things I wanted to make sure I did was copy the spiral laced front closure style of the original gown. I also looked through my scraps of vintage lace to locate similar lace as the original had underneath the peacock trim. 
Picture
Picture
While my train is not quite as long as a true court train (only about two and a half yards long) I think it had a graceful effect. Being removable makes it a more functional dress for myself to wear to more events.

Picture
Side drapes  on the original dress seemed to have a slightly diagonal run of feathers. I chose to use the short peacock, with a ruched top of the matching satin.

Picture
Picture
Picture
Me after an evening of dancing. I didn't quite get the removable train completed for the event.
(I had an excuse- I had to make a Father Christmas and a St. Nicholas outfit for the museum,
​AND two other ballgowns for my girls for this event!)
Picture
What the item is: Peacock Ballgown

The Challenge: Special Occasion

Fabric/Materials: 10 yds of blue moire, 10 yds of cotton velvet, 4 yds cotton skirt lining, 6 yds silk/cotton satin, 1 yd netting for hem interfacing, 1 yd cotton twill to line bodice, 1 yd cotton twill for skirt hem.

Pattern:My own

Year:1887

Notions: Feathers- yards and yards of feathers- 12 yards of herl, 100 peacock feathers, 10yds of short peacock feathers, boning

How historically accurate is it? Not too bad maybe 80 percent? 

Hours to complete: I kind of lost track.

First worn: Dec. 16th

Total cost: Sorry I am not admitting to total cost on this one. :) we must have some mystery from our husbands....
1 Comment

Dating the Basic Wash Dress

11/9/2016

0 Comments

 
One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?
Picture
OK, OK- actually NONE of these are like the others.
At first glance all of these wash dresses look very similar to each other.
HOWEVER, on close examination it will become obvious each was made in a different time frame.
Everyday dresses such as these can be especially hard to discern time frame because they don't obviously show things you might have seen in fashion magazines. To date them you need to go back to the very most basic of patterning rules for that particular period.
In this blog post I am going to attempt to show you some of the things that might fool you into placing them in the WRONG time frame, as well as some of the things to look for to make sure they are placed in the RIGHT time frame. Are YOU ready to play Dress Detective?
​We will start from left to right and examine each dress in detail.
I'm going to tell you a bit about each dress, then give you a date and
​ tell you how I arrived at that time frame.
​Click on photos to enlarge them.
Picture
Dress #1
The first dress we will look at is a brown cotton print lined with a coarsely woven cotton fabric similar to flour sacking. 
Hem circumference 118" 5 panels of 24 inch wide fabric
​4 of these panels are cut on the straight- selvedge edge to selvedge edge, but the center front panel has a slight taper at the top being only 21 inches wide.
Shoulder seam length is 4.5 inches long from neck to armscye.
Bodice shows front piece with two darts, underarm piece, side back to armscye, and back with a center back seam. Brown shell buttons.
There is no collar only a bias binding from the scraps of another dress.
​Dress has attached note- "Dress worn by Jane Ward over 40 years ago"

Picture
Picture
The skirt is attached by hand. The dress is mostly machine stitched, including the hem. The skirt opens with a dog leg opening to the left as you are looking at it (the right side as you are wearing it) The bottom of the bodice is finished with the same scrap fabric as the neckline.

Picture
The hem seems to be the scraps from another wash dress (cotton print) There is no hem binding. But the outer fabric turns to the back about a quarter inch.
Picture

​To help you see the sleeve patterning, I have carefully pinned ribbon using fine silk pins along where the seamlines would lie. The orange follows the under piece of the two piece sleeve, while the yellow ribbon shows where the upper pattern would look like if it were unpicked from the armscye and the under sleeve piece.
​

Have you made your guess on this dress?

