A Dress Historian Examines an Antique Victorian Dress with a 33-inch Waist (it's mostly hand sewn!)

Let's look at this gorgeous lady, 1858-1860, simple, refined, well-made, elegant, and mostly handsewn. This dress is a great example of the late 1850s and early 1860s styles.

The other great thing about this dress is her size. She was expanded by a couple inches after she was first made, but even then she was originally around a 30" waist. I love finding great examples of non-24" waist garments because it just helps further emphasize that people were just as diverse 160 years ago as they are today.

So, whether you enjoy looking at antique Victorian dress examinations, or you're looking for some sewing tips and tricks for making your next mid-Victorian dress for Dickens Faire 2021 (and beyond). I think you'll enjoy the details found in this pretty green and black dress. Her sewing construction is very easy to reproduce and follow, which is fantastic. The quality of the sewing is good but doesn't leave you feeling less than. Just surprisingly, there is a lot of hand-sewing in this dress, except for very visible parts. So that's something to keep in mind. Hand sewing mid-Victorian dresses were still very common, and if you used a sewing machine, you'd want to show it off (because oooh technology!) and would use the machine for visible stitches - like the back of this dress.

(Also: No, this is not arsenic green. I cut this part out of the video, but you can see the discoloration under her armpits from sweating - the blue dye ran and left the yellow dye behind.)

...I will always be lowkey salty about this whole arsenic green thing...


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