Costume

ISSN: 0590-8876 (Print) 1749-6306 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ycos20

The Cut and Construction of Women's Dresses c.

1860-1890

Janet Arnold

To cite this article: Janet Arnold (1968) The Cut and Construction of Women's Dresses c.
1860-1890, Costume, 2:sup1, 21-31, DOI: 10.1179/cos.1968.2.Supplement-1.21

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/cos.1968.2.Supplement-1.21

Published online: 13 Dec 2013.

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 THE CUT
AND CONSTRUCTION
OF WOMEN'S DRESSES .c. 1860
The period under study at the costume course is
a most interesting one from the point of view of cut
and construction of women's clothes~ From 1860
onwards the whole conception of cutting changes.
Perhaps this is due, in part at any rate,. to. the in...;
vention of the sewing machine by Mr. Elias Howe in
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1846. Much of the drudgery was taken out of the
~ctual construction of dresses by 1865 ,when the
sewing machine was widely adopted. It enapled
masses of trimmings to be applied todresses cheaply.
and the extra work entailed in joining the gored
skirts was quickly done.
As the sewing machine came into more general
use so the shapes of the pattern pieces became
more and more intricate, whether produced by the
"scientific" methods based on the natural proporr
tions .of the body _and mathematical calculations, Of
by the method of draping fabric on a dress stand o:r..
the human figure. Many books on the scientific
methods of pattern construction were written -from
c. 1880 .onwards.
What are the sources for the study of cut and
construction from 1860 to 1890?F irst and foremost
there are the dres ses themselves, preserved in
museums and private colIe ctians . Then there are
the full-size paper patterns, diagrams and dress-
making instructions contained in many magazines
and books of the period.
Why should we study cut and construction at all?
The answer is that not only is it a help for anyone
trying to design and cut costumes for- theatrical
purposes, but it is also a help to dating costume.
certain methods of fastening dresses, placing bones
to stiffen the bodice and of neatening seams are
characteristic of different periods as well as the
pattern shapes of the dresses.
It would be poss ible to devote a complete article
to the sewing machines which changed the whole
course of cutting and dressmaking so rapidly, but
they can only be briefly mentioned here. "The
Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine" made a survey
of these effic ient little machines in 1867, some
21
by Janet
1890 Arnold
chain stitch, some lock stitch. Amangthose discussed
'were "The Flarence", Grover and Bakers', Singers',
Thomas's, Wanzers',Wheeler and Wilson's, Wright
and Mann's , Willcox and Gibbs', Bartletts' ,Newton's
and the. _'.'Cleopatra", "Queen Mab", "Dorcas" and
'''Penelope'', produced by Wilson and-Co. I have in
my possession one of Mr. James Weir's patent
machines, whibh were alsa mentioned in this article .
. It is a small, compact piece of equipment, of the
chain stitch variety, and originally cast 55/-. •The
instruction booklet was still with it, as were some
of' the _ attachments Jor hemming and pleating.
Apparently it had a wide market - "Thausands .of
these machmes are exparted 'annually ta all parts of
the world, and testimanials are canstantly received
of the satisfactory manner in which they are faund
when .opened aut". The instructians far use are very
clear - "Do not hald fast the stuff when at wark".
"Care shauld always be taken to fasten the thread at
the clasing .of the seam" Instructians are finally
given under the heading .of "DIFFICULTIES (which
ought never ta .occur)" .
The chain stitch machine praduced a stitch farmed
fram .one cantinuous thread, the lackstitch machine
produced a mare secure stitch by interlocking twa
threads. This is the principle an which .our machines
are des igned taday.
There were a great many interesting devices
invented at this periad ta facilitate the pracesses .of
dressmaking. They varied fram the needlementianed
in. "The Englishwoman's Damestic Magazine" April
1867, which tapered "tawardsthe eye as well as
tawards the paint, sa that it is at its thickest in the
centre" enabling it ta be pulled eas ily thraugh the
cloth, to the crimping machines advertised in "Myra's
Journal" in February 1885 far pleating material.
It is not always easy ta tell the date .of a dress
when it is seen flat, foldeq in a drawer. The fashion
plates are a useful guide to the fashions of the periad,
although they exaggerate the line in the same way
as fashion photographs do today. The plates .of the
early 1860's show the flounces carried an franl the
 1850's when they were so fashionable worn "en
disposition". The skirt is still a straight length of
material, not gored. The first description of gored
skirts that I have been able to find is in "Le Follet"
in December 1859. They are described as a means
of achieving width at the hem without an excessive
amount of material at the waist. It is easy to under·-
stand how the gored skirts arrived when looking at
dresses of the early 1860's. The skirts are often
made up separately from the bodices, some five
yards being closely pleated in at the waist. Five or
six box pleats are set in on each s ide of the front
panel and three or four behind. They are very bulky ,
since the fabr ic was folded down at the waistline,
pleated into position and then oversewn to a waist-
band. This waistband might then be attached to the
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bodice, although it is more usual to find bodice and
skirt left apart in c. 1860-3, when the Zouave line
Figure 1. A fashion plate showing the Zouave line
from "The Engl ishwoman's Domestic Magazine", June
was so popular. In some cases the Zouave was a
separate jacket and in others the line was given by
rows of braid or pleated trimmings. The sleeves
