1840's dress and Christmas Tree

[isabelladangelo]

I found where I had stored my 1840's dress. It's most likely from the earlier half of the decade than the later half. However, I found a few interesting sewing techniques that I rather like and will probably use in my own gown.

First, the dress is very light weight silk brocade in a pretty gold color.

The one on the left is close to the real color and the one on the right shows the detail of the lightweight brocade. I have a strip of the fabric, separate from the dress, that shows the dress was altered at some point. I'm guessing, based on the alterations, it was taken in and shortened a very long time ago.

The dress as a whole without undergarments.

Back of dress. It has all but one of the original hooks and eyes. There isn't any boning in the dress itself; just flat folded seams.

The left shoulder seam and sleeve. The piping isn't really piping but more like bias tape that is then folded under the neckline piece. The neckline piece is then sewn on top of the bodice.

Center front of the neckline. The center front seam is flat folded.

The center front of the waist. Each of the pleats of the bodice are sewn flat as evidence on the inside:

The most interesting thing I found about the dress was the inside back:

The muslin "scraps" are sewn in as the inside part of the skirt. The way they are constructed, it would naturally add a bit of fluff to the back of the skirt without a bustle. (I'm totally copying this for my own gown) The muslin is "stiff" and more like a well woven duck cloth really. It might be. I get confused with weaves. Either way, it's cotton.

The measurements of the gown for all that are interested:

• From the neck to the waist along the back opening is 13"
  
• From the back to the back side along the waist is 5"
  
• From the underarm to the waist is 6"
  
• From the neck to the sleeve along the shoulder is 5 1/2"
  
• The waist is 23"
  
• The bust is about 30"
  
• The center front from the neckline to the waist is 11 1/2"
  
• The circumference of the hem is 105" or almost 3 yards

Feel free to ask for more pictures or measurements. I'll put up drawings of the pattern of the bodice tomorrow hopefully. Bug me if I don't. I have a few more pictures up under my flickr account as JubileeL_Insaneone.

The tree is a mix of new and old ornaments. The vast majority of ornaments are from the 1940's- early 60's. The ones that aren't are either the handful I picked up in Mississippi or one of the many I bought at Target last year after Christmas. I loved the peacock ornaments that Target had last year so a lot of the ornaments are aqua, purple, or green. Of course, Miss Ginsie had to get in the picture. :-)

Comments

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like that muslin trick! Pretty gown!

[isabelladangelo.livejournal.com]

I was looking at the paintings and wondered why it looked like they had more fluff in the back...I guess the muslin is why.

[bauhausfrau.livejournal.com]

Very cool! Thanks for posting all the pictures of the dress. It's so neat to see all the details of the real thing. So is none of the that piping or is some of it piped and some not?

And I love your tree, the ornaments are pretty and it's so full and bushy it looks like some sort of tree-animal...

[isabelladangelo.livejournal.com]

Only the waistline is piping. A very small piece of cord is peeking through the back of the dress at the waist to show that it's piping. The rest of the piping look is created by taking a small strip of the same fabric, sewing it right sides together and then turning the strip under. It looks like who ever had sewn the dress then went back and stitched the edge of the faux piping down by sewing in the joined seam canal. (so when they folded the strip of fabric back and under, the seamstress/tailor then went and made sure the neckline would stay down by sewing along the newly created seam above the faux piping) I hope that makes some sense...

[mistressfetch.livejournal.com]

Love the tree. I was expecting something "horrific" in the way you described it to me but alas it is FESTIVE!!! Miss Ginsie is protecting her tree :-)

[isabelladangelo.livejournal.com]

Well, do you know of anyone else (yourself excluded) who would put up ornaments that look like Mardi Gras masks on their Christmas tree? :-) Complete with feathers?

It's very sad, one of the ornaments fell off last night and it was one of the ones I really liked. However, it was also one of the new ones so I think I can replace it.