A Wrapper Made Deliberately Dress-Like?

[Sarah Jane Meister]

My first event this season will be in May and by then I will be about 27 weeks pregnant. With my boys I have been able to get by wearing regular dresses up til the last month or so but this baby is carrying very high and when I tried my corset and a dress on yesterday it was very uncomfortably tight around the midsection. So, I am working on some stays that have side lacing for expansion and now am thinking about what to make to wear over the stays.

I have a wrapper already, but it definitely looks "wrapper". It has an open skirt and doesn't look much like a regular dress. I don't mind wearing it for "at home" wear at events but I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing it to a church service, or to visit anywhere outside my "home". I have a pic saved of an original wrapper that has a fitted yoke with a full front section gathered to the yoke at the front. So it is more fitted on the chest/shoulders than the wrapper I have, which has panels of fabric at the front pleated into the shoulders.

I also have a pic saved of an original front opening yoked dress. I was thinking it would be fairly easy to make a yoked wrapper to mimic the look of a yoked dress. The only difference in appearance would be the tie belt at the waist in the front instead of a fitted waistband.

The original yoked wrapper is made of two different fabrics with a printed collar. Would it be out of the realm of normal to make a wrapper out of just one fabric, with a white collar and cuffs like a regular dress would have?

Sarah

[K Krewer]

Not out of the realm of normal, by any means.  I have a number of wrappers with drawstrings at the waist, with white collars and cuffs.  Cover the drawstrings with a belt, and it looks just like a dress!  I have them in cotton, in wool, and in silk.

[Sarah Jane Meister]

Awesome! Yay! I can't wait to get started on this!

For doing a drawstring waist (I've never done one of those before - would it be terribly bulky?) would you make the full front bodice (falling from yoke) the same width as the skirt fronts, or would you chop the bodice off at waist level and gather the skirts to the bodice, then run the drawstring along the waist seam? (the problem right now is I basically have NO waist at the front - Baby mounds outwards from just under the boob-line) 

Could a tie belt, which could be brought to the front and tied up and over the bump, be used?

[Carolann Schmitt]

would you make the full front bodice (falling from yoke) the same width as the skirt fronts...

That's the way my original yoked wrapper is constructed.  The orginal drawstring wrappers I have have two or three drawstrings, but one may be all you have space for.    They also have tie belts.

Regards,
Carolann

[K Krewer]

Agree with Carolann.  I've seen them with a belt that goes all the way around, and also from the side seams.  The latter will look less like a regular dress, but you can always cover with a regular belt post-partum.   

A sack and petticoat is also a good option for you. 

[Sarah Jane Meister]

So is the drawstring on the yoked wrapper just threaded through a stitched on casing? Or a tuck made into a casing? Is the front opening all the way down or just to below the waist? I would like this one to look as much like a dress as possible. After the baby is born I'd like to remake it into a regular dress. (that seems so backwards - making a wrapper into a dress instead of a dress into a wrapper!)

I did think of a sacque and petticoat as well. How "dressy" can a sacque and petticoat combo be? Is it just lounge wear or can it be worn with propriety out and about? I did order some striped lawn for a sacque and petticoat when I ordered the fabric for the wrapper earlier this morning. Now to figure out how to make it. Never done one of those before!

Sarah

[K Krewer]

I misunderstood, I thought you meant a tie belt instead of a drawstring. The draw string can be in a stitched casing, or a casing created by a horizontal lines of stitching through the fashion fabric and the bodice lining.  

ETA -- Forgot to answer about the sack and petticoat.  "Loungewear" is a good description -- it is "deshabille," or "undress" -- not in the sense of not being fully clothed but in the sense of being informal.  You'd wear it in the same kinds of places you'd wear a wash dress worn for work purposes -- not "street wear" in the sense of going calling  or to gatherings, but around the camp it would be fine.

[Carolann Schmitt]

So is the drawstring on the yoked wrapper just threaded through a stitched on casing?

That's the most common method I've found to date.

Is the front opening all the way down or just to below the waist?

Either way. I have examples of both.

[Sarah Jane Meister]

Thanks for clarifying that! K, I did mean a tie belt instead of a drawstring. . .(I think. . .my mind was going a million different directions yesterday as I had last minute stuff to do for David before he left for Shiloh) I think I was asking how the drawstring was inserted on the original yoked wrapper Carolann mentioned she has. But yes, generally, I was wondering if a yoked wrapper could have a tie belt instead of a drawstring. Just because I would prefer to have no set "waist" as I know it will move up and down and all about as the baby grows and drops and a tie belt can be tied at any level pretty much.

