November 17, 2012
**Today I was supposed to attend the Bollywood Costumed
Walkabout at the antique show, but due to just getting over a cold, I found
myself too run down to even dress for it. So I decided to finish writing up
this article and post it in my blog in lieu of pretty photos from the event,
which I’m really sorry I had to miss.**
Just so you don't miss out completely, here's a group photo from the event by Jerry Abuan.
About 8 years ago I bought a very small Victorian bodice for
probably under $20. It was in beautiful condition but it was black and too
small for anyone but a child or extremely small woman to wear it. So I think
that’s why I got it so cheap. I’m thinking it was for a small woman because it
looked to me to be too somber for a child. I’m not saying it was a mourning
bodice because it was made from silk satin and not the crape common for
mourning, but it’s possible. It was exquisitely made. I hoped to learn from it
how to construct one because these were still very unfamiliar to me.
Last month I bid on another extant bodice, again a very
small one but in pretty good condition. There was only one other bidder and I
won it for one dollar more for $26. This one was even more exquisite and was a much
fancier style. Later on one of my favorite blogs, All the Pretty Dresses,
Isabella had reviewed it, and found it a little ugly. LOL!
http://extantgowns.blogspot.com/2012/10/turn-of-century-bodice.html
So I’ll start with the black bodice.
I’m dating it about
early 1880s due to its short peplum which wouldn’t cover a big bustle at this
time. The fabric is a silk faille lined with very fine grey linen, with some
patchwork of cotton in places. When I looked at the patchwork again I realized
it was equally on both sides of the collar so I’d say it was pieced there to
extend the shoulder length. Both the collar, the shoulder seams and along the
bottom of the bodice has piping, and the bottom is trimmed with a looped braid,
which is repeated on the cuffs. Both the bottom of the bodice and the cuffs are
trimmed with self fabric pleats. The large buttons are round, and feel to me
like plastic. They look to be original to the bodice.
One of the first things I noticed about the bodice was the *buttonholes
where they were larger at one end. This would help getting the buttonhole over
the large button without having to make a huge buttonhole. They're machine
stitched. That first surprised me but when I started looking at all the seams
with a magnifying glass, I realized this was almost entirely machine made. The
stitches are very consistent in length unless it was made by a woman with mad
sewing skills.
A couple days ago I hosted a gathering of ladies from a mourning fashion show presentation we'll be doing at the Riverside Dickens Festival next Feb, and I asked a couple of them to look at the buttons to see if they could identify the material. Both said they weren't plastic, but were molded, so its possible they're Vulcanite. One more clue that this is a mourning bodice.
The back of the bodice has a pretty little curved peplum. It
has pieces sewn in to make it wider there but instead of making a couple
pleats, they were just folded at one side towards the center and basted in
place. So it makes it a soft fold instead of a pleat.
Here's the second thing I learned from this bodice: * along
the bottom of the bodice and on the cuffs there are 1/4 inch pleats, topped
with a looped braid. The edges of the pleats were finished with a folded over
bias tape before it was pleated, then pleated and sewn flat across the pleats. This keeps the
pleats from opening up. So that’s how they did it! Mine are always opening up
and getting folded over.
I think the inside of the gown is where you learn more about
its construction. The seams themselves as I mentioned were machine sewn. But
then they were closed by hand stitching to finish them, all except the center
back seam which has its raw edges turned under and inside, then stitched
closed. There’s only boning in the side
seams and the front darts. The boning was put inside the closed seams. Here is
another thing I learned: *the boning on the side seams ended 1-1/2 inches below
the finished armhole seam. On my own bodices I had mine coming right up to the
seam but when I sat down the boning always poked me in the underarm.
I was able to see the boning inside the seams at one point
where it had a hole. They were very bendy like plastic and when I opened up the
seam more I could see it was baleen. I’m told baleen is very similar to the
material of our fingernails and that’s why it bends so well.
