The Dreamstress

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The ‘It’s all about the fabric’ dress

Sometimes a dress starts with the idea of a dress, but sometimes it starts with the fabric. Back in July Fabric Warehouse had their semi-annual fabric sale, and I couldn’t help snapping up a length of this:

Isn’t it FABULOUS?

At the time I thought I’d make a full skirt (the friend I was with was slightly horrified that I’d make anything with the fabric and said “at least the print will be less obvious in the folds of a skirt), but when I tried skirt layouts, it just wasn’t working. So I looked for further inspiration, and hit on the dress I wore as a bridesmaid in Shell’s wedding. I love that dress – it’s fun to wear, strikes a nice balance between summer fun and professional, and works for almost any occasion. But…it’s cut for someone who is my size around and 4″ shorter than me. So I want to re-make it, but so it actually fits.

Which I sort of did.

The ‘sort of’ is because I was really sick and tired (and about to get a lot sicker) when I made the dress, and completely forgot about resizing it when I took the pattern off the old dress, so when I actually got to fitting, it was still cut for a petite woman. I made as many alterations as I could to get the fit right, but I had NO extra fabric, and there is only so much you can do.

But it’s still pretty cute, and I’m pretty happy with it. And the details are adorable.

I particularly like the bird over my heart (though I wish I’d had enough fabric to cut it so that it was the only bird on my bodice):

And the not-actually-exposed zipper. I’m not a fan of the current fashion for exposed zips (it just looks sloppy to me), but I love this finish, it’s very polished while still being industrial:

And most of all, my rainbow belt. I inherited a couple of lengths of pre-made belting from Nana, in completely random colour-ways, and this rainbow stuff was just the ‘pop’ that the dress needed. I still haven’t punched the holes & done grommets yet because my hole punch is out.

The bodice of the dress is fully lined in white cotton (anything fun and colourful showed through), all beautifully joined to the front zip and the back invisible zip:

I hemmed it with white bias hemming. I pulled every length I had in my stash out, laid them together, and was an inch and a half short. Dang! A rummage through my ‘short lengths of bias tape’ tin (honestly, that’s exactly what the label on it says) unearthed one more length, I joined it, and my hem was saved. Thank goodness for being so organized and keeping everything!

All the pictures were taken at my in-laws house in the beautiful South Island – they’ve been hosting Thanksgiving since Mr D and I got married to make me feel more at home, so I had a lovely time making pies with my MIL and slathering a turkey with half a kilo of butter and having dinner with the whole family, and then posing in their stunning garden with roses and goldfish ponds the next day.

And then I flew back to Wellington and got a horrible cold and spent 5 days feeling sorry for myself, so that wasn’t so fun. But yay, I’m getting a lot better!

Just the facts, Ma’am:

Fabric: 1.8m of Alexander Henry ‘Gemini’ cotton ($18 pm), .5m cotton voile for lining

Pattern: Self drafted, based off this dress (the one I’m wearing, not the wedding dress, though I made that too)

Year: early ’60s silhouette meets late ’60s inspired fabric meets 2011

Notions: Thread, one metal zip ($7.50), bias hemming, rainbow belting, metal buckle, bias binding.

Hours: 11

First worn?: Friday 23 November (Thursday in the US) for Thanksgiving dinner

Wear again?: Yeah. I don’t love it as much as I wanted to, but it’s a good summer dress-up dress.

Make again?: Nah, I’ve got patterns I like better

And the insides?: Fully lined bodice, french seamed skirt = perfection.

Total cost: $34.50

Giveaway!

Published by The Dreamstress

The giveaway is now CLOSED. I’ll post the winner tomorrow

So when I did my last giveaway I promised that I would do another giveaway soon, but this one would be sewing themed. So, just in time for the holidays, a red, white, & green sewing giveaway.

This giveaway is open to anyone in a country I can legally ship it to.

So what’s up for grabs? This:

That is 1.9m of tabby weave cotton with a delicious Japanese inspired print of cherry blossoms and irises in pink, red, jade green, and black on white; bias hemming tape (you know how I love that stuff) in jade green and red; piping in red and green; bias ribbon in red and white check; thread in pale yellow, white, and two shades of green; plus a measuring tape (because you can never have too many of those).

Plus, pick your favourite of these four patterns:

They are:

Simplicity 6276: a great early ’60s pattern with a cute shift dress, but the real prize is all the shirt variants. Size 38″ bust

Simplicity 3308: early ’60s sheath dress with adorable bow details. Size 35″ bust

Simplicity 4756: 1940s bed jacket and slipper pattern. Size 34″ bust.

Maudella 5069: 1961 dress with a cumberbund waistband and a bell skirt. (I’m hoping someone picks this just because it goes so perfectly with the colour scheme) Size 36″ bust

Plus, I’ll throw in a bag of licorice or a bar of Whittakers chocolate (milk, dark, mac-nut, fruit & nut, kiwifruit, orange, or hokey-pokey)

To enter:

Terminology: What is a balmoral petticoat?

Published by The Dreamstress

We all know about Queen Victoria’s obsession with Scotland and her castle in Balmoral, and how this led to the name ‘Balmoral’ being applied to all sorts of fashion items. One of these was the balmoral petticoat.

The balmoral petticoat was a coloured petticoat that was intended to show at the hem of a drawn-up skirt for walking and sportswear in the 1860s and 1870s.

‘Belle of the winter’ – a skater in a striped Balmoral petticoat

The balmoral petticoat could be worn over a hoopskirt or crinoline or have hoops built into the petticoat, and (according to some sources) include a horsehair stiffener as part of the petticoat itself.

1860s walking outfit worn with a Balmoral petticoat

The most common Balmoral petticoat was red wool, often with 2-4 black stripes running around the hem. Later in the 1860s there are mentions of balmoral petticoats in plaid or striped wool, and even cotton balmoral petticoats in the Americas.

Rachel Bodley (1831-1888), the first female chemistry professor at Philadelphia’s Women’s Medical College from 1865 to 1873, in a balmoral petticoat. via here

The petticoat was said to originate at Balmoral, with writers in the 1890s claiming that during the 1860s royals at Balmoral wore high laced boots (Balmoral boots), scarlet petticoats, and their skirts drawn up to walking length for practicality, showing glimpses of the scarlet petticoats, the boots, and bright coloured stockings.

Harper’s Bazar, 1867, Promenade Dresses

The balmoral petticoat was most popular at the height of the crinoline era, but quickly became a victim of its own popularity and practicality. Fashion has never loved sensible garments, and balmoral petticoats were eminently sensible: warm, durable, easy to walk and move in. They were adopted by all levels of society almost immediately (there are numerous mentions of slaves in the American South wearing balmoral petticoats in the 1860s), and quickly discarded by the upper levels of society. A variant of the Balmoral petticoat (sans hooping) remained popular with older women and the less fashionable for decades after the crinoline was discarded. As a result ‘red flannel petticoat’ became synonymous with provincial fashion and the elderly.

Margherita of Savoia-Genoa in the late 1860s carte de visite by Henri Le Lieure. Is this a balmoral petticoat? Debatable

Skating on the Schuylkill in a balmoral petticoat

Sources:

O’Hara, Georgina, The Encyclopedia of Fashion: From 1840 to the 1980s. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd. 1986

Lewandowski, Elizabeth J, The Complete Costume Dictionary. Plymouth UK: Scarecrow Press. 2011