Late 1860s dress

were you wndering why I haven't been keeping up with DA recently? Ok, well this is only one of the reasons.

This was made for the 9th of May under a very tight time schedule. Because of said time schedule this isn't technically 100% my own work- so I am a bit unsure if it should be posted here. I figured I'd post it with an explination and see what people think. If the general opinion is that it goes then I'm happy to put it in scraps or individual photos in cosplay or something, but in the meantime at least I'm not missrepresenting anything by making it all clear- right?

First of all the patterns are not created by me- they are a mizture of Simplicity (the hoop) laughing moon (corset, chemise and draws) and Truly Victorian (actual dress). No alterations were done except general fitting (altering darts and shortning skirts), changing fastenings and altering things were pleated etc.
Second, some of the actual sewing was done by machine due to time restraints and as you all know I don't go near machines. So it meant that any seam I wanted sewing I got to the pinning stage said 'sew here to here with this seam allowance which is this mark on the sewing machine, stop, push the backtrack button, no you have to hold it down, ok, thanks.'
If time had not been an issue, I would have hand sewn everything myself- except prehaps the corset

But I'll go through the outfit in the order things were made!

Corset: I'll put photos of this later, but I found a beautiful remnant of 'unknown fabric' in the american remnants bin (they get remnants from america and nothing is known about them other than they were sent from america- no fabric content or anything). I had a lot of help with this one. My friend who was helping/teaching me and my mum (my mum made an outfit too) picked out the pattern (laughing moon dore). I cut out (at her instruction) one fashion fabric, one drill lining and one iron interfacing/bonding stuff for each piece. That was a squillion peices, and I fused the fashion fabric to the drill for each piece. This turned out not to be such a great idea as my fashion fabric was so thick it made the pinning very hard once it was all fused- to use a thinner lining would have made it easier. It DID make a sturdy corset though! As a result pinning, even with extra long thick pins was a two person job. The seams were sewn by my mum, the boning chanels were sewn in by my friend, boning cut and inserted, binding and gromets were done by me. I inserted but busk but my friend did the actual sewing that kept it there. I am the one responsable for the fact that my waist tape is not straight and the corset has one side 1cm higher than the other (I cut it down to match, but the sides are still out, if you know what I mean). It was my first time putting in metal grommets and I did not enjoy it. I put them in mum's corset too- yuck!

Crinoline was an out of print simplicity pattern. I cut out the pieces, marked the billions of boning channels, pinned the sides together and pinned on the boning chanels. Atual sewing of these were done by mum in return for me doing cutting, marking and pinning on hers. I inserted my boning which at a friends recomendation was irigation tubing. This did now work so well for the elliptical pattern so my dad helped me insert wire inside the tubing! It was fencing wire so I had problems cutting it on my own. I sewed the ends and tops of the boning chanels, attached the control panel (to stop it swing forward) after altering the pattern for the one provided which didn't work too well. I also did the gathering and attaching the waistband and fastening.

Bodice: Only alteration the the TV pattern was that I let the darts out a bit- so basically straight from the pattern.
This was my first attempt at pattern matching, so I think I did ok. It was also a lesson in how to pin things with ease and pinning took me several attempts! The gathering on the sleeves also took some attempts- especially with the piping. Again, the actual sewing on the major construction seams was done by mum or dad. The piping on the bottom, neck, front and cuffs was done by me with store bought piping (time restraints) and was a lesson in corners! lol. It does up with hook and bars and I sewed self cover buttons that are just for look on because I figured this was quicker than making buttonholes by hand. Hooks and bars were my friends idea and they sit nice and flat so I'm glad I used them. Obviously as I did all the finishing there is no visible machine stitching.

The skirt, again a first attempt at pattern matching. Major seams were sewn by mum after being pinned by me. I attached the waist band and will need to get a closeup of the wonderful job I did of pleating the back- seriously mind boggling and took an entire afternoon. Petticoat which you can't see was done the same as the skirt but shorter.

Shoes: I bought these for $59 and I love them! I searched for weeks and weeks to find a store that had a variation that fit (the first ones I tried ages ago didn't have a size that fit my odd foot shape so I tried similar things in different makes).

Stockings: Also bought these. Got them from a cheap asian stocking stall in the middle of the shopping centre. You know the type! They cost $5 and are a lacey white over the knee that were too big for me so I held them up with my fingerlooped garters I wear with 1480- lol.

Hat, I bought the hat frame and covered it and attachey bought flowers. I was planning on making a bonnet and making flowers to attach- but I ran out of time. So this was a last minute attempt to have SOMETHING

Chemise and draws- these are not finished but most of the major seams were machine sewn (side seams) gathering, attaching of yoke and waistband were done by me. Finishing will be done by me but they are unfinished at the moment!

Parason was borrowed from a friend, gloves are non-existant as I forgot to remind a friend to bring a pair for me to borrow.

So, that is all. This is DONE but not finished! To do is finish the underwear (raw edges and all), cuffs and collar and trimmings. I plan on putting some decoration on the skirt by pleating strips of the fabric, placing a ribbon over the top and attaching it around the skirt near the bottom. I also want to add some decoration to the bodice like in a extant garment I have loan of- which is three buttons down the back of the bodice near the waist and some van dykes with decorative buttons on the sleeves.

Thanks for reading the thesis, and I'm open to comments as to where to place this- I won't be offended if you think it should be elsewhere. Its hard for me to judge as I see things a bit differently that some people. ie the actual sewing of makor seams being done on machine doesn't bother me as its something I can do myself- I see it like a photographer framing up a shot, getting all the seting right and doing all the post production work but getting someone else to push the button on the camera to actually take the photo. Also from the times in the past where I have done the machine sewing I feel disconnected from it- like its not really me that has done it more the machine which won't behave- lol. Part of why I hate it so much. Whereas the fact that this is made from pre-made patterns is much more of a problem for me as I feel I wasn't involved in a large part of the creating- but I know for many people these issues would be reversed! And yes, I appreciate that running a straight, pinned seam throuigh a machine is a skill.