1907 Afternoon Gown - Part 4

It is all coming along. Slowly but surely, I am progressing on my gown. I now have the blouse finished. Phew. It has taken quite some time to do, mainly because of all the hand sewing. I used a very soft cotton voile that has a vertical stripe for the front, collar, sleeves and cuffs. I ended up having to cut the sleeves on an angle so that I could get them out. Mainly because I didn't buy the fabric specifically for this project. The fabric was actually intended for something else, that completely failed. It meant that I had already partially cut the fabric. So to make up the rest, I used a plain white cotton voile for the back of the blouse. I think it actually works to my advantage. But in any case, it really didn't matter because I will be wearing the jumperskirt over the top, and it covers most of the back.

I also have an overabundance of buttons running down the back of the blouse (I guess I won't be dressing myself). And then it came down to the docoration. If you know anything about Edwardian and the early 1900s, you would know that they really went to town with the amount of lace and trims on their clothing. So in the spirit of things, I have an insert lace and decorative lace runing down the front. I also hand stitched quite a bit of embroidered organza trim (on the cuffs and collar).


I am pleased with how it looks. The mannequin really does not do it justice; when worn the cuffs sit just above my elbows and the sleeve puffs up quite a bit. The front of the blouse is also cut longer so looks really strange without a waistband of some sort. This so that it can be puffed up to give the pidgeon chested look that was popular at the time. Now I just need to finish the jumperskirt.