theladydetalle: 1880's Teal Blue Silk BUSTLE from two sari's - HSM January "Mend, Reshape, Refashion" challenge

For January's "Mend, Reshape, Refashion" challenge, I RE-FASHIONED a mid-late 1880's Victorian bustle gown out of two matching teal blue silk SARI's!

TheLady Detalle mid-late 1880's Teal Blue silk BUSTLE from Two silk sari's

These were, of course, intended to be worn as sari/saree dress, and were instead used for enough fabric to make a late Victorian bustle. It was a fun challenge to figure out how to cut out everything to best use the solid teal blue silk, how to use the pallu ends, how to use the gold edging, etc. Sari's are not very wide but are usually 5-6 yards long, so the width challenge meant I had some gold edging in my pieces, so I did a bit of re-shaping and work arounds to get it to work right.

Mid-late 1880's Teal Blue Silk BUSTLE from 2 Sari's, worn with my late Victorian corset, foundation bustle and cream silk underskirt. Accessorized with a vintage necklace and a version of my TLD Victorian garnet grape cluster earrings, but with 14k gold loops and gold leaf design instead of sterling silver (to go with all the gold on my dress) and hair by me (added in a few hair clip in/pin in bits to add volume/curls and used some of my gold edging to make a sort of hair design wrap). I'm also wearing my AD Balmorals (adore them).

The Challenge: January Mend, Reshape, Refashion - Mend or re-shape one of your previously made historical clothing items, or refashion a new one out of something not originally intended as sewing fabric.

Material: 2 qty matching silk sari's in a deep teal blue silk with gold metallic edging

Pattern: Truly Victorian TV460 Curaiss evening bodice, TV261 Four-gore underskirt and TV305 Apron Overskirt. Did some modifying to reshape and either exclude or include gold edging, added a "pallu" train.

Year: Late Victorian, mid-late 1880's

Notions: Few yards of black twill tape from B&T for apron ties, white boning for the bodice and interface for the bodice, and some tulle for the skirt.

How historically accurate is it? Pretty historically accurate in pattern, fit, cut and fabric. Sewn by machine (which is historically accurate for this time). The least historically accurate thing about it is the hidden safety pins I used for closures since I despise sewing on fastenings ;).

Hours to complete: A lot. I wasn't great about keeping track, but it was roughly a few hours to cut everything out, then a good half day sewing multiple times on each: skirt, apron and bodice. Add some extra time on adding ties, tulle, interface, boning, planning out how to use the pallu and edging, and trim on the bodice, and the best shape for the skirt train (not part of the pattern, added by me), and it ended up being quite a LOT of sewing!! I started this in 2017 and finished in 2018!

First worn: Last night to a re-scheduled Victorian Christmas Tea Twelfth Night hosted by ModernMantuaMaker

Total cost: All the notions were from stash, and the matching two silk sari's were from stash also. I was stash-busting on this outfit! I added the 2 matching silk sari's to my stash early last year when a friend de-stashed them at a costumer flea market: I'm lucky to have acquired them and happy to have used them from my stash so quickly (well, quickly for me, lol).