Unconventional dress

[jenna]

Well, you would not believe what I found here: http://www.manchestergalleries.org/c...ts+and+Leisure

Now, if you can find a picture that backs up your dress, you can wear anything! The larger the pattern the more wealthy you were. It took more fabric to make the dress out of when using the large prints, even if it is a plaid. You still had a pattern repeat, and since widths of fabric back then ranged from 18" to 21", you used allot more fabric back then then we do now with our wider widths.

I recently saw a few cdv's of women in their finery, and the prints were enormuse! And you can't tell me that they weren't vivid colors. People have this misconception that they only wore dull colors, but with the advant of analyn dies, they had some of the most vivid colors that had been seen. And the Victorians loved their colors. And don't let anyone tell you that they didn't wear red unless they were a hussy! That is a line of garbage.

I have been told, and have also researched, that if you could imagine it, then they did as well. I have a book that covers the last 200 yrs of fabric and it has acutall vendor pictures and descriptions plus the dates the fabric was produced, and even if no one bought a single yard of it, it was around. You should see some of the patterns that date back even back as far as 1830 that we would consider quite psycodelic!

So don't think that you have to wear drab, pale, boring colors or patterns.They had allot!

Jenna
( And no I haven't fallen off the face of the planet everyone, I've just been so incredibly busy with life and the new baby that I haven't had a chance to check in at all lately!)

[bama_belle]

Interesting link. Thank you for sharing, and congratulations on the new baby!

The interesting thing I have discovered is, we have a perceived notion of life back then, of them being drab, prudes, etc., that just isn't so. Someone showed me a corset once that they have that was passed from generation to generation along with some other items. It was a deep shade of plum. Think about it. Why would a woman who was a prude wear anything but white undergarments? ha.

Mr. Brown immediately suggested I try to have one made just like it for my own wardrobe!

[jenna]

http://dept.kent.edu/museum/costume/...ingerie19.html

Talk about colorful corsets, check that link out. There are a couple that are rather eye poping.

Like I said though, people think that they were drab because they have no idea that color exsited. Even the common woman on the farm did wear completely drab colors! Perfect example is the attached dress as well as the one from that site. It is a very vivid shade of purple.

So go for the colors. Remember that the large prints is for very wealthy women, so your persona should match the dress.

Jenna

[bama_belle]

Oooh! I love that color! That's just a bit darker than my favorite day dress, but in the same color family.

I will have to remember that about the colors and wealth status. I still have so much to learn about these things.

[bama_belle]

Jenna, this is the dress that I was speaking of. This picture doesn't do it justice, though. It's a bit blurry.

[jenna]

Very pretty morie there. That was very popular among the weathly, was the morie taffetas and silks. I love the border print at the bottom. Border prints were very popular during the late 1850's, especially on flounce dresses. You tend to see allot of that type of printing on summer sheers and cotton prints. Very very nice. I shall have to scower thru my museum sites and see what I can find. I think I have one posted on the first page of this thread, that goes right to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Very pretty purple dotted border print.

And as for the learning thing, you are always learning in this hobby. New things are discovered, new dresses are found in private collections and then donated to museums. I have only been re-enacting for five years now and I still can say that I am learning. It's allot of fun though. Look at cdv's for your best research. For if you have a picture, then you have proof that it was then.

But your dress is very pretty, and you look great in it. I know I have some of my pictures around on these threads somewhere. Have to work on getting my computer's new photo program up and running so I can share more.

Jenna

[dawna]

Jenna:

Thanks for the links - the croquet dress is quite fascinating and I loved the 'eye-popping corsets!'

Belle, your dress is simply beautiful. Did you make it?

Dawna

[bama_belle]

Dawna, no I didn't. I wish I could sew that well!

I purchased it from Bama Rose, a seamstress who frequents a number of the Alabama battles. But I don't think she made the dress. I believe The Lady In Black was the seamstress, and it was trade in to Bama Rose on another dress when the previous owner lost a good bit of weight and was no longer able to wear it.