1845-1850 mourning gown

Started Dec 25, 2010 Finished Sept 17, 2011
While cutting out my fabric for my 1845 teal plaid gown last year, I decided to also cut out my black silk taffeta for my mourning interpretation gown. My assembly line method was back in business.
I’ve been collecting photos for trim ideas for a mourning gown, and originally I really liked the velvet diamonds trimming this 1850 gown. It looked like a lot of fun handwork.

But sometimes my ideas for my gowns evolve as I see more photos and find trims. What determined how I would eventually trim this gown was a purchase of antique etched black glass buttons. 

I thought they would look good following the same front design as the 1845 gown of Queen Victoria.  And then I found a photo of another 1840s blue and silver floral gown with the sleeves I liked, and now that has influenced me to want to make a pelerine to go with it. Unfortunately that will cover the pretty trims I plan to put on the front, so it may not stay on me long. But I’m betting I can make that kind of fancy too.

 
  I also found this wonderful 1840s daguerreotype of a young lady with the ruched trim down the front of her bodice too.

I wanted to use the buttons as a focus of my trims on the front of the gown, simply decorative, and I made a pleated self fabric trim to go around the entire front of the bodice and the sleeve cuffs. It would border the row of buttons I would sew down the front of the bodice.

Since I liked the current pattern I was using for a V-neck bodice, Simplicity 3855, I cut the black one out at the same time and sewed the bodice together. I also used the same sleeve pattern I’d made for my turquoise plaid but lengthened it a bit, and sewed the pleated trim just at the edge of the cuffs.

I flatlined my bodice with a navy blue cotton I had and made a bias facing to sew all around it.

 

That was as far as I got and then worked on it in fits and starts for the next year. I didn’t take any more photos during that time so this is how it started to look with its trim and two of the buttons. I had ten buttons and decided to use them all down the front.  I considered doing something to the skirt and I really wanted to sew three rows of velvet bands around the bottom of the skirt as I’d seen in a fashion print. But because this was a mourning gown, I decided to pull the reins in on my trimming frenzy and kept it plain.

 

For my accessories I made my chemisette and undersleeves from a grey cotton. I used TV 104 for the chemisette and Period Impressions 401 for the undersleeves. I sewed a black soutache trim along the border of the collar and cuffs.

  

 

I pinned my watch to my bodice with an antique pin I bought recently, and a jet mourning brooch I bought on ebay from a seller in Norway. The really cool thing is it came from Trondheim, Norway, where my grandmother came from. The back of the brooch has a little window that you can open and put a lock of hair in it. I have some black lace mitts to wear, along with this bracelet I got for a steal at one of our antique shows.

 For my bonnet- I haven’t decided if I’m going to do one like this dated 1847 one in the photo (definitely want to do the flowers on the inside, or the one shown in this fashion print of the mourning gown. The black one seems to be more of a cottage bonnet shape.
  

I don’t have the bonnet frame right now and since I’ll be gone for a good part of next month, with only a week after before this needs to be done, I’m seriously considering making this cap out of a grey fabric with black ribbon. The colors will all depend on what kind of fabric or ribbon I can find in the meantime. I don’t want it entirely black since I’m doing second year mourning of black and grey.

I will be wearing this to the Dia de los Muertos candlelight procession on Nov 1 in Old Town San Diego. I’ve been planning & working on it since last year, and at least it’s at the point that it’s wearable now. I have a three tiered ruffled petticoat made from cotton organdy to wear under it, and am currently working on a corded petticoat to go under that. I’m hoping I don’t have to fall back on my past shortcut of wearing a tulle petticoat, or even the great theatre trick of a quilted fabric petticoat. But it is in progress now. The bonnet/cap will have a higher priority though.

Making a lacey day cap

Back in 2009, I wrote up instructions on how to make a small day cap after seeing one worn at the San Francisco Dickens Faire.

I admired it and the young lady took it off to show me she had used a shoulder pad as the base, then sewed lace in layers on it. I ran into Carolyn Runnels, who also had one a little different, and she took hers off to show me.

Carolyn's started as a piece of lace as the base, then she sewed ribbon and more lace around it.

When I came home, I started making my own, first using a shoulder pad, then later just cutting an oval of Thermalan fleece used for quilting. Using a shoulder pad tends to keep it smaller since you only have that surface to sew your laces too. I had a huge stash of different laces and had fun using them all.

I started with a 4x6” white shoulder pad from JoAnn’s. I cut and sewed a piece of flat lace to fit the area just on top of the pad. If your shoulder pad has a yellowish tint to it, make sure this covers it. You might even use a piece of solid white fabric, like a moire taffeta. Then I sewed a longer lace around the back outside edge. I sewed it all by machine and used a wide zigzag stitch to sew it on. My lace was straight, so I made tiny tucks under each pin for it to curve.

I used a curved lace around the top edge of that lace to cover the edges.

 Then I just started building different laces around the front edge.

 I decided on this one to sew a piece of flat lace to cover the top. You could, at the beginning, just attach that to the top before beginning the layering. I was doing this a little backwards with my first one. But it still worked out nicely in the end.

Finally I sewed a flat ribbon across the top to each side, and a bow in the back. I think later I also put bows on either side that hung down the side of my head.

 This was Version #2 where I covered an oval piece of Thermalan fleece with a white moire taffeta like a little pillow. Then I began doing the same layering of lace technique.

These were mostly meant to be worn indoors, to keep your head covered at all times, or to wear under your bonnet. And they looked very pretty peeking out. I've seen this style mostly in the late 1840s up to the 1860s, and a smaller one in 1882. 

This is an antique one I aspire to copy next. It goes to show you don't have to do it all white or all black. This one looks like it used a base of a solid color fabric, then layered with ruched ribbons and lace added to that. Such a pretty and frothy little thing.

These are a collection of different ones I found in my Petersen's book.

1882.

1850s Bloomer gown

Started Feb 2011/ Finished July 2011

This will be a short version about my Bloomer gown for now since I'll be presenting two mini workshops on it in the coming months for my two costume guilds. I've also been asked to do a class for next year's Costume College.

I started making this gown after "inheriting" an incomplete pattern from a friend. It had been copied off an 1851 extant gown in the San Diego History Museum. I contacted both the museum, and the pattern company, Past Patterns, about it. The museum gave me an appointment to come in and take photos of the gown which had been in storage. The museum requested I not publish those photos on the internet but can use them in slide shows for my classes. I emailed back and forth with Saundra Altman of Past Patterns, & telling her I wanted to recreate the gown. She got excited about finishing the pattern to put on the market. I spent months emailing back and forth with museums and historical societies in New York about the dress reform movement, and about Amelia Bloomer and the other ladies involved in the women's movement.  Bloomers were not originally designed by Amelia, but by Elizabeth Smith Miller, who Amelia credits them with. But Amelia earned the name from the newspapers, and it stuck.

I made mine in an avocado green silk taffeta, lined with cotton. I enjoyed learning how to do piping and a different technique for gathered ruching on it.

The skirt was about 4 inches below my knee, and the Bloomers are made of silk taffeta until about midway up my thighs, a period technique to save on the silk. The Bloomers are pleated around my ankles with a cuff that has more of the gathered ruching on it.

 

In the meantime Saundra Altman was slowly getting the pattern completed, hopefully in time for me to bring them to Costume College. She didn't make the cutoff date but did send me one so I could show it around, and let people sign up to buy one as soon as they're available before they go on the market. We're hoping for it in the next month or so. And I really hope to have them in time for my workshops. I'm even mentioned in the acknowledgements for helping her get this pattern done.

I really enjoyed wearing these. They were really comfortable and got a lot of attention. Three of my friends also made their own version and we met up at a specified time in the hotel lobby for a group photo.

I had nine ladies sign up to purchase the pattern when it's available, and one literally squealed when she saw it and is really anxious to get the pattern to make her own.

Now that I have this one under my belt, I have all kinds of ideas for a new one but made out of cotton for a day dress version, as this one was kind of dressy.

Photos from Costume College

Link to my photos -----          Costume College 2011 photo album
I took over 319 photos but had to delete quite a few taken during the Red Carpet walk prior to the Gala. People wouldn't stand still long enough for many of us to take photos. Such a shame. But I still got quite a lot.

Now that the madness is over for another year, all the new ideas are swirling around in my head for new projects. My next costume doesn't need to be done until Nov 1 for the Dia de los Muertos event. So in the meantime I can finally make my much needed corded petticoats for the 1830s & 50s gowns, plus the flounced and plain petticoats that go with them. I bought a ton of cotton organdy in the Garment District for these, at the recommendation of Jennifer Rosbrugh of HistorialSewing.com. Due to the number of petticoats needed, you don't want extra weight of regular cotton. Makes sense to me. And in the meantime it will be a nice change to work on a lot of white fabric instead of all the black.

Did you go to Costume College this year? I did!

If I met you, or you saw me, let me know here!

This is just a quick overview of my four costumes I wore. It will be awhile until I get all my photos resized to put in my album.

The first day I wore my 1872 Purple Polonaise, here with my friend, Cindy. I got a lot of compliments on it, and it remains one of my favorites.

Later that evening at the Ice Cream Social, I wore my 1850s Turquoise Plaid, and here again with my friend, Cindy. Me thinks I need something on top of my head, but not a bonnet.

