A Bustle-y, Ruffle-y, Dragon-y Ball Gown

 We decided to host a dragon themed ball, my friend and I. This of course left me with a burning question, what would a historical dragon ball gown look like??

Now, to be clear, the ball was pure fantasy. I just like to take any excuse to make, or wear, a historical gown so I wanted to add some history to my fantasy and make a fantastical historical dragon ball gown. But where to begin???

Red and Gold. Those seemed like good dragon-y colors. An excellent starting point! 

Especially considering I already had both red and gold silk on hand.

Now why Red and Gold you ask? Because I'm a Gryffindor of course!

About 10 years ago, give or take a couple years, there was a trend going around the historical sewing community of making bustle dresses to correspond with one's Hogwarts house. At that time, I began gathering silk to make my own Gryffindor bustle dress. A silk plaid drapery remnant of 3ish yards featuring some red and gold, a gold crinkled taffeta remnant of 3ish yards from Fabric Mart, and 7ish yards of a red silk from Fabric Guru. 

I gathered these silks slowly, one length every couple years as I came across good deals on the colors I had in mind. I paid less than $10 per yard for each piece. As I gathered my materials, I daydreamed about and a designed my 1870's Gryffindor Gown between other projects. Finally, in 2024, I had all my materials, I'd picked a fashion plate from 1874 I wanted to re-create, and the red and gold gown was at the top of my project list. Of course, by this point Hogwarts themed historical clothing had fallen out of favor online, but I'd spent so long dreaming of this gown I was going to make it!

I figured out my base patterns from the Truly Victorian patterns I'd been given over the years and began cutting strips of red and gold silk to make the magnificently ruffle-y skirt from my inspiration fashion plate. And then. . .

And then, in a single afternoon almost two years ago, my life drastically changed. One morning I went to visit my parents and sister with my rolls of silk for this project hanging out in the back seat, and that afternoon I came home with three children in the backseat instead and the rolls of silk had been unceremoniously booted to the very back. 

Two months after being licensed as foster parents we had our first kiddos to parent, and love, and provide a safe and stable home for, and sewing fancy historical dresses was quite literally taking the back seat. The very back seat. The trunk actually, seeing as my seats were suddenly full of living, breathing, very active human kids.

Ok, yes, this picture has nothing to do with the subject at hand, but my brother took it at the dragon ball, and the colors are perfect! Thus, here it is.

Soooo, fast forward a year and a half, and my red and gold silk is sitting stuffed in a box somewhere. Somehow, we have learned how to be parents, added an additional child to the mix, and I have occasionally found time to sew. Wild.

And I need a dragon ball gown. Preferably historical. After brainstorming a few ideas I thought of my red and gold silk bustle skirt I'd had pretty much cut out before the kids arrived and I shelved the project. Red and gold were good dragon-y colors. What if I pivoted on that project and instead of making a Gryffindor Quidditch robe inspired day bodice to go with that fantastically ruffled skirt, I made a dragon inspired evening bodice?

The gold and red ruffles down the back of the skirt that I'd intended to represent the Gryffindor Lion could just as easily represent a dragon's tail. I just needed to pick the right bodice design to go with it.

The diagonal folds on this 1874 evening bodice made me think of  the texture of a dragon's belly. That was it! I'd finish the skirt I'd started, and make a bodice inspired by this one to go with it. I might be over dressed for a 2026 dragon ball, but it was going to be fun!

I ordered some dragon buttons for the bodice off Etsy, and I got started!

At long last, it was time to actually sew this red and gold silk gown. It was going to be different than I originally planned, but my entire life is different than originally planned, so that seems to be fitting.

  

Anne's Hat of Buttercups and Roses

 "Her hat was a little, flat, glossy, new sailor, the extreme plainness of  which had likewise much disappointed Anne, who had permitted herself secret visions of ribbons and flowers. The latter, however, were supplied before Anne reached the main road, for being confronted halfway down the lane with a golden frenzy of wind-stirred buttercups and a glory of wild roses, Anne promptly and liberally garlanded her hat with a heavy wreath of them."

~Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery

Most of my ensemble for our Anne of Green Gables picnic last month was modeled after what the grown-up Anne would have worn, but my hat? That was straight out of Anne's childhood fancies.

Photo by @samithefae

As I listened through Anne of Green Gables to get myself in the mood for the picnic I heard the passage above and went "That's it! That's what I'm doing for my hat! Garlanding it with a heavy wreath of buttercups and roses!"

