Reconstructing my ancestor's Shabbos dress without... anything? Fashion history with no photos

Sewing my Victorian ancestor's best dress for Shabbat-- without a pattern, photos, or anything but fashion history research! I'm reconstructing my family's Jewish immigrant past through dress history. Time to delve into the process of researching, designing, and drafting the pattern for great-great-grandma Carolina's Shabbos dress.

A pattern for the style of dress Vi's Jewish ancestor, Carolina, would have worn as her Shabbat or Shabbos dress was unlikely to exist as a straightforward set of directions. As a seamstress, she used techniques that would have felt like second nature to her, so mundane there was no point to writing them down. For the second installment of The Clothes on Their Backs, Vi will share her process as a fashion history and fashion archeologist, discussing the process of historical costume research, design and drafting for working class clothing.

A difficult reality of fashion history prior to the 1880's is that, before the late 19th century, flat drafting systems like dress patterns were primarily reserved for tailored menswear. Women's clothing, or clothes worn by working people, were either tailored directly against the wearer's body, or borrowed patterns from an existing piece of clothing.

The Clothes on Their Backs: Join fashion historian Vi as she delves into her family's untold stories through historical costume dress reconstruction across generations. We'll explore the intersection of family history, genealogy research, and dress history analysis, all set against the backdrop of New York City's rich history, particularly the Garment District. Vi shares her personal journey of discovering her family's past and how fashion and historical dressmaking played a crucial role in their lives. Join us, and look into your own family history and the stories behind the clothes on their backs. Come along on this journey of discovery and learn about the intricate relationship between fashion and family history.

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I do not take personal costume/sewing or research commissions.

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[crystaldottir]

Karolina would have conspired with other women in her tenement or rooming house. She could have taken a pattern from one of their dresses, for example. My old relatives talked about planning with a friend to get compatible fabric so they could swap scraps and use those for contrasting trim. We are a lot more isolated than they were.

[Rachel-fisc]

My father has the incredible spacial awareness to be able to look at either an existing garment or a person and a pile of fabric and figure out the construction to get the resulting garment. He doesn't need patterns to sew - just an example of what he wants to make or a only-semi-similar existing garment to alter. He took a dress from a second hand shop that was too big for Mum and turned the excess fabric into these wonderfully complex pleats and tucks and details that suits her even better than the original dress design, and all just out of his head by seeing Mum wearing this too-big dress in a second hand shop! It's mind-boggling. No one else in our family has any idea how he does it.
Maybe Karolina or someone in her tenement had a similar skillset? Observe fashion plates / magazines / wealthier women walking down the street and draft out a simpler rough pattern of a dress from there?

[PalisDelon]

Your worry about cutting the fabric reminded me of Little House on the Prairie. When they were making Mary's college wardrobe, the girls had no problems with cutting out the underwear and everyday dresses but the nice dress was saved for Ma to cut - and even she sweated over it.

[SadbhW]

Have you read "When Jessie came across the Sea?" by Alexa Hest?

It's a really beautifully illustrated book about a Jewish girl from Eastern Europe travelling across the sea to New York to make a new life there around the turn of the century. Her Grandma features heavily in it too, I think it would be a perfect book for you to read during a teabreak on this project. It's one of my childhood favourites 😊.

[lemon_the_spider]

Love hearing about Jewish American history, my grandfather came to New York from Poland just before the war. He died when I was only a few months old. We share a birthday and so I love to hear about early Jewish American history to feel closer to him. Love this video!

[susanschlesinger]

This is Fabulous! Sharing this, a lot!

BTW, the girls in the shops shared muslin patterns of piecework dresses they worked on in the evenings, or something like that. I heard stories about that. from my aunts.

[margisshenanigans]

Watching this as I sew a pair of knickers for my own reconstruction of my grandma’s 1943 outfit inspired by your project💕 I can’t wait to see how this amazing project continues😊

[SibylleLeon]

Holy something-or-other, this is going to be amazing! Thank you for sharing this journey with us ❤
I'm intensely curious about life way back when, and your honest attempt to put yourself into your great-great-grandma's head and feelings, acknowledging all the limitations along the way, is so inspiring to watch.

[helgacucumber]

I love thinking about the universality of the excitement of slipping on a new dress for the first time. It feels like I can't relate to a dirt poor refugee fleeing pogroms (you didn't say that's what she was doing but I'm guessing) because like damn, that's a hard hand to be dealt but I can definitely relate to putting on a new dress that you made yourself and showing it off on Shabbat and feeling like your spirit is a little lighter.

[johannageisel]

I feel you with the design sketches! 😅
I helped myself by shamelessly stealing some figurine lineart with roughly my body type from the internet, maybe tidied it up with GIMP a little and then printed 6 or 8 in two rows on a DIN A4 page. I also included a side view for parts where front and back views were not sufficient to understand how the garment is shaped.
Then I drew onto those figurines with pencil to plan out the underwear and the different layers I wanted to put on the costume. I made little announcements around them to remember what I was planning to do for the details.
In the end I might make a drawing of the top layers and colour that in with coloured pencils.

[seraphinasullivan]

Seeing all the measurments taken takes me back. There were a few times i had to get fitted for a scoliosis brace and my mom would always joke "it's like going to the dressmaker, isn't it?"

[reannamoon]

Thank you for documenting this journey. It makes me realize just how luky I am to have a photograph of my own great great grandmother Bertha circa 1902 in a fashionable dress of the era.

[heatherrandall]

While I understand that drafting is a skill that can be learned, I am very impressed by your drafting process. I’m enjoying your journey to the past to connect with your family!

[lenabreijer]

This was lovely. I have photos of my grandparents in the early 1900s so my granddaughters can do this. But my great great granddaughters will be disappointed with the polyester minis i wore

[debraanneclark]

Looking forward to seeing this come to fruition as it is part history we rarely see in historical images the working class clothing and for you something that relates to your G. G. G. Grandmother's life as an immigrant in the US

[mszuzubookitty]

My SIL had a g-grandmother that would make quilts and then store them away in a cedar chest. Years later my SIL was gifted one of those quilts at her wedding. It might be one of the nicest gifts I’ve ever seen. A mint condition antique quilt made by the hands of her ancestor.

[aukword]

When did self made patterns cut and pinned from old newspapers become a thing?

I appreciate that newsprint doesn't hang or fold the way textiles do. It can be an excellent way to get a personalised base reference.

[mirandarensberger]

This is such an amazing journey!

I'm no historian, but it seems likely to me that Karolina would have learned drafting skills while she was growing up. I would think that would have just been part of being a seamstress before patterns were a thing.

I wonder if she might have been able to splurge on something like a bit of ribbon or some embroidery thread to add decoration. Or she might have had some scraps leftover from another dress, or maybe she could have traded scraps with a friend, to have some contrast fabric as a trim.

For someone I'm not connected with, I am wondering a lot about Karolina now. Did she have roommates before she married? What did she eat, and how did she cook? What did she do for fun? Did she even have time for fun? How much contact did she have with her family back in Hungary? So many things I wish we could know about her, and I'm sure you do too. This dress is such a lovely tribute and way to connect. I'm sure she would have been proud of you.

I hope you will frame the original of the design sketch and hang it somewhere you can see it every day.

[kitdubhran]

I saw the title and threw down a like even though I probably won’t be able to watch it until some time tonight.

[alejandramoreno]

I have a picture of my great-grandmother (and her sisters and cousins) in their debutante ball gowns from the 1900s, and I would really like to have something similar.