Seeing Red: A Late War Ensemble

Admittedly, while I admire the elegant beauty of the high-waisted trained look of the late to post war period, I don't have any dresses from that period.  I suppose it was too much of a bother to change up what I already do.  Shapes changed quite a bit during this time period and the dresses look quite different than they did in the early war.  I knew that I would eventually need some late war dresses for Welbourne, but that was several years off (2018 should be 1862 so we should be doing 1865 in 2021) so I really did not need to worry about it.

I had plans for a 1867 dress for the TLHA conference (that, of course, never got finished. Actually the dress never really got started), so I had started to make a late war crinoline.  I used Simplicity 7216 and it didn't work worked.  I took off the last 2 rows (because the picture shows it being WAY too long for a crinoline) but apparently, the picture was wrong because mine ended up much too short.  The shape did not look right, either.  I never bothered to finish it.

Well, I've been on quite the silk shopping spree (mostly thanks to Fabric Mart and their FANTASTIC silk sales ($6/yard for 2 dress lengths, then, a few days later, $4.99/yard for 2 more dress lengths).  Before all this, I bought a length of silk from Pure Silks when I bought a few yards of black silk to make a fashionable jacket.  The dress length was a ruby red shot black Mary Ann silk and came in so beautifully rich.  I did not know what I was going to do when I bought the silk, but as soon as it came in, I knew.  It wanted to be a late war dress.  It just screamed narrow sleeves and trained skirt.  Really, it did.  Fabric does talk, you know.  It always knows what it is destined to be.  And it is never wrong.

For some reason, I decided (two weeks before the conference) to make the fabric up into an evening gown for the TLHA conference.  Well, really, I was contemplating what to wear to the conference's dinner and my mind kept going back to the gorgeous black and red shot fabric and my late war plans.  So, I started the research.  It did not take long before I found a ruby red dress circa 1865.  It was perfect.

More pictures are available on the MET.  Now, I did want to make the day bodice as well, however, I was mostly focused on something to wear to dinner.  Of course, the next step was to start from the bottom up.

I have a pair of American Duchess Renoirs that I have worn with my 1870's ensemble.  And, of course, I have stockings and a corset that is workable for the era.  I planned on wearing the same chemise and drawers as my 1870's outfit (the chemise has shorter sleeves than most of my pre to mid war chemises so it would work better under the tiny, delicate puff of the late war inspiration.  Petticoats changed very little throughout the era so I did not have to worry on that, either.  The only pieces of underpinnings that needed to be made new were a new crinoline as well as an underskirt.

I pulled out the old Simplicity hoop with intents on trying to make it work.  I spent 2 minutes looking at it before I decided I would just rather start anew.  I bought Truly Victorian's 1865 Cage epattern and printed it off that night.  Since I already had the boning, everything else was not hard to get.  I made a late night trip to the Walmart less than a mile of my house and bought 2 yards of RED cotton as well as some red bias tape for the bone casing (mostly because I did not want to have to make my own bias).  Why red?  Well, a couple of reasons.  1. Walmart was out of white bias and I really did not feel like making my own.  But they had the EXACT amount of bias packages I needed in the red color.  2. I wanted something different than my other hoops.  I would love to have a blue hoop but I can't find evidence of it.  3. Red crinolines did exist in the period and they sort of fascinate me.  So, I went with it.

 

The first two originals are 1860's hoops from the V&A and the last one is from the National Trust, probably 1850's (based on the more rounded shape).  This was not my first time using TV patterns, but it was my first time actually using the directions that went with their patterns.  Maybe I'm not used to following pattern directions, but I struggled with them.  Had I known what I was doing, I would have ditched them.  Anyway, I learned that you need to read the directions all the way through BEFORE you start anything.  That would have eliminated most of my confusion and wasted time.  This is why I do not use patterns.

On the plus side, I had LOTS of cute helpers helping me with my crinoline!

                

It took a while, but it got finished.

The crinoline is way heavier than my others, but I think that's because of the yards of fabric at the bottom.  After making it, I had to make a new bustle pad to hold out the heaviness of the elliptical shape.  My usual one was mushed under the weight.

I bought Truly Victorian's 1865 skirt pattern that was used for both the petticoat and the skirt of the ensemble.  Again, I bought the epattern and printed it at home.  Note to self: buy better tape to hold the pieces together.