were usually set in with fine cord piping round the
armholes. They were smooth at the shoulder,
widening at the wrist to show white lawn engageantes
below. These detachable sleeve-ends were often
22
embroidered and sometimes trimmed with insets of
lace.
Although corsets supported the figure firmly, the
bodices were boned, usually with four on the front
darts and one at the centre back. Occasionally they
were placed on the side seams as well. Casings
were formed by cutting the darts open and stitching
ribbon flat down on top of them. The full skirts were
supported by the cage crinoline petticoats. As the
method of cutting gores became more widely known,
they grew more and more voluminous, as we can
see by this contemporary description in 1863 - "The
skirt is set in full gathers at the back and small
pleats at the sides; every width gored; a gore of
material a yard wide should be twenty-Jive inches
at the bottom. The hem should be six yards round".
Some of the paper patterns given in magazines
like "The World of Fashion" are still in existence.
One type resembles the plain Vogue tissue paper
patterns of today, except that no seam allowances.
are given and there is no indication of the straight
grain of the fabric. Another kind was pr inted on a
sheet of paper and the dressmaker had to trace off
the pieces she required. It was probably a pattern
like. this which caused this letter in "The English-
woman's Domestic Magazine" in August 1861:-
"Now hear our good friend and subscriber
Sophia Anderson - She says, ferociously
enough 'It is my opinion and that of my
friends, that if you undertake at all to offer
patterns to the public in your E. D. M. , you
should offer correct ones, not lead people
to waste time and perhaps material, in
endeavouring to manufacture articles of
clothing from your incorrect patterns. I
should like to know how it would be possible
to make a little boy's jacket with a back
piece, such as you have depicted in this
month's (June) number?'
'There is no place for the armhole. I
was fortunate in fitting and testing the paper
copy I took before I continued further, and
so spared my holland if I wasted my time'.
Commotion in the office of the "English-
woman" when this issue was opened - the
Editor and his staff looking like so many
monuments "of despair. Redove-i-ing himself,
however, our chief bravely put the bomb in
his pocket and delivered it, duly and im-
pressively-(with other most kind and
compensatory letters, be it gratefully said)
to the Editress, the respons ible person in
 this instance. Undismayed, but evidently
hurt at the ingratitude of Sophia and her
friends, she calmly, and before the chief's
very eyes, traced the .pattern onto some
whitey-brown paper; first pinned it together
and then tacked it, showing us triumphantly
a little boy's jacket in paper, with armhole,
sleeve and cuff, as complete as possible!
So when Sophia Anderson "would like to
know how it would be possible", etc., she
has only to write to the Editress who will
have great pleasure in taking her out of any
difficulty she may find herself in with respect
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Figure 2. A printed paper pattern for a gored flannel petticoat from "The Englishwoman's Domestic
Magazine" October 1868. The description on the pattern reads "The petticoat Is made of white flannel.
It Is worked In buttonhole .stitch with scarlet wool round the bottom".
to the patterns. Moreover, in this special
instance, the Editres s is anxious to send to
her, on· receipt of the address, this very
pattern, .exactly as she put it together when
its correctness was impugned. The chief
trusts that Sophia Anderson will make the
amende honourable by sending a handsome -
well, he will leave the choice to a com-
mittee of taste, composed of herself and
friends" .
As the pattern describes, these lines had to be
traced off onto another sheet of paper. Here is a
23
description of a tracing wheel to be used for this
purpose from "The Young Englishwoman" No. 1
c. 1861 - "To take off the pattern without cutting the
needlework designs on the other side, lay the sheets,
diagrams upwards, on -a sheet of tissue or whitey-
brown paper. With a little instrument (something
like a paste-cutter) with a revolving wheel, run
along- the black lines pressing somewhat firmly.
When the diagrams are removed, s mall indentations
will be found on the paper underneath which will
represent the pattern. Each piece of the jacket is
to be cut out in the same manner. When our sub-
scribers understand how to take off the patterns. it
matters not how the lines are crossed and recrossed
as but one piece is cut out at a time; and if the little
instrument be used which we have just nlentioned it
will be found very easy to manage. We shall in a
future number illustrate this little wheel to show
what it is like. In the meantime the back of the
blade of the scissors run sharply along the Hnes,
will be found to answer the purpose".
Paper patterns had been included in magazines
in England and France from the 18=JO'sonwards, but
the big paper pattern companies were founded in
America where the sewing machine had been invented.
 The Butterick paper pattern service was started in
1863 by Ebenezer Butterickof Stirling, Massachusetts
and was followed in 1870 by McCall's Bqttern Com-
panyfounded in New York by a Scotsman, Mr. James
McCall. By 1876 E. Butterick and Company had
branches in London (Hegent Street), Paris, Berlin
and Vienna.
The growth of the pattern companies kept pace
With the number of sewing machines sold. It wa.s
poss ible to buy patterns by mail order all over
America. The Butterick Company first produced
"The Metropolitan Monthly" in 1868, an illustrated
ca.talogue which showed pictures of the pattern styles
and this was replaced in 1875 by "'The Delineator"
which continued until 1937.
At first, trade patterns were cut out in plain
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white tissue paper with a few notches and per-

