Amelia's Yellow/Wiggle/Alice 1860s Dress

Having completed my daughter's tan dress using the Elizabeth Stewart Clark's Sewing Academy Girl's dress pattern (https://www.thesewingacademy.com/shop/) I felt confident in undertaking a bigger project.

My husband has always been a big fan of Alice in Wonderland. My daughter loves Emma Wiggle (http://www.thewiggles.com.au/). I love original garment inspiration. So after a few months of discussion and planning we found a way to mix all three into an amazing dress.

 Stock Art Image of Alice from Google

Original Dress from the MET Online Collection

(https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/80030738?img=2)



 

I started with yellow cotton as the original inspiration is described. I was surprised as I expected it to have been made of wool. The braiding was hand sewn using a black cotton soutache braid.

 I started with the sleeve design as it was a simple loop. The ends of the braid were pushed into the seams and hidden inside the dress as can be seen with the sewing of the waist braid. Once the waist was decorated I then finished the construction of the waist by closing and hand stitching the inside waist closed. This means that non of the black thread can be seen inside the dress.

 It took me a few days to finish the waist as I was only working on this a few hours at night.

The completed top half of the dress.

 Once the rest of the garment was complete I began work on the skirt. This design was a lot more complicated. I created a design on tracing paper then transferred it to the skirt with invisible/washable ink.

 To help keep the braid smooth I used an embroidery frame while hand sewing. I began and finished the braid at the centre back seam, with the braid ends hidden inside the garment.

I chose to place the braid higher up as I wanted a deep hem on this dress as I am 6ft tall and expect my daughter to grow fast (which she is). I wanted this dress to have a long life.

**Edit - When my daughter turned 3 years of age she requested her first crinoline and that required me to drop the hem significantly, so I was very happy with this decision. She loves this dress and it has had an amazing amount of use.

 
Dropping the hem significantly.

 

 Playing indoor croquette while on holiday.

Enjoying the day with her apron on, a rare occasion.

  Homestead station vacation

(yes I know my collar/chemisette is missing.... All this toddler sewing has left my wardrobe looking sad and in need of repairs)

 

 

 



Urbrae House Vintage Picnic and Other Celebrations

This blog has helped me to appreciate how lucky I am. I am always finding inspiration from other bloggers and from the support and encouragement provided on this blog. When I started this blog it was my way of making a diary of my sewing and events that I would not loose when my computer crashes (which it does bi-yearly). This time of year is our busiest and I would not want it any other way. Summer is finally starting and we have been blessed with many interesting and fun events. These also inspire me to sew more. I am hoping to post a completed 1830s frock coat in the next week (fingers crossed) and start on an 1840s or 1850s sheer dress (Im still deciding on the design). I also have a few other bits and pieces that I have been making in the evenings, which I have yet to photograph and blog about (including my lovely new 1830s chemisette that can be seen in my Port Festival post).

The big news for the week is that Nic and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. This year the traditional gift is leather... so we had our first horse riding lesson. We were a little disappointed that  I was unable to learn side saddle, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves anyways. We finished the day with a tapas lunch and a Tuscan dinner. A truly spoilt and luxurious day.

Today we attended the Urbrae House Vintage Picnic. Urbrae House is my favourite historic house in Adelaide, followed by Kingston House. It is amazing and the volunteers are wonderful. We recently went to a Tea Dance in the Urbrae House Ballroom and it was hugely enjoyable.

Today we sat outside under the shade of a tree and had a picnic lunch, followed by a walk around the gardens and we finished by joining the tour of the house. It was great to again see some of the volunteers that we know and also a few of the Colonial Dancers that we have met previously at Balls. 

 Today, due to the continuance of the Port Festival and the heat (33C which normally does not bother me except that it has been cold up till now so it has been harder to acclimatise) we only had a few people in attendance.

 Left to Right - Me, Nic, Ben, Kelly, Sandy and Mandi.

I was very happy at how my work dress fits wonderfully over my largest crinoline (at 123") and raises itself up to a perfect height for walking in gardens. You may also notice my sun hat (another item I should photograph in detail). It was becoming shabby from use and rain, so it has now had a face-lift and is looking gorgeous (or so I believe anyways).

Photo Inspiration

Ps. I am very behind in my posting. This should have been written in March. My honours thesis has been taking a lot of my time and energy at the moment so while I am still sewing, its taking longer and blogging has been sort of put on hold.

Before I met my husband he had purchased 2 CDVs. These were his first inspirations for his non military fashion inspiration.

