1912 Style Gown

The project I have working on this week is a 1912 Titanic style gown.

I co-host a club night here in DFW called the Shadow Society (hey looksee where I got the blog name huh?), and each month we do a historical theme.

Of course this month is Titanic.

1912 gowns are out of my comfort zone. I had never attempted one. I am a complete 18th century-file and when I don't do that I am usually doing gothic-Victorian. So the  Late Edwardian and "Great War" period is not something I have worked much in.

I took my inspiration from the good ol Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion Book #2. There is a lovely dress circa 1910  (the Laurel Dress) in there that can easily be used to base a 1912 gown on:

I noticed that a lot of people attempting one of these gowns have used it as a base, and I am not surprised because her descriptions and drawings of the working of the gown offer a wealth of knowledge on the subject. I am not one for exact copies of things usually though so I thought I would still design my own gown, but in the style and construction of the day.

I really enjoy the sleeves of of the more kimono inspired gowns, such as this one, that I found in a private textiles collection online:

So I decided to combine the two styles to get the look I was going for. Which has proven to be quite the adventure.

I had one small piece of this exquisite beaded black and gold lace left in my collection from a previous project and I pretty much based the gown's color scheme off of something that would match that. My original plan was to make the gown Black, Deep Green, and Gold and Crepe Satin, Lace, and Swiss Net. But thanks to ye old fabric store not having a green color satin I could agree on. I decided instead to do this lovely dark misty lavender color I found with the black and gold.

Here is what the colors look like layered together when I 1st pieced it to make sure I liked the combo:

After that the real fun began. Contrary to popular belief these gowns are not big loose boho gypsy inspired pieces. They may LOOK drapey but the real secret is that they are almost ALL mounted on a sturdy boned under-layer to give it stability. They were also worn over a corset, but I will go into that at another time (as that's my next project). I used my pattern drafting knowledge to make a fitted base layer, similar to the base layer in the Janet Arnold book. Bringing the waistline just above my natural waistline, but not Empire style (under the bust) as these gowns are often confused as being very high waist-ed but really they are only slightly raised from the natural waist. I made the boning casings with removable boning as a lot of gowns in the period did. This was a fun challenge and I will post a tutorial on that later! After making the under-layer I began to play with ways to drape the bodice and sleeves:

I was originally thinking I liked the shorter sleeves better than the long. But decided to go with the long once more of the gown was together and I tried it on me. I have REALLY long arms, and I am 5'10 (tall) so 3/4 sleeves are my friend. I also decided to NOT go with the lavender waistband, as I really am more fond of black.

The skirts came next. I had some lovely swiss dot net that I decided to use for the overskirt, and for the underskirt I used the same crepe satin as the under bodice. I went with the pooled ballgown style skirt with the slightly longer train. It's a pain in the buttocks to walk in but it looks so pretty! The overskirt was trimmed with loop chain fringe in black and then gold braid over that. It gave a nice weight to the swiss dot net as otherwise I would have had to sew little beads or weights (they used leaded weights at the time) to make the skirt hang better.

Trim detail on skirts. I love the look of the swiss net over the misty purple color.

After the skirts were on I had to decide how I was going to mount the over-layers on the bodice.

I decided that I am going to mount them to straps of grosgrain ribbon which are backed with a bit of elastic for stability on the shoulders (the Janet Arnold gown mentions using the elastic). Right now I am at the point where the straps/elastic is sewn on, the beaded panel is hand sewn on the front of the gown, and I am now draping the over-bodice and trim over the gown to prepare to hand-sew it on:

Here is what it looks like draped so far. The belt will probably be made in crushed velvet, I just tied some random brocade around the waist to see the shape. Progress yes, but of course my event is TOMORROW.

So wish me luck!