Linen, linen, and more linen!

There was a big sale on linen back in March or April so I went to the fabric store and quite literally bought it by the bolt. 100% linen is a more expensive fabric, especially compared to my normal recycled bed sheets, but it is the king of all fabrics in my opinion. Not only is it actually historically accurate, it also is a natural fiber which means it is breathable and cool in the summer months. The more wash linen, the softer it gets so it makes great shifts and petticoats, and it’s also incredibly strong and durable so it will last a lot more wears than other fabrics. Like I said, king of the fabrics.

Part of costuming on a budget sometimes means I use less desirable materials because they are cheaper, but another great way to keep in budget is just to wait for sales or use coupons. This isn’t a groundbreaking tip, but it really makes a difference.

So with my yards and yards of newfound sale linen, I got to work. First, I made myself two new shifts and an 18th century petticoat because these are things I needed made out of linen the most. My previous shift and petticoat were made of a poly/cotton blend which meant that they were really hot to wear in the summer. I still kept them, despite their polyester-ness, because they still work on days that aren’t as hot and it is always nice to have extra!

I made the shifts without sleeves, which is not accurate for the 18th century. I decided not to go for accuracy though so that I could use the extra fabric for other projects and also so I could make an “era-neutral” shift. Shifts or chemises are used in all historical eras and while they did change slightly overtime the basic idea stayed the same so I wanted something that I could easily use with any of my historical costumes. 18th century shifts have sleeves, but Victorian ones don’t, so I just left the sleeves off. Since the shift is the bottom layer of clothing no one sees it so I don’t mind this glaring inaccuracy for some eras.

From there I started making Edwardian undergarments to go with the corset I had just made. For the Edwardian era I needed a corset cover and a petticoat. A corset cover is basically a top which goes over the corset to help smooth out the hard edges of it so you don’t see them through the gown and an Edwardian petticoat is shaped very differently from the 18th century petticoats I have so I couldn’t reuse what I already had.

For the corset cover, I went for what is historically known as a handkerchief corset cover. It was called this because women could quite literally use large handkerchiefs to make some of these. Basically you cut the fabric (or handkerchiefs) into large triangles and connect those with some pretty insertion lace to make a kind of tank top shape.

Cutting the triangles

Adding insertion lace

I then put some hooks and eyes on the front for closures and it was done! It’s a simple corset cover but it does the job and I am very happy with how it turned out.

The front…

back….

and side of the corset cover. These show off the lace nicely.

Sadly, I didn’t take any photos of the process of making the petticoat, mostly because I was just winging it. I didn’t have a pattern and decided that it looked simple enough so I just kind of went for. I didn’t right anything down so I don’t know if I could ever remake it but I remember I basically cut some very large and skinny triangles so make a kind of skirt shape. It was a very inexact science but it worked and I am happy with the result.

Now happily clad in my linen I was was almost ready to finally wear my antique dress and see what it would have looked like on someone more than 100 years ago. The big reveal coming soon!

Love always,

Victoria

A Real Antique Gown

Since I dove into the historical costuming community on Instagram more in the past year I’ve been able to see a lot of people’s work and meet some super talented costumers. Recently, I saw a post about someone selling an Edwardian gown.

The post was by @morgan_fae_couture who is super talented at restoring old pieces. I figured the dress would be way too expensive for me to ever afford but I kept thinking about it and coming back to it and the measurements looked like the dress would fit me. I ended up finally messaging and asking about the dress and before I knew it the gown was in the mail on its way to me and I couldn’t be happier with it!

This dress is Edwardian and likely more than 100 years old so it is crazy that it is in such great condition! If only dresses could talk, I’d love to know who owned it and where it went in its lifetime.

When I tried it on I was nervous because it’s for one, over a hundred years old, and two I wasn’t sure if it would actually fit. I put on a corset (not quite the right era, I’m working on making one that is actually Edwardian but it’s not done yet and I wasn’t going to wait to try this thing on) it fit pretty darn perfectly which was so exciting!

Excuse the fact that I’m wearing leggings instead of a petticoat or anything, like I said, I was just excited to put it on.

You can see a few of the buttons pull a little bit in the back so I might add a small amount of fabric there in the back so there isn’t any stress on the material but I won’t worry about any of that until I can fit it with the right undergarments.

The insertion lace details are just beautiful. I am so glad I got this dress. I really wanted to make some Edwardian stuff and was just starting the planning process of that when I found this dress. It was perfect timing so I decided it was meant to be! I am so excited to give this dress new life a hundred years (or more!) after it was first made.

