Patterns: Butterick 3418 for the skirt, Truly Victorian #494 for the blouse, and pattern diagram LX from Waugh's The Cut of Women's Clothes for the jacket.
Fabrics: Green velvet lace, rayon/cotton blend. Black faux silk, rayon (Jacket lining), and black satin poly blend (skirt lining).
Measurements: *Being an open front jacket, there is some wiggle room is upper body fit.
Chest: 36-38" (accommodates large cup size well)
Waist: 28"
Hip: <42"
Hem: 40.5" at front, 42" at back.
Back Width (between armhole seams): 12.5"
Back Width (actual body measurement): 14-15"
Back Length (jacket, from nape to end): 14.25"
Shoulders: 16.5" roughly, though large sleeve allows wiggle room.
Forearm circumference: 12" max
Bicep (sleeve lining): 14" max
Neck: 13.5" max (close fitting)
Diagram LX "c.1895 Bolero Jacket"
This is my first time making the 1895 Bolero Jacket from the Waugh book. As I always do with first time patterns like this--patterns taken from extant garments--I made this jacket with no alterations to to size or fit from the original pattern. I just added a 1/2" seam allowance. This way I could establish its original size and fit, something that is necessary before you can grade it to other sizes.
Chest---36-38.5" (shown over 37" on the dress form pics)
Waist: 27-30" (28" waist on the skirt here)
*see above for rest of measurements
It makes sense that the jacket would be so generous in the upper body (comfortable shoulders, wide back, etc.) because this was the era of the hour glass; false bosoms and ruffled corset covers, anything to increase the size of the upper body in order to visually diminish the waist. This bolero jacket suits that aim quite well.
Construction
There are no construction guidelines to go with this pattern in the Waugh book. As you can see from the diagram above, there are not even marks to indicate seam placement in the armhole or gathering pointes, etc. So, a knowledge of this type of garment is necessary going in (not to mention how to draft out patterns from a grid).
Because there are no construction guidelines, there's a few different methods one could choose, especially in finishing. How you choose to assembles the sleeves, for example, can go several ways. You could attach the lower and upper sleeve pieces together first and then insert the lining. Or you could fix the lower sleeve portion to the already assembled lining first, and then place the upper sleeve over that (this is what I did and I consider it the best choice).
I think this construction method works best, because you want the fashion fabric layers of the sleeve to be fixed to the lining at the elbow/forearm point. If the lining and fashion sleeve are not fixed together at this point, you will end up with a situation of the fashion sleeve slipping down and the forearm section getting all scrunched up.
This step can be frustrating because you will be working on the narrow forearm section of a sleeve, and so many sewing machine have working areas around the plate that are too hide for the sleeve to flip over. In those cases, you end up with no choice but to do the stitching there by hand. Hopefully your sewing machine will accommodate a narrow sleeve being slipping over the work area.
This velvet fabric I used is very much like a lace, which meant I had to use black netting to keep any other color from showing through. Luckily I had just enough on hand. Shown above is 4 layers of black netting, but I stitched all 4 layers together first, by themselves, about 1.25" in, and then trimmed off 1" all around from 3 layers. This left one layer of setting with the original seam allowance to fix to the sleeve. I did this to reduce bulk in the armhole seam. The velvet fabric was already thick enough, I didn't want it getting crazy.
When pleating the upper sleeve into the armhole, I had to choose where to begin, where to place to place the seam, etc. because the pattern had no marks. The best way to do this is with a dress form. Assemble the body of the jacket first, then assemble sleeve lining, and then you can start using the sleeve lining to play around with placement on the dress form and figure out where you want to set the forward seam, where you want to begin the pleats, etc.
I knew I was going to have to make something to "fill in" the torso of this ensemble, since the jacket is an open style. This led me down a rabbit role of terminology, fashion plates, and trying to figure out what types of garments these ladies actually worse under their jackets.
If you search for 1890s blouses or shirtwaists, you will get a huge number of voluminous sleeved items suiting the fashion of the time. However, since so many jackets and open front bodices has fitted sleeve linings, it stands to reason ladies could not wear these huge sleeve bodices underneath such jacket. How would you shove a huge netted leg-o-mutton sleeve under a jacket that has a slim fit sleeve lining, after all?
So, slim sleeve blouses, or even sleeveless blouses must have been around at this time. A chemisette seems like it would work, but this jacket is a bolero length and would show the uncovered back and side areas of a chemisette. Something with full body coverage, all around, was required. I decided to just make a blouse with no sleeves.
I used the 1894 blouse pattern from Truly Victorian, which some pretty heavy alterations. Obviously I left the sleeves off. I also decided to forgot the waistband and peplum, and just extended the body pieces to hip length so the blouse could be tucked in. I also added ruffles down the center front, which are not part of the original pattern.
Despite all the alterations I made for this particular project, I absolutely love the original Truly Victorian pattern. I cannot recommend it enough. The fit in the upper body is just perfect, and the collar is close fitting. So many of these "Victorian blouse" patterns out there are costumey because they don't fit well, especially in the collar being far too large. Not this one.
FINISHED
Really loving this ensemble!
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