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1880s Dress: Part One

1/26/2018

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I have always been daunted by historical dress making. The moment I start considering dress construction, the perfectionist part of my brain chimes in and all of the sudden I find myself trying to find a way to make the PERFECT dress. Perfect seams, absolutely 100% historically accurate, exact fit, etc. etc. But, alas, this is not possible. I do not live in the 19th century, therefore I can never create the real thing. Still, I try to hold up to historical accuracy as much as I can. Perfect fit and seams will come with practice and patience (which I sometimes lack). 

I chose a pattern from Past Patterns. #905, #906, #907, three piece ensemble circa 1883-1884. It's basic, no frills and lace, just a simple ruffle in a few spots. 
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So that wasn't too hard, but then I got stuck on fabric. I found a really lovely print on Reproduction Fabrics. I emailed Reproduction fabrics and they told me they decided to stop carrying it and gave me the manufacturer number. I googled it and found the exact fabric on a quilting website. 
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I adore the pink clover against the brown. Clover is one of my favorite summertime flowers. Plus, I feel like Laura would love this fabric. It's simple and practical, but so beautiful. I love it. 

I did a mockup, which took me longer than I expected. It was difficult to reach behind me to smooth and fit the fabric. I traced the smallest size of the D cup pattern. My proportions mean that I had to take a LOT out of the body of the mockup. I ended up taking some out of every seam to make it fit, since the waist and hip were way to big.  
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Now that's done, the next step is cutting the fabric. I'm using the mockup as my lining, so that eliminates using more muslin and I can just follow my pattern marks that I made during the fitting. 

I'll post another update further into the process!
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