​I date this dress to between 1882-1885
My reasoning:
The basic pattern for the bodice could place it anywhere from the early 1880's to the 1890's. A separate underarm piece started appearing in fashions from the very late 1870's, but by the 1880's it was firmly ensconced. Look first at your bodice seams when dating a dress- when photographing it opening it up where you can see all the seamlines clearly is a definite plus when someone is attempting to help you date a piece and can not be there in person.  The tucked or as the 1882 Butterick catalog calls it "plaited" waist was fairly popular, and fits well into my original estimate.  
Picture
The sleeves and shoulder length are your other big clue. The shoulder length is very short which means it has moved past the late 1870's and well into the 1880's when the armscye was closer to the hinge point of the arm rather than the outer shoulder as it had been just before. To accommodate this shorter shoulder the sleeve patterning had to be changed to add more fullness to the sleeve cap. The top of the sleeve is eased into the armscye, leaving only a few small wrinkles but no real fullness or gathering. By 1886 most dresses were showing more fullness at the shoulder with at least a slight gather so I am placing it  before this time frame. The image at left shows Professor Moody's sleeve pattern from 1885. The "old style" coat sleeve is one in use from the late 1870's through the early 1880's.

Picture
These are two sleeve patterning systems from the same maker at different dates, Both William's Perfection system.  The one on the left is 1879 while the one on the right is 1885. You can see how the sleeve cap portion is starting to grow higher as the armscye moves up the shoulder.

Did you guess the same?
Some of the things that might have thrown you off are: 
1. No collar. Most people think of 1880's dresses as having high collars. IN reality 1880's has more styles of collars, heights of collars and collar attachments than any other time frame I study regularly.  You may see wash dresses with no collar, fold over collars, shaped stand up collars, or curved patterned stand up collars.
2. Skirt attachment. In the 1880's there is a wide variety of ways skirts are attached, everything from stroked gathers, to gauging, to pleating. 
3. No overskirt. Fashion plates of the 1880's tend to show longer waistlines and overskirts. Remember wash dresses and work dresses aren't going to look like fashion plates except for bare bones of the seamlines.
4. Dog-leg waistline opening. Sometimes people automatically think civil war era when they see a dog leg opening (where the bodice opens down the front but the skirt opens to the side front at a seamline) This style of closure can be found into the 1900's and really depends on the seamstress.
Picture
Dress #2
Chocolate brown cotton print lined with a fine brown twill. 
Hem circumference 104" -5 panels of 23 inch wide fabric
Skirt has 2 full back panels,
two gored side front panels (8.5 inches at top and 16 inches at bottom),
and a gored front that is 23 inches at the bottom and 17 inches at the top.

Shoulder length is 7 1/2 inches and there is a fine self piping at the armscye and a heavier self piping at the bottom of the waist.
​The dress is mostly machine sewn with a chainstitch machine.
There is a note pinned to this dress that reads:

"note of mother,I think she made this dress before I was born about  1883 she was tall."

Picture
It has functioning black glass buttons. (button and buttonhole closure)
​

Shoulder length is 7 1/2 inches and there is a fine self piping at the armscye and a heavier self piping at the bottom of the waist (shown left).

Picture
The bodice has a back with a center seam, and the front bodice piece extends to the back of the dress forming a curved seam at side back. (note the spliced in fabric on the lining to get enough width.
Center front opening in the skirt that has been slashed and turned back under to form about a half inch placket. (no separate placket pieces sewn on) A topstitched pleat at the bottom of this placket reinforces it.



Picture
The collar is about one inch tall and "mandarin" style- not meeting in the front and curving off slightly at the top. The collar is applied both sides at once and the the raw edge on the inside is covered with self bias.

Picture
The sleeve is a two piece coat style sleeve with very little difference in the shaping of the upper sleeve and the under sleeve.
Have you made your guess on this dress?

