Queen Victoria

This was a special project for my wifey Bettina, who goes to Watch City Steampunk Festival every year as Queen Victoria. For the last several years she has been wearing her reproduction Victoria wedding gown to the festival and it was beginning to show some wear. For Christmas 2017 I decided to surprise her with a historical victorian cotton corded petticoat to go with her gown, with the promise that we would make her a new dress together!

The inspiration for this gown came from a couple of extant victorian gowns, as well as potrayals of Queen Victoria in the movie Victoria. Bettina loved the purple color of one of the gowns in the movie, but styled like the gown in the final scene. We sourced materials together, and created a beautiful new gown for her to wear to the festival.

 The cotton corded petticoat is made from bleached cotton muslin and corded with Sugar and Cream white cotton yarn and cotton home dec piping. The petticoat is gathered onto a straight waistband and closes with a skirt hook and eye.

The gown was made with all self drafted patterns. The bodice was draped directly on Bettina while she was wearing her petticoat, undergarments, and skirt. The bodice has curved darts in the front, piped neckline and hem, boned cotton interlining, catchstitched seam allowances, and a hook and eye closures up the back. The bodice sleeves and detachable neck band are trimmed with a beautiful embroidered cotton lace I picked up from a lace shop in the garment district in NYC. I had a lot of fun working with Bettina on this project and I look forward to us doing more projects like this together in the future!