I second the recommendation for the Simplicity Civil War patterns. I have found them to be pretty easy to follow with full-sized patterns that you don't need to scale up or down. Simplicity has a nice ballgown pattern as well as a couple that could be fancied up for use as party dresses. Happy sewing! Karen Penhalion
-- "Elizabeth Walpole" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: ----- Original Message ----- From: "jessica lynn potter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Historical Costume" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 9:54 AM Subject: Re: [h-cost] bodice design hi hun well i am reasonably good at needle craft, but have not ever made crinoline ballgowns before, this dress is an 1860s day type dress, ,i wantto make historic type dresses, but they do not have to be historically accurate down to fine detail,s, i want to make nice looking crinoline style dresses, especially the hugh type crinoline,s. bodice design is my failure i have never made more than 3 in my life except for modern bodices or blouses, and i have no idea as to a starting point. i thought of using the polyester taffetta fabric, for the dress itself im being a pain to you all with these question,s i know, sorry, but is there anywhere where i can get patterns for bodices or complete dresses please hugs >jessica OK so I'm guessing you're actually interested in the early to mid 1860s as by the time you get to the end of the 1860s you're getting into the begining of the bustle era rather than big crinolines. You might be interested in Simplicity's range of 'civil war' patterns http://www.simplicity.com/index.cfm?cat=4&type=19&sec=0&id=57&startrow=1 they take a couple of modern shortcuts where it doesn't show (like using snaps to attach the collar instead of sewing it on and unpicking the stitches when you want to wash it) but the overall details are pretty accurate. HTH Elizabeth -------------------------------------------- Elizabeth Walpole Canberra Australia ewalpole[at]tpg.com.au http://au.geocities.com/e_walpole/ _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume