03/02/2017

1870's Day Dress

Moving forward! I finally sewed my way from 1840´s all the way to 1870´s a.k.a. the First Bustle Era! I love bustle dresses! It is my all time favorite attire both 1870´s and 1880´s bustle fashions.   

This dress is a replica project from a book Making Victorian Costumes for Women by Heather Audin. Again rather than scaling the pattern I drafted it myself. Bodice is flat-lined with cotton fabric and it is boned with 5mm wide spiral steel bones. It is fastened with tiny hooks. Skirt, overskirt and peplum fasten with larger hooks and bars. 

Materials used for this dress are: 

  • 4m lilac taffeta
  • 3m beige taffeta
  • 2m cotton lining
  • 14 self-cover buttons
  • 3m of cotton tape to tie up the bustle
  • and lots of various trims!

Front and 3/4 view of 1870´s day Dress.

Side and back view of 1870's Day Dress.

As the neckline of this dress is quite low, I had to make a chemisette to fill it in. Chemisette is a clever faux shirt which resembles a bib in front and back and it is tied with tapes on each side. This way a Victorian lady didn´t have to wear another layer of clothing.

Chemisette worn underneath the bodice.

Imperial Tournure worn underneath the dress. I still have to make top petticoat to go over the tournure =bustle.

Sleeves in 1870´s were wide and had large heavily embellished cuffs. Inside the sleeve is engageante from my 1840´s dress.
A detail of tassel trim.

Detail of peplum. 

Sewing contrasting border onto peplum. I aligned the strip with peplum´s edge and pinned it in place. Then I turned inner edge of the strip under and pinned in place.

Then I slip-stitched the strip onto peplum. I sewed short sides first and then the bottom edge separately.

 Peplum and bottom edge prepared for sewing together.

Bottom edge pinned onto peplum and ready to be slip-stitched in place. 

This project was largely time consuming and laborious but it was fun to make. It definitely won´t be my last bustle dress. ;)
 <3 Want more bustle dresses! <3

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