Truly Victorian Home Page Truly Victorian Photo Gallery

After being inspired by watching the BBC's "Victorian Farm" program, and wanting to follow on from our project last summer where we lived a week as if in wartime Britain, this summer my husband and I would like to live for a week (or likely more) as a Victorian household. Seeing as we live in the country in a cottage, we're thinking tenant farmers. All my lovely bustle gowns are far too grand for such a position, so I need ideas for patterns, fabrics and styles more befitted to my station - and of course, all the jobs I will be doing.

Can anyone help? Many thanks!

[Heather]

Since you have made some dresses already, you most likely have all the patterns you need. Just make very basic versions of TV261 and TV460, out of plain fabric (wool would be best or a calico) and without trims. Replace your overskirt with an apron.

I loved Victorian Farm! Be sure to use fabrics & color that can handle a bit of dirt! What may be a nice book for you to read is "Lost Crafts"
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Crafts-Red ... 0550104267 I looked in it at the bookstore and it definately made it on my wishlist. My husband and I would love to go to the little village and be the local haberdashery & finery shop as I do dressmaking and millinery and he is a (historical reconstructionalist as he puts it) tailor

I portray a ranch wife on a regular basis and can say that it is extremely helpful to make some dresses with 3/4 length sleeves, as well as to make all sleeves roomy enough in the forearm so that you can push them up past your elbows while doing housework and such.

It also helps to make the skirts a tad shorter than you normally would, just to make sure you're keeping them out from underfoot. It's really not that hard to do work in these styles so long as you adapt them a bit.

Oh, and pockets. It's always nice to have pockets either in your skirt's front seams or sewn directly on your wrapper. I have a picture somewhere in the gallery of a wrapper with two pockets. I use them all the time!

Thank you for all of your replies - very helpful! I'll be building up fabrics and equipment over the next few weeks/months, so I'll be sure to update

it was a brilliant series very interesting, we live about 30 mins drive from acton so plan to visit when it reopens in april.

Now I didnt realise this but you can actually rent the cottage that they used in the series!! I only found this out as we are looking to rent another place on the estate for a victorian house party!!

http://www.actonscott.com/henleycottage.php

Tiffers

omg!!!!!!!!! i've so got to go!!!! i loved victorian farm, i just wished the series had been longer

I agree entirely with you there Julie! The series could have been a whole lot longer. One thing which let me down though was the fact that they didnt stay there overnight. It would have been interesting to find out how they fared when they were there 24/7.

Tiffers

Gosh darn, that looks nothing like Acton, California!

(Lovely site. I'm going to keep going back to it.)