Dress Making Part 1

For the mother’s dress, I first made a test of the bodice and sleeves in some spare fabric similar in weight and weave to the final fabric. Even though Kitty’s corset hadn’t arrived yet, we were able to test the bodice fit by having her try it on with a similar corset and her chemise on. I was able to tell that the fit through shoulders and neck worked well. I’ll make the final bodice able to have fine tuning adjustments made to the waist when we have her corset.

Pantalets

1860 pantalets, Metropolitan Museum

Pantalets were made of bleached white cotton. I have a least 1 pair in my “trunk”. I need to dig them out. The pattern is simple and easy to figure out from looking at a pair. Trimmings of tucks, lace, or embroidery on the ones I’ve seen were similar to cotton petticoats.