forations. They were wrapped in a piece of paper
with a picture of the garment and a few instructions
for assembling it. This was soon replaced by an
envelope with a printed sketch and more instructions.
Later, more visual aids were added, including
diagrams of pattern pieces. The first Butterick
instruction sheet for each pattern was brought out
Figure 3. A fashion plate showing a skirt looped up
in c.1919 and called "The Deltor". The printed
for' walking, from "The EngHshwoman'sDomestic
Magazine", June 1866 paper patterns with several styles on one sheet were
given away with the magazines.
As early as 1861 there are descriptions of the
skirt being raised slightly off the ground for walking.
By 1863 some evening dresses show the fashion for
looping the skirt up, revealing the underskirt or
petticoat, but in this .case purely for decoration, not
for utility. It was probably this early gathering up
of the skirt which led to the double skirts or"1868.
By 1865 the skirt had flattened at the front and the
fullness had moved towards the back with the gores
widening at the bottom and narrowing at the top,
making a triangular shape in silhouette. One fashion
writer in 1865 wrote that "The great problem just
now is how to make a skirt excess ively long and
ample look very scant and narrow. This is done by
goring every breadth of the skirt and arranging it in
flat double pleats around the waist". This was
probably the beginning of the smooth princess line
which was so fashionable - according to the fashion.
plates - in 1867 and 1868. Most bodices and skirts
are joined together at the waist by 1865, the opening
be ing at the centre front bod ice and in the left side
Figure 4. A fashion plate showing a dress with the front seam of the skirt.
smooth Princess I ine, cut without a seam at the waist,
from "The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine", There is a marked difference between the skirts
October 1867 of 1860 and 1866. The smooth princess line is

24
 emerging and it was for this type of dress that there
instructions were given in 1867:- "Out of doors the
long dress can be converted into a short dress by
pullingthe fullness of the skirt to the"backand pinning
the s ide breadths together behind; the rest of the
fullness is pulled through the loop thus made".
According to the fashion plates, ~he full.crinoline
,slumps completely by the end of 1867, leaving a
shape which is ripe for the bustle. However, it is
difficult to tell if this style really caught on all over
England, as there are hardly any of these dresses
left in museums. However, this extract from "The
Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine" in 1868. may
explain why so few remain - "A large number of our
readers are constantly asking us what is to be done
with the perfectly plain gored dresses which were
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fashionable last year and are now discarded ... if the

