1890s Costumes & Research

Updated April 2, 2022

A base shirtwaist and skirt
combination, before
trims, except collar, and prior
to additional skirt flare

I find the 1890s  refreshing and fascinating. It was a transformative time for women across parts of the globe, and Western fashions consciously projected a new-found freedom and confidence. Besides, the sleeves...

Years ago I made an 1890s blouse. Ages passed. In 2019 I started an 1895 outfit that originally was supposed to be just for fun, but soon toppled down a lovely rabbit hole.

Here then are posts about the capsule wardrobe -- which is still in progress several years later.

For the most part, the ample research underlying the garments and accessories is part of the posts. If you want to read more from those resources, links to most of the magazines and books are available on the Research and Resources and Full-text Fashion Magazines pages.

I hope that the below makes for useful and occasionally fun reading. Please do remember to credit me if you re-use any of the research.

Research Article: Period Methods for Adding Skirt Fullness in the Mid-1890s

In-depth, multi-post article explores the skirt silhouette and the raft of stiffeners and underpinnings used to create it. Sources include period books, magazines, extant objects, and short films taken in the 1890s, among the earliest in existence. Updated as new information comes to light.

• Part 1: Fullness and Flare
• Part 2: Petticoats with Crinoline, Ties, Bones, Wires!
• Part 2B: Petticoats Redux
• Part 3: Skirt Interlinings
• Part 4: Skirt Godet Plaits and Interior Ties
• Part 5: Steels, Boning, Candlewicking, and Dust Ruffles
  
• The Way They Moved: Mid-1890s Skirts in Videos and Photographs
• Examining an Antique Length of Warren's "Skirtbone", Boning for the Hems of Mid-1890s Skirts!

Warren's Featherbone Skirtbone, from Annie's

 Antiques on Etsy.

Analyses of Extant Garments

An Antique 1890s Black Skirt With Brush Braid In My Collection

A detailed tour of cut and construction with evidence and references. Updated September 2020 with pictures of another variety of skirt braid, also known as a skirt protector.

A heavy silk and wool(?) skirt
with design in relief. There is no petticoat beneath so it looks rather flat here.

A Real 1890s Underskirt With Multiple Stiffening Aids 
This was an online find; its construction is revealing.

The 1895 Navy and White Dotted Shirtwaist and Skirt Outfit and Accessories

1895 Outfit: A First Wearing To Test the Look

This is the base outfit, an informal summer cotton bodice and skirt combination, that can be dressed up or down with removable trims and accessories.

1895 Silk Godet Petticoat With Multiple Hem Stiffeners and Stiffened Frills (*still* in progress, 2022)

• Design
  Silk. Yoked for a smoother waistline. With period petticoat tricks that hold out the outer skirt!
• Pattern Draft
  Pretty straightforward, except for a potential 1890s typo
• Draft Correction and Pattern Cutting
  There was a typo in the original draft. Fixed and pattern is ready to use
• Making Unusual Seams
  Construction starts: cutting and seaming the pieces with "stayed" skirt seams
• Adding a Stiffened Hem Facing
  Giving something for the boning and frills to cling to
• Trials With Forms of Boning, Cables, Reed, Rope, and Steel
  Experimenting with getting the flare at the foot
• A Wired Hem, Godet Plait "Extenders", and Hair Cloth Frills Constructing the flaring silhouette

Shirtwaist

• Playing With Shirtwaists
• Planning a Puffier Shirtwaist
• A Bouffant Shirtwaist, at Last!

Wire Sleeve Plumpers for the Shirtwaist

• Sproing! A Bouncy, Bouffant Wire Sleeve Plumper
• Sleeve Plumpers Are Completed

"Crush" Collar

• About Interchangeable Trims, and Especially Collars
• Collars in Photos
• 1895 Outfit Tutorial: A Crush Collar, With Neck Bow
• A Real, Extant Mid-1890s Crush Collar
  Potentially the source for a collar 2.0

Collar with bow in back, belt 
with interimbow in back

"Crush" Belt

1895 Outfit: A First Wearing To Test the Look 
Description of making the belt is in the post.

Plastron and/or Applied Tabs

These will be removable elements that make the outfit dressier. Removable elements were a thing in the 1890s, a thrifty decade.

Skirt

1895: A Summer Silly Season Outfit 
This was the skirt part of the blue dotted outfit. Skirt construction description as part of post.

Shoes

American Duchess Tavistock button boots

White Shirtwaist, with Sugar-Dipped Stiffened Sleeves

1890s "Good Witch" Costume: Precis...and the Twins as Kittens! 
Description of making the shirtwaist in the post. This was the first foray into anything from the decade. The sugar-dipping may have been period, but my then-toddlers easily crushed my sleeve's magnificence.

A white shirtwaist worn
with an antique 1890s
black skirt