Sew A Mid-19th Century Dress – Pattern Making and Mockups
Who needs a pattern? From designing to mockups, follow along to sew a mid-19th century dress for living history.
I’ve been on a journey to make a wardrobe for volunteering at Ft. Nisqually Living History Museum. Previously I’ve made a corded petticoat and a corset. Now I’m finally ready to start making a dress to go over these undergarments.
Because of the time period that Ft. Nisqually interprets, this dress needs to be appropriate for the year 1855. I spent a lot of time looking at pictures of original dresses, and reading through The Dressmaker’s Guide, which is one of my favorite resources for this period.
After looking at every dress I could find, I was drawn to this dress from The University of New Hampshire’s Irma G. Bowen Historic Clothing Collection. It is a cotton dress with a yoked bodice and gathering from the bust to the waist. This will be the main inspiration for my dress.
The Plan
There are a lot of choices to make when planning out a mid-19th century dress. You will need to decide what style of bodice construction, neckline, waistline, sleeve shape, and embellishments you want to sew. Determining what social status you want to interpret can help narrow down your choices. For example, bishop sleeves are more convenient than pagoda sleeves if you will be cooking or cleaning. The purpose of the outfit should also be considered when determining construction and materials. An evening dress will have a different neckline from a day dress and can be made of different fabrics.
The dress I’m aiming to make will follow these guidelines:
- Neckline: High
- Waistline: Round
- Bodice: Yoked with gathers
- Closure: Front closing with hooks and eyes
- Shoulder Seam: Dropped
- Sleeves: Medium fullness Bishop
- Details: Lots of piping
The First Pattern
I don’t have a dress form or another sewist to borrow to help drape a pattern. To overcome this, I start with a paper pattern based on the shapes I think I need and my own measurements.
For this yoked bodice, mid-19th century dress, the pattern shapes are quite simple. The only shapes I will need to create are for the yoke and sleeves. All the rest of the pieces (waistband, cuffs, gathered bodice piece, and skirts) are all rectangular. These can be cut directly on the fabric without making a separate pattern.
I sketched out a rough approximation of the shapes I needed and jotted down appropriate measurements. Then I sketched full size versions of the shapes. I made a note of the dimensions of the rectangular pieces, so I didn’t have to think about it later.
Then it was just a matter of cutting out the fabric pieces I needed, with a lot of extra seam allowance for adjustments.
Mockup #1
Since this was just a mockup, I didn’t make an entire dress. Instead, I focused on the parts I knew I needed to try out before cutting into the final fabric. With this in mind, I only cut out pieces for the bodice and one sleeve.
Construction was fairly simple. First, I made the yoke by joining the shoulder seams.
Then, I ran both sides of the largest rectangle through the sewing machine without securing the thread. Of course, I ran out of bobbin thread on the second side and had to start over, but it was still a quick process. By gently pulling on one thread, I quickly gathered the fabric.
I sewed the waistband to one side of the gathered fabric first. That was a little bit easier than attaching the yoke, which I added next.
The last step was to sew up the sleeve and sew it into the armscye. This got a little tricky at the underarm, where the sleeve joins with the gathered fabric, but it was manageable.
Trying It On
When I tried on the first dress mockup the first thing that became apparent was the sleeve was too narrow for my arm. That problem is easy enough to fix just by widening the piece.
The other issue with the sleeve was the shoulder shaping. The curve at the top of the sleeve was too high for the dropped shoulder, so it caused weird puckering. I was able to sketch out a gentler curve that should fix the problem.
The back of the yoke was too wide across my shoulders, so I pinched in the middle to get a better fit.
Next, it was clear that the gathered part of the bodice was too long. Even though it is gathered, it shouldn’t have blousing. The extra fabric bulging over the waistband needed to go, so it was a mid-19th century dress, instead of an Edwardian shirtwaist. In the final dress, the weight from the skirts should also help hold everything down.
Back To The Cutting Board
I had used a long stitch length to join the pieces of this mid-19th century dress mockup, which made ripping the seams apart an easy task.
The sleeve came off easily, and I opened it back up to make adjustments. First, I adjusted the shoulder curve based to the marks I had made, and cut away the excess fabric.
Then I sewed a new seam down the arm, about an inch into the seam allowance, to give my arm a bit more room.
I separated the yoke and brought in the middle of the back to remove the extra fabric.
With the top of the gathered fabric free, I tore off some excess fabric, then sewed a new line of gathering stitches. All that was left was putting it all back together.
Trying It On (Again)
The fit was so much better the second time around.
With the sleeve sitting properly, I was able to sketch out better lines for the center front and the neckline that I can translate to a paper pattern later.
I got most of the blousing out of the front of the bodice, but the back is still too puffy. Because of the difference between back and bust, the front of the bodice needs to be longer than the back. Curving up the back of the bodice should even things out once it is on the body.
The shoulder fits much better, but still needs a little tweaking. Easy enough to mark the adjustments.
The sleeve fits much more comfortably with the added room. I had to use all the seam allowance at the wrist to have enough length. This will need to be added to the final pattern.
I will also widen the pattern to give some more fullness to the bishop sleeves.
Ready to Sew a Mid-19th Century Dress
After playing around with my initial pattern, I think I’ve got the design I want for the final dress.
I was surprised how close I was able to get to the silhouette I had in my had to come out in the fabric with only minor adjustments. Being able to look at the detailed pictures of the original was incredibly helpful.
When I sew the final dress, I will need to take a lot more care in how I put everything together. Not to mention the addition of lining and piping at nearly every seam. Of course, I still need to make a final fabric decision before I can get started on the next steps! It’s a big decision that I’ve been putting off.
Wish me luck!
If you want to see more sewing adventures, click here.
Do you prefer to follow a pattern, or draft your own? Let me know in the comments below!