Finally, as promised here is a look at construction of my 1920s dress worn for
VPT's Experience Inspired by Downton Abbey. I talked a bit about my inspiration for the dress in my post
here. I went back and worth on a couple design ideas and what to use for trim.
Ok, first up the pattern. Um, well I didn't really use one. That is to say I didn't use a ready made pattern. I spent a good amount of time looking at patterns available on the web and at several original gowns (some great examples at the MET) to get a feeling for the different shapes and designs of the 1920s. Season 3 of Downton Abbey takes place in the early 1920s but I opted for a more mid-decade design.
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My mom helping me measure and mark the skirt panels. The fabric wanted to shift and stretch all over the place which was really annoying! Quilters rulers are a must have!
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I found the book
Dress Cutting -- Instructions and Illustrations for Sewing 26 Vintage 1930s Fashions by Margaret Ralston very helpful in creating a block pattern. (I've written a brief review
here.) Using the directions for making your personal block pattern and some basic body measurements, I was able to create a pattern for the bodice portion of my dress. My dress was constructed using a total of 5 pieces, 2 of which are the side sashes. All are roughly rectangular in shape. Taking the measurements of the two 20s gowns I own, I compared them with the measurements of those I found online. (at least the ones that had measurements listed.) I wanted to get an idea of how much fabric to buy but also how wide/full I should make the skirt. This didn't prove very helpful so in the end I used my best judgement when cutting my panels for the skirt.
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| Sewing gathering stitches on the skirt which I later had to remove. Got to use my mom's new Jernomie sewing machine. This thing is awesome!! |
To start, I measured from my hip to a little below my knee get my skirt length. Then I used the full width of the fabric and cut two skirt panels, seamed them together, then gathered them to the dropped waist. This proved most unflattering and so I removed the gathers, cut the panels a touch narrower, and created a series of pleats with the excess fabric at the skirt side front. I got the idea from
this Worth gown at the MET. It's a little hard to see but if you click on the zoom feature you can clearly see those side front pleats.
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| Close up showing the waist and side front pleats |
The bodice front and back were made using the same pattern piece, I just cut the front neckline lower and added that little front panel. The bodice lining was cut about 2 inches shorter. The sashes are each a long rectangle of fabric carefully draped and slightly gathered to the drop waist. As you can see, I was strongly influenced by
this dress. :)
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| The color is very washed out but here you can see the bodice and waist portions of the dress. |
Originally the waist section was a straight rectangle as shown above, but after a couple fittings I adjusted the piece so it fit better around my hips. It ended up being more of a trapezoid then a rectangle - narrow at the top and wider at the bottom.
The buckles I used came from my stash of vintage and antique bits. I don't know their exact age but estimate somewhere between late Victorian (1880s/90s) and Edwardian (1900/10s). They look like silver and I believe the orange stones are just colored glass. They were very tarnish but cleaned up nicely.
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| Before cleaning - Bad lighting in this photo but you can get an idea of how dirty these were |
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| After cleaning! I used a soft silver polishing cloth. I like this photo because it shows the slight texture of the silk fabric. |
I styled the front portion of my hair using lots of setting lotion and traditional finger wave techniques. (I tried this the first time for Halloween and I think it looked much better that time.) I didn't use the crimping iron I
experimented with here because I new it would take to long! The back portion of my hair was rolled and pinned in place with lots of bobby pins. :)
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| Nice back view of my hair and vintage hair comb |
To complete the look I wore a pair of 1920s shoes (you can see them
here), seamed stockings, (which are actually 1940s vintage) and my grandmothers pearls.
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| The finished look! |
Vintage buckles, hair comb, fan - My collection
Pearls - Belonged to my grandmother
