Over and Under: 1860s Half Mourning Cotton Dress and Cage Crinoline

[reine_de_coudre]

Last weekend I once more had my 1860s mourning display set up at a local Civil War reenactment. About a week before the event, I decided it would be crazy totally reasonable to finish the half mourning printed cotton dress that I started two years ago. I'm glad I pushed through and finished it because I'm quite pleased with the dress even though it

Comments

[atherleisure]

Lovely, just lovely. You do such nice work.

[hiraimi]

You may not be partial to cotton, but the dress is lovely! I love the yoked look. Also the lace on the bottom of your petticoat is amazing!

[nuranar]

Love the dress! I'm glad you finished it. And yes, those bishop sleeves are just not the most flattering shape, are they? My favorite cotton dress has gigot sleeves. Those are fun.

Okay, I really needed to see and read what you said about your cage. I finally got one (full 120", with extra wire that Katie gave me years ago) as a Christmas present and I've frankly been procrastinating about putting it together!

[nuranar]

OH yes, where did you get that whitework? It's beautiful.

[bauhausfrau]

[jenlemus]

Thank you for the lining construction tip! That would make letting out a dress so much easier if need be, and solved a riddle I was tying to solve on kid's clothing. How do you expand the dress without taking the whole thing to pieces? By partially lining it!

[theladyrebecca]

That yoked bodice is so neat! It's such a nice detail. And I love your petticoat! Where did you find that lace? It's amazing!