​I date this dress to between 1870-1874
My reasoning:
Let's start with the cut of the bodice. The lining is fitted with darts and seams to the waistline while the outside has slight gathers to fit it to the waistline. We first look at the cut of the lining. If you drew a line to just the waistline you would see the cut is VERY much like the 1873 polonaise below right.  The front bodice extends toward the back, and the back is cut with a center back seam and fairly wide at the bottom. The sleeve style is very close, but even closer to the pattern below left on the paletot. The applied ruffle and band on the sleeve is very common in the early 1870's through about 1877 on wash dresses.  
Notice that the upper and under sleeves are much the same shape-
a fairly wide coat style sleeve. Because the armscye on an early bustle dress extends to the edge of the shoulder, you do not need the higher upsweep in the sleeve head to accommodate the upper arm. 


Picture
1871 petersons
Picture
1873 petersons
Another clue on this dress is the chainstitch machine stitching. Chainstitch machines are one of the early styles of sewing machines- as a general rule I see chain stitching on early bustle dresses and before- BUT this is not a hard and fast rule, there will be exceptions.
The use of heavier piping at the waistline. Where fine piping for strength was the rule in the 1860's the 1870's sometimes made it heavier and used it for its decorative function. The Sylvia Koester dresses from 1875-78 in Manhattan Kansas have some great examples of this.
The facings on the fashion fabric turn back separately from the lining fabric. (there is a gap between the lining and the fashion fabric at front between buttons/buttonholes) I have another dress from the early bustle time frame that has this feature as well.

Did you guess the same?
Some of the things that might have thrown you off are: 
1. Stand up collar. Refer to my collar comments on the first dress. A stand up collar is a perfectly
accepted style for the early 1870's, it will likely be an inch tall or less- 2-3 inch collars are usually late 1880's into the 1890's

2. Skirt attachment. Most people think civil war or earlier on the cartridge pleated, folded over top that this dress shows. I have dresses as late as the mid 1880's with this style of skirt finish/attachment a the top.
3. Sleeve piping. You might guess it is earlier(1860's) from the fine piping at the sleeveline, however the cut of the bodice lining and the heavier waistline piping push it to a later period.
4. Gathered front and back fashion fabric. Without seeing the fitted lining this dress might fool you into thinking it was from an earlier era. The lining pattern tells the true period of the dress.

Picture
Dress #3
​Black and white print cotton dress.
Hem circumference 120" -5 panels of 24 inch wide fabric
Shoulder length 6.75 inches
Mostly machine sewn
The lining is a woven plaid with some texture.
Bodice pieces include back with center seam, side back, and front bodice that extends past center side. It is fitted with two darts on each side of front that go through the lining and fashion fabric. 

Picture
Picture
The skirt is neatly gathered by hand and attached to the bodice with a machine stitch.

Picture
The upper and under sleeves are fairly slim and are much the same shape with the exception of the slight taper of the undersleeve at the top front. 

Picture
The collar is a straight of grain folded over band about an inch wide finished that is machine sewn over the raw edge of the neckline.

Picture1879 dressmaking system Back/sideback and sleeve patterns
​I date this dress to between 1874-1877
My reasoning:
By 1874, while the sleeve shape at the top had not changed much, it was starting to slim down from the fuller style of coat sleeve of the early 1870's. The shoulder length was starting to become a bit shorter as well, but it had not yet hit the point where you needed a higher sleeve cap to accommodate the short length of shoulder seam. This dress does not yet show the underarm seam or dart that would become more  more popular as the dresses were fitted tighter and lower to the form.  The sideback form still curves to the armscye- sometime in 1876 you see the appearance of the side back form extending instead to the shoulder line, but by the early 1880's that had mostly disappeared. The textured fabric found in the lining was also something that seemed to be was popular in mid 1870's. This dress has no piping at waistline or armscye and the sleeves are put in by machine. Dresses made more on machine were losing armscye piping by around 1874.  By 1876 piping was usually no longer a reinforcement, but instead a design/decorative choice.

