Happy First Day of Autumn! To celebrate this spooky pumpkin season, I thought I’d share one of the first ladies that started our collection in bright copper pumpkin silk faille. She’s all original, no shattering, and is fetchingly balanced on one of our own bustles. She’s homemade or Dressmaker made, completely hand finished and little to no signs of wear. Was she a wedding or special occasion dress? Only the Ghost Seamstress knows…
This transitional dress has elements in two fashion eras, dual openings in front (real and faux) and triple split tails in back (with skirt weights!) to accommodate a fashionably bustle’d rear view…definitely one of my BFFs in our collection.
Working on a few projects at a time keeps me interested…this is one of several reproduction gown projects that I’m working on at present. Only the foundation seams are machined, and frankly, I’m too far into this gown to take shortcuts! Have you ever had to take a vacation from a project? I sure have, with this one, but I’m determined to finish.
In Part 1, we discussed design approaches for early 1880s fashion, with a dash of late 1870s thrown in. In contrast with the early 1870s, the emphasis was on the vertical rather than horizontal with minimal bustling and trains. Today we move forward into the mid-1880s when the bustle seemingly returned with a vengeance.
It’s been a year and I still haven’t altered this old thing…oh well. Life got busy. I’ll just shelf the bodice and start from scratch. Some day.
