Happy New Year!

It's 2016 and I can't believe I've actually done it! I wanted to have all of my past costumes uploaded by the New Year and this is the last one. I saved the best 'til last and it seemed fitting to have a ballgown for New Year.

This is my latest ballgown that I completed two summers ago. I wanted a new gown as I didn't want to wear the same dress as the year before to the same event but I also wanted a project that wasn't going to break the bank. Since the ball was in the summer, a muslin dress therefore seemed the obvious choice.

The bodice was made using the same Truly Victorian pattern (TV442) as my first Victorian ballgown, but instead of using the bertha I applied some beautiful wide cotton leavers lace to the neckline. I didn't use a pattern for the skirt - this was simply a huge rectangle of fabric cut from three widths of fabric, pleated onto the waistband on my dress form. To add a little weight and structure to the hem I made three deep tucks at the bottom. This really created a beautiful swirl when dancing as the whole skirt lifted up when I twirled - such fun!!

I also made two different sashes and flower posies to pin at the neckline so that I could wear the dress to more than one ball. One was of fushia coloured satin in a simple bow and the second was a dark green and blue tartan sash stolen from a later 1870s pattern, that created a waterfall look at the back - unfortunately I don't have any good pictures of this so that will have to be saved for a future photo shoot.

So there we have it - I am now up to date and ready to start sewing and posting in real time as I begin some new and exciting projects.

Wishing everyone a very happy New Year and especially happy sewing...

An 1858 ballgown with petal skirt, part III (more pictures)

And here are some more pictures of the dress at the festival. As I only had the one evening gown, I wore it to two balls.

I also entered it into one of the best dressed competitions (Costume Cavalcade for Original Costumes and Reproductions from authentic patterns) and was delighted to be awarded first prize.

However, as a result of wearing the gown outdoors in the midday sun for the competition (which a well-mannered Victorian lady would never do!) I ended up with a lovely sunburn in the exact shape of the neckline, complete with petals from the roses on the shoulders. Not very authentic at all, but in the pictures from the second ball I have a decidedly rosy glow!

One of my "official" portraits from the ball - unfortunately I hadn't realised how creased the skirt was until I saw the photograph. However the sepia tone does disguise my sunburn!
Photograph by: Jenny Edmiston

First and Second Place in the best dressed competition. I think we make a lovely pair and I was so pleased with my tiny trophy. It was really lovely to be chosen as the winner especially as this was my first ever costume.

On the steps - this is here for no other reason than the fact that I love the shape of the skirt in this picture. I enjoy the feeling of going down steps in a crinoline too - it feels so elegant.

And finally... in the line up for the competition. I'm not quite sure why I look like I'm giving a speech though!

An 1858 Ballgown with petal skirt, part II

Having chosen my patterns it was time for a little research - if you can  really call drooling over fashion plates research!

I also looked at a few extant garments and was delighted to find that, although my fabric wasn't silk, the colour at least was very authentic.

An 1860s pink dress in almost exactly the same shade as my fabric! And it even has the moiré effect.

Pink seems to have been very popular, especially for evening gowns, and after looking at a number of fashion plates I noticed that pink combined with white and a touch of green seemed to be a common combination.

Flowers also seemed to be a recurring feature, so I went with a flower garden theme that fitted well with the petal effect of the skirt pattern.

This was my design sketch:

A quick pencil sketch of my design, looking a bit worse for wear after being shoved into various bags for trips to the fabric shop! I had quite a few of these on various bits of paper and the corners of notebook pages. I was so excited about making the dress that any time I had a moment spare I would make a little sketch of it!

And, once I had all of the necessary materials assembled, after a few days of very hard work and late nights, this was the final result:

A nice picture of the dress as it appeared at its first ball - and before it got creased!

I was very happy with the way that the dress went together. I found the pattern instructions for drafting the bodice quite easy to follow (with a bit of help from my Mum for the fitting) and I was really pleased with how well the bodice fitted when finished. The different size pieces for back and front was as system I had never come across before but it worked really well for me.

It was also my first attempt at boning. I used finished lengths of steel boning from Vena Cava Design in channels that I stitched from the lining material then attached by hand. It was a bit tricky at first but made a real difference to the smoothness of the bodice and made the whole thing feel very secure when it was on.

The skirt was very heavy to wear due to the weight of all the fabric and the layers and I didn't manage to neaten all of the underside of the petals where the white pleated ruffles were attached before the ball, but that didn't stop me from dancing the whole night long! I had never danced Victorian sequence dances before but I absolutely loved it. I was very glad of the fan though as it got very warm inside there!

I wore the gown with a pair of peach ballerina's demi-pointe shoes, which were the closest shape I could find to 19th century dance slippers, white cotton gloves (the gloves that my Grandma wore to her wedding) and a headdress that consisted of a white lace snood decorated with ribbon to match the dress and artificial white carnations.

All in all, I was very pleased with the final effect and very proud of my very first Victorian costume.

An 1858 Ballgown with petal skirt

Given the choice, I am always attracted to beautiful clothes over the more practical ones and this was no exception. As I was making the costumes to be worn at a festival that lasted over a week, it would have made sense to begin with a gown that could be worn outside in the daytime. But my love of sumptuous evening gowns and the lure of a real Victorian ball was too great to resist. So my first real costume project after the underthings was a ballgown.

When browsing Truly Victorian patterns, I immediately fell in love with their 1850s petal ballgown skirt (TV246) which teamed perfectly with the 1860s Ballgown bodice (TV442).

TV246 Petal Ballgown Skirt
 From: www.trulyvictorian.net

TV442 1860s Ballgown Bodice
 From: www.trulyvictorian.net

These two patterns therefore formed the basis of my inspiration for the design of the dress, along with a roll of salmony peach-coloured fabric with a watered effect to resemble moiré silk that I acquired very cheaply at a closing down sale at a local curtain and fabric store.

To be continued...