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[attack_laurel]

Eeep.  over 700 people signed up to read?  I'm humbled.  And intimidated.  Hi, new people!  Welcome to the party!

I have a list of projects I'm still working on for Costume Con, and even on pain days (it seems silly to call them "sick days", since I'm not actually sick, just hurty) home from work, I don't really have much choice, but to sew.  So

Comments

[virginiadear]

For the years you're talking about, especially the 1880s blouse, home sewing machines were not rare. And as we are by then in the post-Industrial Revolution period, quite a lot was being done by machine---especially dressmaking.
According to one source, professional dressmakers, by then, could crank out an evening gown for tomorrow night if they'd taken your measurements yesterday afternoon and could begin sewing today. Some things got farmed out; a lot of the fancy "embroidered" trim was just that: trim, made by snazzy belt-driven machines in big 'manufactories' and sewn on by machine.
Obviously, "bespoke" tailoring involves acres of hand-work---and is worth every bit of it, then and now. I'd bet you a dozen Dunkin' Donuts that there *were* ladies riding 'aside' whose coats had been made by dressmakers, and not tailors. Maybe not a lot, although it might depend on how formal the riding situation was going to be and how moneyed the equestrienne (or her father or husband.)

My statement would have been better phrased, "...Looks right, looks good and doesn't look costumey."

Anyway, I hope you're going to share pictures of your coat. It sounds lovely and I'm keen to see it.

[attack_laurel]

:) No worries. I'll be posting pictures of everything after costume con.