1870s Black Bustle Ballgown

This spring, I was planning on a sabbatical in London, and near the same time, Kendra was going to be in Paris. She found out about a historical ball with an 1870s theme and asked if I wanted to go. Sure! But I didn’t have anything appropriate to wear. Well, I did have an 1870s reception gown that I’d bought off her years before and altered to fit me (previously worn at Costume College and Carnevale). The bodice read too “daytime” to me, so all I’d need to do was make a simple evening bodice to go with the bustle skirt. I had a little bit of black silk left in the stash and a couple weekends before I left on the trip to make it happen…

Kendra draped a bodice on me, and I mocked it up, using that mockup as the lining.

After looking at a bunch of 1870s fashion plates, I made a little skirt drape to cover up a gap in the back of the bustle skirt. I trimmed the bodice with a large beaded and sequined applique from the stash and edged both the bodice and skirt drape in wide lace (all these trims were probably from AliExpress). The top edge of the bodice also got some black sequin trim, and the bodice laces up the back with machine-made eyelets.

The fit wasn’t perfect, but done is beautiful! I packed it all away and headed off to London. Then I repacked just the dress and accessories to take the Eurostar over to Paris for a weekend with Kendra. That night, first we took some photos at the park near the Eiffel Tower, then we went to the ball hosted by Temps de Danse at the beautiful Hôtel des Arts et Métiers.