Purple and black Victorian skirt

[Greeneyed Gypsy]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTIQUE-VICTORIAN-BLACK-PURPLE-CORN-SHEATH-BUSTLE-SKIRT_W0QQitemZ260108294933QQihZ016QQcategoryZ4886 4QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Its difficult to see the shape well...but check out the close up of the fabric and WAHOO Loving the outragous vivid purple and black combo!!

Greeneyed (who says they didnt!!) Gypsy:tban

[Kica Mandalay]

Oh, I just love the colors of this skirt!! Good thing it's not exactly my size or I'd be way too tempted to call it.

Is this a hard kind of skirt to make? I mean, even for a newbie?? And is the material a velvet type of cloth?
Oh my, you're making me drool over material! LOL Me own mum would be shocked to hear this!!

If you see this at the shopping party this week, grab me some and a pattern!
LOL :rofl

[Bloomin']

Nice detailing too! Can you imagine what the bodice must have looked like? :faint

[Victoria Rose Hyde]

WOW! What a neat find!! Love the colors and fabric.:tban :tban

[Greeneyed Gypsy]

Kica I think it is an embroidered Faille those ribbs in the fabric are the weave or texture known as faille it was seriously popular in the day, you can still find it but its more on the rarish side.

Its an origional anique piece and while I would snatch it up in a minute at the right price, it would be for the sake of study...then I would probably pass it on to the next crazed *how did they stitch that* seamstress. These garments are almost always too frail to wear and typically on the tiny size of things.

Oh believe me if I ever see fabric like that the bolt will be comming home with me!

Hmmmm natural form.....Black and will you look at that purple....hmmm....:sewing

[Lazy K]

Since I tend to buy fabric on the $1 a yard table, I'm sometimes (frequently) clueless. If that's faille, then what's the difference between faille and bengaline??

[Greeneyed Gypsy]

bengaline is the moder name for faille...why I dont know. Bengaline can these days be organic or synthetic. It simply refers to the ribbing you see...those can also be tiny (often seen in Victorian extant) or very obvious as this one is.

So yes K has it spot on, Bengaline and Faille are interchangable and you will probably even have an easier time finding bengaline these days.


Heres a little fabric to look for in your searches. Tencel, it some frankly amazing stuff, and in either 100% tencel or blended with linen, or cotton its wonderful and can work and look totally PC. Tencel is sorta like Rayon on in that it is a ogranic fiber thats manufactured. I am making a riding habit from it, it looks and acts like silk twill, is a medium-ish weight with a soft hand...it breaths, its washable, it will take a crease, but does not hold wrinkles ( rejoyce!!) it absorbs moisture better than cotton .

I was sent a swatch of it from fashion fabric club (love them by the way) and just the feel made me very curious, I figured of corse with a name like Tencel that it was a poly product which I try to avoid if I can because it gets stinkin hot here. I decided to look it up and was so plesantly surprised to find this information about it !

http://www.lenzing.com/fibers/en/textiles/303.jsp

http://www.srfabrics.com/tencels/tencel.htm

wonderful stuff I tell ya, I will be using it again. You split skirt girls out there? Think about it!

[Lazy K]

Thanks GG. I've learned something today. I can now take a nap.

And thanks for your input on Tencle. I always throw away the swatches from fashion fabric without looking at them. Guess I should give that practice another thought!

[Greeneyed Gypsy]

I know I too am guilty of that! But emily was playing with them and for some reason this caught my eye...good ole basic classic black!

[Kica Mandalay]

Ohh, GG -- black and purple split skirt out of tencel?? DEEP black, with DEEP PURPLE touched in somehow?? And an EASY pattern? (does mcall have such a thing for victorian? LOL)

I have a forest green jumper that i wear to work out of tencel that is awesome. So i can just imagine what a tencel split skirt would be like. Mmm, yes... I can see that you are going to get me to open up the sewing machine before christmas. And no zippers, so I might actually be able to pull this off.. And straight seams for even a beginner, right? :sewing
And you're going shopping in LA this week, right? (hint hint hint)
(yes, I'll send you some pics this week dear lady)

Kica (dreaming of new clothes) Mandalay

[Greeneyed Gypsy]

Ok yall...she is funny you know that!??! :lool

I shall introduce you to my little friend the bicycle skirt...I am very in love with it right now, it is girly and it is also a something you can move and work in, normal undies and no corset as it is a shirt waist style ( well ok they still wore corsets with them, but you would not absolutly have to) ...Easy...hmmm yes I think doable. BUT not as easy as say a basic skirt, we can discuss just how beginner you think you are later.

Talk with you soon...aint you got a road trip to make? LOL!!

[Chantilly]

GG - What pattern for the bicycle skirt? I'd like to see that! Not good for a person with big hips?

[Greeneyed Gypsy]

chantilly I dont know I am ahem...much wider on bottom than top and I think it is very pretty...

this one is Heathers its from 1901 and it is TV 299. I made one to take along to 5 dogs in purple check and a velvet ripple jacket. Between Connir and Julie trying to snatch it and run off with it I think it will be well liked.

They go together really well, the only thing with the pattern are these two issues...now I bought this the second it hit the street and these are probably fixed already, I have not had the time lately to mention to Heather what I found.

The front pattern piece cut at bicycle length is about 7 inches too long...I thought I had lost the working part of my brain for a moment and not cut the pattern to the shorter view...nope it really is printed longer. So easy fix just lope it off at the correct length. The other thing is...the buttonholes are mored on the side plackets, and the dots marked for the inside placket...but if you use these points the skirt is made to spread at the seam...it should overlap and the buttons go on the side piece proper. OR the direction of the decoritive placket is reversed in the instructions...not sure which is intended. Also ( ok so this makes three) the waist band has turned out 2 inches short on both skirts, I carefully marked and folded all the pleats and very carefully pleated the front as shown as well...I simply made the waistband as needed no big deal, but it is cut in two pieces so it may throw you off.

Ok but I really love the result and the look of this skirt and will totally be making it again.