1872 Carriage Bodice - Red Homespun Cotton

Patterns: Truly Victorian #402 "Carriage Bodice"
Fabrics: 100% cotton, homespun, in deep red. Cotton twill interfacing. Black broadcloth lining.

Measurements: *I cut the pattern at a size H, but there are the final measurements I got.
Chest: 42"
Waist: 34.5"
Hip: Free
Back Width: 16"
Shoulders: 19" across back of neck.
Bicep: 16" max.

Harper's Bazar, Vol.IV, No.12 - "Dress with Basque Waist for Elderly Lady" Pt.I

   I am still working from the same issue of HB (Vol.IV, No.12) because the damn thing just has so many good patterns in it! This time it was the No.II pattern on the supplement, a "dress with basque waist for elderly lady."

   Now, I love the word "elderly" in antique patterns because, more often than not, that translates as "larger". Larger in the relative sense, of course. One might get a pattern that comes out at a 28" waist rather than a 23", still small by today's standards (yes, I consider a size 8 to be small, lol).

 As you can see, I made some changes along the way, especially to the neckline. I felt that the fringe trim was just too much around the neck like that. I also decided on a simple satin bow at the center back waist rather than the elaborate medallion shown in the plate. (That, and I did not have the materials and/or patience to make the medallion.

Here we have the description for the dress. the pattern included only the body parts for the bodice, with the sleeves being taken from a different pattern, as instructed in the last few sentences there.

Below you can see the bodice in mid construction, inside-out. For the lining I used a scrap combination of rayon silky lining, pink, and silver grey silk.

You can also see that the fringe trim is not sewn "into the seam", but rather lies over the lining. I did this for ease of removal, should it ever need it.

Harper's Bazar, Vol.IV, No.12 - Sleeveless Jacket & Blouse Ensemble, COMPLETE

I finished the sleeveless jacket and blouse patterns from the 1871 Harper's Bazar issue. I paired them with a simple skirt, which I made using one of the Truly Victorian patterns. =)

 For more detail on the blouse, go back to the previous post =)

Harper's Bazar, Vol.IV, No.12 - Jacket & Blouse Pt. 2

In my last post, I focused on the beginnings of the sleeveless jacket. Now I'll show you the pattern I planned to use to make the blouse. It is from the same Harper's Bazar issue:

The pattern is for the blouse only (only a brief description of the skirts were included). I chose to make it without the ribbon sash trim you see, which never looks as good in person as it does in the illustrations.















Below you will find the description and instructions from the pattern. It's another simple one, only a few parts.

In reading everything, you'll see that there is no mention of a closure method. From the look of the illustration, the front is closed with with hooks/eye or with just overlapping and pinning. I chose to go with no closure so that it could just be pinned later on. All those ruffles make for a perfect shield to cover any pins. =)

 In the above picture you can see the blouse tucked into a skirt (nothing special about the blouse bottom edge). There are no front darts, leaving this blouse with a looser fit. Just cross it over and add some pins =)

Above you can see the finished sleeves. Scalloped lace under the two layers of ruffles. The lace is not part of the original pattern/description, but I added it. =)

Above, you can see the gathered front attached to the back. I think this would look much better if I had used a thinner, more delicate fabric. This cotton is a big stiff =/

(To be continued with Full Ensemble...)

Harper's Bazar Vol.IV, No.12 - Jacket and Blouse

   As some of your may know, a few weeks ago I scored a massive lot of Harper's Bazar magazines from 1871, 15 of which still included their pattern supplements. Add to that the few I already had on hand, plus the French patterns I bought from a very wonderful seller in France, and I now have almost 200 separate antique garment patterns from the mid to late 19th century.

And so, here is my latest target: a "sleeves jacket for young woman", HB-IV12III (Harper's Bazar, Vol.4, No.12, pattern 3)
Pattern Quality: Excellent =)
Ease of altering: Very easy to alter =) As this jacket only has 3 torso seams, plus the front darts, It would be quite easy to grade this one up to a larger size.

   I will start off by saying that this pattern is incredibly simple. It is comprised of only two pattern pieces: front, and back. As with most of these antique patterns, there are no instructions for trim, closures, or the belt you see in the fashion plate. There is also no image of the jacket from the front, so the closure method is just up to the sewist's whim (I will use buttons).

 Above, you can see the traced out piece for the front with seam allowance added. I decided to make this one "as is" without doing any up-sizing. It looks at this point to be about a 28" waist, so it's not too terribly small.

 Here I have the pieces laid out. The fabric is 100% silk, brocade, with a kind of Japanese leaf pattern. I managed to lay my hands on 7 yards of this fabric at an antique store years ago. They only wanted $12. Can you imagine? =)

Above, we have the back pieces laid out. As you can see, the shoulder slope is very pronounced on this one, almost to the point of being ridiculous. At first, I thought it was going to result is a super downward slope (weak shoulders), but the front piece compensates for this well. Still, anyone with decently broad shoulders would need to make some alterations here. 

And, the back pieces laid out. I would have liked to match up the leaf patterns, but I did not have enough of the silk left to pull it off =/ Here, the pieces of pinned to the interfacing before I join them.
**Note: These antique patterns rarely mention anything with regard to lining or interlining/interfacing. It was just assumed the lady would know how best to go about it. ;)

Fit Issues So Far: 

As this pattern is from 1871, it still features the sloped shoulder design (armhole doesn't start until after the curve of the shoulder). That, plus the fact that all of these patterns seem to be very narrow in the back, will cause fit issues even after upsizing. 

Right now, the back is so narrow and the armholes themselves on the front pieces are set back so far, that even a petite woman would have to stand with quite exaggerated posture in order to fit the jacket right (standing with shoulders thrown back and chest pronounced). These ladies must have had exceptional physical training from an early age. Even when corseted, I have tried standing like this (shoulders thrown back), and could not manage for more than a few minutes before I started to feel muscle spasms between my shoulder blades. Yeesh! 

(To be continues...)