An Artistic inspired gown.

Originally I had planned to make a white cotton undergown with a black wool overgown. the pattern coming from La Mode Bagatelle's Artistic Reform Teagown for Visby Baddagar, the Victorian sea holiday I attended. But time ran away for me, and the white undergown wasn't finished in time. Instead I decided to wear my green silk taffeta dinnergown under the overgown, qith a high-necked chemise. I also wore my reform corset during the day, changing to a proper corset for the evening.

I liked the effect of black and green, though I still want to finish the cotton gown to wear with it. The overgown is the B-one, and it was very easy to sew. I had to make the crossover in the back deeper than indicated as my back is narrow. and I opted to only have one ribbon as I liked how it looked like this.

Helping Lithia to hem her gown in the very last minute.

While my husband watched the lovely view of the sea.

The dinner dress was made from underdress B, but I redrafted the front to make it shirred instead of plain. I'm super pleased with it, even if I need to make a few small changes to improve the fit now.

 

Improvised hair- I simply hadn't had time to do proper research, but a lit of fake curls. The hair jewelry was made by Lithia, who you can see on this picture too.

A gaggle of friends, some of which I went to Versailles with. The lady in red is wearing an original bodice!

A glimpse of my corset, the wonderful Sanakor corset from Foundations Revealed. I have Lithia to thank for it, as she enlarged the pattern and generously let me use it. I need to tweak it a little over the bust, but it did what it was supposed to do and gave killer curves without lacing down much at all.

An 1870's bathing suit

Last weekend I attended a Victorian sea holiday, and had a spledid time. And for that, among other things, I needed a bathing suit. I really liked The Mantua Maker's Grecian style bathing suit 1870-1890, and made it up in dark green wool crepe. Strictly speaking this is not period as bathing suits seems to have been made in wool flanell or cotton, and in black, dark blue or pale grey. But I happened to have dark green wool crepe, and deemed it good enough.

I was quite pleased with it, but the pattern run a bit large, so I could have made it one size smaller and it would probably have looked better. As the pattern pieces are all more or less straight pieces I think I will unpick it and size it down. The bathing suit was not difficult to sew, but surprisingly time consuming. I also found the instructions rather confusing, as the instruction for lined versus unlined versions were mixed together, so you had to read very carefully to make sure you were following the right instructions. And some pattern pieces was called the same thing without the added information if it was meant for the front and the back. You had to look at the drawings and draw your conclusions from that.

Lithia and I in the same bathing suit but obviously in different colours and decorations.

Feeling peckish... The hat is true vintage and once belonged to my great-grandmother.

Before and after. It was actually very nice to wear after the bath as the wool kept you nicely warm, if wet. I didn't have time to make a matching bathing cap, but I plan to for next summer.

A gaggle of bathing Victorians

My husband opted out of the bathing.

The photos were taken by Lithis and Myra Lea. You can see more on their Instagram accounts; @lithiablack and @litenkrubba. You should also check out @efridis, and in case you didn't know, I have one as well; @isiswardrobe.