A quick glance through Edwardian fashion plates on Pinterest showed a hat trimmed thusly, was indeed right on point for the era. So I went to my stash of thrifted straw hats, picked one that would work for a base (a rather flat straw hat with a wide brim), and got started!

The hat I'd chosen unfortunately had some damage to the underside, so the first order of business was to either fix or hide that issue.

Back to Pinterest for inspiration, I came across this hat from the 1910's, held at the MET Museum, with a band of velvet around the underside of the brim.

Ah-ha! I could do that!!

Pink velvet ribbon was unearthed in my stash and sewn on - this was honestly the most tedious and time consuming part of the hat trimming process.

Photo by @samithefae

Once that ribbon was securely in place (and looking fantastic if I do say so myself!) the fun part could happen!

At a local farmers market/craft fair I picked up two pink, soft, hand made, and dyed, wooden roses. They were absolutely lovely, but it would have been cost prohibitive to do the whole hat in these. So, to supplement, I picked up some fake roses and buttercups at the craft store. Flowers obtained, there was still the question of what other trimming would go on the hat. Anne's fancied ribbons, or something else?

I pulled several options from my stash, and returned to Pinterest to settle the matter. 

I decided I really liked the look of the tulle on this hat (sold on Etsy several years ago apparently), so I decided to do something similar.

Funnily enough, I happened to have a piece of tulle, just about the right size, hanging out on my dining room table. A gift had come to me wrapped in it the week before. (Free trimmings!! Who could complain!?) I arranged said gift-wrap tulle around the brim of my hat, and it was perfect!

 Next up, the flowers! I gave the two wooden roses stems of floral wire, disassembled the store-bought floral bunches to give myself individual flowers to work with, and set about arranging.

Once I was pleased with the wreath of flowers I hand-sewed them in place.

The final touch was a green ribbon bow on the back of the hat - then it was done and ready to wear!

Photo by @samithefae

The perfect topper for my Anne Edwardian outfit!

Photo by @samithefae

I believe Anne Shirley would approve whole-heartedly!

A Green Herringbone Edwardian Skirt for the Anne Picnic

 Over the course of the two years I have owned this fabric, I’ve brainstormed quite a few ideas for my green herringbone Edwardian skirt. There are so many cool Edwardian skirt designs! I could make a dozen skirts from 1900-1910 and they would all be different! Heck, I might be able to manage that entire dozen just in the first half of the decade! Trying to pick just one style was. . . A challenge. 

Photo by @samithefae

That said, my green herringbone was a bit heavier than generally preferable for Edwardian skirt material, so that limited my choices somewhat. 

A month before the Anne of Green Gables Picnic I still had atleast 5 ideas running through my head, but it was time to actually get down to business and start the skirt if I wanted it done in time for the picnic - if I didn’t start soon I’d have to wear my 1894 blue paisley to the picnic, and as much as I love that dress it doesn’t fit quite right anymore and I really wanted something new! Thus, I’d better actually pick a design.

I couldn’t. So I drafted a pattern. Now that might sound contradictory, don’t you need a design for a garment in order to draft the pattern? Well, it’s helpful, but for this particular project it wasn’t necessary. I decided to draft a plain 5 gore Edwardian skirt pattern from the book Turn of The Century Fashion Patterns and Tailoring Techniques. When reading through this book trying to decide on a skirt design, I discovered that most of the fun Edwardian skirt designs I’d fallen in love with started with the basic 5 gore pattern and the flounces and pleats were added to that. So, draft the 5 gore skirt I would! 

And did.

Then I gave myself the weekend to think it over and look on Pinterest for inspiration. About this time I realized I ought to decide exactly what year I wanted to base my ensemble in. That would help me narrow down my options. Since I would be using the Black Snail Edwardian Blouse Pattern for my blouse I needed to first figure out what year the blouse appeared to be from and pick my skirt design accordingly. 

After a bit of reading online it appeared the blouse design was from about 1905-1906. Thus, 1905 and 06 fashion plates captured my attention - with a few from 1904 thrown in for good measure. (Fun fact, since I had to change the blouse sleeves to make it fit on my limited material my blouse now better resembles something from 1904 than it would have with the original pattern sleeves.)

. . . And I picked a skirt design that best matched a 1903 fashion plate. 

A basic gored skirt with an inverted box pleat near the bottom of each seam line for some extra fullness at the hem. I liked the look of it, and I knew this design would work well with my fairly stiff and heavy fabric. It seemed to be a basic enough design that it would work for a good chunk of the Edwardian era, rather than screaming "I'm from 1903!!"

