1891 Mountain Dress: Skirt and Blouse

This outfit is one of my favorites that I made. The skirt isn't the one that is included in the pattern Ageless Patterns 1094. The skirt was way tooo long and even the facing being attached in the skirt length it was still to long. Instead of fighting with it I made Truly Victorian 299: 1901 Split Skirt out of a wonderful fabric from fabric.com: Season of Wool Solid Chocolate Fabric. It was a dream to sew though a bit on the itchy side so I don't recommend wearing it against the skin. The skirt was made in time for the Historical Sew Monthly Challenge for May: Specific to a Time of Day. The blouse is made out of  Windham Threads of Time Star Stripe Cream Fabric.

As I was making the blouse my brain malfunctioned and I forgot that Ageless patterns does not include allowances for facings or plackets. I improvised a hidden buttonhole placket and surprisingly the blouse fits quite well. My only wish is that the neck was a little bit bigger but with using almost every scrap of the 2.5 yards the pattern called for I don't have enough to redo the collar. The collar and cuffs are interlined with linen to help give the cotton body. One thing about the pattern that fought me was the sleeves. The gathers as they are marked cause the puff of the sleeve to be too far back on the arm hole. I had to gather more of the sleeve head to make it look correct. The blouse was completed in time for the Historical Sew Monthly Challenge for July: Sleeves.

The hat is McCall's Pattern 6975 view G. Finding a correct "Alpine" hat in general is hard but trying to find one to fit a small budget is harder so I went for making my own simpler hat. The hat was made from skirt scraps and I got the pattern for about $5.00 and it's lined with linen scraps. I bought the wire the pattern called for and then promptly forgot to add it but the wool and linen and interfacing seem to give the hat enough body and it was comfortable to wear. Now the boyfriend wants one as will but view H with the taller crown.

The boots are American Duchess as are the stockings. Unders include a modern cami (shock and horror) as I ran out of time to make a proper chemise and closed drawers from Folkwear's Edwardian Undies pattern. The placket on the pattern didn't make sense to me so I improvised. I buttoned my drawers over my corset (corset provided by historicaldesigns on Etsy ) and didn't have an issue using the facilities. I spoke with someone who was wearing split drawers with their wool bicycling bloomers and they said their drawers were baggy enough that no itching in places that shouldn't be itched by wool was occurring. 

The only remaining piece of this outfit is the jacket. I plan on making a mock-up to avoid the problems I had with the blouse.