Did you guess the same?
Some of the things that might have thrown you off are: 
1. Mostly Machine stitched. By the mid 1870's MANY of the everyday dresses you see have very very little handwork in them. Buttonholes are still made by hand, as is much of the gathering for skirts, but a hand stitched dress has become the rarity rather than the rule. Because of the amount of machine stitching you might guess later.
2. Short front waistline. When I drafted this dress out for Domestic Lady's dressmaker I was very surprised to realize that it actually scooped up at center front bodice. By all appearances this was likely a maternity dress. The small upward sweep in the front would allow the fullness of the skirts to hide a rounding belly that might otherwise be starting to be obvious in this fashion time frame.

Picture
Dress #4
Black abstract print dress
Self fabric lined bodice

​Shoulder length 4.75 inches

​Hem 130 inches 
Fabric width 26.25 inches-
5 full widths in skirt


Bodice drops below natural waistline about 2 inches

​Neckline finished with bias band, and cotton lace hand whipped on edge (lace may have been added later).

Picture
Picture
Bodice pattern piece include
Back with center back seam,
side back curving to armscye, and
​Front with dart from armscye to waist forming underarm piece.

Picture
The skirt is hand gathered then machine stitched on, seams are machine stitched and hand overcast to prevent raveling out. On the right you can see the two front bust darts, and the dart that forms the underarm bodice piece.
​

Picture
Picture
The Sleeve is much fuller than it first appears to be when it is pinned out on the board. The high sleeve cap line was measured and extended by ruler while placing the pattern line because fuller sleeves are harder to pin flat at the upper edge.

I date this dress between 1893-1898
My reasoning:
There are a couple of things going on here- first and foremost are the sleeves. Sleeve patterns didn't really reach the shape shown on the dress until about 1893. The sleeve patterning system on the left below is from 1892- you can see the sleeves are becoming fuller, but were not "quite" there yet. On the right below is the Square Inch Tailor system published in 1900, just before the sleeves would collapse again. The shape is very similar to our sleeve on the dress, and would first be seen about 1893. Also notice that the shoulder seam length is very short- this is an 1882-1902 trait.

Picture
Picture
The number of pieces in the bodice are another clue. The extra "dart" that forms an underarm bodice piece, gives you the standard bodice shape from about 1882-1902. The fact that it extends past the waistline point makes it more likely to be 1890's than early 1900's as bodices were more likely to end at natural waistline from about 1899 onward. Something that is harder to tell from the photos is the fabric itself is also not as high a quality as fabric from earlier eras. The weave is not quite as tight and the fibers are not as durable. Cheapness of fabric allowed for interlining the bodice with self fabric, but it also showed as the bodice has split along one of the front bust darts from strain. 
Picture
Did you guess the same?
Some of the things that might have thrown you off are: 
1. It's hard to see the sleeve fullness on the mannequin. Honestly, I didn't mount these pieces "properly" before photographing them for this blog post on purpose. Most of the time when I see people asking "What time frame is this dress?" it is draped on a bed, put on a ill fitting mannequin and without any inner bodice photos.  As you may have noticed I rely heavily on prevailing patterning trends to help date tricky dresses, and sleeves are one of the points that can make or break support for a certain date.  Some fine silk pins and a cardboard cutting board can really help your dress identification process.
2. Collar height. We expect collars from the 1890's to be very high from most fashion plate images. The image from the 1897 butterick catalog for a work dress shows, both a stand up collar and a fold over "shirt collar".  Some dresses from this time frame have nothing but a bias binding at the neckline. Trying to date a dress only by the collar style can easily lead you off track.

