1830s behind the scenes

I made a corded petticoat to go with my 1830s dress. The petticoat is made from 3 widths of fabric giving it a 3metre circumference. This is possibly more than it needs to be; it does rather fold in on itself.

I cut each piece a lot longer than I wanted the skirt to be and folded the excess under to hold the cording. I sewed the cords around in a spiral. The first cord I used was my trusty, neverending roll of string that I usually use for piping. Unfortunately it turned out to be not stiff enough to hold out a skirt and because it was thin it needed many, many rows that were tedious to do. I decided to get proper piping cord (and made the poor girl at Lincraft measure out 30 metres of it). I worked out the arrangement of rows based on the length of cord. These rows went in much faster and hold the skirt out very nicely.

I used a length of petersham ribbon for the waistband and it closes with two sets of tapes.

The 1830s dress is also worn with my late regency long stays. I have adapted them since last Jafa with hip gussets and a busk. The stays are much more comfortable now.

I curled my fringe with a new method of curling – using straws. You wrap your hair around the straw, fold the straw over and use a bobby pin to hold both ends of the straw together. It worked marvellously. The straw just slides out so the ringlet is not disturbed. I also used a styling mousse when setting the curl, another thing I discovered recently.

Ahem, a hem

The skirt of my 1830s dress is made from 4 widths of fabric with double inverted pleats at the front and cartridge pleats around the back. I pleated the skirt on to a tape (by hand) and then sewed the tape into the bodice (also by hand).

I found this webpage particularly useful as it showed an 1830s dress completely inside out which is something I’d had trouble finding. Following the 'Hem from the Waist' method it describes, I hemmed the skirt while it was still separate from the bodice.

The hem of the skirt is quite deep so I did the whip stitching with the skirt lying flat on the table to ensure the fold stay lined up where it was meant to. The hemming took a few days and was not the most comfortable thing to do.

Once the skirt piece was hemmed, the waist seam was pinned to the bodice while I was wearing it, ensuring that it was the correct length from the floor all round. I found this to be an easier way to get an even length on the skirt than taking up the hem after the skirt is attached to the bodice (although still suspiciously unscientific).

The base of the hem has a strip of wadding sewn inside it to hold the skirt out. The dress is worn over a corded petticoat.

I finished the dress and petticoat four days out from the festival (probably a personal best) which gave me just enough time to make something else. All in all this dress took a month to make. I was working full time but sewed pretty much constantly when I wasn't at work, starting at 6 o'clock in the morning.

My mum did my hair in a very nice, simplistic, 30s style. Since I didn't have time to make a bonnet I wore the Polish Casquette I made last Jafa which was trimmed in exactly the right colours.

More about the Chemise a la reine here

I am so, so happy with this dress. I think of everything I've made this is the one I have most enjoyed wearing. It feels lovely – the skirt swooshes so nicely when I move. Looking at 1830s necklines I had always thought I would never be able to wear them – I have shoulders that things just fall off – but now that I'm able to do pattern adjustments properly (square shoulder & small bust adjustments in this case) I was able to make it fit in a way that is comfortable and secure and looks good – and I want to make lots more necklines like it.

I am very pleased with the finish quality of the outfit too. The insides are neat, the fit is good, my historical and general sewing techniques are so much better than they used to be and I am just all-round happy with this. I think it's my favourite costume that I've made.

Photo by Stephen Shaw.