A while back, my friend Val was selling some of her beautiful costumes to make room for new ones. One of the first Costume Guild events I went to was a Marie Antoinette Tea. For the tea, Val made a beautiful 18th Century outfit she called The Pumpkin
Val's Blog which I always admired. I purchased just the polonaise of the outfit, thinking I would make my own pannier skirt for it soon.
Well, my yearly fashion show for Gaslight Gathering was approaching, and between planning that, work, and other obligations, I knew I wouldn't have much time to make an entire outfit. The theme I chose for the fashion show was Lets Go to the Movies! All models would choose a period movie and make an outfit for the main character in the film.
Looking through my saved inspiration photos for an easy Victorian gown, I came across a lovely dress from the mini series, Daniel Deronda. This early bustle era movie was full of gorgeous gowns. I already had a blue bustle skirt, so I decided to alter the Georgian to a Victorian!
First, the bodice needed altering. Here are photos of the Georgian
version of the bodice, taken from Val's blog (link above). Since the skirt was pleated to the bodice, I took apart the front bottom of the bodice and released the first two or three pleats, and brought them forward to meet in the middle.
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| Before Altering |
I removed the sleeves, took a bit off the side seams and narrowed the sleeves. Then I reattached the sleeves.
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| After Altering |
The next step was to add trim to the bodice to match the Victorian
movie costume. I found some cotton lace similar to the movie, and added
white pleating around the neckline. I then added some sleeve
flounces. You will notice that these are two different actresses. This
gown was actually used in two different movies, so I had more photos to
look at!
The actress on the left is Georgia King in The Shadow in the North from 2007. I used Georgia's jewelry choices, pearl necklace and earrings.
The actress below is Romola Garai in Daniel Deronda from 2002. Also in Romola's photo is a lovely perch hat. I tried making my own by reshaping a cheap straw hat, and failed miserably. The day before the fashion show at Gaslight Gathering, I was in the vendor hall and found a pretty hat!
Underneath the blue skirt you can see a white, pleated underskirt (see full length photo above). I was relaxing in a cabin in the mountains over Labor Day weekend, and brought some white cotton and an iron with me. I cut yards of 7 inch strips, and cut a piece of cardboard from a lemon pie box I bought that day, using it as a guide to pleat the strips and iron them in place. Since I had no machine to sew the pleats together, I used scotch tape to hold them in place until I got home. Once home, I sewed them to the bottom of a plain white petticoat.
For the belt she wears, I had a dupioni curtain panel in my stash. I cut the header off that already had a stiff lining to it, and used a belt buckle from another outfit.
Here are a few pictures of the finished outfit.
Breakdown
$15 Polonaise to alter
$5 Trim
$14 White cotton for petticoat and pleats
Total $34 for the outfit, plus hat purchase
I decided to use my favorite Truly Victorian pattern, Parisian Trained Skirt. I paired it with the Truly Victorian Day Bodice. Off to the fabric district I went with my friend Val in search of rosy colors. On a limited budget as usual, I narrowed my search to two fabrics: a burgundy with embroidered flowers, and a pale pink. We met up with our mutual friends Karin and Adam, and had a great time searching for what we all needed. I found the perfect embroidered burgundy at Home Fabrics, on sale for $5 a yard. At LA Fred's, I found a matching pink faux dupioni for $3 a yard! 
