A New Sheer Dress

This is a dress started over a year ago.  I had meant to have it done for Corsets and Cravats but never finished it and decided to wear my semi-sheer wool instead.  So into the closet went the floral wreath dress.

I purchased the fabric from puresilks.us-they have several colorways.  The actual fabric is an exact reproduction of an original gown in Glenna Jo Christen (there is actually a Past Patterns pattern of the original).  The original gown was in the brown colorway, but it is reproduced not only in brown but also in white, pink, and blue.  I choose white.  I liked the idea of being able to change up the look quite a bit by just using accessories.

For the skirt, I made a skirt pocket and a watch pocket and gauged the waist.  The bodice has a boned, darted lining with a gathered fashion fabric.  It closes with hooks and eyes and features a lace-edged collar.  I used the same lace on the (short) undersleeves as well as the handkerchief that goes with the ensemble.

Inspiration sleeves for my dress.  The short sleeved bit is most likely an underbodice (corset cover type garment) over which the long sleeved, v-neck bodice would have been worn.

The Swedish Singer Jenny Lind, C.1852 by Louis Lang

After the dress was done, it was on to accessories.  This painting caught my eye for colors:

Portrait of Mademoiselle Mathilde de Nédonchel by Alexis Joseph Pérignon, 1869

The blue against the white was just so stunning!  So I purchased several yards of morning glory blue silk satin ribbon from Timely Tresses and got to work.

I opted not to do the rosette belt as I can't find evidence of rosette belts pre 1864 so I instead used a belt buckle with my blue belt.

The hairnet was trickier.  I liked the two layers of ribbon but also knew I'd have to document it to earlier if I wanted it to work with a ca. 1860 dress.  I started with fashion magazines and photographs but couldn't quite find what I wanted.

Frank Leslie's Magazine, 1864

Unknown image

So I went back to paintings.  One can often see better views of the sides and backs of a subject in paintings than in photographs.  After all, it is not often that someone takes a side or back image of their hair.  I did find a few paintings of double hair-thingies but they often seemed resigned to evening wear.

Young Woman Reading, 1856 by Alfred Stevens

So, back at the drawing board, I went looking just for 1860s hairnets to see some variation.  At last, I found a few CDVs that struck my fancy.  Instead of having a full ribbon 'headband' bit, there were just bows at the side of an invisible hairnet.

Bow just on one side-plus a cute baby!

Bows on both sides.  You can just see the other bow poking out from the side of her face.

One sided.  Look at the pretty bows on her bodice, too!

I opted for bows on each side and went with a four-looped bow instead of the traditional two-looped bow.  The only thing I didn't copy from the center portrait was that it looks like her bows may have a sort of button in the center but I left that out.

I think the result is cute!  And certainly a variation that doesn't get seen in living history so much.  Ribbon hairnets, I will admit, are somewhat overdone in living history but I'm happy to provide a different style that was seen back then but not so much now.  Of course, not wearing a hairnet is perfectly correct as well!

I also made a ribbon neck tie I could wear with a brooch.  I think neck ties are vastly under represented in the hobby right now.  I can't imagine why-there is so much variation and they are so cute!

Unknown collection

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Unknown collection

Unknown collection

Unknown collection

Unknown collection

I made my neck tie just like the hairnet bows, with slightly longer tails.

I think the ensemble is rather fetching!

Enjoy!

Another 1830s Bonnet OR the Texas Blue Bonnet

Not that I needed a second bonnet for an era I have yet to dress out in.

Texas' state flower, the bluebonnet, has petals that remarkably resemble the style of 1820s and 1830s bonnets (perhaps why they were called bluebonnets by the new Anglo settlers who came in the 20s?).  This resemblance was not lost on me and the irony of having a blue bonnet styled after the bluebonnet flower was too good to pass up!

By stickywikit - Flickr.  Accessed by way of Wikipedia.

Obviously, I would need blue silk, some white, a hint of black, and perhaps a touch of light green to make my blue bonnet look like a bluebonnet.

1830s bonnets can be quite fun and larger than life.  Fashion plates especially.  I took several in mind while trimming my bonnet.

As we were still on lockdown, getting silk to my door in a timely fashion was not likely.  Therefore, I dyed a bit of white silk taffeta a light blue.  I had meant for it to turn out darker (last time I used the same dye, it turned out royal blue) but in an effort to not make it quite so royal blue, I used a little less dye.  Well, apparently it was too small of an amount because I got a (beautiful) light blue color.  Afraid to mess with it any further (I've never had much success with over dyeing my poor dye jobs), I left it as is.

I used a modified version of Lynn McMasters' 1830s romantic bonnet as I did with the last 1830s bonnet.  I don't find the pattern particularly historical in view B-D, but A is decent enough with a few shape changes. I threw out the instructions-I generally have no use for instructions to begin with and the paragraphs I skimmed through did not seem to jive with originals I have studied.

