A Look at my Victorian Past Part 4 - Pam's Ensemble

Due to Pam working shifts I had all rights to choose fabric for this outfit.  As such it is all my fault or all my glory.  I think it turned out well to be honest.  There are things I would do differently which I will outline below.

Bodice – TV462

This is called the Tail bodice specifically for the pleated falls over the bustle and can be made in long or as you see here short length.  It is designed as a late bustle period bodice/jacket and could likely have used a bit more pomp than I afforded it in the material choices I made. 

The blue is a self striped polyester satin with a very soft fall.  The colour was nice and worked well for Pam but the weight was all wrong for the pattern.  This didn’t make much difference to the bodice pieces as they are all flat-lined with denim but it did make quite the difference to the tail pieces which didn’t really hold the pleating as well as a stiffer fabric would have.  I don’t think the effect was detrimental to the overall look but it certainly didn’t showcase the double box pleating that is done to create the falls of the tail.

The detailing was simple, I just created a bordering using the brown fabric of the skirt.  Lessons learnt since tell me that had I cut the strips on the bias it would have sat much better.  The straight cut edging I think does effect the sit of the top and as I said it also could have used some more je ne sais quoi.  Maybe ribbon detailing or beading or something to bring it more into the over lavish time period of Victorian.  To me the styling seems like the more austere Edwardian period, but with bustle.

Skirt – Simplicity 5457

There isn’t much more I can say about the skirt than I haven’t already said here.  The same pattern was used for this and a very similar material differing only in colour.  Again like the bodice I feel that the skirt is lacking in decorative finery.

All in all the outfit turned out well but it does serve as a reminder of what could have been so much more even if it was good as is.

What suggestions would you have given to dress this up a bit more?