Derailed!

And just that quick, Wenny changed centuries. Oh, not for good. Well, I don't think for good. Nah, probably not. But check this out:

I got about nine yards of this stuff at -- you guessed it -- Goodwill for five dollars.

It spoke to me from the hanger and was all like "Hey, how about you and me get together and make a Gibson Girl-style bustle dress?" and I was so taken by the stunning brown and pink combo that I didn't even feel the gilded-age hook sink into my lip.

(That's a nickel there, so you can gauge the width of the stripe.)

I've never done anything even remotely close to this before, of course, so this is full of new challenges. And in case you're wondering, I'll not be hand sewing this one. Thanks to timeline technology, I have entered the age where it is totally "period" to use a machine. Which is good, because oh my goodness there's a lot of stitchy business to these dresses.

Want to see some inspiration images? Charles Worth is your man. He was the designer for the gilded age, and if you were anybody trying to be somebody, you had his creations on your back. Just gorgeous stuff. Look:

And if you just do a search for Victorian striped dress, you get a lot of images on that too.

This one isn't C. Worth; it's actually a vintage costume, but those crazy angles on the stripes are totally period -- and insane. I don't think nine yards is enough to make a dress like this, with having to accomodate stripe direction and all. Too bad. I would love to give this one a try.

As it is, I'm taking a few ideas from here and there and cobbling together my own plan for a walking skirt and a polonaise, and if you wonder what that is, or looks like, then just google "Dolly Varden dress" and you'll see. I gotta go to work, or I'd link an example here. Later!