Gray Plaid Suit from Truly Victorian #290 and #464

~Of course, The Antique Sewist doesn't just make garments from antique patterns (I would quickly go broke acquiring them). I also love, Love, LOVE the Truly Victorian pattern company =)

I recently finished a very simple dress set from TV skirt pattern #290, "1889 Draped Skirt", and bodice pattern #464, "1883 Riding Habit." I have used both patterns many times and just love them. If I had a genie lamp to rub, I would wish to have the pattern drafting/sizing skills of the Truly Victorian company proprietor, LOL.

**As a side note, I think I may have recently acquired the actual antique pattern that Truly Victorian used to make the #464 skirt. I'm not sure, but this plate from the 1889 issue of La Mode Illustree that I have looks damn similar. It's the dress on the right:

The original pattern calls for hooks and eyes on the right side (underneath) with buttons sew to the outside for the appearance of being double-breasted. While this is fine and works very well, the shank buttons I had have a very long shank, which mean they would have been flopping and hanging on the "false" right side. Meh. To fix it, I just went with real button holes for both rows of buttons. 

Showing the pink rayon lining inside, along with bias binding on the bottom edge. As you can see, I took this pic before I had a chance to trim and bind the armhole seams, LOL. 

I was going to crop this photo to get rid of the "dead space" on the right side, but when I saw it I kind of liked it. I can imagine it being a book cover, with the dead space holding the title and other information. Although what sort of book, I can't imagine. Still, I like it, LOL. 

Showing the puffs as they appear on the outside

Showing the ribbon inside, which forms the back puffs. I like the fold the spot that will be stitched, then stitch through the two layers and the ribbons. =) 

I made a pretty severe mistake with this, but didn't realize until construction was over. Even if I had the patience to tear everything apart and fix it, I couldn't. I used every scarp of fabric and there was nothing left =(