I've just been thinking how much I miss message boards with an archive
but they have all died, maybe this could be revived beyond the
periodic 'what are you making' threads. I'm hoping google photos will
work as a place to share images from, it's where my (android) phone
automatically backs up pictures and I think the photos are visible to
anyone with a direct link.
So I've decided I'm going to make an 1850s ballgown from this fabric
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DUiQ3Wq5VfKuxbKA9 It's a silk/poly blend
satin bought many years ago, I'd like taffeta and I don't normally
wear much pink but I can't afford new fabric (either in space or
money). The photo shows the contrast between the right and wrong sides
(the flipped over corner is the right side), the shiny side is several
shades lighter than the dull side I want to make use of that somehow
and I have a plan for the bodice to have the main part of the bodice
dull side out and trim it with shiny side out (maybe a matching berthe
or maybe a sheer berthe) mainly because shiny satin shows every lump,
bump and wrinkle so is very unforgiving on a fitted garment.
I'm stuck on the skirt though. I already have this wool bodice (i
don't have a dressmaker's dummy so laid flat is the best I can do,
also ignore the hot pink lining I picked it because it's cheap and
won't be seen) https://photos.app.goo.gl/E1ifEpFhGKmbkNi59 which was
based on several fashion plates from 1850-55 and by sheer coincidence
the trim matches this skirt quite closely (and the original skirt is
missing), so I want to be able wear this bodice with the ball gown
skirt. I'm thinking something similar to the Truly Victorian ballgown
skirt https://www.trulyvictorian.net/1860-s-ball-gown-skir.html but
I'm not sure how that would fit with the early 1850s.
Which brings me to the second half of my question. I've been out of
post 1600 costuming for a long time and through a few computer deaths
I've lost a lot of resources I used to have a lot of fashion plates
organised by year and they have all gone. Is there an archive/museum
somewhere with fashion plates (especially Victorian era) organised by
year. Google turns up so many fashion plates and I'm not bad at
guessing dates but I'd like to cut down the time I have to spend
filtering out irrelevant stuff.
Elizabeth
_______________________________________________
h-costume mailing list
[email protected]
https://indra.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
