Making the 1850s Skirt

I love this skirt and enjoyed making it even when it went a little bit wronge. This skirt took a lot of fabric even for just a half skirt which meant this project wasn't quite as cheap as I hoped it would be but I am very happy with the result so its worth it.

I started by testing cartridge pleates and seeing howmuch went into what, I found about 50cm of calico went into about just under 10cm so therefore I measued the wasit of my manniquin and found how much calico I should cartridge pleat. I had not done cartridge pleates before however with a bit of patience I really enjoyed them. I had to draw them out and sew them before putting the frilly muslin layers onto the skirt however I decided not to pull the pleates in until I had sewn the muslin layer on.

I then measued out the lines where the muslin frills should go. I did them straight and 30cm apart from eachother however when the skirt was all together and on the stand I saw this was wrong as the frills moved were in the wronge place. This was becasue I had not done much of a curve where the cartridge pleates were to go and the bodice was very curved so the line followed the hem of the bodice rather than go straight across. This mean I had to un-pick and re-sew the top frill on. The others worked where they were however I have made a note that if I made the skirt out of top fabric I would move the two bottom frills as well as the muslin is slightly see through and one can see where the lines don't work.

Origenal line of the first layer of musline on skirt. It looked nice however did not fit in with the Norah Waugh picture I was working to -

Revised line on the first layer of muslin -

I also had to gather the muslin before sewing it to the main underskirt. I wasn't sure how to do this was when I did it with two lines of stitching it often broke and I had to do it in sections so I decided to to it 3 different ways. That way, getting thick thread and zigzagging over it and pulling it into gethers which looked really nice, and finally turning it over some piping and pulling the fabric along that. I did a layer of each but feel the zig-zagginf over thick thread worked best, was the easiest to do and also the best looking. I will use this tecnique in the future.

Once the muslin was in place and sewn down (I just used a quick zig-zag stick as it held the muslin in place and gave me an idea of the cut and shape of the dress) I then pulled in the cartridge pleates. I chose not to do this as one long thread incase the thread broke so knotted the threads off every 10cm which proved to work every well as and none of the threads have broken when I have been taking the piece back and forth from uni. I must have pulled the cartridge pleates tighter than my tester (even through the real ones had slightly more wadding between them) and therefore the skirts waistline was too small for that of the bodice however I was running ot of calico and didn't have much time so chose not to re-cut the skirt but not for next time that I should ether not make them so tight or add more fabric.

Lastly I had to do a ''quick'' hem to neaten the toile up. This took much longer than expected as muslin moves so much and is really hard to work with and also there were 4 pieces to hem. However I am glad I spent the time doing it as it gave the muslin frills slightly more drape as well was giving a kind of divid line between each layer thus providing a better look to the toile and clearer line to look at.

I feel I go the shape of the skirt right and the idea behind it however I do feel that the positioning of the frills could have done with a bit more work.
Seccuring cartridge pleates

Making the 1830s Sleeve

I found the 1830s sleeve really hard. I have never been very good at sleeves in the past however this was very different as it was clear you did not draft it as a one or two piece sleeve but had to scale it up and use free hand by refering the the Janet Arnold pattern book.

Dexter suggested I made it much bigger then scaled it down however when I tried this it was still far to small so I had to be more daring and confident and cut it really big. I got the sizing right after about 4 attempts. I also had to ensure I didn't make it to big as the top had to be gatherd into the armhol which I managed to do through trial and error, and patience.

When I sewed it together the shape just wasn't right however when I spoke to Dexter about this he suggested adding a double layer of netting inside it to pad the top of the sleeve out so I re-cut and sewed the sleeve with the netting which did help quite a bit and did give it the classic gigot shape of the era. However, I feel it would have worked much better made from lightweight calico and possibly with a couple more layers of netting inside it. I ran out of time to do this but if I ever made the sleeves again I know what to do now.

The final hard bit of the sleeve was putting it in and where to place the seam as again there is not seam line on the Janet Arnold pattern I am using for this dress so I had to refer to my hostorical reserch. This wasn't much help ither as most of the images were drawings and don't show the seam however I did find one reference and so placed the seam in a way to match that and in a way that looked correct on the stand. I feel the sleeve may need some ajusting later on in the project if there is time however overall I feel it looks like the picture that I am aiming to copy.

The sleeve (padded up with tissue paper so it sits better on the stand and so the collar can be cut over it) -

First Work Plan

Proposed work plan.

Week 1
Mon 7th March -Fri 11th March
Reserch into clothing from 1899-1910
Create time plan
Start learning agreement
9th - MODIP session (10am-12.30pm)
10th - Winchester trip (11am-3pm)

Week 2
Mon 14th March - Fri 18th March
Continue reserch into 19th Century dresss.
Continue with learning agreement.
Finale decision on what to make.
Start Janet Arnold 1830-6 dinner dress (half bodice cut on the stand).