I made the petticoat first, of course.  I made the petticoat gored because of a quote in Peterson's 1863 that stated that if a skirt was gored, then the petticoats were also gored.  Now, I know nothing of mid-century gored skirts and had no originals to view so I trusted TV to have done their research.  I did read on the Sewing Academy that mid century gored skirts usually had one straight side and one gored side to each piece.  The TV pattern does look like that and has an appropriate amount of pieces (nine, but I cut the back piece as one so I had eight).  I didn't use the directions at all for either the petticoat or the skirt, and made a few changes.  For the petticoat, I didn't use the waistband pattern piece at all and made up where my own pleats went.  I also took only a .75" hem (I believe the pattern called for 1.5".  I used 200 thread count white cotton for the project and hand stitched it in poly-cotton thread (I couldn't find my white cotton thread).

I made some changes to the TV pattern for the skirt.  I added 1.5 inches onto the waist to make the skirt go up higher (the petticoat sit at my natural waist and I wanted it to go up a little like 1865 dresses).  I also added some length onto the bottom of the skirt.  I added 1" to the front piece. 1-2" on the side front pieces, 2-3" on the side pieces, 3-5" on the side back, and 5" all around the back piece.  the skirt is pretty well balanced (if you are using TV's elliptical cage pattern) to have an even hem all around, but I wanted a slight train.  I also put the skirt closure where the side front piece meets the side (instead of in the center back) and then added a pocket on the other side.

The skirt was a little more difficult to sew than the petti.  The mary ann silk was a little on the limp side so I felt the need to line it.  I chose silk organza because 1) it has lots of body 2) it is an appropriate skirt lining fabric of the period 3) I had exactly the amount I needed to make a gored skirt out of it.  I ended having to piece the two side front pieces a little, but it worked nicely.

Elizabeth Clark was kind enough to do a 'translation' of Mrs. Pullen's skirt linings on The Sewing Academy.  I followed these directions for the first two seams, then realized there was an easier way to do this exact thing with 1 seam rather than 3.

So Mrs. Pullen has you sewing the dress fabric pieces together and then the lining pieces separately (think bag lining almost) then whip stitching them together at the seams. I figured out if you put the linings and the dress fabric pieces all together, you could sew right through them all and get the same result.  Basically, my layers looked like this:

Lining piece 1
Lining piece 2
Skirt piece 2
Skirt piece 1

Same result, less work.  When you hand stitch all your dresses, you figure out short cuts really fast :).

I bought some nice wool braid with the intent of using it on the hem after I had faced it, but when I zoomed in on the MET dress photo, I realized that the little line around the hem was more velvet trim, so I did the same.  I used the same velvet trim as I did with the Greek Key dress and just tacked it along the hem.

I made the pleats just like I did on the petti: one wide box pleat in the front then direction pleats that met in the back.  The original looks all box pleated, but the knife pleats looked better in my silk so I left them.  I added a waistband of grosgrain ribbon (because I was running low on the dress fabric and still wanted a belt) then I was set with the skirt.

The bodices both went together fairly easily.  I used a 35%/65% silk/cotton blend for lining.  Man, could that stuff ravel.  I overcast every edge super closely so that it wouldn't ravel right out.  The sleeves are puffed and the bodice closes up the front as in the original.  I used hook and eye tape to close both bodices.  Both bodices also have piping at the armscyes, neckline, and waistline.  I couldn't find the exact lace for the bertha and undersleeves on the evening bodice, however, I managed to find two lengths of Maltese lace (that was used on evening gowns in the 1860's) that fit perfectly.

Both bodices (as well as the belt) have these little flower type things on them.  I used Simplicity 2881's petal pattern then a button covered in cotton velveteen fabric.

Day bodice has funnel type sleeves.  The original had coat, but I didn't notice it in the close up until I had the sleeves cut.

I also copied the belt from the original, only I lengthened the extension parts.  I mostly used Simplicity 2881 for belt extensions, but I added extra length for the back two.  They are all bag lined in the same cotton/silk blend that I lined both bodices in and trimmed with black velvet and rosettes.  I wore a belt buckle from Ensembles of the Past to complete the look.

I wore the evening gown to the Texas Living History Association's 2018 conference and wore the day bodice to Liendo in March.  I meant to get it done for February, but didn't so I just wore the fleur de lis green silk instead.

For the day bodice, I tried to copy the original again.  I haven't yet found a good wide silk Chantilly to trim the sleeves with, but that's the only thing that isn't complete yet.  I put the rosettes where the original had them.  I wore a black velvet belt instead of the fancy one.

I made a stand up collar out of cotton voile and used the same voile to make open undersleeves.  I trimmed these undersleeves in two layers of Swiss edging from Farmhouse Fabrics.  I then made a matching handkerchief to complete the set.

I am so happy with how this dress turned out.  I should copy originals more often-I tend to be more pleased with the results then when I take bits and pieces from various pieces.

Enjoy!