Making a Victorian Nightie – But Can I do it Zero Waste?

Teen has requested a Victorian nightie, with all the trimmings.

We happen to live in a Victorian-era house, so she’ll fit in nicely with the architecture 🙂

Of course, a new project involves much fun planning: choosing fabric and trims, creating a Pinterest board, and looking through my not insignificant collection of books and patterns.

There was a bit of a Victorian clothes revival in the 1970s and 1980s (I think for various reasons: bicentennials in Australia and US, Little House on the Prairie/Picnic at Hanging Rock/BBC period costume dramas, romantic/bohemian/rural aesthetics vibe, Laura Ashley, etc) and there’s sewing resources from that time too.

Some of those original Victorian nighties sure didn’t skimp on the trimmings. Flounces! Lace! Tucks! Panels!

I found a Victorian nightgown pattern in Kaori O’Connor‘s Creative Dressing (“the unique collection of top designer looks that you can make yourself”, 1980 Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd), and thought it would make a good starting point. I bought this book many years ago at a secondhand place. It’s a ripper of a book. It’s a collection of patterns by different fashion designers – sewing, hand knitting and machine knitting.

The Victorian nightie pattern is only in one size (as are all the patterns in the book) but fortunately it’s Teen’s size.

The pattern is printed on a grid where you enlarge it.

The cutting layout is reasonably low-waste, as the body and sleeves fit across the width of the fabric.

The yoke could, I think, be switched around a bit, perhaps like Danielle Elsener’s shirt in Sewing Without Scraps, where the yoke sits between the back and front.

The designer of this pattern is Sara Fermi. I think this is her obituary.

There isn’t much about her online but her garments sometimes turn up on Ebay. She designed for Neiman Marcus at some point.

We didn’t have any suitable fabric at home. Or rather, enough suitable fabric as it takes four metres. We only had that amount in hot pink which was rejected by Teen. So I ordered some online which I hope will arrive by the end of this week, ready for weekend sewing.

Meanwhile, let me show you some of the images from this book.

There’s a very young Kaffe Fassett.

Also a very young Bruce Oldfield, with his (at the time) signature jersey dresses.

Fassett and Oldfield were the only two names I recognized.

There’s a pattern for an Edward Prince of Wales Fair Isle jumper, based on the 1925 John St. Helier Lander portrait.

Some beautiful hand and machine knitting patterns:

Antony Kwock‘s spiral sundress is the only pattern I’ve made from this book. I made it over 20 years ago, and it sparked an interest in unusual bias cutting which has never left.

At the end is a pattern for a wedding dress, by Maureen Baker who designed Princess Ann’s wedding gown. She had a long and interesting career in fashion.

Until next week!