Kitty’s Dress

Tags

1863, cartridge pleats, civil war, day dress, living history, Ohio Village, period costume

I finished the last details on Kitty’s dress for her 1863 naturalist character at the Ohio Village. The cotton fabric is a blue, green, and brown print of birds, leaves, flowers, and branches on an ivory ground. It has brown cotton epaulets at the shoulders, matching brown piping at the sleeve hems, and brown fabric covered buttons. The collar is an antique ivory lace collar from my collection.

Be1863 Dress Making Part I

Tags

1863, cartridge pleats, civil war, day dress, dress, fitting, living history, muslin, period costume, sewing, undersleeves

For the mother’s dress, I first made a test of the bodice and sleeves in some spare fabric similar in weight and weave to the final fabric. Even though Kitty’s corset hadn’t arrived yet, we were able to test the bodice fit by having her try it on with a similar corset and her chemise on. I was able to tell that the fit through shoulders and neck worked well. I’ll make the final bodice able to have fine tuning adjustments made to the waist when we have her corset.