I've finally completed my Victorian Bustle gown project, and Natalie was kind enough to take some pictures for me when she visited me this weekend. Here are the undergarmets to date: a chemise, drawers, corset, and bustle support. I've also added some dark gray knee socks as stockings, which were the closest thing I could come up with.
I made one more layer of undergarmets other than what I've posted about so far: a corset cover, and a bustle petticoat. The corset cover is modeled after an engraving of a period one from the book "Victorian Fashions & Costumes from Harper's Bazar 1867-1898". The top portion is some random lace I had in my stash, and the bottom is plain white cotton muslin. It has a little ruffle of lace around the neck and sleeves, and fastens with nine white buttons down the front. The petticoat is also made from plain white cotton muslin. It has a 12 inch ruffle around the entire hem, and four additional ruffles tiered along the back. It ties in the front with a drawstring. All of these ruffles were made much easier with the new ruffling foot a purchased for my sewing machine; I highly recommend it.
The gown itself is supposed to be a late 1880s walking dress, from the second bustle period. It consists of three pieces: the bodice, the navy underskirt, and the overskirt, or bustle. The bodice is made of the brown and cream fabric salvaged from a couch cover with a white muslin insert down the front. Fifteen navy buttons down the front close the bodice and provide some color to tie it to the rest of the dress, along with a line of navy trim down each side. It has a high, double military collar. The white cuffs are made of the same muslin as the front insert, and have a line of navy trim and a single navy button holding them closed. It also has a small box pleat and a couple of gores set into the back to provide some fullness to fit over the bustle.
The underskirt is made from fabric salvaged from two navy sheets. It it a simple four gore skirt with a single ruffle at the hem (this ruffle was done without the aid of my new ruffling foot - much more time consuming, and not as even). The front and side gores are set flat into the waistband, and the back gore is slightly gathered over the bustle supports. It closes at the right back seam with a few buttons.
The overskirt, made from the rest of the brown and cream couch cover, is set into a waistband which buttons in the center front with two buttons. I pretty much sewed the top into the waistband, then buttoned it onto my dress form, and began pinning up bustles until I thought it looked nice. I tried several different arrangements, but this is the one I was happiest with (one earlier version was compared to "the tail of an isopod" when I text-ed a picture to a friend). I sewed the bustles in place by hand and removed the pins, then called it good. Here come the pictures:
I also made some pretty awesome spats to go over my shoes in lieu of boots. They're made from black wool salvaged from a business skirt. I also used the black nylon lining from the skirt as lining. These two layers have thick double-sided Interfuse between them, which binds to both sides of the fabric when ironed. I had originally planned to make a scalloped edge for the spats, but ran out of fabric. They have black trim around the top and side edges, and fasten with nine black buttons and cord loops. I might decorate them a little more in the future, as I've seen some engravings that have bows and tassels and decorative buttons at the center top of the boot. Except for some small fitting problems (and the time consuming hand sewing on all those buttons and loops), the boots went relatively smoothly and I'm very pleased with them. I'm wearing them over some plain black pumps I found at the thrift store.
The hat is a straw hat from a thrift store covered with some other navy silky stuff (probably nylon) that I had in my fabric stash. It's decorated with white, navy, and brown ribbon. I have some ribbons wrapped around the band and hanging down the back, and others made into ribbon flowers. I also added a white feather butterfly that I had left over from making things for my sister's wedding. The Harper's Bazar book states that it wasn't uncommon for hats at the time to be decorated with real dead stuffed birds, so I figured the butterfly wasn't much of a stretch. The decorations were not yet sewn down when this picture was taken, so you can see a few pins sticking out of the hat.
All in all, I'm very pleased with this project. My only real complaint is the fit of the bodice. It fits my dress form perfectly, but when I put it on me over my corset, it's a tiny bit big. By the time I realized this, it was too late to fix it without some pretty major deconstruction. The sleeves are also a bit too tight. It was quite a learning experience. I discovered that next time, I might be better off to buy a bodice pattern, although I can pretty much figure out skirts for myself. For my next Victorian dress, I might also try something with a few more frills: this one is a fairly severe style, with little decoration, though that is probably a good thing for a first attempt. I've also become very adept at using the buttonhole foot for my sewing machine, as I've now had lots of practice. Buttons are a good period closure, but time consuming. I think I'll purchase some white gloves, and maybe a white parasol to finish off the ensemble, though I may wait until I have an event to wear it to.
