I seem to have semi-successfully switched gears and started working on my Victorian Day Dress that I need for the first week of December. I’ve been watching the RDJ Sherlock Holmes and Ripper Street and reading Gail Carriger in order to get myself into a Victorian mood.
I got all the pieces cut out and started assembling things. I seem to have a bit of ADD with this dress though. I’m not really going about it in any sort of order. Last week I sewed the panels of the skirt together, then started basting the bodice interlining to the shell pieces. Yesterday I started sewing the shell of the bodice together, and then this morning I started the tournure/bustle and then started attaching the waist band to the skirt. Everything is sort of being assembled all at once instead of concentrating on one piece or the other first. I just keep telling myself that any little bit of progress I make gets me closer to the finished garment, but I really feel like I’m all over the place with this one.
Here’s some photos. Sorry they’re all from my cell phone.
Cutting and prepping the tournure pieces.
Preparing to baste the interlining onto the shell.
Testing the skirt panels on my dress form.
Bodice progress.
I can already see I’m going to have to readjust the fit of the bodice. Even when I test a pattern in muslin first, I always seem to have problems getting the fit right.
For the curious, the gray twill shell is cotton, the black vest is cotton sateen, the interlining is some cotton/poly canvas-like stuff that I felt up in the store and was like “yup, this is strong enough!” The burgundy contrast fabric is (I think) cotton velvet. The fabric for the tournure is also cotton. I’m making it in black because all of the white cottons were either too expensive or too thin. I almost did a fun color like lavender or mint, but when in doubt I tend to gravitate toward black.
The Victorian Archivist 