***************************************
And now for my second bodice. This photo shows the color
best; it’s a dark burgundy silk with a dark green and grey geometric
floral pattern. The bolero is dark green china silk covered with a crocheted
lace. Aging has turned it yellowish and stiff. The other day I had someone call it chemical lace but I've never seen any. It may have originally been ivory. Most of the
bolero silk has shattered but the lace holds it together, which is good. I
checked to see if the lace had been added at a later date to protect the
shattering silk but from all its seams it appears to be original. It’s
mostly been sewn by machine with some hand finishing. I was unsure
of the date since I found something similar in the 1880s but I was told the
bolero vest, the high neck, and the pouched front was a dead giveaway for the
1900s. So early 1900s it is!
Here’s the bodice under the vest. A little bit of the silk
was spared by using peach colored polished cotton everywhere that the vest
covered up. This was done to save fabric and money.
The
front insert that makes the pouched look has tucks across the chest, then
gathers at the bottom.
This shows how the front opens and closes over to the side.
It uses hooks and eyes up to the shoulder seam. The edge has strips of white
silk fabric that the hooks & eyes are sewn behind for stabilizing. On the inside
the same peach lining closes to the other side by a row of hooks & eyes,
and on top of that closure are two boning casings that start just below the
bust line. The bottom edge is finished with a solid burgundy silk bias ribbon.
The sleeves come to mid-arm and are made of two pieces. On
the front piece it has two rows of tucks down the length of it. It has a second
sleeve that is full length to the wrist under the outer sleeve. The part not
showing is the peach cotton, which is sewn to green silk and covered by the
lace overlay. The cuff is bell-shaped with a pleat creating the V-shape at the
bottom.
The collar, which is green silk covered by the lace overlay,
is only attached at the right side & front & front of the bodice. It closes in the back
with three large hooks & eyes.
The interior of the bodice is lined with peach polished
cotton. There are boning channels at the back seam & both side seams. Those
seams are finished with a narrow silk tape. I’m not able to visibly see the
boning in this without cutting into it but the stiffness of them, plus finding
one that is bent at the end, lead me to believe its steel. The bust dart seams are cut with scallop scissors.
And here’s the cute little bolero. I could easily make a
pattern off of that. The green silk and lace overlay are sewn together as one
piece. It has a graceful curve to the bottom, and on the armholes there is an
added sleeve cap that is finished with a single row of the lace flowers. The single row of lace trim is repeated around the entire edge of the bolero. The
silk inside this is badly shattered. The side seams are finished with the same
narrow white silk ribbon.
**Edited to add** Since writing this I recieved more information on this lace. It's called Schiffi chemical lace. The description is:
Chemical Lace (sometimes referred to as Schiffli Lace) is a form of machine-made lace. This method of lace-making is done by embroidering a pattern on a sacrificial fabric that has been chemically treated so as to disintegrate after the pattern has been created.
So now I've learned something new again from this bodice.
Some of the things I learned from this second bodice are similar
to my first one, other than the saving of the costly silk where it wouldn’t
show. When I’ve made my own bodices, they usually just cross over slightly in
the front to close. With the inside bodice closing it, and the gathered fabric
over that and closing to the side I’m sure gives it an additional strength and
also some modesty if it ever opened. All the more reason to have a maid or
sister there to help you dress.
**Edited to add- one of my friends, Katherine Caron-Greig, just did an article on an entire dress in Your Wardrobe Unlock'd, an online costume magazine.
Your Wardrobe Unlock'd by Cathy Hay. You can visit for free, and there's lots of free articles you can read, but to read the latest articles, you need to pay the monthly rate of $9.99 I believe. But check it out!****
My
last blog entry on Fabrics & Photos to Educate Your Eye I
talked about looking on the internet for photos of extant gowns and fabrics as
a way to get used to recognizing if a fabric would work for a certain time
period. I wanted to give a shout-out to one of my favorite bloggers who shares
her knowledge doing exactly that. Isabella of All the Pretty Dresses has become one blog that I don’t miss reading, and have it
coming to me by email so I don’t miss any on the Blog Reader where it lists
blogs I follow.
