I decided to participate in the #edwardianspringchallenge2020 (1) hosted by @faces_and_style (2) and one of the prompts was Downtown Abbey, so of course I had to do a recreation. For those of you unfamiliar with the show (please pause reading and go and watch it’s incredible) here is a quick synopsis from Wikipedia “The series, set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their domestic servants in the post-Edwardian era—with the great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.” This show like any Masterpiece production has jaw-dropping costumes which is why many historical costumers are in love which the show. For my recreation I chose this blouse and skirt combo worn by Mary Crawly the oldest daughter.

The patterns I chose for this project is this 1912 Retro Butterick Pattern (3) for the skirt and this Folkwear “Armistice” Blouse Pattern (4) as a base for the blouse. The fabric I chose for the skirt was this lovely grey cotton twill from Mood (5) which was lined with a linen I had in my stash. For the blouse I chose this semi-sheer white shirting (6) with this cotton insertion lace from (7) as well as this antique lace from (8).

**close up of how the seams were finished**

The first garment I delved into was the skirt and the pattern had to altered in order to look like the costume I was trying to recreate. The following alterations were made: the pleats on the right front were omitted, the front piece was cut on a fold to mimic the style lines on the original costume, and the closure was moved to center back and therefore a back placket was made. After these pattern alterations it was time to delve into the sewing process.

**close up of the placket and closures**

The pieces, the front, side backs and backs were cut out of the twill, flatlined with the linen and sewn together using a 5/8” seam allowance. The center back seam was sewn up ending at 9” from the waist, to leave room for the placket and closures. I then ironed the seams flat turned the seam allowance in on itself and hand sewed it down, being careful to catch only the lining not the twill during this process. Now it was time for the placket for which I cut a piece of twill 9” long and 2” wide for the right side of the placket, which folds over the center back seam finishing it, and another piece of twill 9” long and 4” wide for the left side of the placket, 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. After the placket was sewn, I 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. The final step of the skirt’s construction was adding closures. I sewed one size 3 hook and eye along the waistband and four size 2, aka smaller, hook and eyes down the placket to prevent the skirt from opening once worn.

With the addition of the closures the skirt was constructed but not complete, for Lady Mary wears a self-fabric belt with her skirt, meaning I needed to make a belt to go with my new skirt. To make the belt I a 1” wide strip of purse weight interfacing in my waist size and covered it with a strip of the grey twill via ironing, then turned it the edges and hand stitched them together. I then attached them to my belt buckle, this lovely piece from LesBonRibbon (9). Now I know, I know she has a simple square belt buckle, but for the life of me I couldn’t find ay that had a closure situated in such a way that the belt would move horizontally through the buckle, so I picked this one up. And come on we all know Lady Mary is a Slytherin anyway. I then inserted the ends of the belt through bars of the buckle and stitched then onto themselves, inclosing the buckle in the belt, see picture for a hopefully better explanation. After the belt was out of the way, it’s onto the blouse

Now like the skirt, the blouse required alterations in order to mimic the style of the blouse worn by Lady Mary in the episode. In fact, I altered the blouse so significantly that I ended up using the blouse pattern as a base rather than following it directly. Get ready the following alterations were made: first off, her blouse has kimono sleeves, meaning that there is not a separate sleeve that attaches to the blouse but the sleeve is patterned into the blouse, I used this book (10) to make the following alterations. Lady Mary’s blouse also lacks a shoulder seam so I made that alteration as well. After that major pattern gut-out I also shortened the front/back by about 2”, and well as decreased the collar width by about 2” trying to mimic the shorter width of the collar on Mary’s blouse.

So now that my pattern was ready to go, I went about the process of adding all my lace insertion. Now, I my lace isn’t exactly the same widths/patterns of the lace on the blouse I’m trying to recreate so with my lace I’m going for a “invokes the image” rather than “looks exactly like”. My lace placement is as follows: 2 vertical rows of the wider lace that stretch from the front of the blouse to the back, 2 rows of the antique lace on the “sleeves” parallel to the sleeve hem, 2 rows of the wider lace followed by 4 rows of the antique lace running horizontal on the front “stomacher” panel, and finally 2 rows of the antique lace that runs vertically on the collar as well a piece that runs horizontally near the turn of the collar. All the antique lace was pinned on, then basted, then sewn on the edges using a straight stitch, the fabric underneath cut open, ironed over and zigzagged by machine, then trimmed. The method I used for sewing on my wider lace was similar but instead of zigzagging the edges of the seam allowance to finish them I turned them under and finished them by hand. After the tedious process of adding all my lace insertion I could start actual blouse construction.

**close up of how the front panel and collar were added**

I started off my sewing the one and only main seam of the blouse, the side seam. I sewed this seam as a French seam, meaning that I sewed wrong side to wrong wide with ¼” seam allowance (half of the actual seam allowance) ironed that open, trimmed it then turned the blouse inside out so that the right sides were facing each other and sewed it again using a ¼” seam allowance. The type of seam process creates a lovely finished seam, where the excess allowance is fully incased in itself, and is particularly well suited to light-weight fabrics. After the side seam was sewn the collar was then hemmed by ½” and sewn to the blouse wrong side of the collar to right side of the blouse. Then the front panel was sewn rights sides to rights sides with ½” seam allowance. The seams were then felled by hand to finish. After attaching the front panel, the entire blouse was given a ½” rolled hem. The final step was attaching the waist tie, which helps the blouse stay tucked in when worn and helps disturbed the gathers of the blouse. The back was gathered in between notches on the pattern, which were 5” to either side of the center back at the waist, then the waist tie, a simple piece of cotton tape was sewn on top of the gathers. With this addition the blouse and therefore the whole ensemble was complete. (outfit seen worn with American Duchess silk stockings (11) and their Gibson shoes (12))

(1) https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/edwardianspringchallenge2020/

(2) https://www.instagram.com/faces_and_style/

(3) https://www.etsy.com/listing/766750964/butterick-b6108-historical-retro-1912?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_c-craft_supplies_and_tools-patterns_and_how_to-patterns_and_blueprints&utm_custom1=e9184640-9722-4d62-a159-ff4c19816065&utm_content=go_1843970770_66522690901_346397934385_aud-496171762279:pla-322726483858_c__766750964&utm_custom2=1843970770&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhtT1BRCiARIsAGlY51IEXOBt3pFG0x0I7mYSS2fOmzmFn0uE3uMEwJYFp_mQv1n_-jQEgu4aAt1PEALw_wcB

(4) https://www.etsy.com/listing/159787176/fw210-armistice-blouse-pattern-misses-8?ref=pla_similar_listing_top-1&frs=1

(5) https://www.moodfabrics.com/theory-candied-ginger-cotton-twill-307031 don’t be freaked the fabric looks khaki but the reverse is the grey color

(6) https://www.etsy.com/listing/667482254/premium-swiss-shirting-cotton-fabric-by?ref=yr_purchases

(7) https://www.etsy.com/shop/Laceking?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=206815894

(8) https://www.etsy.com/shop/CreepingShadowsShop

(9) https://www.etsy.com/listing/602499073/snake-belt-buckle-serpent-buckle-in?ref=shop_home_active_6

(10)https://www.amazon.com/Patternmaking-Fashion-Design-Joseph-Armstrong-ebook/dp/B009TGBQNG/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=fashion+design&qid=1589172431&sr=8-7 get an old version like I did much less expensive same info really

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

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