Love always,

Victoria

Finding My Historical Doppelganger

One day when I was on Instagram I saw someone share a photo of a painting on their story and was shocked to that the woman’s face looked like mine!

At first I thought maybe I was wrong so I took a quick selfie and decided to do a side-by-side comparison.

I think the match is fairly close so I was pretty excited! I’ve heard of people finding historical paintings that they look like so I was happy to find one that looks like me! I quickly messaged the person who posted the photo and found out that it is a painting of Caroline von Holnstein in the Gallery of Beauties paintings collection.

It was an unexpected find and quickly launched me excitedly into planning a new project. I am going to recreate the painting as best as I can! The painting is from the 1830s, which is an era that I said I would never do because it is known for having ridiculous sleeves, patterns, hair, and being all around just kind of ugly. You’ll see more about the era as I research and begin making the dress. It just goes to show never say never because I’m not going to pass off the chance to recreate a portrait that looks like my face, even if it is in the 1830s craziness! Wish me luck!

Love always,

Victoria

My First Reenactment!

This fall I got to participate in my first ever reenactment as a reenactor! The weekend was so much fun and there were so many people to help walk me through it. The reenactment was the Mississinewa Battle of 1812 which takes place every year near my college which makes it wonderfully accessible.

Now I have basically no photos from this event because as a reenactor you’re trying to be authentic for the guests who come which means I can’t exactly take my phone out and start snapping pictures, but I can still tell you about it!

It was terrifying to come for the first day because I knew basically no one. I had met and talked to one woman a little before but I had no idea who anyone else was or where I would fit in or even what I was supposed to do. It is probably one of the biggest things I jumped into all by myself and I knew it was either going to be amazing or I was going to be miserable. I’ll admit I sat in my car a for a minute on the first day and debated just driving away. I’m glad I didn’t though.

When I first entered the camp there was tents and people everywhere and I walked in circles for a while trying to find the one person I knew. I was a little afraid I would end up walking in circles with nowhere to go and nothing to do all day! I managed to finally find my friend though which was a huge relief.

Since I’ve never reenacted before and don’t own all the equipment I commuted in daily and then came back to my dorm to sleep and take a hot shower every night. This worked out really well since it was also really cold that weekend so I got to go home and be warm. The cold weather taught me to appreciate my wool cloak though. I am so glad back when I made my cloak that I invested in good materials because I was warm, dry, and happy despite the frigid temperatures and the rain.

Here I am after one of the days that actually got warm enough to take my cloak off for a bit! I wore my trusty bed sheet regency gown which I made some alterations too since my body line changed now that I have made a regency corset (I made a post about making the stays a while back). With the alterations the gown fits so much better and I really love it and am proud of it since I made it without a pattern. All my regency outfits so far have been a little thrown together so it was nice to take the time to go back and fix this one to make it nice. I did not wear historically accurate shoes since it was very muddy from the rain but I had some lace up shoes that were passable or at least not noticeable so it was all okay.

At the event I portrayed a camp follower, which is the women who would have followed the soldiers who were their husbands as they went off to war. A campsite basically adopted me and let me use their camp as a home base and let me borrow a bowl and such so I could eat. The food was amazing and mostly consisted of good warm stews that were cooked over the fires which was perfect for the rainy days. As I got more confident I explored more of the camp on my own too which lead me to some great shopping at the vendors and fun in the ladies tent. There were several ladies only events like a sewing circle, tea, and a talk about hats. It was an amazing time and I was able to start to get to know people.

The highlight of the event was a ball that happens after hours just for the reenactors. Everyone puts on their finest clothes and gathers in the large ball tent for a meal and then dancing. A dance caller was there and I had learned the dances with her earlier in the weekend, but she also taught everyone as we went. It was amazing to stand in a candle lit tent and dance the actual dances of the era, it felt just like a fairy tale. I made my poor dance partner dance all the dances, which would have been scandalous by the etiquette of 1812 but my love for dancing far outweighs my love for men or propriety. Everyone was just having fun since no one was an expert at the dances. I’m pretty sure my group made up our own version of one of the dances which involved a lot more giggling than actual dance moves! The night was amazing and when we walked out of the tent all the stars were out which made a perfect end to the evening. The only downside was I had bought a brand new shawl and it got lost at the ball and was never actually found. Somewhere out in the woods my shawls is blowing around living a life of freedom.

Here I am after the ball back in the warmth of my dorm.

