1905 blouse and skirt

Finished my 1905 blouse and skirt, and went for a photo session in Gamla Linköping. The skirt is a Truly Victorian pattern, and the blouse is drafted by me after looking at old pattern drawings and pictures. I had some difficulties trying to figure out how collars of this type were made. Were they usually attached or removable? In the end, I made an attached collar just like on a modern shirt, but drafted to be higher. I tried to use the instructions in the book Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques, a reprint of a 1905 sewing book. I ended up not following them for all the way, both to save some time and because the instruction was not always easy to understand for someone without the background knowledge a contemporary reader/seamstress would have had.

There is some very nice photographs from London 1906 here, that I used as inspiration of real people. It was very useful to see pictures of real people doing things, not just fancy fashion plates.

One of my inspiration pictures: from The Delineator, June 1906: 

And more pictures from the photo session:

 

The hat is not accurate for this time, I just put it together very quickly to have something to wear for the photo session. I have ordered a pattern and will make a nice big hat soon :-)

I like very much how this turned out. I even wore it to work one day! After all, one  of my collegues had asked when they would get to see one of my costumes... And as this outfit is meant to be something that a girl working at office or as a teacher could wear, it was quite fun to wear to office.

And the HSM facts:

What the item is (and what practical things you can do in it): Skirt and shirt ca 1905. I think it could be a type of clothing worn by a women who worked, for example as shop girl or teacher.

The Challenge: #5 Practicality

Fabric: Wool for skirt, cotton poplin for blouse

Pattern: TVE21 for skirt, self drafted for blouse

Year: 1905

Notions: Thread and buttons, hooks and eyes

How historically accurate is it? Skirt is quite accurate, based on Truly Victorian. Blouse: drafted based partly on an historical pattern, but based on a modern bodice block. Collar drafted as a modern one, I don't know how similar this is to a period collar. Construction followed historical instructions for a while, after that I just made it up as a modern skirt.

Hours to complete: 10 h for blouse (first time making a shirt, so without a pattern it took a while to figure out how to construct stuff like buttoning and collar..) 4 h for skirt.

First worn: for photo shot last week, and then to work last monday.

Total cost: about 300 sek, 35 $