Tuesday, December 23, 2014

• 1860s Christmas Gown •

It's here! At last! The long awaited 1860s post!! We just took the pictures today, otherwise this post would have happened much sooner.
Here's the story about this dress; while we were in Duluth, we went to Hannah Johnson Fabrics. I couldn't make up my mind about what fabric to buy, but then I happened to stroll through the Christmas fabric section. Ordinarily I wouldn't give tuppence for most of those snowman/poinsettia fabrics, but there was one that caught my eye. This beautiful, Christmas-y but not too Christmas-y print. The very moment I laid eyes on it I knew that it would make a perfect "old-fashioned" dress of some sort. At the hotel that night, I was scrolling through Pinterest (of course) and saw this ruffle-icious, beautiful gown. I knew that it was the dress for me! 


Since I knew that I wanted to make a Civil War era dress, I knew that the first step had to be correct underpinnings. I was scared. to. death. of making a corset, but it really wasn't hard at all. I used Simplicity 9769, but made it three sizes smaller than what I ordinarily make my garments. It is highly annoying that Simplicity doesn't tell you to make it smaller - if I hadn't read up on the pattern online ahead of time, I would have been in trouble!
I lined my corset, using pillow ticking for one side and a soft, beautiful, (of course pink) cotton for the other side. We found steel boning at a local colonial-era shop, so that was quite handy!
I intended to use metal grommets/eyelets, but after trying an eyelet out on a sample piece of fabric, there was no way I was going to mar my whole project with one of those dreadful things. So, I jumped onto the bandwagon of hand-bound-eyelet-makers! It was quite easy, however time-consuming.


Then, I went about making my corded petticoat, which I also starched.
Once I had the undergarment department up to speed, it was time to dive into the dress.
It seemed at first like it would be an impossible task to make a dress when I had no pattern for it, but then I looked in the pattern drawer to see what we had. Lo and behold, Simplicity 1818 had the same exact darts and lines as the original dress! That was a victorious moment!!
So I went to work assembling a mockup. Do you think I could be one of the sizes in the pattern packet? Certainly not! I had to be a half size because I always want to do things in the most complicated fashion. Ahem.
I altered the bodice a bit, making the neckline round, lengthening the sides of the bodice and shortening the front. The next dilemma was the sleeves. Despite the fact that the original dress did not have gathered sleeves, I did want gathered sleeves. I used the sleeve pattern piece from Butterick 5831, narrowing them down by 3-4 inches.


Once I got done with all of that figuring, it was time to start cutting. The only problem was, I had 6 yards of fabric, which interprets into NOT ENOUGH! I only had enough for the bodice, skirt and sleeves. Problem. So I started looking online for this fabric, and found the needed 3 yards of it from Lori at Stitches N' Giggles on Etsy. She had it on sale for $6.95 a yard! (I paid $10 per yard originally.) Lori was amazing to work with, answered all of my questions, and shipped the package at the speed of lightning.


I cut the skirt out of three widths of (44") fabric. The front of the skirt is one width, with just two pleats in the front. The back has....yeah. a million. It took alot of ironing, pinning, ironing, pinning, basting, taking out basting, pinning, ironing, measuring, ironing, pinning and basting, but I finally succeeded in getting it just right. So I thought. Until I basted it onto the bodice, when I found out that pleats go a little wonky sometimes. More taking out and putting in of basting. Still no success. At that point, I was getting a little too frustrated to keep working on the dress, so I set it aside and made my calico Regency dress. It was a nice reprieve, which refreshed me enough to get back to this dress the following day. I finally got the pleats to lay right, sewed the seam, and continued on.
I did not have the time nor the knowledge to do a dog-leg opening, so I stooped to putting in a side hook-and-eye closure. I know, it's quite a despicable thing to do. Next time, though, I will attack authentic Civil War dress openings! 


The cuffs are just pieces of fabric (something insane like 35" long) with 18 million pleats. I tacked a ribbon on after finishing the seams. 
I was at a loss to know what to do for a belt. It is hard to tell what exactly the original dress' belt buckle is made of, but whatever it is, I didn't have one. So, I decided to just make a pleated piece of fabric and sew it on for a focal point. It didn't come out altogether bad.


