Zouave Jacket

I have a few Victorian events coming up (the next two weekends in fact) so I decided to make myself a Victorian jacket suitable for 1860s as that is the date of my dress. Having done a bit of research, I came across and fell in love with this one. I decided I would make my own version of the Zouave jacket.

For this I put on my Victorian garb and took all necessary measurements - bust, waist, hips, collar, armhole and the lengths between each one. I drafted up a simple pattern and made a toile. Wearing it over my Victorian stuff, it require a fair bit of pinning and altering until I got the right shape. It turned out that the CF has a curve to accommodate the bust, although having helped a friend pattern and make an C18th jacket around the same time, it seems quite normal to have a curve.

Anyway, once the pattern was sorted and I was satisfied, I could start making it! I used a fine black wool for the outer fabric and a cotton/linen blend for the lining. I made the outer fabric and the lining up separately and then sewed them together at the collar and down the front edges - it turned out I needed to make the collar slightly bigger as it was a bit tight on the neck!

For the sleeves - Pagoda sleeves - I used the pattern that came with my Victorian dress pattern. I measured my jacket armhole so I could work out which size to cut out from the pattern - it fitted perfectly - I did make the pattern a bit shorter though. Once I had cut out the outer and lining fabric, I joined them together by sewing along the cuff and then sewing down the sleeve seam. Afterwards, I then sewed them into the armhole. As the seam allowance for the sleeves was 5/8" and my jacket was 1" (just in case I needed to make adjustments!) this extra allowance was perfect for neatening the seam which I then sewed flat.

As for the jacket fastening, I cheated. I loathe hooks and eyes and I really didn't fancy sewing them every inch so instead I bought some black hook and eye tape.

For the decoration I bought some red cord. I then made up my own pattern as the one on the extant jacket is a bit complicated and fiddly! I think it looks rather effective!

Once I had completely finished my jacket, I tried it on with the rest of my Victorian stuff and took photos. I also found that I also had to add in a couple of darts in the back for a better fit.

ATS

Since finishing my C18th gown, I haven't really done much sewing other than alterations to my repro Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) SD uniform.
The skirt fitted fine, just needed taking up 3", but a fair bit of work had to go into the tunic. That too had to be taken up 3" and taken in at the waist by about 10"! From the leftover serge, I had to make a belt and when I get round to it, new epaulettes.
Here is a photo (courtesy of my friend 'Kitty') of its first outing at Norfolk Living History Fayre at Mannington Hall.

C18th Beauty

So, 16 months later I have a completely hand sewn C18th outfit - the gown alone took 9 months, but that's because I had problems with the sleeves and so put them at the bottom of the sewing pile, which is just as well as they now fit me!

I wont go into massive detail about the sleeves - they're similar to early modern in that they have the seam running along the back of the arm. They are also a little longer (tapering to a point) at the back so it covers the elbow. And they are big enough so that they can be gathered at the shoulders - my gathers measure at 2".

The skirt is made from 3 panels because my silk wasn't that wide. The back panel is the widest and then there are 2 narrow ones for the front. I can't remember the measurements off the top of my head, but if you want to know just ask and I will measure them. They were probably about 40" in length to allow for hems and to fit over my petal pad which makes the bottom bigger! The skirt was hemmed first and then the waist seam was turn over to get the right length. It was then pleated (about .75" pleats) and sewn to the bodice.

After all this, it was time to make the gown look pretty and even more C18th! I made cuffs that are permanant ones from the same silk - often seen on extant gowns. The width was twice the sleeve measurement at the elbow (so 14" x 2 = 28") and 3" at the longest point, tapering to 1" - I added extra for seam allowance. Once these were sewn on I had to make and sew on metres of pinked and pleated 1" wide trim. I eyeballed the pleats for this as my silk is stripey so I used the stripes as measurements. It worked out that around a 4m strip of silk, when pleated, would give me about 60" of trim.

To see the finished outfit and gown please follow this link.

Burgundian gown

So the next project on the sewing list was a Burgundian gown. I've been needing to make one for a while, but really needed one for an event this coming weekend at Cressing Temple Barns.