dress, though gored, has a very full sweeping skirt,
it .will be easy to ·arrange it according to the present
fashionable style by gathering it up at the s ides and
back so as to form a large puff". Double skirts were
extreme ly popular, but frequently a single skirt was
trimmed to simulate a double skirt for economy's
sake. Sometimes the upper skirt was ruched up at
the sides to produce a puffing in the Pompadour
style. Directions for a pannier dress given in "The
Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine" October 1868,
read "To form a pannier puff, half a yard extra is
added to the top of the back widths and gathered in
to the s ide seams, the fullness extending some 10"
below the belt.· A drawing string, extended across
the back widths draws them in to fit closely over the
crinoline; the full material falls over the drawing
string forming a puff". With these dresses the waist
is slightly above the naturallev~l.
The next development in the line is the arrivalof
the bustle. A fashion article in 1869 states ...."The
looping is now by interior fastenings toJorm a puff;
though the dress itself should always be full and
ample at the back, the puff itself is not indispensable;
the sash is far more so; it forms part of almost all
toilettes" . These sashes were always arranged with
a bow at the centre back waist and often piped with
contrasting material.
There are many dresses of this type, consisting
of bodice, skirt, overskirt and sash, to be found in
museums all over the country. One in the London
Museum of c.1869-70 is of particular interest, as
it is a very early example of the dressmaker's method
of advert is ing by stamping her name on the petersham
waistband inside the bodice. Later, these' names
Figure 5. A fashion plate showing the sash and looped
up skirt, forerunners of the bustle, from "Le Follet",
c.1868-9
were woven into the -petersham. This particular one
reads "Mme. Henry, Rue d'Agnesseau, Paris".
Manyof the bodices of these early1870's dresses
could be more a9curatelydescribed as jacket bodices
as they often. have very short basques extending
over the tops of the skirts. Short bones are usually
placed on the front .darts and side seams. Tapes
were used to pull back the front. panels of the skirt
to achieve the correct line. A contemporary account
gives a good description of the dress and its' com-
ponentparts at this ~ime - "Most of the dresses now
worn consist of ski:rt,upper skirt, basque and
paletot .. The underskirt measures three and a half
yards;wide, having a very broad gore in front, a
broad side gore and two straight breadths each three-
quarterso! a yard wide behind. The front and side
breadths are sewn to the waistband without gathers.
To flatten the front of the dress strings are sewn
inside the side seams and tied back in both the upper
and under skirts. Few skirts are lined; a facing of .

