My adventure with 1830s gowns only began recently, strongly inspired by the series Gentleman Jack and the film Nosferatu. I had already experimented with this silhouette before, and soon after I discovered the group Sew Last Century Patterns, completely falling in love with testing patterns from this period. I joined this project to test a pattern by @kenna.sews, who carefully documented the original gown’s construction, fabric, and proportions. Thanks to her detailed guidance, I could focus entirely on bringing the dress to life.
The original fabric came from the gown itself, and during the pattern test, my goal was to recreate it as faithfully as possible, 1:1. For this, I collaborated with Brandon from the Genesee Country Village & Museum, using a high-quality scan to digitally reproduce the textile cleaning up damage, adjusting discoloration, and enhancing colors to approximate how it might have looked originally. The pattern was then printed on cambric with subtle shadows on the reverse, just like period textiles.
I made a few modifications to the gown itself: it was originally a size L, and I reduced it to a small M. Unfortunately, I also had the not-so-great idea to add gathers on the shoulders I’m not sure why I thought they belonged there, but it was definitely a mistake…
For the trims, I originally planned to use the fabric itself to save material, since it was very limited. Unfortunately, this backfired. I ended up having to redo the decoration, wasting quite a bit of fabric and cord, and eventually gave up on hand sewing in favor of the machine. Even though Kenna provided a very detailed set of instructions, you always have in the back of your mind: “maybe I’ll try it differently”
The gown is heavily pieced, which is not historically inaccurate in fact, it makes it more authentic to the period. As you can see, I mixed hand and machine stitching; given the amount of work involved, this was the approach I decided to take.
One thing I noticed while making this pattern: unless Kenna updates it, you might want to lengthen the front of the gown slightly. It seems the original design was intended as a maternity-style gown, because even with the extended front, the bodice still rides quite high at the front.
At the shoulders there is a decorative finish, as you can see here. Unfortunately, once again I overthought it and decided to change the placement of these decorations, moving them onto the seam line. This turned out to be a mistake the gown simply did not sit correctly. In the end, I had to unpick everything, remove the gathers at the shoulders, and reposition the decoration lower, as in the original gown. Once restored to its proper placement, the construction finally began to behave as it should.
This is how everything looked in the first version, which I will be reworking in a few days at the time, however, I didn’t yet realize what was wrong. A small practical note: I strongly recommend attaching the belt only when setting in the skirt. I had to unpick and reattach it several times before everything finally aligned properly.
