Finished Indienne Tea Dress

I finally finished my early bustle tea dress a couple days ago, but I'm just now getting to photos and posting them. The weather in Northeast Ohio over the last couple of weeks has been less than ideal so for the moment I only have photos of the dress on Doris the Dressform in some really bad lighting. Maybe next spring I'll get some better photos.

The completed dress with all its new additions. Although it can't be seen, all the interior seams are now overlocked to prevent raveling. The bodice was made using the 1873 Polonaise (TV410) and the Waverly Indienne print fabric.

Detailing of satin ribbon bows that were added to the bodice front and above the elbows on the sleeves. The fringed tassle trim on the peplum is part of the original decoration when it was first made.

View of the demi-train and the back of the overskirt portion of the polonaise. This now sits much better because...

Remember the original skirt and how it hung? I was originally going to add one row of ruffles. Then things got a little out of hand.

Instead I added two ruffles, both seven inches deep, and then a third ruffle, about 2.5 inches deep, along the top to cover the raw edges. While it was it was not in the original plan, I'm glad I added the extra rows. Remember how I had issues with the dress hanging oddly?

Not anymore! Now the dress has the perfect early 1870s silhouette which will probably only get better once I finish my grand bustle. Not to mention it gives it a very lovely, feminine feel.

The skirt was completed using the 1869 Grand Parlor Skirt (TV202). The fabric is a navy shantung silk that has actually been reversed so the wrong side is the only thing you see. Due to early college student budget constraints, I figured this would be easier to do rather than purchase silk outright.

On to the next project! (To be determined

Indienne Tea Dress Upgrade

It feels like it's been forever since I posted anything actually costume related, but there have been other things going on.

I've put aside my underfrillies project for right now and pulled one of my older dresses out of the closet to work on and, ultimately finish. My Indienne tea dress was originally started back in Fall 2010 simply because I was still on my high of getting into historical costuming (it was my second dress). After browsing through Heather's lovely collection of Truly Victorian patterns, I selected the 1869 Grand Parlor Skirt (TV202) and the 1873 Polonaise bodice (TV410) patterns. These were my reasons:

• I wanted a bustle dress. The bustle dresses were the reason I first fell in love with the Victorian period to begin with, and I wanted a bustle dress dangit!
• I loved the skirt. It had a train, was ginormous, and did I mention the train? Still rather ignorant of Victorian costume design, all I saw was the word "demi-train" and wanted it.
• Being a poor college student, the idea of a bodice with the overskirt attached attracted me to the polonaise. It meant I only had to get one pattern rather than two. Ignoring the fact it said for "intermediate to advanced sewers only" I still bought it.

Well I made up both patterns plus the bustle with attached petticoat (TV101), again ignoring recommendations that I make up the larger bustle to support the larger skirt and ended up with this creation - an early 1870s early bustle tea dress.

Ignore the funny look, I was working with a school group when this was taken.

Totally psyched about my second dress coming out much better than my first (we'll revisit that horror story at some point), I wore it and loved it - for the time being.

I pulled the dress back out and wore it to my Dress U conference early this summer. As I pranced around in my lovely dress, I kept looking at it and all I could think was, "It needs more." Gone were my inexperiences of being a newbie sewer. I now had a better working knowledge of the costumes, trims, and the dress styles of the different periods. I wanted to upgrade!

It started right before the Canton Woman's Club Victorian Tea. My biggest gripe was the skirt for the outfit never hung right. It bugged me from day one but I wasn't sure what to do about it. I even sewed a false petticoat/lining underneath originally to help provide a bit of volume and attached a "dust ruffle" to the hem. All it resulted in was the outer layer of shantung silk kept slipping and never stayed in place.

False dust ruffle attached to lining

Note how the skirt just "hangs"

To solve the skirt problem, I decided to add some ruffles. After checking out The Art of Manipulating Fabric and skimming through for some ideas, I went to work. Three days before the Woman's Club tea I started, and it went downhill from there. Original plan, add one tier of ruffles to stiffen and weigh down the hem to make it hang correctly. End result - well let's just say it definitely wasn't what I had planned.

Ruffle work in progress. All my ruffles I usually gather by hand and pin.

While the skirt ruffling is done, now it's been a matter of flushing out small touches on the bodice. For example, after making my new corset, the bodice fits differently now. Because I am unable to adjust seams without taking the entire thing apart, I readjusted the placement of some of the buttons instead.

The top button ended up being moved almost two inches. Whoa!

And now that I'm in that whole, trim-is-an-awesome-thing-the-more-the-better, mindset, I decided to make a few bows for the dress as well. They'll be sewn to the center front of the bodice and at the top of the sleeve flare above the elbow.

Well before I even get started on the sleeve bows though, I had one other small task. As a newbie, I never gave the idea of serging a second thought. As an experienced sewer now, I mentally kick the 2010 version of myself in the posterior. Rather than hand sew all of those edges or be super lazy and fray check it, I did the unthinkable, I removed the sleeves of the bodice to overlock stitch them.

Removing the sleeves after 3 years

While it has still been awkward getting everything through the sewing machine, it's been going much faster than hand sewing (and we all know how much I hate that) and provides for a cleaner, finished product.

If you look at the photo, the fabric edges on the right are overlocked while the two on the left are not. It's not very clear, but you still see a difference in the smoother edges of the overlocked fabric. Anything I can't overlock stitch gets a bit of fray check just to keep everything from raveling. There's also a little bit of tacking to do in various areas and then hopefully it will be finished.

Now I'm sure there are a couple of people scratching their heads going, "Wasn't it finished before? You've already worn in and now you're just making changes."

This is my clarification. The Indienne tea dress has sat in an extended state of being Done. "Done" means it may not be finished, but it is wearable. I've always known that I would probably be making changes to this dress at some point once I learned a bit more in the trims department. "Finished" means the dress is not only wearable, but will most likely not have any further changes made to it either. Once I make the changes mentioned in this post, there are no other changes I see myself wanting to make and will therefore add it to the Finished costume category.

I will add though that if you talk to most costumers, there is no such thing as ever being "finished" with anything.

Canton Woman's Club Victorian Tea

A couple months ago I was passed along information for a Victorian Tea being held by the Canton Woman's Club. Although this was the first time it was being held, the event still ended up being sold out.

Kathy Kraus did a presentation on Sarah Emma Edmonds, a female Civil War Union spy, and the highlight was a fashion show of authentic Victorian dresses.

This is only a small handful of the dresses presented, but my favorite out of all of them was the embroidered cotton lawn with the yellow sash in the center.

My young cousin, Samantha, came with me and we both dressed up for the event. She wore her Disney Belle costume, and I pulled out my early bustle Indienne tea dress for the event. We got to enjoy tea sandwiches and snacks, and enjoyed a lunch of chicken pouf and garnished green beans.

We're looking forward to the next time they hold the event since they hope to hold it every six months and have me be involved somehow too.