Just the Basics

It's been a very long time since I've actually blogged, which has to do with a number of personal issues and lack of motivation to actually do any sewing. This past summer I got the bug to make things again and decided the best way to get anything done was to make a deadline for myself in the form of a hard ticket event. Enter the Victoria and Albert dance weekend (hosted by the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers) ¹. The event spans a weekend in October where attendees learn dances from the time of Victoria and Albert's reign, culminating in a fancy ball on Saturday and a casual dance on Sunday.
During my planning, I settled on creating a gown dating to the early 1840s, partially because of my peaked interest in the period from my time at Old Sturbridge Village, and partially because I already had the makings of the proper undergarments in my stash from years ago. ²

Now, every good historic costumer knows that in order to get the right silhouette for a period, you need to work from the bottom up. In my case, that really meant chemise (in modern terms, a slip) out. I already have a serviceable chemise that dates a bit earlier that should (thanks to my forays into regency around graduation) and the start of a corded petticoat, but nothing else. If you go back through my archives, you'll realize I've attempted to start a corded petticoat several times before (once by hand and with blue yarn and another time with the right yarn, but much too wide fabric). This time I was determined to get it completely right. In 2014, I visited family in Atlanta and came home with 3 yards of impossible to find (at least outside of Boston) cotton organdy, in hopes of making a corded petticoat. Jump forward 4 years, and I've finally completed the several dozen cords and hours of stitching in circles required.

The other piece of petticoat layer I felt compelled to complete (although I am not sure of its historical accuracy) was a ruffled petticoat to help fluff out my gown. As the overachiever I am, I of course, chose to do 6 smaller ruffles of cotton organdy (something much easier to find in the modern days of the internet) and worn over top of the corded petticoat for maximum floof.

The next layer will of course be the corset, which I shall leave for a later post. Cheers!

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1 For those of you who know me, I've been dancing and performing off and on since I was 3 [mostly ballet and musical theater], and although I'm far from being as strong as I used to be, I still try to make it to a beginner class once a week)^↩
2 Fun fact: I've never actually created an entire historic costume from top to bottom in time to wear anywhere appropriate. I have a bunch of undergarments that I've made in hopes of eventually making a gown to wear over top^↩