 "Rose" (taken in England, dated 1865) and an unidentified Gentleman (taken in Adelaide, no date)

The photo of the gentleman has been the inspiration for a brown woolen waistcoat that he made before he met me and grey corduroy trousers that we made together when we first met. As you can imagine there has been a long gap between starting this project and now. For his birthday present this year Nic requested I attempt to make him a sack coat to finish his outfit. As you can imagine my self esteem is still suffering from working on the 1830s coat that still needs sleeves and I have never seen an original sack coat to base my copy on. Therefore I did the best I could to make a copy based on the few photo examples of originals I could find. It is also amazing how detailed CDVs really are. The photo technology captures amazing details that can be viewed through a monocular, something that modern photos can not accomplish.

The completed sack coat.

As I did not have much time to complete it I did not take many photos of the construction. I am also not sure about how "correct" the sewing techniques I used were for this type of coat. I did take photos of the pockets as on checking the photo in detail it had 3 slit pockets (which I hated making, but Nic loves for putting stuff in). The front was lined after this photo was taken.

I know that this was not for the Historical Sewing Challenge, but I still like this information layout.

Fabric: Brown Melton Wool, 100% Cotton Ticking, 100% Cotton for lining, modern horsehair

Pattern: Drafted using patterns from the Victorian Tailor, the Complete Guide to Cutting (1853) and Mens Garments 1830-1900
Year: ca. 1860s
Notions: brown cotton thread, custom metal shanked covered buttons
How historically accurate is it? mehh, maybe 80%... I question my construction understanding without originals to study.
Hours to complete: about a week
First worn: 16th March, for our Victorian Afternoon Tea Party - and he has been wearing it daily since
Total cost: About $70

New Mid Victorian Waistcoat, Regency Work Apron and 1830s Bonnet Caps

Unfortunately, my holidays from university are coming to an end. I am finding that I have no where near enough time to complete all the tasks that I had set for myself. Not that I can complain, as a few days were lost in a wonderful surprise trip to Melbourne to see the Napoleon Exhibit. This week I have finally completed my Regency Linen work apron. It is completely hand sewn. I am finding that I am undertaking more and more handsewing as I feel more comfortable and confident. I have been needing this for a few years now and is perfect for when on campain and required to work around the fire. I have also found it to be useful around the house and garden,  as it is really very comfortable.

After we got home from Melbourne, Nic decided that he needed a new waistcoat. I found him rummaging through my fabrics and about to cut into some fabric purchased for pants. Thankfully I got to him in time and redirected him to the waistcoat fabrics. Yes, I know Im strange, but I always purchase in quantaties for the projects in mind and I hate wasting good fabric when it is so hard to come by here. I was also very happy as Nic had not undertaken any sewing since our marriage, when he received some constructive, but not very nicely worded feedback on his last sewing attempts. This time he worked on it with my assistance and leaving the finishing touches and hand stitching to me to complete. It took two days and looks stunning. I think he should be very proud of his achievement.

Finally, I have also completed two 1830s linen caps to wear under bonnets. It is really nice to sit by the fire in the evenings and hand sew by candle light. Small projects like this one are perfect for these times. They are a very strange shape, compared to the periods that I am accustomed to. I have been told that it is very flattering, but I think the jury is still out on that one. The first I made for myself and the other for Jessie.

Beginings

I have been a member of a Victorian period living history group for about 6 months now. This is due to my partner who is a collecter and shooter of black power rifles. This hobby, of his, lead him to become a member of muliple living history and re-enactment military groups for both Regency/Napoleonic and 1850-60s. His passion has even lead him to partake in the re-enactment of Waterloo in 2005. His Victorian period (1850-60s) group is a South Australian volunteer rifles unit and has many living history functions. When we first started courting he encouraged me to become a member of a civilian Victorian living history group that could act as an outlet for my dorment interest in historical garments.

It is amazing how overwhelming the process of learning and creating garments can be. While I am lucky to have a great support group for sewing, this does not help with actual ability. I decided that while not fully period correct I would start out using simplicity patterns. I defend myself with the belief that before one can run, one must learn to walk. While I had learnt how to sew as a child, I had not used a machine for over 15 years and had to look the manual just to learn how to thread the machine.

Living history events are also very pushy for time. I had two weeks to create my first chemise, drawers and bodice ... cringe..... definately a daunting task. I am still very proud of my efforts and will always love my first garment. Thankfully the skirt was a gift from a new friend and mentor.

Once I had this outfit there was a little less pressure to sew for a while and I could focus on creating petticoats and a quality crinoline.