Trisha asks about creating a dress form for a French fashion doll and patterns for it.
Shawn inquires about the historically correct way to piece an 1880 chemise
Cathy explains about the DPP Corsets competition and FR
Last month I analyzed the skirt of a lingerie dress. This month I'll be looking at the associated blouse. In the Belle Époque literature the garment we're discussing goes by many names: waist, shirt-waist, lingerie waist, and lingerie blouse. I've chosen the term "lingerie blouse" because "blouse" is the only one of those terms that's still in use now for a vaguely similar garment.
Analyzing, in exhaustive detail, the construction of a lingerie dress from about 1904.
Lingerie dresses and tailor-mades embody the dichotomies of the Belle Époque period. On one side, the lingerie dress is the essence of frilly ultra-femininity; contrast with it the equally popular severely tailored suit for the active, emancipated woman.
In this article, we dive into the finer points of a beautiful surviving piece of pure frou-frou.
Originally published as part of our 2009 Single Pattern Project, this extract from our lengthy article on recreating 1860s underthings focusses on that most intimidating of engineered supports: the cage crinoline.
Sunny Buchler talks you through the history, the practicalities of moving in such a contraption, patterns and book references.
I've often been frustrated that there are wonderful Victorian patterns available (published in the period or drafted from extant dresses) but there is very little information on how to put the pieces together or on the other finishing details that go into making historical dress.
Here I'll address this gap by doing a photographic analysis of the construction techniques used in three Victorian evening bodices in my personal collection.
Due to the Single Pattern Project, I'm most interested in the elliptical style. Two of the bodices were either worn with elliptical skirts or with the early bustle style, the third was probably worn with the earlier circular hoop style.
I've often been frustrated that there are wonderful Victorian patterns available, but there is very little information on how to put the pieces together or the other finishing details that go into making a dress.
My goal with this article is to address this gap by doing a photographic analysis of the construction techniques used in three Victorian skirts in my personal collection. Due to the Single Pattern Project, I'm most interested in elliptical skirts, but I only have one in my collection. Therefore, I've chosen a skirt from the preceding Hoop era, and one from the following Early Bustle era to compare to the elliptical skirt.
While there are wonderful Victorian dress patterns available, either published in the period or drafted from extant dresses, there is very little information around on how to put the pieces together in a historically accurate way or complete the other finishing details that go into making a dress of this style.
If you're going to go for accuracy with your Single Pattern Project, Sunny Buchler redresses the balance for you this month with her photographic analysis and comparison of the construction techniques used in four 1860s bodices in her personal collection.
Nine pages and over a hundred large and detailed clickable images in this article alone will give you every minute detail you could ever want to know about constructing your bodice!
Where would you start with an 1860s day dress, as in the 2009 YWU Single Pattern Project? With the underpinnings, of course!
Sunny Buchler talks you through every single item that our Victorian lady might have worn under her gown, with references to appropriate patterns from all sources - the big pattern companies, the small historical pattern companies and from books.
If you're into historical accuracy and you want to go the whole hog, here's your starting point!
In January, Your Wardrobe Unlock'dTM featured an article about personal "Holy Grails", meaning costumes that you desperately want but are impossibly out-of-reach due to time, money, experience, extravagance, whatever. So I find myself wondering, what are my Holy Grails?
I’m Sunny Buchler – I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is a bit of a mecca for historical costuming, and moved to Cleveland, Ohio a couple years ago.