My friend helped me for the most part of this as I really had no idea as the making of it was a different approach to what I'm used to. I had about 5-6m of wool and the same in linen to line it. The gown was constructed of 4 equilateral triangles: take your height then mark this along the selvedge then use that measurement like a compass and mark on the fabric (should be a curve). Then take your height measurement and measure this from the start of the curve at the selvedge, and from the 'compass' point, both measurements should meet along the curve line. I hope that makes sense - if not I have a diagram which I can upload.

Anyway, I cut two for the front and two for the back which were slightly longer as I wanted a train - the bias is used as CB and CF. Then I made a toile of the top half of the triangles so that the armholes could be placed and the back neckline cut (nb front collar is left as it is, as it is a folded collar).

When the pieces are cut out, sew up the seams - cb, cf (from waist down) and side seams. Do the same with the linen. I then cut out and tacked strips of black silk to the front collar of the linen. After this I then pinned the linen to the wool along the front collar and the armholes and tacked along the back neckline. I turned in a small hem along the wool and linen/silk edges of the front collar and sewed them together.

I then made up the back collar - the pattern can be a plain curve or an odd shape (see my back view photo) that I cannot describe, which was fashionable. I made this in wool and linen with silk tacked to it. I sewed along the bottom edge with right sides together and clipped the curves. Once ironed flat, I sewed it to the gown and top of the front collar - leaving the linen/silk free to turn under and hand sew down.

The sleeves are a regular early sleeve pattern with fold back cuffs added on. Again, these were made from the wool and linen with silk tacked on where the cuffs will be folded. When both the wool and line/silk sleeves were made up separately, I sewed them (right sides together) along the bottom edge of the cuff and then turned them the right way round. The wool part of the sleeves was then sewn to the gown wool and lining, and then the sleeve lining hand sewn in place.

When that was all done I hemmed it. I would normally let it hang for about a week, but seeing as I didn't have the time to I could only hang it between sewing and over night.

WLA Dungarees

As soon as I returned from my holiday, I had 5 days to hem the skirt of my Victorian dress and make a pair of Womens Land Army (WLA) dungarees. After a bit of panic, I did it!

Ok, so they're not completely authentic, but they were the best I could within the time frame I had. Original ones had the trousers and bib as one piece, whereas mine are two pieces joined, although the belt hides this.

For the trousers, I used the same pattern as I did for my 1940s trousers. The only difference being that I left out the front darts and the waistband, and I left a gap on both side seams for the fastening. To these I added a placket (to which a button is sewn) at both the side fastenings - otherwise I would end up bearing all! - and two front patch pockets which measured about 7"x5".

The bib pattern I made myself - the bottom of it was as wide as the trouser waist and then tapered to about 11" at my WLA jumper collar. Even when I had made it (and sewn it to the trouser waist) it needed some taking in at the sides to stop it being so flappy.

The straps were made as tubes (around 30" long) with a finished width of 1.5". After looking trough some WLA photos, some of the dungarees the girls were wearing looked as if their straps were sewn straight onto the trouser waistband (which is what I did) rather than having the trousers finishing half way up the back (if that makes sense?!). Buttons were sewn to the other ends of the straps and buttonholes sewn to the bib, with an extra piece of fabric for re-inforcement. I then hemmed the trousers, taking them up 1".

The (not so) Vile Victorians - the whole ensemble

Here are a couple of photos of my complete Victorian outfit. A back view to show off my lace and cartridge pleats and a full-length view :)

The Vile Victorians

Although probably not as vile as Terry Deary labels them to be - my dress is in no way vile at all!
Before I left for Kentwell Hall for the main event, I had made a good start on my Victorian dress. I used a commercial pattern as recommended by friends - Laughing Moon 1860s day dress. I too would wholly recommended this pattern aswell! It was absolutely brilliant - so easy to follow and the only adjustment I had to make was to take up a bit more on the bodice waist than it said.















The bodice was made first.

Then the sleeves were added.













And then the skirt!