1903 Brown Autumn Dress

Sewing patterns available here

Hello everyone!
This is the second autumn dress I planned back in August, when the temperatures were extremely hot and I was working with wool ahah. I’m sharing this dress with a bittersweet emotions: this is a kind of failure to me since I still don’t know if I like this dress or not. Many things went wrong during the making of, and many flaws are still visible in the photos below.

There is not fashion plate with this outfit, in fact I made a mix and match from various fashion plates. At the end I did the skirt, the bodice and the vestee. I also made a matching belt to hide the openings between the bodice and the skirt. Down here you can see the “main” fashion plate I used for the bodice and the general look I wanted to reproduce (the blue one, on the upper right).

What went wrong

The bodice: the bodice was meant to be worn over a bust pad (which I have in the photos) and a corset cover with ruffles. Well, I forgot to wear it. Do you see that gap between the armpit and the bust? It was meant to fill with the volume of the ruffles.
The sleeve lining: still it’s a huge mistery to me. I don’t know what went wrong but the lining should not be visible that much (right pic). Probably it was the heat and the stress between my the gloves and the lining.
The velvet ribbons: this was that kind of things that makes me so nervous that I just wanted to throw an entire project in the trash can. The velvet ribbon I purchased was a little bit thicker than the wool and it made horrible wrinkles once sewn on the main fabric. I tried everything, at the end I accepted it. I should find a way to deal with this problem ‘cos unless I find historical velvet ribbons, the ones that are sold nowadays are all the same.

I also made a hat to go with this dress. I used a 1909 book for millinery and I follow the steps written. It was quite easy to make it since it needed just an inner structure and fabric. The wreath was a challenge but at the end, once I find the right steps, it was fast to do and the final effect it just perfect for the final look. I also match it with a red umbrella I have in my collection (not ad Edwardian one, sadly….it’s a ’50s umbrella probably).