1840s Reproduction Fan Front Beige Plaid Daydress
Light beige plaid very lightweight wool blend reproduction 1840s fan-front Victorian
day dress made to wear to Dickens Fair in 2015 with some other fan front dress wearers.
Under the dim "streets of London" lighting,
the light beige shows up a little too light as seen in the black and white photo.
Cleverly tried to change the opening from the back to the front. Front has hook and eye closures. Unfortunately, the fan front is not as nice with the closures in the front.
Inside look with the lining and pleating
Cartridge pleating skirt to bodice
Completed: December 2015
Then I had the a marvelous, wonderful, terrible idea. I decided to dye the dress a gunmetal blue so that it wouldn't be so bright. Unfortunately, the dye did not take very well and there are splotches of dye on the front. Not sure if the dye would eventually wash out (handwash wool blend) or not.
Here it is in it's current dyed state without petticoats. I'm imagining that with more soot and applied
grime it might work well for the seedier side of Dickens Fair.
Fan Front Day Dress
Light beige plaid very lightweight wool blend over peach cotton polyester blend
lining has front smocking/pleating to create a fan front. Hook & eyes up the front,
hidden side pockets, self piping, bust/underarm hollow pads.
Pattern: Laughing Moon #114 View B with adjustments to move arms/sleeves slightly forward.
Historically accurate has arms/shoulders roll in a back and down position so that they hang
slightly behind torso midline. Modern shoulders tend to roll forward which pull on this dress.
Armscye was also cut back at the top of the sleeve. Moved front neckline down, reduced waist and added armpit hollow.
Measurements approx:
Bust: 39"
Waist: 28"
Skirt Length: 38"
Skirt circumference: 146"
Cleverly tried to change the opening from the back to the front. Front has hook and eye closures. Unfortunately, the fan front is not as nice with the closures in the front.
Inside look with the lining and pleating
Cartridge pleating skirt to bodice
[20151208] Construction notes
From the notes on Laughing Moon 114 View A, I made changes to View B to change the armhole, reduce the waist, and add in some armpit hollow.
I also changed the closures to the front.
Pinning the back gathers. Always better to have two rows for gathering even if pattern only has one.
Side front on bias means no plaid matching. I messed up the bottom gathers and may need to redo them all. I gathered on top of the seam which is too bulky to gather and I didn't gather far enough towards center front.
Completed: December 2015