. 26
 stiff cloth round the bottom with a braided hem.
Over skirts are elaborate and generally long with
apron fronts, the back being caught up, sometimes
by tapes".
It is unfortunate that of the many dresses which
survive from this period, so few retain their detach-
able overskirts and sashes. One excellent specimen
of 1870-1 from the Gallery of English Costume,
Manchester has not only a daybodice, an underskirt,
an over skirt and a basque attached to a waistband
with a bow at the front, but an evening bodice and a
detachablegilet for the day'"bodice as well. The
dress is in a blue and white satin-striped silk and
cotton mixture and is interesting from the point of
view ofeut -- the dressmaker cut the two side front
panels of the skirt the wrong way round. The gored
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edges should face towards the back instead of the
front: Apparently this was a mistake that was very
often made. A book 'tHow to dress well on a shilling
a day" by Sylvia, which was in its third edition in
1875 says that "The present fashions rather favour
economy and contrivance in dress. The tablier is
convenientfor hiding defects and remedying mistakes.
Make a fiasco of the front breadth in the goring and
the hypocritical tunic pretends that all is well".
Another delightful account of the difficulties of
cutting gores correctly is given in a serial story
. "Six 19.. Sixteen" by J .H. Ewing in "Aunt Judy's
Christrnas Volume" 1872:-
"Soon after we returned from our vis it
to the Bullens, Eleanor and I resolved to
prove the extent of the benefit we had reaped
from Aunt Theresa's instructions by making
ourselves some dresses of an inexpensive
stuff that we brought for the purpose. How
well I remember the pattern! A flowering
creeper, whIch followed alight stem upwards
through yard after·yard of the material. We
had picked .topieces certain old bodies which
fitted us fairly , ..and our first work was to
lay· these patterns upon the new stuff, with
weights on them, and so to cut out our new
bodies as easily as Maria (whose directions
we were following). had prophes ied that we
should. When these and the sleeves were ac-
complished (and they looked most business-
like) we began upon the skirts. We cut the
back and thefrontbreadths, and duly" sloped"
the latter. Then came the gores. We folded
the breadths into three parts: we took a third
at one end and two thirds at the other and
21
folded the slope accordingly. It became
quite exciting. "Who would have thought it
was so easy?" said 1. Eleanor was almo st
prone on the table, cutting the gore with large
scissors which made quite a sempstress-
like squeak. "The higher education fades
from my view with every snip", she said,
laughing. "Upon my word, Margery, I begin
to believe this sort of thing is our vocation.
It is great fun and there is absolutely no
brain wear and tear". The gores were
parted as she spoke and (to do us justice)
were exactly the shape of the tarlatan ones
that Aunt Theresa had cut. But when we
came to put them together they wouldn't fit
without. turning one of them the wrong side
out. Eleanor had boasted too soon. We got
headaches and backaches with stooping and
puzzling. We cut up all our stuff; but the
gores remained obstinate. By no ingenuity
co~ld we combine them so as to be at once
in proper order, the right s ide out, and the
right side (of the pattern) up. I really think
we cried over them with weariness and
disappointment" .
The problem was solved by Miss Lining, the village
dressmaker .
"Miss Lining was owt village dress-
maker. A very bad one, but still she could
gore a skirt .... I explained my difficulties,
she sucked the top of her brass thimble
thoughtfully for some moments and then
spoke as an oracle. "There's a hins ide and
a hout to the stuff?Yiss, miss. And a hup
and a down? Yiss, miss".
"And quite half the gores won't fit in
anywhere" I desperately interposed. Miss
Lining took another· taste of the brass
thimble, and then said,· "In course, miss,
with a patterned thingthere's as many gores
to throw' out as to use. Yiss miss". "Are
there?" said I. "But what a .waste! " "Ho,
no, miss! You cuts the body out of the gores
you throws hout, miss".
The full development of the 1870's bustle was a
soft and frilly arrangement of draperies with a wide
variety of trimmings. As.a contemporary fashion
writer commented in 1873 -
"What will characterise the present
epoch in the history of Fashion is certainly
not the cut of our garments, for they are· an
 odd assemblage of old fashions jumbled to-
gether without any regard for chronology.
What wi11 mark it among others is the amount
of trimming with which we have found it
pos sible to load every separate article from
the slipper to the monumentwe have agreed
to call the bonnet" .
Ready made dresses became extremely popular
at this time, and illustrated catalogues issued by
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Figure 6. fA fashion plate showing the softly draped
bustle of the 1870's, from "The Ladles Treasury",
January 1876
large drapery establishments like Debenhams pro ...
,~.' vide one more source or illustratibn, in addition to
the photographs and portraits of· the period which
give such· an accurate .picture of wrinkled bOdices
and skirts drooping without proper support. The
fashion plate continued to give a glorified view of
the way in: which the artist hoped that women would
look in the latest fashions.
The next development in the line of the dress
was for the bustle to drop gently down into the fish-
tail train by c. 1876. The interest was divided between
this train and the hips revealed by the tightly drawn
27
back skirt. The bodice was tightly moulded to the
figure and often a darker shade of material was
used for the centre back and front panels. (It was
extremely fashionable throughout the 1870' s to use
two tones of the same colour, sometimes in con-
trasting fabrics for a dress). This "violin" bodice
gave a most flattering line to the figure. The tight
fitting bodice reached well below the waist and was
known as a cuirasse bodice. It was usually bOned on
Figure 7. A fashion plate showing the "violin" culrasse
·bodl~e and fish-tali train, from "The Ladles Treasury",
August 1876
one of the front darts and on the side seam. A
balayeuse, a frill of st"iff white muslin, was stitched
inside the hem of the fishtail train to protect it from
wear.
"In wearing such a dress care must be
exerc ised not to s it upon the back breadths;
the train must be brought to the left before
sitting down".
The cuirasse bodice gradually lengthened until
by 1878 it developed into the Princesse dress in
which bodice and skirt were cut in one. The trim-
mings on these. late 1870's dresses were quite
 complicated. As a contemporary writer pointed out
in 1876 -
"It is now quite impos sible to describe
dresses with exactitude; the skirts are
draped· so mysteriously, the arrangement
of trimmings is usually one-sided and the
fastenings are so curiously contrived that
after studying anl par'ticular toilette for
even quarter of an hour the task of writing
down how it is all made remains hopeless".
The Aesthetic movement was infull swing in 1878.
The "Greenery Yallery Grosvenor Gallery costumes"
satirised by Gilbert and Sullivan were described by
Mrs. Haweiss as being arevival of forms and colours
of 1327-77, with natural waists, sleeves cut high on
the shoulders, square neck, high or low, with a soft
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chemisette and indescribable tints. Du Maurier

