My Second Empire 1890's Dress

I didn't take pictures of the finished Second Empire stays, but here is the pattern:

I drafted it out first and then put it on the dress dummy for some final finishing.  After wearing the stays all day, they do need some small improvements.  One of the biggest ones would be to make the armsyce smaller - it was cutting into my chest around my arms.   Another would be to either make them one inch longer or one inch shorter - where they were, every time I bent over, the bones would cut into my upper belly and that was not fun.   However, overall, they were actually pretty good.  I could move!  I could drive!  Once I fix the really pretty minor issues (shorten the existing ones will fix one issue and maybe adding a patch on either side will fix the other), they will be perfect.

I didn't take any pictures of the dress while I was making it - it was a bit of a rush job since I had been so ill the previous week.   Really, the pattern for the Second Empire dress was easy since I used a modern pattern.  Simplicity 3777  has very similar lines to the 1890's dresses.  I just had to draft a new sleeve and lengthen the skirt.  Easy.   I used bodice pattern C/D for the lining and then added 3 1/2" to the front of that pattern, while drafting out the darts, for the front gathers.  The sleeve is just my normal trapezoid with a bell curve up top except this bell curve went up at least 8" than I normally do - the sleeve was also a bit wider but only by 3", I think.   The lining for the sleeve was a more traditional sleeve shape.

Another thing about the sleeves - in order to keep them "puffy", I added tulle to the inside upper bell curve edge of the sleeve.  It was about 6" wide and ran along the top of the sleeve.  When I gathered it to the sleeve lining, this allowed for something "stiff" but lightweight to help the sleeve keep it's shape.  Horsehair would have been the accurate way to do this but I had tulle on hand.  


Sleeves of doom!!!!!!!!  You can see the pink sleeves and gray wool dress (ie me!) as the only one without a parasol up.  It was wedge at my feet and you might be able to make out the handle of the parasol in this picture. (All photos courtesy of Kat!)

Kat was trying to steal my necklace which is why you see a hand in the photo below. However, you get a pretty good view of the dress. I used pink dupioni silk for the sleeves - which is what I had on hand- and gray wool for the dress. It needs trim, badly, but I'll do that next time. This time, I was in a rush to finish the dress. Thank goodness visible machine sewn hems are perfectly period for this era!

Okay, so in this photo you can really see the sleeves of doom. They are bigger than my head. :-)

This photo is courtesy of Danabren on LJ.

Overall, I'm pleased with the dress. Like I said, it needs trim. Badly. However, that's an easy fix. If you'd like to read about the Second Empire fashions, I have the original sewing plans, part one of Second Empire research, and part two. In those links, you'll see my inspiration for this outfit.

Second Empire Style Part Two

Enough on the stays as awesome as they are.  Let's start with the most basic of undies, the chemise.  Yes, there is a specific Empire style chemise!

The Homemaker: An Illustrated Monthly Mag, Volumes 9-10

From 1892.  Although I'm sure a normal chemise would be fine, it's interesting that there were even Empire styled chemises during the Second Empire time period.

I probably should explain the term "Second Empire" as well.  Many people use "Reform" or "Aesthetic" almost interchangeably for this style of dress that I'm looking into.  However, the term "Reform" isn't used as commonly to describe the dress style in period literature. Rather, it's used to describe the change in fashions and the movement towards getting rid of the corset.  The term "Empire" is used to describe the dress style.  Now, that's not to say "Reform" wasn't ever used - just that I only saw it used far more sparingly than the term Empire. 

One of the places I saw the term "Second Empire" mentioned was in Godey's November 1893.

However, because there is "Second Empire", other magazines, namely Harper's Bazar Jan 7, 1893 mentions fashions of the "First Empire" to differentiate the two styles.

The Empire style - typically referred to as reform by most costumers- wasn't regulated to tea gowns.

Harper's Bazar Jan 1893

 Although the scan is of a poor quality, you can easily see the coloration difference between the skirt and the bodice of the Reception gown above.  There were also Wedding gowns:

Homemaker Magazine 1893

1890 Wedding Gown

1894 Wedding Dress

And there were ballgowns:

Harper's Bazar Feb 1893

Basically, no matter the activity, there was an Empire dress for that.  In fact, there is a wonderful article in the Ladies Home Journal from July 1893 on Dressing without a Corset.  It goes into some of the various styles and the usefulness of dress reform.

Hopefully, having established that the dress was indeed meant for everyday wear and not just for lounging around at home and that the dress was a stylish mode in the early 1890's, I'd like to go back to this image:

Delineator Feb 1893

There are three different Empire styles available as patterns on this page.  I actually found an extant dress that is very similar to the pattern on the bottom left:

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco

The extant dress is made out of puce colored wool with sky blue silk taffeta sleeves and yoke.  Although the sleeves are more stylized than in the pattern and the yoke doesn't have the high collar, the wool part of the dress matches perfectly to the Delineator pattern.   I was really excited to find this because, although the museum doesn't have multiple images up, it does give me an idea of how it might actually have been worn. 

I believe the reason we don't see more examples of extant Second Empire dresses wasn't due to their perceived lack of popularity, but because of what happened about 15 years later when the neo-directorate styles (typically called the "Titanic" styles in the costuming world) came into being.  Take off the sleeves, put new ones shorter ones on, rip out the yoke and...you have a reasonably fashion dress for the late Edwardian, early teens era.  Given the yardage in the skirt of the Second Empire gowns, it's wouldn't be hard to take some of that fabric to create the new sleeves so no one would be able to tell you are just raiding your Mom's closet...or your own closet.