So, how did you do? I hope you enjoyed my little game.
I have been studying Victorian and Edwardian dress for many years, and when my interest turned early on to everyday clothing I knew fashion plates were going to be of little help to me and started my two favorite collections. Butterick pattern catalogs and dressmaking systems. Using these two collections my third collection- extant Work/At home/Wash dresses started to make more sense to me. The more original pieces that came to be in that third collection, the more I realized what things covered larger time spans than I originally realized, and what would help place a dress in a specific time frame.  For example, my current opinion is there is no wrong way to attach a wash dress collar from 1870-1900. I have seen nearly every way possible in nearly every fashion period in that timespan to the point there are very few collars I would call out as specific to a time frame. (There ARE some- but that is another lecture.) With the advent of reasonably priced paper patterns in the 1860's, and fashion magazines publishing patterns within their pages, most women had access to current basic pattern shapes for bodice and sleeves.
ALL images in this blog post are from my personal collection.
Please do not copy and use as your own- but feel free to share the blog post as much as you like.



If you would like to study some basic patternmaking guides without starting your own collection
​ you should go browse archive.org

The science and Geometry of Dress -1876
(slightly old fashioned as the new pattern cut was just appearing)

Instruction Book for the French and English Systems of Cutting Fitting and Basting-1881
You have to flip through the whole book to see that 1881 was a pretty transitional year and several cutting styles were being used. 

A System for Cutting Ladies Garments- 1883

Directions for Cutting Garments with the Improved Davis Square-1888

The Scientific System of Dress cutting- 1894
​
There are Many many more- try searching dressmaking or tailoring
and select by date published early to late.
0 Comments

Do I look sad?

9/26/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
So, I love Halloween and I collect skulls- it only makes sense that I eventually put together a mourning exhibit right? So do I look sad? 
My goal was to put together a mourning dress that would be appropriate for opening of the Beyond the Veil exhibit I recently completed. As life is wont to do, after I had got the exhibit together and tended to the family- I had mananged to give myself 24 hours to complete the new dress. Not an ideal situation. But as my friend says, "Sleep is for the weak!" and I dove in. My advantages are: 
1. I already have a personal master sloper with several sleeve and collar styles
2. I had the fabric already ordered and waiting on my table.
3. I have a 7 gore skirt pattern in production  that was already altered to my size/height. 

so SURE I can make a dress in that amount of time. ;)

Picture1898 Delineator
I chose a high twist tropical weight wool crepe, and a silk crinkle crepe as my main fabrics. My goal was to create a dress that would give me a bit of leeway of the "when" of when I would wear it.
Since I'm in my late 40's I can get away with being slightly out of fashion on smaller things.
​I had images of mourning fashion from Delineators in 1898 and 1901  - my goal was 1900 as Isabella Seay Collins had passed away that year, but I wanted to be able to "get away" with wearing it for the 1890's and early 1900's should I so desire it for another event. While I ADORED the 1898 trim that came to a point in the front- to me that read definately late 1890's, likewise, more fullness at sleeve heads or the adorable little tabs that decorate the shoulder.  Because my waistline has grown in the past few years, I prefer to not choose a bodice that ends directly at the waist if I can possibly avoid it. I decided that the tabbed front, higher on the sides and slightly longer in the back would work for the time frame range I desired.  

Picture1901 Delineator
One of the things I wanted to point out when I was talking to people was that not all black dresses meant the lady was in mourning.  Having a best black dress has long been a lady's go to choice as appropriate for nearly any "best dress" situation. That meant I wanted to feature my crinkle crepe prominently on my dress to emphasize the mourning aspect.  I decided upon a band 12 inches deep around the bottom of the skirt, and as the front inset and collar of my bodice.  I liked the small turn back lapels and they were present in both of my Delineators, so I could feasibly use that design in my 1900ish dress. 
I proceeded to cut out my dress and jump into the sewing when I ran into my first problem- the lights above my ironing board decided to burn out. And these aren't just any light bulbs that you can run to the local store and purchase. I usually keep extra bulbs on hand, but evidently I had forgotten to purchase more after the last of my stockpile had been used.  As I had already mentioned, I am getting older, and my eyes no longer see black as well as they once did. To compound the problem, the black wool seems to absorb light into its inkiness. This lead to some problems with the look of the front lapels (which were false lapels not actually cut onto the fronts) They will be redone as soon as my lighting issue is solved.  As it was I managed to baste them in a bit unlevel and had to rebaste when I got to the museum. Thank goodness my personal exhibit building box always has needles and thread in black, beige and white!

