Your Wardrobe Unlock'd

I have the honor to own my great-grandmother’s 1875 wedding dress. The more I look closely at this heirloom, the more fascinating it is!

An eye-opening combination of machine sewing and delicate hand stitching.

Bonus article from FR

A close look at an authentic Victorian dress, with many photos, construction and sewing details, and fashion plates of the time.

This early 1790s brocade bodice in Katherine's collection retains the straight front and structured lines of earlier dresses, but also hints at the later 1790s fashions with its higher waist line.

It also showcases a variety of different construction and seam finishing techniques, as each seam and edge is finished differently.

Last month I analyzed the skirt of a lingerie dress. This month I'll be looking at the associated blouse. In the Belle Époque literature the garment we're discussing goes by many names: waist, shirt-waist, lingerie waist, and lingerie blouse. I've chosen the term "lingerie blouse" because "blouse" is the only one of those terms that's still in use now for a vaguely similar garment.

Analyzing, in exhaustive detail, the construction of a lingerie dress from about 1904.

Lingerie dresses and tailor-mades embody the dichotomies of the Belle Époque period. On one side, the lingerie dress is the essence of frilly ultra-femininity; contrast with it the equally popular severely tailored suit for the active, emancipated woman.

In this article, we dive into the finer points of a beautiful surviving piece of pure frou-frou.

If you’re used to the modern approach to sewing, then the Victorians' methods might seem a little strange at first. Once you’re used to them, however, they truly make sense and help to make your clothing look authentic.

This pink satin evening bodice gives a good overview of late Victorian construction techniques. Katherine shares her observations as well as fifty photos of the detail of the inside and outside of an evening bodice from the 1880s.

Mary Dotson shares with us pictures of late 1890's wool tailored suit from her collection.

About ten years ago, I was approached by a vintage clothing dealer who though I might fit an 1890s dress.

Marion McNealy flips through her late 1890's fashion magazine collection and not only dates the suit to a specific season and year but finds the fashion plate that probably inspired it.