That's not to say there aren't any others - I actually found several including possibilities on my other blog- just that it doesn't seem to be the majority of survivors from this period.  

Next, hopefully, I'll be able to post about my horrible construction techniques to get a semi reasonable pair of Second Empire stays!

Second Empire Style in the 1890's part one

Over the past few days I've done a lot of research on the "Empire" style in the early 1890's.  There is still a ton of research to do, but I thought I'd share what I've discovered so far.

What started me on this track was the fact I did not want to make a bustle gown.  I love the look of a bustle gown.  They are stunning to behold.  However, they style I happen to like is the super crazy takes-way-too-many-hours-of-pain trimmed out styles.  I have some lovely orange silk and bone silk brocade that would make a stunning gown together...but I just have too many other projects right now and can't spend the time to make the dress exactly as I want it to be.  So, for a "simple" Victorian bustle, I saw a few of the seaside bustles and contemplated doing those.

However, I just didn't feel that that really was what I wanted to do either.  I wanted 1890's with stupid big sleeves of enormity and swooping skirts.  I haven't done a period correct 1890's before and figured I could suck it up, wear the generic "bustle era" Strawberry Shortcake corset I made a few years ago under anything 1890's.  Yet, another issue.  The idea of driving two or so hours in a corset just didn't appeal to me.  At all.   Those that have driven in a corset know why.  Those that haven't, try driving with a back brace that won't let you lean back and you have to sit up bone straight the entire two hours.   It's not fun.

Enter in my (Re)discovery of the Empire stays:

I wrote a bit about these the other day.  I've since discovered a couple more styles.

Harper's bazar: Volume XXVI, Number 8

             Harper's bazar: Volume XXVI, Number 2

Both of the above are taken from different issues of Harper's Bazar in 1893. I haven't looked into other years yet but both of these tell an interesting story already. First, the Empire corset terminates at the waistline. Even the "health corsets" (or "waists" as they were sometimes called) of the time extended over the hips. Although, there is this extant one that - based on the web archive- is a health corset:

Web Archive Link to Antique Corset Gallery

However, after seeing the Regency corset, I began to doubt that it was an 1875 health corset. On the archived website, it states:
First advertised in 1875, this example is most likely from the late 1870's. A black sateen sanitary corset made by the Warner Bros. Corset Company. The sanitary corset was the created by two brothers who were physicians, I. De Ver Warner and Lucien C. Warner when they became alarmed by the effects a badly fitting corset could have on the health of a woman.
Given that information, I searched for patents by De Ver Warner filed during the 1870's (1871-1880). I found a few:

1878 Corset Patent

1875 Corset Patent

1877 Corset Patent

1877 Corset Patent

1879 Corset Patent

The first thing I noticed was that all the corsets depicted here extend below the natural waistline, unlike the extant black health corset. Also, none of them have buttons. (Sorry, I have a love for button front corsets so it's the first thing I notice!) Noticing differences, I decided to conduct a search on Empire stays from 1885 to 1895 to see what would turn up. Nothing. I tried a ton of different searches and finally found this:

1912 Brassiere Patent

Although some of the shaping is different from the extant black one, I believe that there are enough similarities that the black one is just the predecessor of this brassiere. Mainly, the up and down stays, the length, the shoulder straps, and, most importantly, the rows of elastic in the back.

The more research I did, the more I became convinced that the black extant garment is not a "health corset" but an early example of a brassiere or bust supporter. However, I believe that it's too late in style to be included as part of the "Second Empire" fashion examples for now. I might look up more later but I doubt it's before 1895 and, as I'll show, the Second Empire fashions tend to be from 1892 to 1894.

1890's Sewing Plans

Typically, when you think 1890's undergarments, you think this:

Taken from Vintage Ads

Or something similar.  The good ole Victorian corset.  However, there are examples of "reform" corsets and early bras being worn instead of the tight waist corsets we are used to thinking about.   For example:

This terminates above the natural waistline.   I also love the button front.  

This one is higher up and more "bra" like.   It has adjustable straps, made out of linen, and another fabulous button front.  (Busks and I do not get along.  Ever.)

Lest anyone think that the above are just anomolies and weren't really worn, here is a graphic from the Feb 1893 issue of the Delineartor. 

Pattern 4936 is of "short stays".  The article says this about them:
Wholly practical substitutes for the ordinary long-waisted corsets, which cannot be worn with Empire gowns, are the Empire short stays, that are shaped according to pattern No. 4936, which costs 10d. or 20 cents.

So, no only was a fashion magazine making a pattern for them at the time, they were also suggesting against wearing an ordinary corset with the Empire waist fashions.   Woohoo!  (Although the run on sentence structure makes my eye all twitchy.)

I love the idea of short stays for a couple of reasons.  One, I love Empire waist fashions.  Two, I can drive in short stays for a long period of time.  A corset?   Not so much.  

My plan, right now, is to make a pair of Victorian short stays and then make an 1890's Empire waisted dress.  

For the dress, I have a few inspirational images. 

1892 Wedding Dress

Feb 1893

1892 Afternoon Dress

1893

I'm trying to decide on fabrics right now and only use stash fabric.  I have some lightweight gray wool and some bright pink wool that look really neat together.  However, most of the time it looks like the contrast with 1890's dresses were out of a different material - typically either silk or velvet.  I have a few different silks - red, pink, orange, blue, turquoise- and a few different wools I can play with.   Once I get the short stays done, I'll figure out the dress.