We
belong to an Old West acting troupe that portrays skits set around 1880. We are not a “gunfighter group”. We portray a rural town in about 1880
complete with children. This has
presented a costuming problem for the young girls. There are children’s patterns for the Civil War and Edwardian
eras but I have not seen any for 1870’s and 80’s.
One
of the young girls in the group has a prairie dress with a jumper type apron
and a sunbonnet. I have come up with a
dress idea for the others based on a print in “Victorian Fashions Volume I
1880-1890” by Hazel Ulseth and Helen Shannon.
The dress has a front and back square yoke, front and back panels with
box pleats stitched at the waist and buttons down the back.
Once
I obtained the neck and armseye measurements from a commercial pattern the rest
of the pattern was fairly easy to make.
The overlap of the back yoke did need to be wider to match up with the
center pleat of the lower part of the back which was open to just a little past
the waistline. Buttons past the opening
were just decorative. The sleeve was a
common two-piece coat sleeve of the era cut down to size. I also made a simple A-line apron to wear
over the dress.
I
have an idea for a pattern based on another print in the same book.
