1840´s Printed Cotton Day Dresses

Third chapter of our summer photo-shoot, and it´s the 1840´s! We had these dresses (and all the underpinnings) on the day before right after we shot 1880´s dresses and a terrible rain started so we couldn´t proceed. However, next day was sunny so here we come! I´m wearing white printed cotton 1840´s Day Dress that´s making process can be found here. I have taken out the zip and replaced it with tiny snap fasteners. Hooks and eyelets would have been more period accurate but since the dress fastens on it´s back, I still wanted to be able to dress myself in it... somehow anyway. ;) I also shortened the bodice. Lily is wearing dark red printed cotton 1840´s Day Dress which actually is first Victorian dress I have made. Large pointy collar is embellished with linen bobbin lace. 

Lily is wearing white hairpin lace shawl made of wool. I´m wearing knitted Victorian large rectangular shawl with diamond pattern. It is an actual early Victorian shawl pattern from the book Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby.

Embroidered reticule.

Matching reticule with crochet lace.

Detail of engageantes (=undersleeves).

Stay tuned, more photos are coming soon! ;)

1880´s Day Dresses

Second part of our summer photo-shoot represents 1880´s day-wear. We enjoyed this photo-shoot tremendously! My sister is modeling mauve 1880´s Day Dress and accessories that have been previously introduced here. I´m wearing cream 1880´s Day Dress made using the same pattern I drafted for the mauve dress with the exception of the overskirt. I used a variety of cream fabrics for this ensemble. Both bodices are fully boned using 5 mm wide spiral steel boning. Period authentic closures are used on all garments. Skirts are worn over tournures. Cream-black Bustle Era Hat is view A1 on pattern from Lynn McMasters. Trimmings are again mine :)

Beige/gold Edwardian parasol has been introduced here. Gloves are also crochet by me using my own design.

Velvet reticule with hand-embroidered goldwork.

Skirt-lifter in use on cream dress.

Close-up of the skirt-lifter I made to not to drag long skirts on the pavement. 

That´s all folks, see you next time! :)

Victorian & Edwardian Underpinnings

We had a photo-shoot of my historical garments this summer and we took over 400 pictures! Don´t worry, I´m not going to post them all here ;) I thought I´ll divide them into a couple sub-chapters and the first one is... underpinnings! However, this is still going to be a long post as we shot some older stuff as well. And my dear sister agreed to model some of the garments, thank you sweetie! <3

Corsets & Chemises

My second Victorian corset using Laughing Moon´s Dore Corset pattern. I made a few adjustments, lowered the armpit for comfort, made wider hips and corrected some other fit issues. This one has 33 cm long straight busk with gold clasps. Although I must say I prefer the 36 cm long busk I used on my previous corset. Fabric is a beautiful cream jacquard coutil with gold roses. And gold lace trim. I love gold! Split drawers are from the turn of the century and the pattern was from a book Making Edwardian Costumes for Women by Suzanne Rowland. 

Detail of hand embroidered chemise worn underneath the corset. Chemise was previously introduced here and here.

My first Victorian corset using Laughing Moon´s Dore Corset pattern. Previous post about the corset can be found here. Lily is also wearing split drawers made using the same pattern as mine above. I made three pairs of them. I find them very comfy! :)

Detail of the crochet yoke on the chemise. More about the chemise here. 

Detail of the flossing. 

Second chemise I made using the same crochet pattern as the yellow one above. I added satin ribbons.

Back of the chemise.

Front of the chemise.

Chemise without the corset photographed on a mannequin for modesty. :) 

Victorian Corset made using Laughing Moon´s Silverado corset pattern. This corset is a bit longer than Dore corset. I used 36 cm long spoon busk, which is my new favorite busk by the way. ;) The fabric is jacquard coutil dyed with antique blue dye. Cotton corset laces are dyed as well with the same dye. Edwardian chemise is a replica of an actual antique chemise, the pattern is from the book Making Edwardian Costumes for Women by Suzanne Rowland. Split drawers are my third pair from the same book.

Detail of chemise trims.

Silverado is a bust-gore corset pattern. Here is a detail of the flossing embroidered on the boning channels and on the bottom of the bust-gores.

Tucks on the front bib of the chemise.

Gold aglets! :)

Corset flossing.

And again chemise photographed on a mannequin for modesty. 

Corset Cover

Corset cover previously introduced here. 

Tournures

Imperial Tournure suitable for 1880´s Second Bustle Era. Sewing process can be found here.

Regular Tournure for 1870´s First Bustle Era. Pattern was from Truly Victorian (1887 Imperial Tournure TV163- Regular Tournure).

Comparison of the two tournures.

I managed to use some bias binding of-cuts from previous projects to complete Regular Tournure. Luckily shades matched the fabric (not that they are really visible on the garment...).

Petticoats

1840´s -1850´s Petticoat previously introduced here.

Detail of the exquisite embroidered cotton fabric used for the petticoat.

Edwardian Petticoat which is a replica of an antique petticoat. The pattern is from the book Making Edwardian Costumes for Women by Suzanne Rowland. This was a LABORIOUS project! But it was well worth it, I love the outcome!

Detail of the top flounce with pintucks and lace insertions.

Two lace insertions on the top flounce.

Sewing 4 m of dense pintucks on the top flounce! Yeah! 4 m!!! It took me two spools of thread to sew them.

And each pintuck had four threads to be knotted and cut off...

Thanks for reading and see you soon! :)