Victorian Ball 2015 - Crinoline/Petticoat

The next layer in my 1850s ensemble was the crinoline, which is possibly my favourite part.  I really enjoy making structural pieces, and I was very pleased with the bell shape I was able to achieve here.  I'm indebted to the tutorial by 'the Laced Angel' on how to draft a round hoop skirt.  The method involves drawing out the shape you want, and then scaling up to get the measurements for the hoops.  You can see my workings out below.

I decided to give it a very modest circumference (241cm for the bottom hoop), as I am quite petite and didn't want it to overwhelm me.  The Ball would also be my first outing in a crinoline so I wanted to play it safe a little bit.  For the next one I'll be more adventurous!

Construction was very simple.  I used narrow gauge steel boning from Vena Cava for the hoops.  I'd bought a 10m roll of plain white cotton at the start of the project from Empee Silks (a massive fabric warehouse in North London) and used it for most of the undergarments, including my chemise, my petticoat, and Becky's petticoat.  To add a splash of colour, I dyed some of it yellow for the crinoline.

The cotton was just a rectangle of fabric wide enough to take the longest hoop.  I hemmed it and made a channel at the top.  The boning channels were made in cotton tape, applied to the underside of the fabric before sewing up the back seam.  Each hoop was pre-cut to size, slotted through, and secured with a brass joint.  The top is gathered to the waist with another length of cotton tape slotted through the channel.  Finally I gathered a long length of cotton on a piece of cord, and handstitched it to the lowest hoop to create the frill.

I am really pleased with the gentle bell shape I achieved, and with how easily it all came together.

And here it is with my petticoat over the top.  The petticoat was very simple.  Two widths of cotton sewn together with fell seams, and gathered to a waistband with a hook and bar closure.  It was all machine sewn and came together very quickly.

Victorian Ball 2015 - Corset/Chemise

I have a major obsession with researching historical clothing, yet I so very rarely get to make any as most of my paid work tends to be parade and event work, or fairly small scale theatre with no budget for the kind of things I want to make.  Trying to eke out the time to make stuff for myself is a tricky one, and I've got a LOT of unfinished projects lying around.  In order to get something completed then, I needed a deadline... a Victorian Ball on the horizon with nothing to wear is a good starting point!

I'd previously stumbled across photos from the 'Spectacular Spectacular' Ball hosted by Izabella Pritcher of Prior Attire in 2012, and kicked myself for not knowing about it before.  Luckily for me, she decided to organise another one, this time a Victorian Ball at the Assembly Rooms in Bath, in May 2015.  I snapped up two tickets, and my sister didn't need much persuasion to agree to come with me!

As I would be making two ensembles; one for myself and one for Becky, it made sense to try tackling two different dress styles within the Victorian period.  As far as underpinnings go, I knew I wanted to make a round hoop crinoline, and a lobster tail bustle.  I had instructions for both from online sources (here, here), and was raring to give them a go.

I picked an 1850s style for myself, so began by making a one layer white cotton coutil corset based on Norah Waugh's 1860s (close enough) pattern from Corsets & Crinolines.  I am very thin, and a problem I'd noted with a previous corset was that if it is made to my measurements, and then laced to shrink my waist, my ribs just end up squashed.  Usually there's fat there that gets displaced, hence the boob lift, but in my case, nope.  This time round I tried to make sure there was extra room around my ribcage, so that I can shrink my waist in without hurting my sides in the process.

Blurry photos - a final check before adding the binding.

It was much more comfortable, although a little more pattern tweaking couldn't hurt for the next one down the line.  After half a day's wear my ribs were fine but I found that the shortness of the corset made it dig into my hips a bit.  This is likely due to needing to allow more space for the hips in the pattern, but it could also be a boning issue.  I recently got round to buying some of the german plastic whalebone that everyone's been raving about so I'll be trying it out in future makes, rather than the spiral steel boning that I used here.

I also made a simple cotton chemise using a free pattern from www.thesewingacademy.com, although I can't find the right link for it right now.

More Victorian Ball posts to come!