The next day I wore my new Bloomer gown all day and into the evening for the Gala. Here with friends, Cat & Cindy. I had a couple ladies literally melting into a puddle of jelly when they saw my gown, and are excited to make them too. The pattern is almost ready to market but I was able to take pre-orders so they will get them before they go on the market.

Sunday was my La Belle Epoque Tea and I was completely happy with how it and my gown turned out.

Of course my favorite shot was from the back.

This is Shawn, my thoroughly obnoxious and snooty French Maitre d'.

I took lots of photos of the tea setup, and the greenery I brought into the room really made a difference.

I know I'll come across better shots as people post their photos. Mine don't always turn out well when I hand my camera to someone. But we did have a couple professional photographers there, so I have my hopes.

As I said, if I met you there, and you have photos, feel free to leave a link here so we all can see.

Costume College starts this week!!

I just finished all the last minute details on my two new costumes I'll be wearing to the costume convention in Los Angeles.

 I leave Thursday morning to drive up there, and return Monday night after an all day shopping frenzy in the Garment District. I'm going to be a personal guide to a group of newbies to the GD. Always fun to see the "deer caught in the headlights" look on their faces.

I also finished the flower arrangements and foliage decor I'm using for the Sunday Fantasy Tea there. I have a good feeling how the room is going to look. With the La Belle Epoque posters on the walls, plant stands w/ Boston ferns, music of ragtime playing, and a French Maitre d', I think it will make an elegant presentation.

And I finished cutting up 119 photos of members in their finest costumes from the last year to be displayed at the Caught on Camera display in the costume exhibit there. A lot of them were ones I took but I got a lot more sent in to me this year than last year, which was it's first time. I think it's going to be bigger every year, so I'm going to be jones'ing for a larger display area next time.

The packing marathon begins!

1890s La Belle Epoque gown

Started June 2011


For the upcoming Sunday Fantasy Tea at Costume College, at the end of July, I had a time span to choose from for my gown of 1890-1914. One of my favorite movies, The Golden Bowl, had an exquisite gown I wanted to use as my inspiration. I loved the front trim and belt on it.

I had to decide did I want to go for straight sleeves or poofy sleeves, either of which would put it in it’s own time period.


After looking at these two photos, one from 1889, & the Worth gown from 1894, I chose a poofy sleeve, and I also liked bows on them.

My changeable aqua silk taffeta came from the LA Garment District, and on another trip I found this net lace yardage at Fabrics & Fabrics in the same area. The net fabric had two different types of lace trim on it that I knew would be perfect for doing a two tiered sleeve effect. I gathered the fabric under the first row of lace to create the lower flounce. It is heavy so at some point I’m going to try & use part of the netting and make it into stiff poof with some stiffener under the upper part of the sleeve.

I was also able to separate the laces by cutting them to use in different parts of the gown for trim.


I used Truly Victorian’s 490 1892 ballgown bodice, but reversed it’s opening to the front. The sleeves were made from TV’s 495 sleeve patterns, View #5. I had planned to use TV’s 297 matching skirt but didn’t have enough fabric so I used Laughing Moon’s 1890 5-gore skirt pattern, which really looked nice with it’s train. For the Medici belt I used Timeless Stitches’ TSA-525 pattern, and lined it with buckram

I already had a muslin made from this bodice pattern so with a few alterations, I was able to get it sewn in a day, and the skirt also went together very quickly. Since the finished gown would have the bodice tucked in to the skirt waist, with a belt over the top, I wasn’t sure if I should alter the bottom shape but decided it could always be worn later w/o the belt and the bodice outside the skirt. 

I pinned the sleeves on to get an idea of the look I wanted.

For the lace around the neck, I cut one row of the lace trim off the netting. I had to cut away the netting from it and I let the points dangle from it. Since it was a straight line, it was hard to get it to curve with my neckline. It was too bulky to do any tucking and would have altered the line of it. I cut it into two lengths and had it start at my front opening, and go around to the back, on both sides. I barely had enough to come together in the back and had to let it split there. At the center front there will be some kind of decoration there, possibly a self fabric bow and the rhinestone bow I have. I put the Medici belt I made on it, and put three large rhinestone buttons down the middle and a lace appliqué on either side to accentuate it. In the back where it will close, I added a rhinestone buckle for some back interest.

I started thinking about how I wanted the trim on the skirt to connect up with the bodice, and didn’t have enough net fabric to do anything on it, so I pulled out a lace trim from my stash that had a similar point showing on the neckline. After a couple trips to a fabric store looking for lace appliqués to put around the front of the skirt, I was only able to find one I liked, and centered it in the front.

This gown is still in progress and needs it’s final center front trim, and closures put in, and the bows put on the sleeves. But my favorite view of it right now is from the back. If I could walk around backwards and keep my train gracefully trailing behind me, I would die happy.