Front, before the bias hem was applied

I have to admit that I made up the bodice for this dress quite a while ago.  It had been sitting in my closet waiting for the under blouse and skirt for over a year and a half.  The pattern I used was TV400, the square neck without the sleeves.  I wanted to make it look like the Truly Victorian example in the picture on the right.  I boned the seams with steel boning, underlined with cotton twill and lined it with brown cotton.  The blouse I ended up making from a plain, cream-colored cotton and I made the collar and cuffs from bias cut of the bodice/skirt fabric. 

Close-up of Fabric

The bodice/skirt fabric I picked up at my local Jo-Ann Fabrics on the Home Dec clearance rack for $1 a yard. It is rather ugly for home dec fabric but I figured that I could turn it into something quite appropriate like one of these costumes (I would certainly never use it to decorate my house.) I can't even remember how much I bought but I still have a lot left over, probably enough to make another bodice if I so desire. But that is not all. There were two coordinating prints of which I bought equal yardage amounts.  If I want to get really garish, I can mix and match pieces made up in all three fabrics.

Back, before the bias hem was applied

The skirt I am making in a class I am taking at the Costume Classroom.  The skirt pattern we are using is actually part of the line that the instructor, Marna Jean, is starting to publish through her online sewing business.  We are taking 5 weeks to complete the skirt and the pattern she has designed is very well done.  The seams are sewn on the sewing machine and the seam allowances are hand overcast. Instead of machine gathering the back panel, I decided to hand guage it. It turned out pretty good. As of the last week of March, I have put the waistband on and am just starting to apply the bias hem facing.  After that, all I have left to do is apply the bias ruffle that I have cut out. It is 18" wide because I am planning on putting gathering several inches apart so that there will be a puffing strip as a header.

April 2: I am now done with my skirt. I hand gathered the ruffle (I just couldn't make the machine gathers do what I wanted) and attached it to the skirt. It took two evenings to gather but I think it was worth it.

I still need to play with the bones in the bustle, TV101. I think what I need to do is make the top one longer so it will be more of a "shelf". The other reason it looks a bit funny is because my Duct Tape Double ends at the hip so there are no "legs" to help hold the bustle out lower.

Please let me know if you want to know more about this dress. Email

Bustled, after bias hem was applied

With ruffle finally attached and skirt bustled