It was also quite easy to add the pleated detail when cutting out the skirt - I didn't even really mess with the original pattern I'd drafted the week before. (Other than to split one of the gores so I'd have a 7 gore skirt rather than a 5 gore, thus more seamlines to add pleats to.) As I was cutting the gores out I just added a section to be pleated toward the inside at the bottom of each seam allowance. 

I made the pleats extend a bit higher up the skirt as I moved toward the center back. Last minute I also decided to add a single pleat at the waistline to the center back seam - and that turned out to be a very good decision.

Once I had the skirt cut out I used my serger to finish all the seam allowances, preventing the fabric from unraveling. Historically accurate technique? No. Practical one? Yes.

I then proceeded to assemble my skirt according to the chapter on skirts in Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques. Despite the title, this book is actually an Edwardian sewing manual - a reprint of a book originally published in 1905.

  My one deviance from the instructions was to add large pockets, supported by twill tape extending up to the waist, at the side seams. From my reading it seems as though most Edwardian skirts, if they had pockets, had them at the center back seam (the way I did for my pink silk Edwardian gown). However, for this skirt, I wanted the pockets easily accessible at the side seams.

Pockets in, I sewed up the skirt and tried it on, over all my Edwardian under things - corset, hip padding, and princess petticoat.

With this try-on I learned two thing. First off - I loved it! The shape was perfect!! I loved it!!!

Second, it was a darned good thing I'd added that pleat to the center back seams. Turns out the measurements I'd used to draft the skirt were no longer accurate, and I needed a bit more room in the waist. If I hadn't added in that pleat last minute it would have been a whole ordeal to fix the issue - but thankfully all I had to do was let out the pleat slightly and the skirt fit perfectly!

Fit checked and fixed, it was finishing time!

I used some vintage hooks and eyes for the placket up the back of the skirt.

Supported the box pleats at the seam lines with twill tape along the inside, according to the directions in Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques.

Made and attached the waistband.

And finally, hemmed the skirt with a pretty cotton calico hem facing.

With that, technically the skirt was done, but I decided to add one last little detail.

One of this year's Historical Sew Monthly themes is "New Stitch in Town - Make something that uses a new-to-you stitch!" I had been completely stumped on what to make for this challenge! Thus, as I finished my skirt I looked through Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques to see if there were any new-to-me stitches I could try and add to this skirt as a finishing touch - and I found one!

There was a whole section on "Ornamental Tacks and Arrowheads" These fancy stitched triangles were recommended for ". . . at the end of seams, tucks, plaits, and at the corners of collars, pockets, and pocket laps." I decided to attempt the "crossed triangle" tack at the top of all the inverted box pleats in my skirt. First, I made a practice tack on a scrap of my green herringbone out of some embroidery floss I had on hand. When that turned out decently it was time to sew on the real thing.

I used ivory silk button hole twist, and once I got the hang of them the triangle tacks went pretty quick.

And they were so satisfying to look at as I finished them!

The perfect finishing touch on the skirt!

Photo by @samithefae

When I finally started on this skirt after over two years of hoarding the fabric and dreaming of it, I was a bit concerned that the finished skirt wouldn't live up to the vision in my head - especially since the fabric was stiffer than ideal.

But I needn't have worried - with the right pattern and embellishment it was perfect!

Photo by @samithefae

What the item is: Edwardian Skirt

The Challenge: #9, New Stitch in Town - I added crossed triangle tacks (a new stitch for me!) to the top of all the inverted box pleats.

Material: Pale green cotton herringbone, green floral quilting cotton for facings and pockets.

Pattern: Self-drafted, using the 5 gore skirt drafting instructions from Turn of The Century Fashion Patterns and Tailoring Techniques as my starting point.

Year: 1903 - 1907ish 

Notions: thread, cotton twill tape, hooks and eyes, buttonhole twist

How historically accurate is it? 80% I'd say. The fabric is a bit too stiff for the era, and I serged my seams to finish them. Also, I can't say my pockets are perfect. However, the pattern is accurate from a re-print of a period drafting manual, the construction is accurate from a 1905 sewing manual re-print, and the overall look is excellent.

Hours to complete: I don't know, I worked on it for a couple of weeks between other things.

First worn: 6/1/24 for an Anne of Green Gables Picnic

Total cost: I believe I got the fabric for $4 a yard and I had about 4 yards of it. Everything else was stash, picked up cheap over the years at thrift stores and estate sales. So definitly under $20

Photo by @samithefae