HSF/M 2015: Challenge #12: Re-Do Early Bustle Era Dress

The Challenge:  December – Re-Do:  It’s the last challenge of the year, so let’s keep things simple by re-doing any of the previous 11 challenges.

Fabric:  Silk taffeta, silk dupioni, cotton, netting

Pattern:   My own!

Year:   1869

Notions:  The turquoise trim, thread, hooks and eyes

How historically accurate is it?  Well, if it weren't for the crazy lining, it would be okay.  

Hours to complete:  Too many :-)

First worn:  Jan 2nd 2016  for the Christmas Tea

Total cost:  I have no idea.  I know the Valentine's day lining fabric was $2.50 a yard and I have a lot of it left over.  I think the silk taffeta was the $4.99 stuff I got from Golden silks this fall.  The dupioni was $3.84 a yard and I maybe used 4 yards of it?   The turquoise fringe trim was stash and I have no idea where I got it or how much it was.  Knowing me, it was probably ebay and therefore under$20 for the entire thing.  The Santa fabric was stash.  It was left over from my sister in law's quilt that I probably should finish posting....

My inspiration came mostly from a fashion plate at the Bartos Collection and a dress from the Met.   Loren of The costumer's closet gave me great advice on lining the skirts so they don't look de-puffed.  Thanks, Loren!

Somehow, my dress grew a tail while I was working on it.  I'm not sure how that happened.  You might be able to make out a black and white blurry shape in the upper left - that's Abigail.  She was excited that there was something hidden beneath the skirt!

The bodice lining.  I didn't have any cheap fabric or any scraps big enough on hand to line the dress with so....quilting cotton it was.  Santa was one hand but I only had enough for the bodice.  The sleeve and the underskirt are both lined in the Valentine's day print.  

Front of the dress.  The shoulders are a bit funky on me as well as the dress dummy but it's not super horrible.  Although, everyone was trying to look at my shoulders to figure out what the heck I had lined the bodice in .  I do need to add trim, buttons, and rework the bodice slightly.  

Close up of the apron skirt and the hemline of the underskirt.  I want to add puffs out of the blue/gold fabric.  The fabric is WAY prettier in person than in pictures.  It's a cross of aqua blue and an almost coppery goldish color.  The gold fabric is really a cross of gold and true royal purple (think a deep wine color).   

Back of the dress.  Obligatory butt bow is obligatory. 

Side view to show it really is a bustle dress.  :-)

So this qualifies for four of the 2015 challenges - blue, sewing secrets, stash busting, and out of your comfort zone.

• Blue - The crossway of the silk is blue and I added a gold trim with turquoise stones to the hem.
• Sewing Secrets- I doubt having a cat beneath your bustle counts but Santa and Valentine's day fabric probably does.   
• Stash busting - everything is stuff I've had for at least a few months.  The trim is something I've had for years.
• Out of your comfort zone - as some of you know, bustle scares me like nothing else in Historical costuming.  Give me 1890's sleeves, Elizabethan, or even something to completely hand sew that isn't a bustle and I'm fine.  Tell me I have to make a bustle and I immediately freak out.  I love the look.  It's a gorgeous period.  However, this is my fourth dress and this is the only one, in my opinion, that looks remotely like something they would have actually worn.   

I plan on adding a few bits to it before the next wearing.  I'm glad I finally made a bustle dress that looks halfway decent and not like a frumpy hot mess.   At least the skirt on this one came out okay without tears.   Although, there almost were tears when having to pleat the bottom hem - it took almost the entire movie of Castaway to get it right!

Historical Sew Fortnightly March Stashbusting Challenge

The Challenge:March – Stashbusting: Make something using only fabric, patterns, trims & notions that you already have in stash.


Fabric: A I'm-not-sure-what-it-is-but-it-has-silk lampas like drapery fabric probably circa 1976. I also used dark green silk dupioni and sand colored linen in the dress. Oh, and muslin...

Pattern: My own! :-)

Year: 1750's/1760's more or less

Notions: Silk thread, cotton thread, ribbon trim

How historically accurate is it? It looks much better than it actually is. The fabric is too heavy for the period but the design is pretty well in keeping with the later half of the 18th century styles (mix of floral and stripes). All the visible stitching is done by hand as are the stitches holding the skirt pleats to the back bodice.

Hours to complete: If it weren't for the sleeves, I'd guess only 16 hours or so. Because of the sleeves, it took 22, I think...

First worn: Hopefully, this Saturday!