drew a cartoon for Punch in 1881 satirising both
this costume and the latest fashions. The message
seems to be that an attractive young lady will look
equally attractive in both the latest fashion and the
aesthetic dress. An unattractive older woman looks
grote sque in either.
The late 1870's were noted for two more innova-
tions in the world of fashion. One was the tea gown,
which lasted until the present century, created for
the ritual of five o'clock afternoon tea in country
houses; the other was the tightly moulded Jersey
dress popularised by Lily Langtry, the actress. One
can see in the Jersey dress the next movement of
interest in fashion, towards the side of the hips and
emphas is was soon to be placed there in the form of
draperies in the early 1880's.
Figure 8. A cartoon by George du Maurier depicting the
aesthetic and fashionable dress of the early 1880's,
from "Punch", 1881
Figure 9. A fashion plate showing the rigid bustle
shape of the mid-1880's, from "Le Moniteur de la Mode",
1885
With this new development a new type of con-
struction was frequently used. The bodice and draped
and trainedoverskirt were joined together and the
underskirt was made separately.
From the side hip draperies in the early 1880's
the new type of bustle emerged, a far more rigid
creation this time, after the soft draperies of the
1870's. By 1885 "it is usualto find a su.pporting
bustle'''pad and foundation skirt with steels built into .
many dresses, rather than being worn as a separate
petticoat. Bodice and skirtiwere usually made sep-
arately, the bodice being fully boned on darts and
seams. The skirt was an iritricate mass of stitched-
draperies over a foundation petticoat with steels
encased in tapes across the back. The$e curved into
hoops when the tapes were tied into. position, but
would lie flat for packing and sto.rage. The skirt
was usually stiffened with· mus lin from the knee
downwards, and a train would be fully lined with a

28
 COSTUrJIE
~ . ..-:a.'~'~'
SOCIETY
.•.. ~.~

Chairman: Dr. Roy strong, Director, Nattonal Portrait Gallery

)f~~day ...l~~h

6.00 p.m. Sherry at Summerfield College

6.30 - 7.15 Supper
7.30. Coaches leave Summerfield College for Hartlebury
Castle
8.00 RECEPTION given to members of the Society by the
Friends· of Worcester County Museum
Welcome by the Chairm~n: Mrs. J.O. Cadbury
Il~TRODUCTION TO THE SYl\lPOSIUr1: Mrs. Daphne Bullard ~
Keeper, Worcester County Museum
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At 8.30 the party will divide into two groups

according to the colour of th·e enclosed name badge
which vou are asked to wear.
\tV-hi1e one group is. being shown over the Museum, the
other will be entertained by the CHADDESLEY CORBETT
PLAYERS (Prod~qer~ Rosemary Brinton-Butler) in
readings from' The. Ladi~s t M~K~?ii~e. f()r l,833-:-l83t.3 •.
During the Reading early~9th century songs will be
sung by OLIVE WILLIAMSON (Acc()m~~~~~t: Michael Lloyd)
AT 9.39 _TH~ q-~oups ..~·~J.:LL. qfIfiNQ-E OY~R
10.45 coaches leave Hartlebury Castle for Summer-
field College
Sa ~J:!.E_~~J3-t h
8.15 - 9.00 ~ Breakfast
9.15 - 10.00 MEN AND ANGELS
Geoffrey Squire, Education Services, Victoria &
Albert Museum
10.00- 11.00 MILITARY UNIFORM
W.Y. Carman, Deputy Director, National Army Museum,
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
11.00 - 11.30 Coffee
11.30 - 12.30 THE CUT OF ~vOlYIENJ S DRESS
Janet Arnold, Senior Lecturer, Avery Hill College;
author~ P~t"teE..~J?_
....
of.Jfc:l,shion~ etc.
12.45 - 1.45 Lunch
2.00 - 2.45 SHOES
June Swann, Northampton Museum
2.45 - 3.15 NEJ~DLES
J.G. Rollins; author~ The Needle Maker
3.15 - 3.45 THE GLOVE J:.1AKING INDUSTRY=»'=~~~~~~~-~"'~-
P.B. Rigden~ Director~ Fownes Gloves Ltd.
 - 2 -
3.45 - 4.45 Tea
4.45 - 5.15 THE EMBROIDERY MACHINE
Joan Edwards~ author~ Be~~~E~ql:~~~~~~? etc.
5.15 - 6.00 THE YOU:tlG QUJ~E1T f S1;vARDROBE
Madeleine Ginsbury~ Textile Dept.~ Victoria and
Albert IVIuseum
6.30- 7.00 Supper
7.45 Coaches leave Summerfielq College for the
Worcester County Museum
8.00 - 10.30 STUDY OF THE MUS EU!Vl, COLLECTIONS Al'JD SPECIAL DISPLAY
tbgether with the following demonstrations:
Aspects of conversation.o,.o.•..Karen Finch
I-Iazel "ThompsoR
Sleeve cutting .• 00....
O. Js"net Arnold
0 (> •••••

