Sophie Hatter Dress- Part 1

Part 1: Research and Mockups

Part 2: Foundation Garments

Part 3: The Dress

I'm working backwards since this blog is new and I'm going to bring you the process of creating my historical Sophie Hatter dress!

I started by studying the dress she has in the movie. The high neck, long sleeves, and boots all seemed to point to a very basic 1880's look.

Stills of Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle

The silhouette is very simple and even the detail of the lace at her collar seemed to mesh with primary sources.

Primary source photographs and fashion plates from the 1880's.

It's interesting to note that most of the supporting female cast are dressed in gowns that seem more modern. Our girl Sophie is dressed in a way that deliberately contrasts with the 1890's look of puff sleeves and bright colors. She's branded an "old maid" just by virtue of the fact that she has visually aligned herself with the past decade.

Female characters tend to wear puffy sleeves and large hats associated with the 1890's.

Once I decided on a decade I moved on to visualizing my idea and choosing patterns. I did a rough mockup from a photograph of an extant garment.

This is my first Victorian dress and I wanted to use a set of patterns I could work from without having to do too much alteration. I chose a selection from Truly Victorian's late bustle patterns- TV101 (the wire bustle), TV170 (Victorian petticoats), TV261 (the four gore underskirt), TV368 (1887 waterfall overskirt), and TV460 (1885 cuirass bodice).

TV101 Wire Bustle

TV170 Victorian Petticoats

TV261 1885 Four-Gore Underskirt

TV460 1885 Cuirass Bodice

Continued in Part 2!