An 1851 Brown Cotton Bloomer gown

February 2012

This is my second Bloomer gown and this time I wanted one made in a cotton fabric instead of silk taffeta to be more of a day dress and cooler to wear.

I chose to do this one in one of my favorite necklines with a chemisette under it, similar to these photographs. The first photo was dated 1840s but I have another photo showing a similar gown and dated as 1850. Without being able to see more of the sleeve style on the first photo, it’s hard to tell if the date is correct. It looks like it has a tight cuff instead of the pagoda sleeves on the 1850 photo. But there’s no rule that says you can’t still be wearing the same style a few years later.

 For the v-neck I once again used my favorite bodice pattern from Butterick 3855 and with my shorter altered pagoda sleeves.

The cotton fabric I’m using was purchased from the reproduction fabric section at Rosie’s Calico Cupboard in San Diego. My last Bloomer gown had matching fabric for the Bloomers, but this time I’m using a solid color brown for them.

 I flat lined the bodice with burnt orange polished cotton that was given to me. Finally, something I could use that color for. And I made a bias trim from it to face all the edges of the bodice with.

I repeated the sleeve jockey that was on my previous Bloomer gown and made some small pleated trim to go down the front of the bodice, and around the sleeve jockey and the cuff of the sleeve just like the 1840/50s photos show.

 I used Truly Victorian’s underdrawers pattern for my bloomers this time and made them in a solid dark brown which gave a nice contrast to the rest of the gown. I used the solid brown for some ruching on the ankles like my first one too.

Because of a shortage of time before my first lecture & slideshow on the Bloomer gown that I wanted to wear this to, I didn’t have time to put ruching on the sleeve cuffs, nor make a new chemisette to go under it. So I used an existing one I had.  I added my watch chain and attached it to the lower front of my bodice, and an antique brown topaz brooch to the neck of my chemisette, & topped it all with my flat straw hat. It was a warm day when I wore this, and I was very comfortable.