Didn't I say that stripes look neat? I bought 6m of nice black striped fabric two weeks ago.

After some tossing and turning it has been decided - white underskirt, striped overskirt and two bodices (one with high collar and one without ;) )

DONE
TV 362 1884 striped wash overskirt. I cut the apron so the stripes meet in the front (which they DO *yay*), and added lining since the striped fabric is rather flimsy - and I had to improvise since I didn't have enough black cotton for the lining. I simply applied netting to the upper back of the skirt, success! After some hours of peaceful working and watching Back to the Future III (which contains some nice late bustle dresses and one belle epoch outfit) everything is finished save eyes.

TV 261 white underskirt, sans le pouf but with decoration. I'm using white cotton/linen fabric which is impossible to iron. Inspired by Mme. Kupferfeuer's sewing neatness I even made welt seams :) 

Remaining

TV 460 1885 striped cuirass bodice, with a bit of lace at the sleeves to complement the stripes. I've made a mock up of the cuirass bodice, status: the front looks a bit strange. But that could be the flimsy fabric's fault. Anyway: no pain, no gain I thought and started sewing the striped fabric, lined with black cotton. I found a nice description with pictures on how to cut striped fabrics. She's right - it's not possible to keep the stripes straight on all pieces - but I tried my best and I think it looks acceptable (pics to come).
The next step will be fitting (my favourite activity *eww*)

PS: Consciously deciding which size to wear is a rather strange feeling - but you have to do so when using those patterns.  When I try really hard I have a 24'' waist (stop booing already, you professional corset wearers :) ), but I'll rather stick with 26'' lest I die of hunger or asphyxiation.

The historical soirée (February 7 2009) is over and the bodice wasn't finished in time, so I had to borrow a dress from Mme. Kupferfeuer. This dress here will be finished somewhen this year when the red silk finally arrives and my frustration subsides.

The other ladies looked fantastic!

In Victorian Fashions I've seen a wonderful evening outfit described as velvet and lace, with a particularly nice overskirt: pouffed in the back and two separate gores in the front (here is a picture I took from p.188 of Victorian Fashions by Stella Blum, Taschen Verlag).

The underskirt will be TV261, made from red silk instead of lace because it's cheaper. The silk has arrived and I've bought cotton yarn to match the colour.

The overskirt's pattern is self-made - the picture does not show the backside, so I was free to use my imagination. The particular velvet I used seems to be not too bad - it has "Niedieck" printed on the seams and from some googling I concluded that this is not the worst of brands. Besides, on the picture it looks like the back is not draped overly elaborated. I've cut two rectangular pieces (40x120cm) for the skirt front and one rectangular piece (120x150cm) for the back. After some calculations and lacing of the corset I made the front pieces smaller (24cm, without seam allowance), lined the pieces, gathered the 120cm of the back piece and made about 5 meters of silk piping. I've cut a 25'' waistband and sew three silk bands with which to drape the back. And I've spent an hour at Mme. Kupferfeuer's brooding over how to actually drape the thing. <pic to come> And I've bricked my sewing machine with all the layers of velvet so I had to resume to hand sewing some parts.

TV416 for the bodice. It's the wrong period, but some of the outfits shown in Victorian Fashions have the same low neckline, so I'm going to use it, period. And it's all about the waistline anyway, isn't it? Early bustle had a higher waist than late bustle, if I am not mistaken.

Dress decoration: I was thinking red flowers and pearls. The silk flower shop (yes, Vienna has such a thing) is closed during February, but I'll look around online for silk roses.

Jewellery: bohemian garnet necklace and ring. Now I only need to find some I can afford which is nearly impossible.

Hm - oh, yes, and I need a fan and a small bag.

Truly Victorian has released a new pattern, for a late bustle coat. Needless to say I love it and had to have it. No idea yet how the final product will look like, but one can never go wrong with sombre colours and trimmings on the trimmings.

Note to everybody: this pattern (unlike the other TV patterns) has no SIDE part, only BACK and SIDE BACK ( I mention this because I spent one hour running through the flat looking for the supposedly missing pattern piece).

Progress: I made a mock-up which will have to tried on over a bustle and skirts, but it all in all it does look promising.

Welcome, welcome - to my first victorian work in project.

I'll make a first version from linen since I have lots of it in dark red and white available. I researched a bit in the net and found an amazing white linen coat to go over a bustle. It's an original so I think I don't have to hide a carefully sewn linen outfit - they did use linen for elaborate garments after all. In any case it convinced me that I should use my linen carefully and make several pieces (overskirt, cuirass bodice, tail bodice) to get some practise, test the patterns and end up with some nice things which can be combined to different outfits. And the very first step will be to browse through Victorian Fashions to find appropriate types of embellishment.

DONE

• Underskirt: TV261 1885 Four-gore underskirt, "avec le pouf", from dark red linen (I have enough linen and it doesn't show the dirt as much as lighter colours). I applied netting == adding a layer of something tulle-like to the back. Thanks to Kupferfeuer the drapery and thus the skirt is finished - I just need to find my hooks-and-eyes-bag :)

TODO

• Overskirt: TV362 1884 Wash Overskirt, just the apron, from white linen. I was thinking of adding embroidery to the apron's hem.
• Bodice: TV462 1883 Tail Bodice, from white linen. It's a really strange sizing system but many people say it worked for them. I I'll use red accents on white fabric. The interfacing will be cotton twill, and the lining simple soft cotton. Boning has arrived.
• Bag: to do
• Head: to do

For the next version I'll take a look into a fashion book of the period to get a feeling which accessories, colours and fabrics might work. In any case I found very moderately priced heavy black cotton jacquard and now I possess 8m :) Then there are 5 meters of cream-colored velvet. And I must say, needle stripes also look very neat (made by Mme. Kupferfeuer).