Out of My Comfort Zone-Victorian Hat

For the Historic Sew Monthly June Challenge of "Out of You Comfort Zone" I decided to try drafting a 1925 day dress from pictures.

 

It was an abject failure.  Not even worth showing or explaining. I have decided to maintain my original idea of using patterns.  Why reinvent the wheel?

 

My second project I attempted to get out of my comfort zone was to make a hat to go with my Natural Bustle era walking costume. I purchased the TV 550 hat pattern and the requisite materials.

 

 

I used two layers of buckram as mine was a light weight. I hand stitched the entire hat following the instructions in the pattern. I then covered it with a layer of white silk flat lined with white cotton muslin. The blue trim is upholstery trim.  I purchased a package of feathers to finish the trim.

 

 

There are a lot of areas I can improve such as learning how to join wires more neatly, hand stitch  the fashion fabric more neatly, etc.

 

 

 

These two hatpins I inherited from my mother.

 

Cost breakdown:

Buckram $5/yd. I used about half a yard

Wire: $3

Silk: $9 for half a yard

Trim: About $1

Feathers: $4

Total: About $19

Pattern: $11

 

Challenge: Out of Your Comfort Zone

Pattern: Truly Victorian 550

Year: ca. 1880

Notions: Wire, thread, trim, feathers

How historically accurate?: About 80% as the trim is polyester and of course all materials are machine made.  I sewed the entire thing by hand.

Hours to complete: about 10 hours as I was rather obsessed to get it done.  Next time I will slow down and try to improve my skills.

First worn: Not yet.

Total cost: $20

 

Thank you for stopping by and seeing my latest costume challenge.

Jeannine

Truly Victorian 1880 Walking Dress

A week ago I finished my project sewing an 1880s style walking costume.  I wanted to wait to show pictures until I could be photographed in it. However, we have been experiencing 100+ F degree weather here in The Big Valley of California.  I am not putting all those layers on in that kind of heat for a photo shoot.

 

 

 

Here is one of the pins I based my dress on. It can be found here.

Of course it is a based on a period photo.

 

 

I also based my dress on these drawings and examples:

 

Bustle dress

 

Drawing

 

So Let's get on with it! Here is my masterpiece.  I would love to have used lavender stripes as purple is my favorite color.  I shopped for several weeks on ebay for yardage and found a listing for this blue stripe and solid blue fabrics in one listing. There was probably 8 yards of the stripe. It is about 40 inches wide while the blue was about 36 inches wide.  Both are 100% cotton and they are from the 1970s, made for home dec.

 

 

I used TV225 1878 Fantail skirt,  TV326 1880 Hermione Overskirt, and TV428 1880 Jacket Bodice.

 

 

 

I modified the front of the jacket bodice by removing the points and rounding it slightly. I didn't like the points look nor the extreme length of the red stripe example.

The rest of the patterns I used as is.

 

The entire ensemble was sewn by machine using cotton thread.  I used modern metal buttons as they seemed similar to period buttons.

 

 

 

 

I have my Corset already to go and I still need to make a new more 1880s style chemise.  I have ordered TV550 to create a hat as no self respecting lady would go out walking without a hat!

 

I wish I could go to Costume College, but that is pricy for a substitute teacher. Maybe next year.

Let me know what you think.

Jeannine