Picture1903-08 Antique mourning dress - Marna Davis collection
My next big challenge was on the skirt. The crinkle crepe crawls, it stretches and pressing it can be somewhat problematic without crushing its depth.  I ended up hand stitching the crepe panel to each completed skirt panel starting with center front. Pressing was done by hovering the steam iron just above the surface of the crepe on the front, or pressing from the back side of the garment. 
 My construction was like this cut kona cotton lining, cut wool outer fabric, cut stiff cotton twill hem facing 12 inches deep. Stitch the hem facing to the inside of the kona cotton panel so that it will be sandwiched between the wool and the lining. Lay all pieces together on flat surface, pin in place. Next pin the crepe panel in place turning it down at the top and handstitch along top edge.  Next each side front panel is completed in the same way making sure to measure the height of the crepe panel to make sure that it will match and be continuous along the top edge. The panels are then placed on the front skirt panel, matching first at the top line of the crepe (a bit off at top or bottom of the skirt panels can be trimmed- but you must have the the crepe trim presenting a level line). When all the panels were completed the bottom was hemmed with cotton velveteen (as that was what I had on hand) Skirts from this time frame often have a velveteen, or corduroy hem that shows a quarter inch below the bottom of the skirt edge. It can be anywhere from 1-2 inches finished. The antique mourning gown (Circa 1903-08) in my collection actually has what appears to be a ready made velvet hem facing that has a cord edge at the bottom.
​ I didn't get any construction photos of this dress being made because I was racing against the clock to complete it in order to wear it!

Picture
Ten minutes before I wanted to leave, I completed sewing the hooks and eyes and enough boning in the bodice to keep it in place for the day (center back, sides, and one front bust dart each side). I hurriedly arranged my hair which was misbehaving wildly as it was a humid day bordering on rain, and went to grab my petticoats. It was at this point I remembered I had used my best petticoat to hold up the antique 1899 ish silk skirt I had on display. Ah well, the not quite as good petti would have to do for today!

I made it out the door and to the museum in time to play hostess to the new exhibit! 

Hopefully better photos will come after I have had a chance to rework the bodice lapels a bit, and get a good petticoat that will support the skirt weight a bit better. 

Picture
So despite the fact it is woefully late- I shall use this as my entry for July Historical Sew Monthly.
The Challenge: Monochrome
Material: 5 yds tropical weight wool crepe $9.95/yd, 2 yds silk crinkle crepe $15/yd, kona cotton- lining, cotton twill skirt interfacing
Pattern: My own patterns including my 7 gore skirt pattern
Year: 1900
Notions: thread, hooks and eyes
How historically accurate is it? Hmm, I think I'll give it about an 80% given my floating the time frame and the problem with finding really accurate black silk crepe for trimming. The cut is accurate, but I am going to do a bit of reworking on the silk front of the bodice to make it behave itself in a manner more pleasing to my eye.
Hours to complete: 20
First worn: September 24, 2016
Total cost: about $100


0 Comments
<<Previous

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Painfully obsessed clothing historian,
    mom,
    ​decendant of long line of farm women and seamstresses

    Archives

    June 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    August 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016

    Categories

    All
    Apron
    Artifacts
    Bustle
    Display
    Draping
    Dress
    Dye
    Early Bustle
    Fabric
    Housedress
    Identifying
    Magenta
    Mannequin
    Mourning
    Museum
    Pioneer
    Reproduction
    Silk
    Textile
    Victorian
    Washdress
    Wrapper

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • My Work
    • Museum Exhibits
    • Dress Gallery
    • Antique Sewing Machines
  • Books
  • Patterns
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Etsy Shop
  • Classes