Thoughts and Notes

I didn't get the market bonnet made in time, but I did finish my linen gown in time to wear to Fort Frederick Market Fair this weekend. Under it, I wore my new Augusta Stays and the undergarments and petticoats I made last summer. After several hours walking around in it all, I had a few fit notes. Thankfully, nearly all were quick fixed that I was able to correct in a short amount of time. 

The first thing was my stays. I found the fit to be overall good, but gapping a bit at the bust. This is normal for me, so I typically just add a little padding and call it a day. However, after several hours of wear, I realized that these needed an adjustment. The curved portions of the stays top where the shoulder straps attach spent the afternoon digging into the front of my underarms. Having narrow shoulders as well, I didn't love where the straps sat on my shoulders, so I applied a quick fix. I shifted the eyelet down and further in, trimming down the curve of the top of the stays. After a quick try on, it seems to have helped. I'll try to spend some time this next week wearing them and seeing if this was as good a fix as it appears. For the future, I've made a note that I need to reduce the width of the front bustline when cutting the pattern out. 

It's not obvious here, but left is the altered side, and right is the original height and eyelet placement 

Original eyelet on top, new on the bottom

A simple fix as well was the need to increase the length of the slits in the sides of my petticoat. I could get to my pockets, but not with ease. When you're spending the day shopping, having to tussle with your petticoats every few minutes is more than a little inconvenient. I also need to replace the waist tapes. The current tapes are too thick and heavy, and actually made a visible bump under my gown's bodice. It was something of a "make do and mend" situation when I initially put them together, but I have time and a bit of money to go back and do it right now, so I shall. 

Finally, as is easily seen in the first photo, there were some issues with the gown. I finished it the morning of, as the only other thing I had to wear was my brown wool, and I worried it would be too warm, rain notwithstanding. The first issue is that the skirt of my gown comes too close to the center of the bodice for my taste. I know that there are extant garments that show the skirt coming close to the center front, but these appear to be more formal gowns. I had pleated and re-pleated the skirt two or three times before giving up at trying to get the stripes to look nice within the space, and just sewed things together. I thought I would be okay with it, but after wearing the gown, I really wasn't. It contributed to the pocket issue, and overall it just didn't look right to me. I think I finally got it right this time. The gown also needs some adjustments at the point where the shoulder strap meets the front bodice. The linen seems to have stretched and puckered somewhat, meaning that the neckline looks buckled and awkward. I plan to make adjustments to this after I confirm that what I did to my stays was correct, as this alteration may affect the way the gown lays. I have a post about the making of the gown coming soon, which I will combine with my alteration and fit notes from this weekend.

Bonus photo: Fort Frederick loot!

Goodies obtained from Wm. Booth, Draper; Burnley & Trowbridge, Samson Historical, Steinhagen Pottery, and many more that I can't remember the names of!