Ah then! So yes, I think my wrapper-that-looks-like-a-dress I will save for more formal things and use the sacque outfit for informal things. Can the sacque be belted with a self fabric belt? I was thinking that would be more slimming than a contrasting belt but will go with whatever is best. Or was a sacque outfit so informal that it was only belted in with an apron?

Would a sacque have a white collar too? I was thinking of doing slightly open coat sleeves with the lawn and using sheer white undersleeves since this will be used mostly during the hot months of May, June and July (Babe is due in August).

Sarah

[K Krewer]

The sack / sacque can be belted but doesn't have to be.  At this link you'll find two that were worn at the 1860's conference several years ago, both based on different originals (left is 1850's, right is 1860's) --

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gracefullady/1063630558/in/photostream/

A sack could either have a white collar or a self-fabric collar.  Undersleeves are entirely optional.

[Cate H]

I did my wrapper based off what I think was a pregnancy wrapper...my drawstrings are actually on the inside and they don't add too much bulk.  I tie them in the front and buttons all the way down, and if I have to be out and about but my corset is getting uncomfortable, I just loosen the corset, throw on my petticoats, pop o. The wrapper and throw an apron over it.  Worked well in Manasses last year as hot as it was.

[K Krewer]

Just one caution --  a garment that buttons all the way down the front is more likely to be thought of as a wrapper.  There ARE garments that button down all the way that are NOT wrappers, and there are wrappers that do not button all the way down -- but it IS one of the indicators of a wrapper.

[Sarah Jane Meister]

I didn't think about inside drawstrings! I was envisioning them on the outside. That is a cool idea. . .

Still, I think this one I will make with no drawstrings and just a tie belt. I think I have it figured out in my head how to make it work. Now to see if my ideas translate well into fabric.  I plan on making it open to the hips or so. . .just enough for me to be able to slip it on over my head.

I do have another question though. My lawn came yesterday.

This is the lawn I plan to use for the wrapper.


It is much more sheer than I had thought. Which is fine, but leads me to a question. . .where and how would I line a wrapper made of this fabric? All my undies are white so I thought I would just line the yoke on the bodice. But then I thought I ought to have a full bodice lining to extend the wearing life. I would make the lining fairly fitted but with a drawstring at the waistline instead of being fitted with darts and the front of the wrapper would hang loose over it, from the edge of the yoke down. Or is a lining really necessary?

And that goes for the sacque and petti as well. The fabric for that is this:


Should the sacque be lined? I think it would hang better if it were lined, but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of having a light gown? Or maybe I could line it with a very light white cotton. . .

[geriroyer]

Both of those fabrics are very nice.  I really like the striped one.  You could probably just line the yoke of the bodice of the wrapper.  You would be wearing a chemise with it, right?  For the sack, I would line it with a light weight cotton just to give it a little body.  Because they aren't very form fitting, I think you would still be comfortable in it.

Congrats on the new addition.

[Sarah Jane Meister]

Thanks Geri!! We just found out we are getting a girl this time, so we are pretty excited.

I think I will just line the yoke on the wrapper, then. I would be wearing it with my chemise, my gestational stays (which I can also nurse in after Anne gets here) and several white pettis, and at times maybe my small (90") hoop. With the gathering of the fabric below the yoke I think that will obscure any glaring sights of underwear. And when its all on, I think it will just look like one big white shadow underneath the black fabric.

Thanks for confirming my thoughts about the sacque. Yay! Can't wait to get to work on these.

Sarah

[geriroyer]

Oh, you must be excited about a little girl.  What fun to sew for!  Can't wait to see how your outfits turn out.  I'm sure you will look great!

[Kimberly Scott]

I was looking for costume ideas (1860-1865) and came across this fashion picture.  I don't have the year of it, but the dress on the left is definitely dress-looking.

[Marta Vincent]

Kimberly, the print is from the 1850's.  The round shape of the front of the bonnet gives it away.  And there have been a number of wrappers posted in Ebay finds and Museum pics over the years showing wrappers that are definitely dress-like.  Especially the nicer wool & silk ones worn for at-home visits with friends.