The next chapter of my life leads me to University of Hawai’i at Manoa, to study anthropology. This university was founded in 1907 and I wanted to show some school pride by making a 1907 ensemble in the school colors, dark green and white. I already had the blouse, which was made from the Folkwear Gibson Girl Blouse pattern (1), so I just needed to make the skirt. For the skirt I chose the Truly Victorian 1905 Circular Skirt pattern (2) and made it out of this dark green cotton twill (3), and lined it with old cotton sheets.

**after bands were sewn before skrit was seamed together**

The first step was cutting out the pattern pieces, of which there was four, the skirt, the waistband, and the two pieces that make up the placket. The skirt piece was so big I had to cut it on my floor! After cutting the skirt I marked with chalk the lines for my velvet ribbon (4) trim using the optional band placement as a guide. Before seaming the skirt panels together, I attached the velvet trim. I attached two rows of the velvet trim on the lines I marked earlier. I then seamed the skirt panels together leaving a 9” gap in the center back seam for the placket.

After the skirt panels were sewn, I set the lining aside and focused my attention on the hem. For the hem I attached a 6” wide strip of tarlatan (5) around the entire hem, to help the hem stand out. I attached the tarlatan by hand using wide whip stiches. Now it was time to attach the lining, I attached the it wrong sides to wrong sides so the seams would be all finished on the inside. After attaching the lining I sewed the placket. The placket had two parts one which folds over the center back seam finishing it, and another, which extends from the center back seam finishing it and hiding any gaps between the closures. The placket was sewn on by machine and finished by hand. I then attached the waistband and simple 3” wide strip of twill that was interfaced then sewn by machine turned under to hide any raw edges and finished by hand. After the placket and waistband were sewn I turned by addition once again to the hem, which turned up by 1” then finished by hand using now tiny whip stitches.

Now this skirt has a slight train, which I wanted to protect, I did this my adding a balayeuse. A balayeuse is a ruffle added to the train of a skirt in order to protect it from the hazards of the ground, it is simply tacked in place for ease of removal/washing/re-placement. I made by balayeuse out of some stash polyester lace that I knife pleated to fit the back third of the skirt, or in others words the part of the skirt that touched the ground. There was two rows of that length and a third row, above that, that was a third of that length, to give extra protection to the very back of the train. All three of these rows where tacked into place by hand. With the addition of a skirt hook and bar at the waistband the skirt was complete! (outfit seen worn with a vintage brooch modeled after the one Scarlett O’Hara wore in Gone with the Wind, a 1970s pennant, the American Duchess silk stockings (6) and their Gibson shoes (7)

(1) https://www.folkwear.com/products/205-gibson-girl-blouse?variant=35447539726

(2) https://trulyvictorian.info/index.php/product/tve22-1905-circular-skirt/

(3) https://www.joann.com/sportswear-stretch-twill-fabric-green/16173502.html#q=green%2Btwill&start=1

(4) https://www.etsy.com/listing/553082564/white-swiss-velvet-ribbon-by-the-yard?ref=yr_purchases

(5) https://shop.takachpress.com/Tarlatan-p/tarlatan.htm

(6) https://www.american-duchess.com/historic-shoe-buckles-accessories/plain-ivory-silk-stockings

(7) https://www.american-duchess.com/womens/1920s-shoes-boots/gibson-womens-edwardian-shoe-ivory