Edwardian
After talking about it for many years (actually about 14 years) I finally finished the 1906 walking suit!! Yea, another one OFF the project list!
This suit started as the result of a gift from a friend, Mike Thompson. After the death of his mother, he was cleaning out her home and found a box of early 19th C laces that she had collected but never used. He gave the box to me. I proceeded to split the contents among several other friends, but I did keep some for myself. The problem was that I had no project in mind for the laces and was not, at that time playing in any time period that would use such laces in the quantities that I had. However they were so pretty and I just could not leave them there unseen and unappreciated, so a project HAD to be created. Since they were early 19th c that dictated the choice of time period and after searching around I found a pattern I thought was perfect. At the same I was also lucky enough to find an entire bolt of fine light weight wool for a reasonable price and was able to pick up some reasonable wedding appliques (similar to those pictured in the pattern's internal photos) to use down the front of the suit and so the project was born.
The pattern was one of Sandra Ros Altman's very first patterns (no longer available for purchase by the way) that she created for her pattern company Past Patterns. Sandra is a specialist in coping, creating and/or adapting patterns from extant garments or from patterns which existed at that time. The original gown is part of the collection of the Voight House located in Grand Rapids, MI. Apparently It was created by a live -in dress maker who made all of the clothing for the ladies of the house. The original suit was made in a black marquisette with black taffeta as the lining and petticoat. All the trims and laces were also black. The original suit may have been meant to be a "mourning" suit so my choice of a burgundy is probably appropriate in that it would indicate someone who is towards the end of the mourning period and starting to come back out into "society".
The style of the suit was fairly fashion forward.
So my conclusion is that it was originally created for one of the younger folk in the house. The bodice could be made either as a lacy shirt and bolero worn over it, or as in my choice made as all one piece Once again looking at age appropriate clothing, I felt that the bolero was a little too young in styling to have been worn by someone of my age but creating it as a single unit meant that it could well have been worn by a slightly older lady.
There was additional trim on the skirt and I am still debating as to whether to put the trim on or not. Right now I am happy with how it turned out, although now I really need to make a proper hat to wear with it.
This suit started as the result of a gift from a friend, Mike Thompson. After the death of his mother, he was cleaning out her home and found a box of early 19th C laces that she had collected but never used. He gave the box to me. I proceeded to split the contents among several other friends, but I did keep some for myself. The problem was that I had no project in mind for the laces and was not, at that time playing in any time period that would use such laces in the quantities that I had. However they were so pretty and I just could not leave them there unseen and unappreciated, so a project HAD to be created. Since they were early 19th c that dictated the choice of time period and after searching around I found a pattern I thought was perfect. At the same I was also lucky enough to find an entire bolt of fine light weight wool for a reasonable price and was able to pick up some reasonable wedding appliques (similar to those pictured in the pattern's internal photos) to use down the front of the suit and so the project was born.
The pattern was one of Sandra Ros Altman's very first patterns (no longer available for purchase by the way) that she created for her pattern company Past Patterns. Sandra is a specialist in coping, creating and/or adapting patterns from extant garments or from patterns which existed at that time. The original gown is part of the collection of the Voight House located in Grand Rapids, MI. Apparently It was created by a live -in dress maker who made all of the clothing for the ladies of the house. The original suit was made in a black marquisette with black taffeta as the lining and petticoat. All the trims and laces were also black. The original suit may have been meant to be a "mourning" suit so my choice of a burgundy is probably appropriate in that it would indicate someone who is towards the end of the mourning period and starting to come back out into "society".
The style of the suit was fairly fashion forward.
So my conclusion is that it was originally created for one of the younger folk in the house. The bodice could be made either as a lacy shirt and bolero worn over it, or as in my choice made as all one piece Once again looking at age appropriate clothing, I felt that the bolero was a little too young in styling to have been worn by someone of my age but creating it as a single unit meant that it could well have been worn by a slightly older lady.
There was additional trim on the skirt and I am still debating as to whether to put the trim on or not. Right now I am happy with how it turned out, although now I really need to make a proper hat to wear with it.