Dawn's Victorian Costume Diary
My friends Paul and Kim are looking at "Wild West" gear. Their goals are a little different than mine, they're aiming for a "western fantasy" feel. Their costumes will be worn at GenCon next year, a large game convention held in Indianapolis. Kim is inspired by the cover of a game rulebook, "Law Dogs" for the Deadlands game system.The woman wears jeans, a riding shirt that is open at the neck, and a long duster.
Paul sends me pictures of costume items they like. He has his eye on a fancy black vest and a new hat. Since they live in the southwest these items can be found at local shopping centers, and pretty soon they have pictures of themselves in their new duds.
I'm still looking for hats. I found a couple web sites with period hats at reasonable prices.
I can't figure the name of this company , but they have a large selection of historical clothing and costume items.
I also found a few sites selling discounted Folkwear patterns. Before you get excited, these were a few random used patterns being sold flea market style on various craft mall type sites. None of them were patterns I particularly wanted. In fact, Folkwear hasn't got any patterns I can use for this project.
I'm starting to get a general idea of what I want, after looking at pictures for a few days. A long skirt that is full in the back and a blouse and a matching jacket that tucks into the waist. The conversion will have a drape in the front and a small bustle. I'm going for a dignified 'walking dress' and not a ballgown or evening gown. I'd like to do something with the sleeves but I'm not sure if I have enough fabric.
Trying to do this on a budget means, for me, starting with fabric I have and making it work. I look over the shelves and find 6 yards of purple polyester satin. Satin works well for Victorian, and if I use the matte side it's not quite so... screamingly modern and fake looking. I hope. I've also got some pieces of black venetian lace I bought for another project and ended up not using.
Several years ago I was fortunate enough to get all 3 of Janet Arnold's "Patterns of Fashion" books as a holiday gift. So I whip out the victorian one and go over the patterns and the miniature cutting diagrams. I find a skirt I like. It's very simple, really, there is a front panel that is more or less straight, and two big quarter circles for the gathered part in back. It's called a fan skirt because the fabric is cut in a fan shape, or assembled from panels that form a fan shape. I draw out some diagrams on graph paper and figure it will work.
This is when I remember that my fabric is only 40" wide. It came from Europe a couple of years ago from a friend who thought he was doing me a favor by buying 'silk' for me. Argh! Well, the length and fullness won't be what I had hoped for, but I can still make it work.
You know, the more I look over Patterns of Fashion, the less useful I find it. The title is "Englishwomen's Dresses" and that's all there is, with minimal commentary. I don't particularly like any of the dresses shown, either. There isn't a single blouse pattern. The only thing I can use is the skirt diagrams.
After looking over my pattern collection I'm able to identify a couple of commercial patterns that I think I can use. Butterick 6694 is a mid 19th century pattern, and it's really ugly, however the lines on the bodice are right for what I want to do. I can figure out the sleeves later. I've got a bunch of the underwear patterns and I pick out McCall's 3609 because it has the longer pantalettes and a short camisole. The longer I look at it the less I like the camisole, though. It's off-the-shoulder, which my dress isn't. None of the others are any better. I guess I'll just make something up later.
I looked at Simplicity 5457, which they date to 1880, and they're probably pretty close on that. But I don't like the skirt ruffle, or the way the bustles hang in the back -- they just don't match up with photographs of period dresses. I don't like the neckline of the evening gown, or the day dress, it's made with some sort of dickey insert and I don't like the short sleeves. Ok, you get the idea.
For my husband I find Butterick 3721, which is actually a decent version of a late victorian morning coat and vest. Near enough as makes no difference, as they say. Except it won't be a morning coat when I'm done. I've been looking at "The Cut of Men's Clothes" and there are a couple diagrams for coats there, completely devoid of instructions of course. I can usually figure out where the sleeves go, but some sizing information and yardage would be nice. With the coat, though, all I really need to do is alter the front to be more square it should look right.
The vest should be easy to whip up, and he has a shirt and pants that he can wear. Men's formal clothing really hasn't changed that much in the past 113 years. In fact....
I start to wonder how much of this I can put together off the rack from thrift stores and the like. A quick search online confirms many things. Men's wing-tip shirts are alive and well at every mall formalwear rental shop. Suit vests are equally available. I search for ladies' blouses. I can buy a vintage 1890's blouse for under $20. Ok, it's a cutter, and it's not my size, but still. I don't find many 'victorian' blouses that I like. That's because I hate ruffles. Eyelet is ok, small amounts of lace can be ok. Ruffles are right out. Well, it was worth looking.
