The past few week have been very busy ones for me. For those who have been following my blog, I'm happy to announce we are having a little girl! With two very active boys it fun knowing that I'll have someone to share my love of sewing.

There has been a lot of sewing going on over here. I've had a number of custom orders to fill, in addition to creating (or redrafting) a new line of dresses for my Etsy Store Victorian Times.

The pink dress is one of my new creations. It's a ready made dress that I will be offering as a custom order soon.

Here is the back of the dress.

And below is a close up of the fabric.

These Black Victorian Style Wrist Warmer Cuffs are perfect for keeping you in style and warm!

During the Victorian Era detachable cuffs served several purposes. They protected the sleeves of nice day dresses, gave the dress a little flare and kept the wrist warm.

This is my version of the Victorian Era cuff. It was a lot of fun to make and I hope to be adding some more fun things to my line of Victorian Era Inspired clothing soon.

New For Fall

Wow! This has really been a busy time for me. My dress orders are getting completed and I'm looking forward to getting some new ones. I enjoy "meeting" new ladies as I work on their Victorian gowns!

Here is my new design I promised to show everyone. This dress I call Plum Wheat because of the small wheat design on the fabric. I'm offering this dress for sale in my Victorian Times Etsy store. I will be offering this style as a custom order dress as well.

The bell shaped Pagoda sleeves make this style dress very charming! I added under sleeves and a matching collar to complete the look.

Here is a view of the back.

I drafted this pattern and designed it loosely after a dress featured on In the Swan's Shadow that was worn by Mary Todd Lincoln. Some day I would like to recreated the dresses exactly the way it was worn by Mary Todd, but for now it gives me inspiration to create dresses of my own. Check out In the Swan's Shadow to see pictures of the beautiful velvet dress worn by one of our First Ladies.

I'm Back!

Hi friends and sorry for the long delay in posts. A few months ago I found out I was expecting our third child and as exciting as the news of a new baby is, it came with some much undesired morning (all day) sickness. I am now in second trimester and feel much better as my family anticipates the arrival of our new little one.

I am also back to sewing. With peek sewing season just starting I already have 7 dress orders to be filled in the next couple of weeks! (Things must be getting better for our American economy!)

During my off sewing season I played around with some new dress ideas. (Well I should say I recreated some dresses, drafting some new patterns from civil war era pictures and original dresses.) I will be showing you some of my new designs in the upcoming weeks as well as some of my custom order dresses I'm working on.

For now I want to share with you a new item I've added to my Etsy Victorian Times Store. Pictured is my Black Pantaloon and Chemise Set. I had a couple of special request for a Pantaloon and Chemise Set made in black this past year and I have decided to offer it in my store. Some of the women who ordered the set said they wanted to use it to go with their civil war mourning outfit. During the civil war and Victorian Era those who lost loved ones and family members would wear black as a symbol of their grief.

Pink Paisley Civil War Day Dress

Since I have not had any custom orders or Internet connection the past week, I have been busy making new dresses. I drafted some new patterns and have worked with some really fun fabric. Here is the first dress I made last week.

I just loved this pink paisley print when I saw it at the store and knew it would make a beautiful dress.

For those who have been following my blog you are probably well aware that this is one of my favorite style of civil war day dresses to sew. But for the sake of variety I have drafted some new patterns for civil war era dresses and I will be featuring some new dress made with the patterns in the next couple of weeks.

Making a Civil War Dress Part 3

So here it is the finished civil war day dress with collar and belt. The sleeves are full gathered bishop sleeves that gather into the armhole as well as into a cuff.

Here is another angle of the dress. The belt and the collar are detachable and add to the look of the dress.

Here is an up close look at the belt and the fabric. I went with an embrodered white fabric for the belt. I thought it brought out the paisleys in the civil war day dress.

Sorry for leaving everyone hanging on the last part "Making a Civil War Dress". We are change internet providers and I have not had internet connection the last couple of days. I should be back up and running next week with some more Victorian Era Blog post. Thanks so much for following.

Making a Civil War Dress ~ Part 2

My latest custom order civil war dress is finished and on its way to its new owner. Now for part 2 of Making a Civil War Dress.

Here is an up close shot of the fabric I promised. The little swirls are called paisleys. Paisley fabric was popular during the Civil War era.

This is the front, back, and side back of the bodice cut out and ready to be sewn. All bodices were lined during the civil war era so I have two layers of fabric for each piece. For civil war era dress the lining fabric and the fashion fabric where based together before sewing the pieces together. Today the lining fabric is sewn separate as well as the fashion fabric then they are sewn together. All the seams are show in the civil war era dress which made the dresses easy to alter whereas modern day dresses the seams would be in between the two layers of fabric and not accessible.

Here are the bodice pieces stitched together and ready to be connected. The front bodice which are the two pieces on the top have two darts on each side. It is often referred to as double darted.

Here is the bodice on my dress form all ready to have the sleeves added.

The final part of Making a Civil War Dress, I will show the finished dress as well as the detailing.

Making a Civil War Dress Part 1

I finally got my camera out while making a dress. The dress that I'm working on is a Custom Order Civil War Day Dress like the one I sell in my Etsy store Victorian Times. I plan to post the Making a Civil War Dress in three parts. So please make sure you come back to see the next two post.

I like to use a dress form. I can watch the dress take shape while I'm sewing. Although the lady who order the dress did not order any of my civil war undergarments I still like to put those on my dress form before I begin sewing. In the above picture you can see my corset and corded petticoat. My corded petticoat need a good starching to hold the cords out better. Women wore corded petticoats rather than hoops when they needed to work. The corded petticoat gives the dress a bell like shape without the bulkiness caused by the hoops. As reenactors, women where corded petticoats under their "Camp" Dress / Work dress. When cooking by the fire you need to be able to get close and a corded petticoat make that possible. When I'm sewing a Civil War Day dress I usually put my hoop on the dress form instead of the corded petticoat. Unfortunately, my hoop is still pack and I can't seem to find it! Hopefully, I be about to find it for the final picture of the dress.

In the picture above I have my petticoat over the corded petticoat. This will give the skirt more fullness. My petticoat can also fit over a four bone hoop.

Above is picture of the fabric I am using for the dress. It is a soft blue with a white paisley design. I'll post a close up picture in part two. In this picture I'm getting ready to cut out the panels for the skirt. I use four panels for a Day Dress, it gives the dress 180" in circumference.

Next, I sew the panels together and pleat the waist. The picture above is the skirt. I like to make the skirt first because I makes me feel as if the dress is mostly finished, even though I still have a lot of work to do. This skirt is wide enough to fit over a four, five, or six bone hoop! In part three I'll post a picture with the dress over a hoop. Part two will focus on the bodice and sleeves. Part three will be on the finishing of the dress.