Marna Jean Davis- Clothing Historian
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Domestic Lady's
​Dressmaker

Deciphering Draperies- Recreating draped overskirts

8/7/2017

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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.
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 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.
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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.

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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
​

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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.
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Here is a similar rounded drape except on the front of a dress.
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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.
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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.  
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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.
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Do I look sad?

9/26/2016

0 Comments

 
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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!

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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. 

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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


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

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