Victorian "Home Dressmaking"

from Petersons, July 1862

Many of our readers have, no doubt, dresses lying by which are almost useless, and which, with a little ingenuity, may be turned to good account. We are speaking of the dresses made with two or three flounces—a fashion which is now obsolete, excepting the cases where lace is used; and deep lace volants are always in good taste.

Many styles have been invented by which dresses somewhat passe may be made quite a la mode. One of the difficulties to contend with is the narrowness of the skits of dresses made some few years since, which, at the present time, are scarcely of sufficient width to go over a crinoline. To obviate this difficulty the skirts should have a tablier* inserted in the front, or small gores let in between each seam, to the depth of about twenty inches; or bands of silk about four inches wide may, with advantage, be put between every width.

To enable our readers better to understand what we mean, we will describe how to remake a three–flounces dress. Between every width of the silk insert a gore, sixteen inches at the bottom, tapering to a point at the top, and about twenty inches deep. Should the wearer be very tall, allow the gores rather deeper. Ornament these gores with some of the flouncing, cut into narrow frills, and finish off the point at the top with a rosette of ribbon or ruched silk, or some of the flouncing made into a rosette. This skirt will be found really elegant in its appearance, and sufficiently wide to be comfortable over a moderate size crinoline.

A tablier style from 1841.

To remake a two–flounced dress—insert pieces between every width of the skirt, the same as the proceeding one, but make use of the deep flounce for the purpose. A width of the flounce should be let in between the seams of the skirt, and the top of the flounce plaited in to form a kind of fan; these plaits being ornamented with a rosette. The shape of the fan is very much improved by slightly sloping the flounce toward the top, as, by so doing, the material will not have such a bunchy appearance. This skirt, when finished, also has a very good appearance, considering the old–fashioned materials of which it is composed.

Before concluding our remarks on contriving to make new things out of old ones, we will mention another mode of widening plain skirts, such as those of brocaded silk, chine silk, or any material of that description. A straight band of black, or some colored silk, to contrast nicely with the dress to be widened, should be let in between every seam; this band is perfectly straight, and looks nicely stitched on with white. Supposing there are but five widths in the skirt, then five bands of silk, each one six inches wide, will increase the width of the skirt nearly a yard. If there are six widths of the material, the band need not be so wide.

We noticed a very pretty gray mohair dress arranged in this manner, with bands of violet silk on the skirt, stitched on with white. This dress was made with a Zouave jacket and waistcoat, bound with lilac silk; and the sleeves (being for morning wear) were closed at the wrist.

* NOTE: The “tablier” style featured a wide gore at the skirt front, which was of a contrasting fabric. Sometimes the look made it appear that this gore was a decorative underskirt.

HOME

04/22/2006