The Completed 1840's Dress

Just after I got back from Costume College (and I mean literally just after I got back, as in the day after I got home) I started working on the petticoats for my 1840's dress. I don't even remember how exactly it started, but sometime during the trip Michaela and I were talking about 1830/40's fashions and how they are a bit... odd (mostly the 1830's). And at some point I decided to make an 1840's dress, which lead to lots of Pinterest research in between classes.

As you know if you read my post about Costume College, we went to the fabric district, which is where I found my fabrics. I ended up with the perfect brown plaid linen along with plain white cotton for the petticoats. I think I ended up spending under $50 for all the materials on this dress.

I decided to wear this dress for Halloween and go as Jane Eyre, since I've recently become obsessed with that story. The pattern I used was Laughing Moon #114, which I modified the shape of the front to be more of a sharp point. The dress was soooo easy to make and was quite simple. The bodice only has 3 pieces (plus sleeves) and is shaped with darts in the front, which made putting it together fairly quick. The skirt on the other hand is cartridge pleated, which is very time consuming (but looks so pretty in the end!). And even so, it didn't take all that long.

A few fun facts about this outfit:

•  This dress used over 7 yards of fabric, and I used a total of 10 yards for all 3 petticoats. So that's a total of 17 yards of fabric I'm wearing.
• I'm wearing a cap under my bonnet (I don't currently have pictures of it... Yet), which I sewed 100% by hand (which is something I've never done before).
• I made the bonnet out of a regular straw had from a thrift store. I didn't have time to buy an accurate base for a bonnet and had to make due with this, but it turned out better than I originally thought it would.
• This dress is so incredibly fun to twirl in :D

These are just a few shots I got before going to a costume party last week, but I'm already working on plans to do an official photoshoot in the next month or so. I also want to get pictures of the undergarments and may even make a couple video's related to this outfit.

My "Go To" Reference Books for Period Clothing

We all have those books that we keep going back to whenever we have a question about our current projects. I thought I would share my favorite "go to" books for period clothing research. Even though I have yet to sew a non movie historical outfit, I do know a bit about period clothing. I just haven't gotten around to making anything yet.

My first book I go to for Victorian clothing is Victorian Fashion and Costume from Harper's Bazaar. This book is filled with great illustrations of fashions from 1867-98. The pictures have dates with them and usually a small, sometimes large, description of the piece. It covers everything from day wear to evening wear, from hairstyles to shoes. 

And you wanna know the best part? It's only $3.99 on Amazon!

My next favorite is Victorian Fashions Volume I 1880-1890. I was lucky to find this book at Half Price Books a few years ago for under $10, but I didn't know it at the time.

This book is also filled with illustrations from the Late Victorian era. It covers young girls, young ladies, and women's fashion between 1880-90.

Next is Period Costume for the Stage and Screen. This book is filled with patterns from 1800-1909. Just a warning, the patterns do not have any seam allowance. You have to add that yourself. And the instructions aren't exactly the best either. I don't recommend this book for beginners unless your using it for reference only.

Nineteenth Century Fashion in Detail. This book has beautiful pictures of men and women's clothing through the 19th century. The only thing I don't like about this book is that there's usually only 1 image per outfit. There are line drawings, but it would be nice to be able to see the whole dress rather than just the one close up.

But the dresses in this book are so beautiful! I definitely recommend at least checking this book out from the library!