Reenactment Dress

My Civil War dress is finally finished! AAHHHHHH! So excited! Didn't really want to take it off when I was finished, so I went for a walk in the neighborhood and got several funny looks.

 A good picture of the piping on the waistband

 Piping on the sleeves

I am going to go extensively into the making of this thing, so if you get bored, please feel free to leave. 

The first thing that I did was make the skirt. I really wanted my friend Lizzie's help on the top, because it needs to fit really well. So I made the skirt, sewing all the panels together and then gathering the top and sewing it to a grosgrain ribbon as a waistband. I had to hand sew the skirt to the waistband, which took quite a lot of time. 

The first thing Lizzie said when she came in was, "What did you do to the skirt?" Uh oh. "I just gathered it to the waistband." Come to find out, women in the Civil War did not  gather their skirts, but rather gauged them. So off the waistband went, the gathering stitches were thrown out, and I had to start over. Brilliant.
 But gauging was fun, even though it took a really long time. I had to do the stitching over several times, because I didn't know how whether to use one thread and gather as I go, or do different threads for each panel. I ended up redoing the first two panels at least 3 times, finally going with 2 threads for each panel. That worked, but now I have a ton of threads hanging out my skirt and would probably go with 2 threads all the way around next time.

Lizzie showed me how to do a blind stitch, so I blind stitched the hem. When you read that I had to hand stitch the hem, it may sound like it took forever, but it goes quick when you listen to a story!

The bodice was the hard part. Lizzie had to come over multiple times to help me get it to fit. We used the Butterick pattern 5831; the pattern makes it a little slouchy in the front and back when you really want it to lay smooth. So Lizzie made a mock up and did a ton to that pattern! She cut the armholes a little bigger in front so I have room to move, and then did a lot of other slashing that I probably don't even know about.

One problem we ran into was that she did quite a bit of the fitting on Lucille, my dress form, and come to find out, Lucille is not quite the same size as me because her back split a little, so she was a little bigger in some areas and a little smaller in others. It wasn't too big a deal, but it did take a little more time because Lizzie had to start putting it on me to make sure it fit.

Lizzie gathered the front just a bit and then sewed it to a ribbon waistband. She then discovered that the gathers weren't even and had to rip out one side and bring the gathers more forward.

She also suggested making the back smooth by bringing in the side seams, and then not putting any gathers in the back at all. The gathers make it puff out too much, but now it fits perfectly in the back.

The sleeves I did myself, and the only thing I would change about them next time would be to make them a bit shorter. They are not too long, because of the cuffs, but they do hang down a bit past the cuff if I put my arms straight down. Because of the piping, I hand sewed the first sleeve to the armhole while watching Gone With the Wind. Keep in mind that sewing entertainment is about all that that movie is good for. I apparently wasn't paying attention, because as soon as I finished, I realized that I had sewed the underarm seam of the sleeve to the side seam. Palm. To. The. Forehead. I was supposed to sew the underarm sleeve a few more inches forward, allowing for more give when I stretch my arm forward. Ugghh. So out the stitches came. I re-hand stitched it back on the right way, then decided that hand sewing it wasn't worth it for the other sleeve. I still feel like the second sleeve wasn't sewn on as well as the first. Next time, I would also make sure I center the top gathers more by my shoulder, because I made then line up with the very top of the sleeve. But when the sleeve rotated, it made all the gathers in the back.

For this project, I needed to make piping, which I had never done at all. Making it was easy; you just sew strips of fabric cut from the diagonal of the grain and then sew a cord inside. That was the easy part, but attaching it is a pain because you have to get right up next to it. For that reason, I hand stitched that one sleeve and also the bodice and skirt together because when hand sewing, you can be sure to get right up next to the cord on the inside of the fabric. The neckline and other sleeve have piping as well, but sewing it with the sewing machine is not easy, and I had to redo some parts to nudge it right up to the cord.

Sewing the skirt to the bodice wasn't too easy. The grosgrain ribbon we used was just to keep all the gauging and gathers neat, and I needed to sew the piping on as well. My machine isn't great with sewing thick stuff, so I hand sewed that part as well. The grosgrain ribbon doesn't show on the outside.

Lizzie sewed a placket to the front for the buttons, explaining that it helps reinforce the front. She did most of that part, so I don't really know how to explain what she did. I sewed all the buttonholes (not by hand!) and the buttons onto the placket, then sewed a really big hook and eye onto the inside of the waistband. Lizzie was right; I now love those big hook and eyes! It is really sturdy, and helps the bottom button from too much strain.

I actually did have to hand sew the very bottom buttonhole, because my poor machine was getting stuck on all the layers from the waistband. The hole doesn't look very good, but it doesn't show on the outside. I also had to make a buttonhole with the zigzag stitch for one of the sleeve buttonholes, because the machine was not doing well and I was getting impatient. It too doesn't look very good, but not noticeable as well.

I learned from the Sewing Sisters something I didn't know before that I was able to apply to my dress: buttonholes weren't sewn vertically until clothing was made by machines. Vertical buttonholes are almost useless because buttonholes are supposed to be horizontally, to take all the stress on the side. But machines can do vertical buttonholes; they can go from one hole to the next without needing someone to move the clothing.