This dress from the V&A collections has always been a favorite of mine. It's feminine and masculine at the same time. It's a perfect example of two tones of the same color in one dress, very popular choice for mid 1870's. And it doesn't hurt to have the pattern and construction details in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion. I used light blue and dark blue silk taffeta. I flat lined the bodice and faced the hem with plain cotton. The waistbands and the tapes for making the back poufs are silk petersham. All buttons are covered wooden molds. I tried sticking to the original construction as much as possible. Most notable differences are the cuffs, stitching down the bodice decoration around the outer edge as well and changing the skirt opening to center back. I also didn't think the side seams really needed boning, so I boned only the darts. The main seams are machine sewn, except the piped sleeve seams that are hand sewn. All the finishing and trimming is also hand sewn. The dress is worn over a laughing moon bustle and my early bustle underwear. I made the hat from a slightly mismatching grey silk taffeta. The pattern is from Miller's Millinery and I decorated it with the same black and grey striped silk taffeta that I've been using a lot lately. And the gloves are the same ones I made a few months back.
Because it's freezing cold and snowy outside, we took the pictures in a Victorian era winter garden, owned by the city of Helsinki. It's a beautiful place, free for everyone to visit and you can even bring a picnic basket with you and have a picnic in the middle of winter.
Construction pictures:
On the overskirt I made a narrow facing and then sewed on the bias cut strips of the dark blue silk.
Trimmed overskirt without the revers.
I covered a lot of wooden button molds for the decoration.
For the mock button holes I decided to make a narrow tube of fabric in a similar technique as if I was making a rolled hem.
Then I cut the tube in 6 cm pieces and iron them in shape.
I decorated the skirt fronts before sewing the skirt together.
The skirt without the overskirt.
The insides of the skirt.
The overskirt inside out. It buttons on through buttonholes on the skirt side back seams.
The insides of the bodice.
The hat frame is hand sewn from buckram.
I'm incapable of making fabulous over-the-top hats. Mine are always pretty simple.
The cotton lining.
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