Moden 1840-1890

The other day I ordered the book 'Moden 1840-1890' from La Belle Femme in Gettysburg. I had checked it out from the library right before we moved and was amazed by the delightful original dresses and patterns contained within! Although much of the text is in Danish, to someone accustomed to sewing historical clothing, the patterns should be easy enough to figure out. The patterns are in graphed format with grid blocks to denote inches. Scaling patterns up is time consuming, but I love having the option of using patterns not commercially produced.

Here are a few pictures of originals from the book. There are patterns for all of these originals in the book, as well as many other delightful dresses! 1840s dresses, an 1860s ballgown, etc.

This book is worth checking out of your local library! It's rather expensive to purchase since it's out of print, so unless you see yourself using all or most of the patterns in the future, it's probably better to just borrow it. Interlibrary loan is your friend. ;)

Wrapper

This reminds me of the Kay Gnagey Wrapper Pattern.

Isn't this a lovely sheer dress?

I also purchased a pattern for an 1858 VanDyke Mantel from Past Reflections Patterns. If you haven't seen their lovely line of Civil War era reproduction patterns, you much check them out!