While the silk was dying, I cut out the buckram for the bonnet and stitched it together.  Then of course, the bonnet had to be wired and at last covered.  I used a bit of leftover white silk taffeta for the facing and a bit of tarletan (I was out of organdy) for the facing inside the crown.  After binding the edges (something apparently done quite frequently in 1830s bonnets after looking at several originals and something I hadn't done with my 1840s-1860s bonnets), it was time to add the curtain and the trim.

I used some black and white checked ribbon from Timely Tresses for ties and bows and also some rather large ostrich feathers for floof.  For the green, I think my next Timely Tresses order shall contain a bit of spring green silk ribbon for a new bonnet cap.  This bonnet may very well get its own cap!  For now, I think a green silk gauze bonnet veil will do!

This week's video is me trimming the bonnet and talking about Sarah Ann Groce Wharton, my future 1830s persona.

Enjoy!

Examining an Original 1850s Dress + free patterns from the original

I bought another original!  This one is in not-so-great shape, but I can still learn quite a bit from it.  And of course, I'll have to reproduce it soon-I have a few months before I have that planned.  There's this beautiful red tissue taffeta that was purchased for this very project that is sitting happily in the sewing room closet until I get around to it.

Anyway, on to the dress.

The dress is black silk-not taffeta, I don't think.  It's thinner than taffeta and doesn't have as much body to it.  There are bits that have been reinforced with silk taffeta, but they are all conservation additions; not original.

It's a little larger size with a 30" waist and a 38" bust.  There is no boning (or darts) in the construction of the bodice-everything is gathered to a fitted waistband.  The lining and bodice are treated as one and gathering is put in on both the front sides as well as the back.  The front gathering bits from end to end measure: 4.5" and the back gathering measures 6.75".

The bodice closes with hooks and eyes with the eyes on the right side of the garment and hooks on the left.  The hooks are set it 1" from the edge while the eyes poke out a bit from the center front.  They are between 1.25" and 1.75" apart-no two are the same.  It would seem the original seamstress wasn't measuring her hook and eye placement but rather 'eye balling' it.  They are all run on the same thread all the way down.

The bodice is lined with a medium brown cotton.  Most of the polish has worn off but there are still bits where you can see it!

The waistband measures 1 3/8" in height.  It is not piped on the top edge but is piped on the bottom.  The waistband has two hooks and eyes that are set in different places than the front of the bodice.  My personal belief is that the eyes have been moved to the edge of the waistband but originally were about an 1" over.  The waistband is lined with a dark brown polished cotton.

Of course the bodice is piped at the neckline and armscyes.  The sleeves are bishop-full at the top and bottom.  They feature delicate little cuffs that are trimmed with self fabric ruching.   They are lined with a dark brown polished cotton that matches the waistband.

The skirt is gauged into the waistband but each individual gauged pleat isn't whipped into the waistband as I've seen before.  Instead, two gauging threads are run and then the resulting gathered skirt was then attached with a running stitch in the ditch of the waistband's piping.

Then we come to the skirt.  Currently, the skirt is 38" inches long but it has been rather sloppily shortened.  The original skirt length was 42".  The original skirt length features a dark olive brown wool hem tape-about 3/4" in width-that has been folded in half and attached with a running stitch over the skirt fabric and hem facing.  The facing is the same dark brown polished cotton from the waistband and cuffs.

The dress also features a little pocket in the left side of the skirt.  It is 6" from the waistband piping.  For your convenience, I have included a pattern of the skirt pocket for personal use.

Pocket Pattern

Pocket Directions

And then there's the pelerine.  Made from the same silk as the dress, but lined with a dark polished cotton that is similar but not exact to the dark polished cotton used on the dress.  The pelerine features a center back seam which I believe is due to the width of fabric the original seamstress was dealing with as the lining does not have a center back seam.  The pelerine is bag lined (typical 'modern' lining method), turned inside out, finished with a straight-grain binding at the neck, then trimmed with a 1.5" fringe trim (the fringy bit being 1" and the pretty trim part being .5").

I have also taken a pattern of the pelerine and included it here, again for personal use only.  Do be sure to make a mock up if you're making this yourself-I found it to be a little narrow across the shoulders for me.  It may look one-size-fits-all, but there are still some fitted bits across the neck and shoulder that will need to be worked out to the individual.

Pelerine Pattern

Pelerine Directions

If you make up something from either pattern, I would love to see pictures!!  You can tag me on Instagram (katelyn.heisch) or post them in the comments below.

I suppose the only other thing to mention is the dress is completely handsewn-skirt, sleeves, and pocket have all been done with a running stitch but the bodice pieces are stitched with a (not terribly neat) back stitch.

Enjoy!