Total cost: All stash! Every last thing. The linen I used for the hem was one of those Joann's remnants I hoard. It was a half yard and 50% off so, maybe $4.50 USD? The green dupioni was also a Joann's remnant. Probably another $3 or $4 USD there. The main dress fabric I bought back in November off of ebay for $17.99 USD with another $16 for shipping (did I mention it's heavy?). The silk thread I got on sale for $2 sometime last year (I just remember there was a sale on silk thread so I gobbled up a few different colors). The trim....I don't remember where I got it or how much it was. I *think* it was one my NYC trips but I really don't know. Knowing me, I doubt I paid more the $2 a yard.

I draped the patten using an old bedsheet.  I've mentioned before how much I hated these sheets.  They used to be in my room at my family's beach home.  When Mom said she got them from my room, I thought she meant the lovely blue and white ones....  

Anyway, I originally cut it to do a closed front anglaise but I didn't like that idea and went with the stomacher front instead.

The back pleats are all very pinned into place.  Only the right side is draped and drafted for the final pattern in this photo.  

This is what my animals were doing while I was draping fabric.

Eventually, Abby decided to investigate why I was taking pictures of things other than her.  This is the final pattern for the back, front, and sleeves of the dress.

I cut out and pleated the back as well as I could.  It's still a little wonky at the top but if it really bugs me later, I can always patch it over with more fabric.  

I had to cut the fabric long ways and make sure the floral pattern was running down the dress correctly. More on the fabric itself later.

To do the front robing, I just made the fashion fabric 2" longer width wise towards the front.  I then sewed it to the lining along the front edge.  Once I matched the side edges together, this created a small overlap in the fashion fabric towards the front.  I stitched along the channel (where the fashion fabric met the lining at the front) by hand and used this as a guide to fold the robings.  

This is where I folded it and hopefully the photos make more sense.  I then ironed it down before attaching it to the back bodice section.  

The full finished dress!!

Close up detail of the sleeve.  I added the ribbon trim to the cuff edges as well as the front of the stomacher.  Despite having five yards, just doing the cuffs and the stomacher used every last inch of trim I had.

The back of the dress.  It looks more wonky that it really is because the dress dummy doesn't have arms.

The lining of the cuffs.  I wanted something that would go well with the dress.  I was going to cannibalize a UFO that had spring green silk when I saw this dark green remnant in my stash that went a lot better.  (okay, I compared the spring green to the fabric and...no.  Just no.  So I ran back and got the dark green.  It looked way better) 

The stomacher front.  I took what was left of the trim and ran it down the center stripe.  I had just enough left.

And this is what is left of the fabric I used for the dress.  It's maybe a half yard.  It's enough to do the sleeves over if I wanted to.  

Evil sleeves.   Okay, so the first time I put them in, it was totally my fault.  I matched the seams wrong and had to rip them out.  Fine.  Then the right sleeve kept giving me trouble.  It would bunch up at odd points or it wouldn't line up correctly.  It took 3 1/2 tries (the last time it bunched up , I just ripped out that section and redid it) before the sleeve looked okay.   

The fabric:  Well, truth be told - you are looking at only 4 yards of fabric.  With most 18th C dresses, you do need 9 yards - and even that doesn't feel like enough- because you need the matching petticoat, the dress, the self trims....tons and tons of fabric.   This fabric is over 52" wide (I'm not sure by how much, I measured the skirt and its 104" around so...not sure how much got eaten up into the seams).  This helped a lot for the skirts.   The front skirt is just a rectangular panel - 41" long- that I pleated to a strip of the fabric (3" wide strip that folded over).   The back of the dress isn't much different (just the back panel of the bodice plus a 41" long skirt).  Because of this,  I cut out the front from the excess above the back panel skirt, next to the back bodice.   

The sleeves and cuffs were cut out from the remaining fabric and the stomacher was cut out even more scrap (from next to the front bodice piece).  I used a little less than 4 yards to make the dress.  

Inspiration:

Dress at the Met circa 1760

This was the main inspiration for my dress.  I was going to do the self trim along the opening but the fabric really is just too heavy to do that well.  That, and I didn't have any of the ribbon trim left. ;-)

Other inspiration pieces included this early 1770's dress at the Met, this pink and green dress recently sold at Christies (probably early 18th C based on the robings), and this one at the Met as well.  

Because of the yardage issue, I liked the idea of a closed front dress.  I liked the overall style as well because none of them are overly trimmed - it's more about letting the patterned fabric speak for itself.