Janet Arnold Award

Its has been an extremely long time since my last post however i have been very busy at university.  This term i decided to complete an 1866-7 Day dress from the Janet Arnold Books for the competition.  This involves recreating the costume to the exact measurements in the book and near as possible to the original. 

Bath Fashion Museum (n.d) 1866-7 Day Dress, Object number: BATMC 1.09.1089,

The dress i chose is a day dress from the mid Victorian era at the end of the Civil War, Scarlet O Hara style dress as it has more puffiness at the back and flatter at the front.  i made the crinoline for this as well. 

Bath Fashion Museum (n.d) 1866-7 Day Dress, Object number: BATMC 1.09.1089,

To start i went to look at the original which is in Bath Museum of Fashion.   Its made out of stone colour silk satin with cotton back and silk satin cornflower blue double piping and fringing.  It had a false hem out of cotton twill and blue velvet ribbon binding the hem. 

It is such a lovely dress the colour drew me to it so that was the important part for me to get the colour an exact match. 

The fabric was the hardest to work out as i wanted it to look perfect and the contrast needed to be right in order for the dress to be that striking.  I started my search on the Internet with James Hare and found a few however they were not quite the right colour however they did have cotton back silk satin which would have worked well.  i then went to London to look and found the perfect silk satin in a gold/ stone colour which has lovely.  I compromised on the piping fabric as i couldn't find the right colour in satin so got silk dupion instead but it was a good choice as it looks brilliant.

The dress is lined with glazed cotton which i could not find in the correct thickness so i used Swedish silk cotton, and cotton lawn to line the sleeves which was in the original.

 The construction went together surprisingly well only a few alterations needed on the toile like the shoulder and hem line but everything else fitted well considering the she got the pattern off a garment already together.

When constructing the dress on top fabric the initial dress went together ok.  I had huge issues with the piping however as it needed to look authentic so cotton twisted piping showed through the dupion so i had to wrap it in Iced Wool (used inside jackets) this took time as each piping cord had to be tacked into place before being machined.  It did also twist sometimes which i couldn't use so many hours and days getting that alright.

The fringing was just the dupion frayed which was fun and then sewn on by had.  All the piping was sewn on by hand along with the sleeves and collar.

I wanted it to be historically correct so i constructed the sleeves using the authentic method of cresting the elbow,  Authentic Victorian dress making techniques book helped a lot with this.

I also used cotton and silk thread where possible but on the initial construction i used polyester just for strength as cotton just tend to snap.  I also over stitched each seam to neaten it.

It had two pockets as well one in the seam of the skirt and a watch pocket in the waist band.

The hem i used white twill cotton  and dyed in brown for the false hem and bound it in the blue dupion.  I may change this s time for the competition in April but only if i find the appropriate colour velvet ribbon.

i feel that this may have been added a while after the dress was originally made as a repair for a worn hem as the colour is quite a way of the piping colour suggesting that they either couldn't match it or want to use the blue fabric or it was added later.

The button and belt is all done by hand as well the belt will have some ribbon down it however i have been unable to find one appropriate so am still looking.    i am very pleased with the buttons, i used the same dupoin cut in a circle with tailors chest felt stuck onto just the top of the button with the shank cut off and stitched the fabric round it pulling tight.

 i am very happy with the dress and feel it will be an asset to my portfolio,  I'm not too sure about its ability to go far in the competition purely because i think they may feel it might be quite simple as it doesn't look like a lot of work has gone into it however there was in fact a lot of work which i feel they may not see.  i am incredible proud of my creation and you never know what might happen with the competition.

My crinoline was harder than i thought it took a long time too.  The pattern was taken from Jean Hunniestts period costume for stage and screen with adaptions made to make it an elliptical crinoline. Each hoop is sewn on by hand with two layers of box pleats at the bottom.

 Its been all handed in now so i am hopefully going to get my frock coat finished for my boyfriend for Christmas. 

My next uni project is Ballet again but this time we are creating the plate tutu for designs for sleeping beauty i am very excited as the designs are amazing, they are quite earthy with frills and feathers and sparkles all over so i can't wait!

xx