1880s day dress of white wool

At last a soon-to-be-finished project! I've worn it a couple of times already - thanks again to the inventor of safety-pins! It's made of cream-white wool with diagonally woven-in stripes which invite the avid seamstress to toy with the pattern.

The skirt consists of eight panels instead of the usual six, as I wanted the front and back to show an even zig-zag pattern.

The front of the overskirt is draped as an apron typical for the early 1880s, the back is longer and leaf-shaped. The pleats are secured to a little yoke hidden beneath the basque of the jacket to fall evenly over the bustle.

The jacket was actually intended to be a bodice with a small standing collar, but I miscalculated and the thing turned out too small to close all the way up to the neck, so I turned it into a jacket instead, to be worn with a matching cream silk blouse and a brooch to fasten it beneath the bust. It looks almost as if I had intended it! :D The sleeves are just a little puffed, as was fashionable before they became those monstrously huge assemblages of fabric around 1900. And as in so many of my costumes, the buttons are still missing...