I’m so glad I participated in this event, even if it was terrifying to first walk into. Sometimes you just have to take the plunge and do something scary. It can be so worth it.

Love always,

Victoria

Making a Regency Ball Gown

Wow I have not posted on here in a long time! I have been in a busy part of my life for the past months (and am still in it) so I have a lot to catch up on here on my blog! Stay tuned as things happened! If you follow my instagram @historyonabudget then you’ll be mostly up to date with my historical costuming adventures but on here I will take the time to go more into depth about everything I’ve been doing! So I promise posts will come again and the blog is not dead, it’s just been a little slow lately.

So back in October I had my first reenactment coming up and there was a ball for the reenactors during the event so I realized I needed to hurry up and make a new gown. Now I have not made a lot of regency items so I know there is a lot of flaws in my work but I am learning as I go.

This was one of my first attempts at draping a garment so it is faaaarrrr from perfect but overall I think it went well considering I had no idea what I was doing.

The fabric is some leftover table cloth material I had from my RAD Dress. Since the fabric is white and really thin it was perfect for a regency ball dress because white practically see through dresses were very popular at that time, especially for balls. I ended up doing a lot of the sewing on my room floor which maybe isn’t ideal, but it worked out just fine. You do what you have to do in college.

I’m really happy with how the back of it worked out, I think it lays really beautifully.

I added a red ribbon to the waist and my grandmother’s Latvian vest! The vest is not historically accurate for the regency era, it is a traditional Latvian vest that my grandmother had and my aunt used for Latvian folk dancing as a child. The vest is a little too small on me but it really reminded me of the regency era because of the gold almost military like details and the shortness of it (though that is probably just from it being too small on me). I figured even if it isn’t historically accurate it gives the vest new life and connects me to my family so I thought it was a perfect finishing touch to the outfit! (It also conveniently covers some not so great seams!)

With that the dress was ready to wear for my first ever ball! I don’t have any photos from the event but I did take some later on in the snow that show the finished product!

Stay tuned for A LOT more catch up posts to come!

Love always,

Victoria

A Historical Weekend

I’m a member of the Indiana Historical Costuming Society and we recently had a weekend retreat. This was one of my first major costuming events and it was so much fun. I found the Indiana Historical Costuming Society on Facebook and was able to join. I highly recommend finding a group to join in your area because costuming with friends is so much fun. The group of us met for a weekend of hanging out in our historical clothing and getting to know each other better.

We stayed in a lovely historical house which just added to the atmosphere.

We also got to eat together. We’d all brought food and were able to eat wonderfully all weekend. As a college student, I especially appreciated all the good food.

For the first day I went for a very pastoral look which was fun to wear around. It was my casual 18th century wear. We got the chance to take so many great photos over the weekend and had fun seeing the local sights.

I especially liked taking photos in a public garden that was there because it went with the pastoral look I was going for.

And we all always had time for some silly photos too!

The weekend was great because it was a chance to learn from others and connect with others who enjoy doing the same things I do.

Later we all got dressed up and went to dinner in our formal wear.

After dinner we changed again (there was a lot of changing because it was a good opportunity for me to wear as many of gowns as possible!) and went for a ghost tour which was pretty fun. I did find one picture of myself from it that I couldn’t resist turning into a meme because I felt like I could just read my thoughts in it.

The last day we were there was really hot so I got lazy and didn’t do my hair which is not historically accurate at all but I was going for the romantic heroine look.

There was even some hedges for me to dramatically run through.

We finished off the trip with some lemonade and a walk through the local museum.

All of us dramatically looking out from the stairs.

It was a great weekend and I’m so happy that I got to go. It was great to really get to know others who have some of the same passions that I do.

Go out and find others with your same passion, it makes everything ten times more fun.

Love always,

Victoria

Pretty Pictures for the Underthings Too

This thing about historical costuming is you often spend a lot of time and effort into making beautiful pieces that no one ever sees. The undergarments for historical garments are incredibly important for achieving the correct silhouette of an era and historically, they were often quite pretty. Because of this, I wanted to be sure and get some good photos of them too. Warning, by 18th and 19th century standard these pictures are horribly scandalous! You’ll see my stockings, gasp!

First up we have the 18th century undergarments.

I couldn’t resist a little mirror primping photo!

This is my absolute favorite corset I’ve ever made. It’s so comfortable and I think it’s also really beautiful.

My embroidered pocket is one of the pieces that I am most proud of but is never seen. I hand embroidered this pocket myself and absolutely love it, but since pockets are worn under the skirts, I’m normally the only one to ever appreciate it.

My beautiful stockings are also and item that aren’t often seen but that really complete the outfit. These ones are made by American Duchess.

Now onto the underthings for Frankendress, my not historically accurate 1865 ballgown.

I actually use the same shift for most eras since even though there were differences, they were minor enough for me to get away with it and the shift is never seen. A new era also meant a new hair do! Once again I have some amazing stockings that go with this outfit.

My corset is not historically accurate. It is actually a modern, commercially made corset that was gifted to me. It ended up being too large so I ripped it apart and used the materials to remake the same corset in my size. While it isn’t accurate, it was once again cost effective and also gives me the same general shape I need for most of the Victorian Era.

It’s enormous!

Lastly we have the hoop and petticoat, which are just wonderful giant! You can actually fit about 4 people underneath this skirt (yes, we’ve tested that theory, it was very funny). The petticoat is so ruffly and beautiful that I often wish I could wear it and the corset out in the open like this, however, that would be much too scandalous!

Every now and then it’s nice to give the undergarments some love since each piece is so important to making a truly beautiful historical garment. Looking like you stepped out of a painting is largely to do with silhouette and that is all achieved through good underthings so give your underthings some love today!

Love always,

Victoria

The Sac Back Gown’s Photos

My last dress for the Wellington Inn photos was my Sac Back Gown that I made out of Colonial Williamsburg fabric. I’ve had this gown for a while now but really hadn’t gotten any great photos of it yet so now was the time. My wonderful mother was the photographer for this gown.

I loved this little piano in the parlor so I had to get a photo by it.

We also had to be sure to get a photo of the lovely pleats that give the Sac Back Gown its name.

This is probably my favorite picture we got of this dress. I feel like it looks so elegant.

And we also of course had to get a nice detail shot of the lace and ruffles. It took such a long time to gather all the material for the ruffles when I made this dress.

Lastly, a few outdoor photos for fun and to show of the gorgeous house! I am so lucky to have been able to get photo in such a beautiful location. Often historic places can be found in our own backyards if you do a little looking.

Love always,

Victoria

A Photo Shoot for Frankendress

While at the Wellington Inn I decided to also get some pictures done for Frankendress (my 1865 ballgown) so I would have some nice photos of it. This gown is so big and makes me feel like a real princess or Scarlet O’Hara in Gone With the Wind.

My walking down the grand staircase moment!

We even got some photos of what I like to call the “grand entrance.” It’s that moment in every movie where the heroine comes into the ball and everyone watches her float down the stairs.

These two photos make me look like I’m listening to my suitors or something! I absolutely love this couch I was sitting on and my skirt took up most of the space on it.

The pictures we took on the porch felt especially Gone With the Wind to me.

It ended up being a happy coincidence that the trim on my dress matched the purple flowers they had planted outside!

I also just adore the pillars on the front of the house.

We also got some great detail and shoe shots of this dress too.

I also couldn’t resist using the parasol with this dress too.

During the photo shoots for both of my gowns it was fun to see people’s reactions when they walked by since we were in public. People were all really excited to see the gowns and loved asking questions or just admiring them. I even had one person hang out of their car window as they drove by who screamed “YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL!” It’s a wonderful feeling to have fandom strangers acknowledge your passion and it goes to show that doing what makes you happy will often make others happy too.

The exhausting life of a costumer!

Finally, after a long day of taking pictures sometimes you just have to drape yourself over a couch!

I hope whatever you do brings you and others joy today.

Love always,

Victoria

The RAD Dress Fichu

In order to finish up the RAD dress properly I needed one more accessory. You’ll notice in the painting that Rose-Adélaïde is wearing a lovely fichu (A fichu is a little like a shawl. It was used for warmth and/or to protect from getting sunburned and/or fashion).

Rose-Adélaïde Dureux self-portrait with harp from the MET Museum.

When I zoomed in on the fichu I saw that the light fabric appeared to be embroidered and it has a striped border. I couldn’t find materials that matched how her’s looked completely, so I decided to make my own version of it.

I chose to use a plain fabric and I went for a trim that had vertical stripes instead of horizontal. The finished product is clearly inspired by the original but is uniquely mine.

It was a quick and easy project that I was able to whip up the day of the photo shoot I had planned to do with my RAD dress. It is essentially just a square of fabric that needed to be hemmed and have trim added onto. I am very happy with how it turned out and will get the photos of the completed RAD dress out soon!

Love always,

Victoria