The bodice is lined with muslin, so the neckline was exceedingly fun to finish. Or not. Way too many layers of fabric going on. I did conquer it, however, using a bias self-facing, and tacking it down just like in the picture.
The ruffles on the hem were a long-time undertaking, but so worth it. They add so much to the look of the dress. And, I haven't had to iron them *yet*! Our local fabric shop *just happened* to have 17 yards of the perfect red ribbon leftover from the 4th of July, and it was on sale 40% off. That was an absolute miracle. I was praying the whole time the lady was measuring it, because it did not look like there would be anywhere near enough. God answered my prayers and had there be the perfect amount! Praise the Lord!


^My American Duchess Renoirs!!!^ I love them sooooo much. They're absolutely comfortable, and so beautiful!! I am extremely happy with them. Thank you to Chris and Lauren for the amazing shoes!!

Our "trying to look serious" pose. 
My mom made a Christmas dress as well, which she'll be posting on her blog in a few days.

As you can see, we really had an amazingly snowy day to take pictures in. It was something like 60 degrees out, and sunny, and green, and brown. Oh well. 
I'll be back next week, hopefully, with another dress post!
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16 comments:

  1. It's so beautiful! You did such an excellent job! Merry Christmas!

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    1. Thank you, Kira Anastasia!! Merry Christmas!

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  2. What a lovely dress Esther! All of the pleats that you did are amazing! Wonderful job!

    Brigid
    the Middle Sister and Singer

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    1. Thank you so much, Brigid!! :) Merry Christmas!!

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  3. What pretty dresses! So nice to see mother and daughter that have similar interests. I was wondering , considering all the hard work you put in the dress, where would you wear them?
    It's a shame to wear it for only one day.
    Beautiful job!
    Merry Christmas!
    Irene

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    1. Thank you, Irene!! We have worn our dresses to a Christmas party and to church, but we will definitely wear them at other times of the year. I can take off the ribbons on the sleeves and the tie in the back, and it looks more like a casual dress than a Christmas dress. It is hard to get used to getting "dressed up" (with stays and petticoats galore) to this extent, but it's really not as impractical as it appears. :) It just takes some adjustment!!
      Thanks again for your lovely comments! Merry Christmas!!

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  4. Esther,

    Your Christmas dress is beautiful!! I love all of the detail work of pleats and ruffles. The fabric is so pretty and old-fashioned.

    Merry Christmas!

    -Sarah

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    1. Oh, thank you, Sarah!! I definitely love my dress.
      Merry Christmas!!

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  5. I just discovered your blog a few minutes ago from the link on Edelweisspatterns! I love your dress, you did a wonderful job on it. And with making the proper underpinnings first! :) It seems like you live in Minnesota, is that correct? I do too, and I love sewing and historical dresses (and everyday dresses as well). Thank you for sharing this one!

    SARAH

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    1. Hi Sarah! Thank you! No - we don't live in Minnesota, but we love vacationing up there! I love to sew too - it's so much fun to be able to make your own clothing, isn't it?
      Thanks for commenting!! :)

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  6. What a lovely dress! It's a near replica, and you put so much detailed work into it. Excellent job, and thanks so much for sharing your pictures!

    Merry Christmas and Happy Sewing,
    Katrina

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    1. Thank you so much, Katrina!! That is a high compliment coming from you!! :) It was a challenge but a very fun one!!
      Merry Christmas!!

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  7. So beautiful and so natural (as if you were a time traveler). And I really like your mother`s dress too. But the best thing: you really wore it for church!!! That must have been a very special experience (I wore mine to church too and it felt a little bit weird and at the same time quite approprioate ;-))
    Merry christmas
    Frl Notter

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    1. Thank you, Fraulein Notter! I loved wearing it to church!! I just had to watch my step getting on and off the organ.... ;)
      Merry Christmas!!

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