Week 3
Mon 21st March - Fri 25th March
Finish JA 1830-6 dinner dress.
Do Norah Waugh 1850s summer dress (hald whole dress cut on the stand).
24th - deadline for learning agreement.

Week 4
Mon 28th March - Fri 1st April
Work experience with Naomi Isaacs (London).
If time go see some of the dresses I am making.
POP essay.
28th - Candide performance.

Week 5
Mon 4th April - Fri 8th April
Work experience with Naomi Isaacs (London).
POP essay.

Easter Break
Sat 9th April - Tues 26th April
Draft sleeves for all dresses.

Week 6
Tues 26th April - Fri 29th April
NW 1878 afternoon dress (whole bodice cut on the stand).

Week 7
Mon 2nd May - Fri 6th May
JA 1888 day dress (whole dress cut on the stand).

Week 8
Mon 9th May - Fri 13th May
JA 1888 day dress (finishing's)
9th - POP hand-in

Monday 16th May - Hand-in

I hope to stick to this work plan as much as possible.

The Four Pattern's I Will Work From.

Janet Arnold's 1830-6 Dinner Dress -

Norah Waugh's 1850's Summer Dress -

Norah Waugh's 1878 Afternoon Dress -

Janet Arnold's 1887-9 Day Dress -

How did the Research Go?

The 19th century is such a vast and intresting one that I found the reserch incredibly intresting however it did take longer than I expected because there was so much of it and such a varied amount. After spending a day on the internet looking at images and info about the century I decided books were far clearer and far more precice to work from and also I would not have to print out lots of paper but refer to my own books and those in the costume hub. I feel I got a reasonable amount of reserch from a variety of books, including :-

- Arnold, J. (1984). Patterns of Fashion 1660-1860. Drama Book Publishers, New York.
- Arnold, J. (1984). Patterns of Fashion 1860-1930. Drama Book Publishers, New York.
- Bradfield, N. (1968). Costume in Detail 1730-1930. Eric Dobby Publishing, UK.
- Cunnington, W. (1937). English Women’s Clothing in the Nineteenth Century. Faber and Faber, London.
- Waugh, N. (1968). The Cut of Women’s Clothes 1600-1930. Faber and Faber, London.

but not too much reserch that I was overwhelmed by it. I hope the pieces I have got are useful throughtout this project and in the future if I do the 19th century again. I have put the reserch in a folder that I will keep at uni however I will not hand it in as not all the images are relivent and I feel that posting a couple on my blog will be sufficient evidence that I have done the necessary reserch needed for this project, also it does not state in my learning agreement that I will hand in my reserch.

Making the 1830s Bodice

I started cutting on the stand at the begining of the 19th Century using a Janet Arnold pattern of a 1830-6 Dinner Dress. I wanted to do something very classic of the period and I found this one and thought it was perfect. I am only cutting the bodice, sleeve and collar to get myself started before Easter. I am only going to consentrate on the cut of the bodice therefore do not need to do any of the embrodery on the front and collar or any frills however I did decide to show a littl of this in the end with a bit of lace trim on the collar as to get an idea of scale.

The bodice itself was pretty simple to cut with just 3 pieces that had to lay perfectly flat to the bodice. The concept of cutting on the stand came back quickly when I started placeing the calico on the stand (regular weight calico as doesn't need to drape or hang, and I can try and save money on this project). I was actually able to cut the bodicce, transefer it to pattern paper and re-cut it all in one dayw which has given me a boost at the begining of the project and I am confident I will be able to get the other toiles made in time.

I had a few issues of where to place the side seam on the bodice as the Janet Arnold picture does not make it clear so therefore I had to refer to my historical reserch to gain and insight as to where the seam usally sat in the 1830s. I concluded it sat just back from where the modern day side seam sits however still hidden under the arm.

The hardest part of the bodice was the neckline and where is should lie on the should. As I am working on a manniquin with no arms it was very difficult keeping the bodice just on the edge of the should where it looks like it sits on the picuture. At first I just brought the neckline in a but more than I thought it should be as to hold it on however when I re-cut it I felt it changed the shape too much an moved too much away from the era so I cut it right to the edge of the shoulder and used more and stroner pins the hold it in place.

I must note that on the Janet Arnold picture it looks as if there are two pannels on the front of the bodice however it is a dart that must be manipulated into the correct shape however this turned out to be realitivly simple as it created itself over the body shape anyway.

Front of bodice seen below -

Back of bodice seen below -

Reserch Images

These are a few of the reserch images I found to reference to throughout the project.

Early 19th Century -

Mid 19th Century -

Late 19th Century -