Dawn's Victorian Costume Diary
Tara and I decided to go thrift shop hunting, hit some fabric stores, and pay a visit to a local civil war period re-enactors shop in the area. We met at her house on Saturday morning and off we went. Well, actually I started without her by hitting the thrift shops near me, and finding a stunning beaded and sequinned evening gown for only $4 but that's another story...
Our first stop was James Country Mercantile, while technically a few decades too early for what we want, we figure it's likely to have a good selection of interesting stuff. They do carry some late victorian patterns, but the prices are intimidating (not their fault, mind you) and the designs are not what I wanted.
We buy two books. I pick up "59 Authentic Turn of the Century Patterns" which I'd had my eye on at Amazon.com and Tara buys one with illustrations from an old Butterick catalog. Later there is much giggling over the descriptions, particularly the designs for "stout" women who have waistlines over 26". Neither of us is what I would consider a delicate size for the period. Buried in the middle of my book, with no pictures to go along with it, is a pattern for a "Prince Albert Coat." Well, now.
At a thrift shop across town I find a man's grey suit vest for $3. Ka-ching. Tara finds a pair of victorian style lace-up suede boots in brand new condition, in her size, for $7. Ka-ching. And she finds the cutest miniature straw hat. Victorian ladies had a thing for miniature hats.
Earlier in the day we had been looking at the hats at the Mercantile, because I had seen a picture online of a bowler trimmed with silk flowers and a sheer veil that I thought was very elegant and feminine without being too over-the-top on the frou-frou. It looked like something we could duplicate without too much difficulty.
Hats seem to be the make or break point on costumes, and my husband and I are accumulating quite the collection. But I am reminded of the budget again, and there just isn't money to buy everything I want for the outfits this year. Tara and I talked about using buckram and making our own hats, since a lot of the late century styles are just simple shapes covered in flowers, feathers and whatnot. I've even got a buckram form meant for a bridal headpiece tucked away in a box somewhere. So it's a particularly lucky find for her to get the straw hat because she can either re-trim it or cover it for her costume.
I don't find any suitable men's shirts in the 2nd hand stores. There are some with wing-tips, left over from a prom long forgotten, no doubt, but the condition is poor and I decide to look around for a good price on a new shirt. Likewise, I don't find women's blouses that I like, either.
We go by Joann's, the supermarket for fabric junkies. We cruise the "Bargain Wall" of fabrics priced from 96 cents to about $4 a yard. Tara finds a lovely dark blue pinstripe that she likes. It's $2.88 a yard and she has a 40% discount coupon at home. I've got a 50% off coupon and I buy a bolt of muslin. I use a lot of muslin, two or three bolts a year.
After getting fabric cut we drag ourselves through the notions and trims and try and pick out lace and buttons and other things we think we'll need. I can't find any nice lace for a price I like. I mean, there is *nice* lace but the price is higher than I want to pay. So I'm cheap. Seems to be a common fault among costumers. The lace is only going to go on the underwear, so it won't even be seen, and I'm not keen on spending a lot on it, I just want something that will do the job.
While we're here I take a look at the pattern envelope for Butterick 6694 because I know it's going to need buttons and whatnot. I'm looking at view A which claims it needs "twelve 3/8" (10mm) buttons, thirty-eight 1/2" (13mm) buttons" a zipper, some lace and other stuff. Holy cow! Fifty buttons? Where?
So I open up the pattern instruction sheet and start to read. It looks like top A uses eighteen (18) 5/8" (15mm) buttons on the ribbon flowers that decorate the jacket. Except, ummm, I don't remember 15mm buttons being part of the notions list. Then two more buttons go on the sleeve cuffs. (We're up to 20 buttons now). The instructions go on to say "Make thread loops at opening edge..." Thread loops? Are there directions for this with the pattern? Are you kidding? But I need to count buttons...
Another ten buttons get used up the front. (We're up to 30 buttons now.) The directions don't say which size. I'm guessing it's the set of twelve 10mm we're supposed to use on the front opening and cuffs, but it never says this anywhere. Twenty-three 15mm buttons go on the skirt in more ribbon flowers. That's fifty-three buttons! Wow! Butterick's math is even worse than mine!
Knowing I don't need the skirt-flower buttons I pop over to notions and look for the covered button sets. I did these for my wedding dress. It was a pain in the ass, but it looks very cool when finished and I read somewhere that self-fabric covered buttons were standard for the period. I can't find 10mm covered buttons. I get the 13mm ones, that's about as small as I feel like dealing with anyway. They come in packages of seven. Seven? I need twelve. I end up with fourteen. I suppose that is so that when I drop pieces while trying to assemble them I will have extras.
