Last year my friend Isabel and I were having a conversation about how much we love the book Little Women, as you do, and we thought it’d be fun to make up clothing from that era so we could dress up and have a bit of fun. As we’re both costumers it seemed like something plausible, however at the time I was still in university and therefore unable to work on the project. But now it’s a year later, I have graduated and she has a job, and so let the work begin! Also since then, our other friend has joined in on the idea so we now have three of us doing this. We had a proper chat about it and decided that we wouldn’t pick a sister and go full on dressing up as the March Sisters but that we’d just have a kind of theme of that era and idea. So time to research 1850s-60s dresses, as my logic is that the family are poor so the clothes may be a bit outdated and this also gives me a bit more freedom in finding something I like to reconstruct.
As writing up all of my research and progress when making costumes has been drilled into
my head (thanks university) I thought I might try and start a blog up and follow this and
whatever other projects I choose to work on and see how this goes. Isabel also has a blog which
can be found here https://thehistoricalseamstress.blogspot.com/ and she’ll be updating as she works!
my head (thanks university) I thought I might try and start a blog up and follow this and
whatever other projects I choose to work on and see how this goes. Isabel also has a blog which
can be found here https://thehistoricalseamstress.blogspot.com/ and she’ll be updating as she works!
Research:
Research for me began with looking through my rather large collection of historical
dress books and bookmarking anything that vaguely interested me and/or had patterns
that I would be able to make use of. I also have a very extensive collection of pins showing
clothing from the 1400s to the mid 1900s so went through those and collected the 1860s
and 1850s dresses that I thought I’d look nice in.
dress books and bookmarking anything that vaguely interested me and/or had patterns
that I would be able to make use of. I also have a very extensive collection of pins showing
clothing from the 1400s to the mid 1900s so went through those and collected the 1860s
and 1850s dresses that I thought I’d look nice in.
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| (fig 2) Unidentified CDV of a teenage girl, (n.d.) |
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| (fig 1) Afternoon dress, |
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(fig 3) Evening dress,Mme. Olympe |
necklines which is something I rather dislike wearing personally as the sensation is slightly
claustrophobic for me. So I started looking at possibly doing a softer shirt which I thought
might bother me less to wear:
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| (fig 4) Garibaldi Blouse |
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| (fig 5) Unidentified CDV |
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| (fig 6) |
I liked this idea and so this is what I’m going to do, and I may come back and make a more
structured bodice/jacket later on.
Undergarments
Undergarments required for 1860s: Chemise, Drawers, Corset, Crinoline, Petticoat (at least
one but more likely two) and also potentially a corset cover as I am planning on just doing a
shirt and I can’t have my corset be visible because that’s just too scandalous. Some historical
undergarments that I will base my reconstruction around:
one but more likely two) and also potentially a corset cover as I am planning on just doing a
shirt and I can’t have my corset be visible because that’s just too scandalous. Some historical
undergarments that I will base my reconstruction around:
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| (fig 7) Drawers, 1860s |
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| (fig 8) American shift mid 19th Century |
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| (fig 9) c. 1860s Crinoline |
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| (fig 10) c. 1860 corset |
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| (fig 11) Blue corset, c. 1868-1874 |
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| (fig 12) Petticoat c. 1865 |
Books Consulted:
The Victorian Dressmaker - Izabela Pitcher
Undressed - V&A
Corsets, Historical Patterns & Techniques - Jill Salen
Patterns of Fashion 2 - Janet Arnold
19th Century Fashion in Detail - Lucy Johnston
Making Victorian Costumes for Women - Heather Audin
I will make a note of which patterns I end up using and where to find them. So for now, I’ll
end this first post here and update when I have made progress with the undergarments. I
may also put up some of my final year of university work so that there are more regular
updates!
end this first post here and update when I have made progress with the undergarments. I
may also put up some of my final year of university work so that there are more regular
updates!
Images:
(fig 1) https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/80013626?img=0
(fig 2) https://theebonswan.blogspot.com/2017/10/unidentified-cdv-of-teenage-girl-nd.html?view=magazine&utm_content=bufferd32d2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest.com&utm_campaign=buffer
(fig 3)https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/80095754
(fig 4) I'm sorry I don't have a source for this one because pinterest sucks
(fig 5) https://www.flickr.com/photos/48140075@N04/7624220052/in/pool-1680431@N22/
(fig 6) Also no source sorry, if you can find one please let me know
(fig 7) https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/108999?img=0
(fig 8) https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/shift-48840
(fig 9) Kerry Taylor Auctions
(fig 10) http://manchesterartgallery.org/collections/search/collection/?id=1947.1629
(fig 11) https://blog.fidmmuseum.org/museum/2012/11/blue-corset-c-1868-1874.html
(fig 12) https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/80096067?rpp=60&pg=8&rndkey=20121029&ft=*&when=A.D.+1800-1900&what=Costume&pos=423
