1917 Independence Day dinner - The 1910s evening gown

This year is the centennary of independence in Finland, so we got together with a group of costumer friends and history enthusiasts and dined in grand style yesterday, the Independence Day, in a beautiful turn of the century era restaurant in Tampere. I'm waiting to get photos of the event, but in the meantime I can finally share some pictures of the dress I made.

I love it, it's the sparkliest dress I've ever had and it turned out just the way I wanted!

My main inspiration came from a 1913 evening dress detailed in Nancy Bradfield's Costume in Detail. The drawings of that dress really helped me to work out the construction and the materials that I'd need for the dress. I also used this evening dress by Lucile as a source. I used one vintage sari, taffeta, lace fabric and a bit of silk taffeta for the belt piece. I added a lot of bigger sequins and beads on the lace fabric to embellish the embroidery.

I drafted the dress pattern myself and even though it looks complicated the pieces themselves are fairly simple. Basically, the dress has three layers, the base layer made of taffeta (the bodice) and the unembroidered bits of the saree (the base hem), the lace fabric layer with the right sleeve covers the base bodice and hem, and the third layer is the embroidered sari which is the shorter top hem, the left sleeve and the train. Then on top of everything there's the sash. They are all attached to each other but the fastenings of the dress go through all the layers as the pictures below show.

I took these photos a couple of days before the event just to make sure that everything was in place.

I cut a flower motif out of the leftover lace fabric and appliqued it on the sash with beads and sequins. The hanging bead chains are attached under it.

The sash attaches with snap buttons on the left side.

The loose front end of the left sleeve attaches with snap buttons on the bodice under the sash.

The lace layer of the bodice is loose from centre front to left side seam and attaches on the base bodice with snap buttons.

The base bodice closes at the centre front with hooks and thread loops.

These are photos from the event last evening, I only noticed today that I had a bit of a dress malfunction there, the front end of the left sleeve piece has crept out from under the sash and is hanging weirdly. I only hope the rest of the photos don't have that, because I did notice and fix it later but can't be sure if it was before or after the second photo shoot.

I'm happy with my hair and accessories. I did the hair myself and it turned out nicely. I also made that diadem and it fits well in the overall blinginess of the dress.

All the photos on the staircase were taken by Sonja From

A couple of photos of the underwear. Here are my petticoat and corset cover, and under them I'm wearing my 1910s long underbust corset, with a chemise and stockings. I think I need to make a new corset as this one turned out to be rather uncomfortable in long-time wear.

1910s project

I have something new to share at last! I've started a 1910s project partly because I've been planning that for a long time and partly because this year is the centenary of independence in Finland and I wanted to do something costumey for it. I even put together a loose outline of a sewing challenge for my reenactor and costumer friends around here and I think we'll have an event or two around this theme later in the year. The basic idea of that challenge is to make some kind of outfit in the fashion of 1910s; everybody can choose the year they like best, for me it's turning out to be 1914.

So far I've been sewing the underthings, of course, and they're finally done. I made a shift, a corset, a petticoat and a corset cover.

The shift is a simple shape, with a lace yoke and straps, a drawstring at the waist and a gusset flap that buttons on the front and back hem between the legs. I modelled it after this and other similar 1910s examples:

I've since changed the ribbon to a blue one.

The flap.

I made the corset using the 1910s pattern provided by Jennifer of Festive Attyre. I found her instructions very thorough and useful though I could've chosen a better fabric and in retrospect the corset turned out a bit too big for me. But to take it apart is just too much for me after the super annoying sewing process (bad fabric choice, sewing machine playing up, nerves in frays, not good).

I still need to sew on the suspenders for stockings. And get the stockings. Maybe the suspenders pulling down on the stockings will help with the wrinkling of the corset hem.

There's also a strange pokey edge at the back where the centre back bones end.

See? A wrinkly mess. Meh.

Because I've narrowed my wardrobe choices roughly on 1914, I needed a relatively narrow petticoat which I modelled after this advertisement picture from 1914. The skirt is narrow at the hips and there is a box pleated hem flounce that starts at knee-height.

I might have to sew one more horizontal tuck above the knee to shorten the petticoat a little more.

Lastly, I made a little corset cover blouse. Many such blouses of the era seem to have been loose-fitting and baggy at the bodice, with a drawstring at the waist but somehow that didn't work for me. Also, I'm cheating a little: I'm wearing a modern bra under my shift in these photos. Going without just felt too emancipated and uncomfortable and I wasn't able to tuck the shift into my corset securely enough to support the bust (as they apparently did in 1914). I might make a 1914 version of a brassiere later if I feel like it.

Next up will be a walking suit. I'm fascinated by the baggy skirt fashion of 1910s and will try to produce something similar. I also have a vintage saree set aside for an evening dress.
For inspiration I've compiled a couple of pinboards of 1910s fashion and 1910s underwear .