Tag Archives: bustle dress

Finished Project: The 1870s Green Plaid Bustle Dress

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I’m back from Costume College, my good friend is on her way back home to Texas, and it’s time to get back to real life. Woe!  But I have some fun photos to share coming up, and the first of which I want to share is the 1870s plaid bustle dress project I posted about previously.

I finished it all up for the most part by the time my friend arrived, but since she had some extra sewing to do I started doing trimming.  And more trimming.  And more trimming.  Someone on the American Duchess Facebook album of Costume College photos said it looked similar to old fashioned ribbon candy- and you know, I have to agree!

This one was lots of fun to trim.  I love this time period.  I can trim, and trim the trims, then trim the trim with trims.  In this case the most fun things to make for trimming were the ruffles which were finished with a bias binding in the peach. Over the top of the ruffles at the side I ran a braid which was made of three tubes of bias made into cording and then braided.  The bows that are accented with tassels at the end were lots of fun to make, too.

This outfit was made using Truly Victorian patterns.  The bodice was made with Heather’s new 1872 Vested Bodice Pattern, TV403.  The skirt was made with the 1875 Parisian Trained Skirt Pattern, TV216 (you can see my previous version of the skirt in their website photo).  I’m a huge fan of Truly Victorian patterns- they make these Victorian patterns so accessible, and they make up really well!  I documented working on this bodice in prior posts here, here, and here.

Capturing the correct colors of this outfit has proved quite difficult.  In reality it’s probably a combination of the photos here in front of a blank background and the photos above.

The hat is actually a 1930s hat I had in my vintage collection.  At the last minute I remembered I didn’t have appropriate headwear so I pulled out this one, which just so happened to match perfectly.  I pinned little accents of the green onto the hat, added a pink feather and a few dress clips, and it suddenly became passable for 1870s.  The entire dress was made from polyester taffeta (gasp!) but the fabrics looked so much like authentic silk taffeta, even in person, and had the same hand to the touch, that I was able to make the dress look passable on a much better budget than by using a more authentic silk.  For a dress I’ll only wear on occasion, I decided it was a good sacrifice for me to make and it helped out my pocketbook ;)

That wraps up this project!  The End ;)

Finished Project: 1880s Bustle Dress and Hat

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My husband and I finally took proper pictures of this dress I finished last year!  This was my favorite dress I made last year, and it’s my first dress from the 1880s that I’ve made that I’ve been happy with.

I posted previously about making this dress here, here, here, here, here, and here.  I also posted the hat here.   This was one of the largest personal projects I tackled this year, second only to the white Tissot inspired dress that I’m hoping to take pictures of tomorrow (or soon, anyways).

To recap on patterns:  I used the Truly Victorian Wash Overskirt pattern, the 1885 Truly Victorian Four Gore Underskirt pattern, and I kind of miss-mashed several different Truly Victorian bodice patterns to make the bodice.  Of course, the patterns were modified to suit what I wanted to do. The underskirt pattern was shortened and then made to have the points and I attached the pleating under that- but I think I wrote about that more in previous posts.

The excuse to make this outfit was to wear to Costume College, an annual costuming convention held in the Los Angeles area.  I’m glad I had the excuse, as I always am most happy with the historical sewing projects I make during the year, and I don’t always attend enough events or do any flitting around the house in 19th century attire.  The dress was a combination of a bunch of fabrics, all from out of my stash and bought as remnants here and there, aside from the silk that the skirt was made from which I found for a shocking $3 a yard in the garment district in LA!  My big splurge on this was the blue striped silk taffeta, which was a whopping $5 a yard.  The dress just kind of came together after all the fabrics had a few years to mingle together in the stash and inspiration decided to strike.

This hat is SO much fun to wear, but it is an awful bear.  It makes me stand up tall in order to keep it on my head! lol!  I still need to fine tune my millinery skills- I have a tendency to make hats a little too small in circumference- especially after I add a period hairstyle or wig.   I know it’s a little big and a little over the top, but it’s FUN.  I like big hats with lots of stuff on them.

 

We had so much fun taking the pictures! The dress is so fun to wear and makes me feel pretty and fancy- like a heroine in a BBC period drama :)   So, of course, I’ve got to add some silly shots to the end here of my oh so period correct socks, and just being silly.

Ta Da! My 1880s Bustle ensemble.  On to more costuming adventures! I may have possibly started sewing an 1869 underskirt last night to go with an ensemble I started over 5 years ago. ;)