Hats9 Bonnets and Hairstyles .."Daphne Bullard

Margaret Browning
Lacemakingooooo4o~ooo.o.0 ••• Valda Bledsoe o ••

~!fountinga dress .•..•... 0 Pamela Clabburn

•••• 0 •••
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Geoffrey Squire
Coaches depart for Summerfield College

.§..~~d~ 20th '

8.• 00 - 8.45 Breakfast
9.00 Coaches depart fDr visit to the collection at
'SNOWSHILL MANOR ito be conducted by Nancy Sayer.
11.45 Coaches depart Snows,hill Manor for Summerfield
College
1.00 - 2.00 Lunch
2.15 - 3.15 THE GREAT EXHIBITION
Charles Gibbs-Smith9 Victoria and Albert Museum;
first Chairman of the Costume Society
~3.15 Tea
3.40 Coaches depart Summerfield College for Worcester
to connect with the 4.40 train which arrives
Paddington at 7.15

Enclosures~ name badge

~-
..~~-~...
__
.~~~--',~
travel and subsistence claim
information leaflet on the Worcester County Museum
postcard
map
Note: we have many more applicants than there are places available;
if at the last moment you are prevented from coming please
notify Mr. A. Gill~ Gray Art Gallery & r·1useum,Hartlepoo19
Co. Durham.

Joan Edwards
March 1969. $(39:r;f)~a~y
Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 16:30 20 May 2016
Figure 10. A diagram to show how the bustle was
draped on a dress-stand over the supporting foundation
skirt stiffened with steels at the back, from "Myra's
Journal", June 1886
deep muslin balayeuse at the hem. It was essential
to use a dress stand for arranging the draperies on
these elaborate skirts, particularly when asymmetri-
cally draped and many may be seen in advertisements
in fashion periodicals at this time.
As most of thejnterest in the 1880's was focussed
on the bustle and skirt draperies, the bodice tended
to be fairly plain, with a standing collar introduced
in the mid 1880's. This collar rose higher and
higher, until it almos~reached the chin in the 1890's.
By 1887 it is poss ibleto see the first indications of
slight puffs -at the tops ~f the sleeves, which develop
into the huge puffed sleeves of the 1890' s, the new
focal point as the bustle disappears.
Mention should be made,ofthe "Scientific" systems
29
Figure 11. A fashion plate showl ng the line ·charac-
teristlc of the end of the 1880's and early 1890's with
the sleeve~ puffed high on the shoulders, from "La
Journal des Demoiselles", June 1890
of cutting which began to appear from c. 1885 onwards.
Block patterns were constructed on a system of body
measurements and mathematical calculations using
shaped pieces of card like a set of French curves.
The pattern. issued by magazines were getting very
much more complicated by 1890. Several different
garments were given, marked with various dotted
lines. Patterns in German magazines are still
printed in this way today.
The silhouette in 1889, the straight skirt with a
very slight protuberance at the back as a reminder
of the bustle and the Puffs at the sleeveheads rising
straight above the shoulders marks the end of the
"High Victorian" period and the beginning of "La
Be He Epoque".