Back when I was a baby costumer, someone told me that the secret to
successful historical reproduction was in the underwear. I laughed,
because I didn't know any better. But by the time I ventured into
Victorian clothing, I recognized the truth of the statement. Corsets and
petticoats are the infrastructure that supports those cascading skirts and
skintight bodices. All the serious costumers I know start from the skin
and work their way out.
So here's me in my undies:
The corset is white silk dupioni, lined with cotton twill, fully boned with
spiral steels. The silk is pretty tough but I should have underlined it to
better contain the steel stays. If I wore this every day it would be worn
through by now. Pattern is the Dore model from the Laughing Moon Mercantile's Corset
pattern, which I cannot recommend highly enough--this is the gold
standard pattern for historical costumers. Making this corset made me
realize that doing things the right way really does take less time. I am
also wearing two petticoats; the under petticoat is Truly Victorian pattern 170;
the over-petticoat is Laughing Moon's petticoat, rather badly modified
(I made it before I had my revelation about doing things the right way). Bloomers
and chemise are assorted bits of fine white silk.
This was my first Victorian dress. The overskirt and bodice are cotton
velveteen. I couldn't find velveteen in the green that I needed, so I
bought off-white, and I made several careful test dye-baths in the washing
machine before I dunked it. I dyed it in two stages, first green and then
muted with a tan overdye.
The underskirt is peach polyester satin. I don't mind making
Victorian underskirts from polyester, since their hems get dirty and they
can go in the washing machine. Flounces on the sleeves and lining of the
cape are peach cotton.
Black dress made and modeled by Shara Pierceall.
Photography by Amber Dawn Jennings.
This is one of those dresses that I set out to see how cheaply I could
make it. It also happens to be one of my favorites, if not the
favorite. I fell in love with the fabric at first sight. It is a smooth
silk dupioni, printed with silver. I got it off the clearance rack in the
Home Decor section of Hobby Lobby. Go figure.
The underskirt fabric is a very smooth, tight polyester--so tight, in fact,
that it was hard to get a needle through. It's a black/navy blue
crossweave that also came out of a clearance bin and happened to be the
perfect color to coordinate with the weird blue-gray of the silk. This
skirt is also a Truly Victorian Pattern. It took three days to iron
all those knife pleats into the flounce at the bottom.
This bodice is some of the best work I have ever done. The body is
flatlined in heavy cotton twill. The neckline was faced by hand, and the
hem finished with a piping edge, also by hand. All the buttons are covered
with the same blue silk (I used the wrong side of the fabric to get a
monochrome field).
This gold ballgown is another of my favorites. Photographs do not do
justice to the silk--it is the color of champagne, and nearly as shimmering.
This dress has been through several incarnations. I bought the silk for my
first wedding dress in 2002. Since I didn't have a firm design in my head
I bought way too much, which turned out to be a happy thing, because the
marriage ended but I was able to upcycle the dress.
The underskirt is unchanged from its original shape. I pieced
together several pattern pieces and did some of my own drafting. The skirt
is fully lined with beige poly lining. It is pleated in back, the pleats
held together with decorative pearl beading, and has a short train.
An earlier version of the dress looked like this.
This was made rather in a hurry for Halloween, but I wanted something more
dramatic. I took the bodice apart, made it into a corset, and added a
bustled overskirt.
I think of this as my "Cinderella" dress.
Dress made of pieces and parts. Green skirt made over from an old RenFest
costume. Black corset made of black Chinese brocade. Jacket made of
leftover striped upholstery brocade, lined with black cotton broadcloth
and trimmed with the Chinese brocade. Frog button closures on the jacket.
This is fun and easy to wear. I call this my "Miss Kitty" dress.
Handsome husband accessory on my right--not for sale. His outfit is mostly
contemporary "western" wear, but his vest came from James Country Mercantile,
in Liberty, Missouri. That is a VERY cool place if you're a reenactor.