Biker clothes

 No, of course, not modern ones, but from the late Victorian/ early Edwardian period.

Yes, the period, that is not my favorite. I have been talking about it, also working on it for years now. And while, even now, if you ask me if I would rather go/dress up to an 18th century event or a turn of the century (turn of the 19th/20th c), I would still choose the earlier period in a hearbeat, I think I am seeing the light at the tunnel for the latter one (though it could easily be the light of the oncoming train). Anyhow, I was much more satisfied with, and felt much better in the dark red/aubergine colored set, that is slightly (like a couple of years earlier than our appointed 1905-1906 era, but as even today we so wear clothes that are a few year, sometimes even decades old, It must have happened back then too. 

Also, while I was looking around for a topic to research I was irresistably drawn to the very beginning of flying. Of course that was kind of expected, I grew up with my father preparing lectures about the topic, names like Montgolfier brothers, Otto Lilienthal, the Wright brothers, Bleriot were as familiar as Rapunzel and Cinderella for many. However, when I started to look into it, and thinking about ways to make it presentable I bumped into another topic and a certain style of clothing that immediately felt like I am coming home, and that was bicycling and bicycle clothes of the 1890-ies. 

And of course it turns out that the two things do have some things to do with each other... In fact the development of flying (aircrafts) are closely tied to bicycles, as the Wright brothers, who produced the first real aircrafts, were in fact bicycle manufacturers. 

Add to this that I found the endlessly crazy looking, but cute as a button clothes that developed in order to let women move around on wheels, No wonder I was lost. 

I was planning to make a biking outfit since...I don't know, maybe 2019, but I am sure by 2020 I had the patterns and the fabric, but no time, as I was working like crazy trough the COVID years, and then something else (like the 18th century) always took precedence. 

However, last year's bathing suits were pretty succesful, and the decision was made that sports will take some spotlight this year, my slightly earlier, 1898 aubergine colored set was succesful, and as I am still struggling workwise, I needed something to hang on, there was no more acceptable excuse to put it aside anymore. 

I did start on a split skirt, and then it was stopped for other porject, only wanting a hem and a waistband. My handknitted red sweater was already knitted, but in pieces for years... So I decided not only to finish those, but also make the breeches and a waistcoat to make the sett full. 

For now, let's concentrate on the bloomers and waistcoat combo. 

The "Bloomers" the wide legged, balloon shaped pants first popped up in the 1850-ies, when Amelia Bloomer tried to popularized them as the part of the "rational dress movement" which was, true to its name, trying to make the clothes women wore more practical. 

However, after only a couple of years, they went out of fashion just as fast as they came. But then bicycles became more and more popular, women found occupations outside their home more and more, they started to move around more, and suddenly they were more incined to wear clothes more suitable to their "modern" life. 

For the bloomers, I started out with the Black Snail pattern, but first of all, I cut out an inch or two from its seat part, as even looking at the paper-pattern I saw that with my short waist (and dislike for high waisted pants), the thing would come up to my armpits. Then made its legs somewhat shorter, and then rearranged the folds: instead of two and two really big ones I made many smaller ones. Also added a decorative buttonband and buttons to the inseam pockets. 

I actually made this set as a wearable mock up, to figure out the ways and tricks of the spit skirt and the bloomers, and used fabric I picked up at I Love Textile for rather cheap, which was striped.... Horizontally. Now, being a learned dressmaler, who was trained in a factory that used to make things for labels like hugo boss, a few things are deeply ingrained, like the nicely finished insides, and the importance of grainline, and the difference beetween  warp and weft, and the how and why fabric behaves differently if cut this way or the other. In this case, if I wanted to have vertical stripes, I needed to cut things across the warp grainline, which does show. Or at least I see in the split skirt as well as in the bloomers, but otherwise it came together pretty well. 

I cut out the waistcoat from the fabric that was left over from the split skirt, and the same black snail pattern I used for the aubergine set, however, I used the other view the one with the high neck and one line of buttons. 

As I already mentioned, this is not even the second, but at least the third waistcoat I made from this pattern, and I did photographed the process once, and as soon as we get to photograph that set, I will bring it.

Also, of course, coming up the split skirt in the next post and then the sporting sweater.

Patterns: Black Snail Bloomers here and the waistcoat is here

Fabric: I Love Textil

Pictures: Bodeszphoto