costume experiences

STITCHED THROUGH TIME

"ADVENTURES IN COSTUME"

Grantown Museum has commissioned 20 reproduction costumes covering the period from the 1750's to the 1920's.
These are available to try on and photograph (and video) for you to experience a flavour of life in another era.
We have some basic garments that you can try on by yourself for free, but most of the collection requires assistance to get dressed (in the 18th and 19th centuries ladies had a maid, or a sister or mother to help them dress). The costumes come with the required undergarments and accessories (chemise, corset, petticoats, crinoline, panniers etc) and do take some time to get on and off. This costs £50 per hour and requires an appointment.
We have tried to be as authentic as possible in recreating these costumes - all the costumes are made from natural fabrics (silk, linen, cotton, wool), the only exception being the boning, which is either polyester or spiral steel, and not baleen (whalebone).
Costumes are steam cleaned between appointments.

If you would like to make an appointment, please contact - suzi@grantownmuseum.co.uk

"Outlander"
Claire in Paris

This is a red silk gown similar to that worn by the character Claire, to the Court of Louis XV. There is a corset, chemise and panniers that are worn underneath. Will fit UK sizes 12-16.
The gown is silk duchess satin, the bodice is boned and lined in silk and laces up the back. The skirt has 6 meters of fabric, which is only half that of the original gown created for the show - the panniers for the original gown measure over 4 feet across - such large panniers would mean the dress would not fit through a regular size door (unless you went sideways...). Also, this gown is not so low cut as the gown on the show - I figured most women would not be comfortable showing quite so much cleavage.
BTW - in case you are wondering how the dress will fit multiple sizes, the skirt is constructed in such a way to fit almost any size. The back half is tied around the front of the waist and then the front half ties over the top of the back. And then the bodice laces up the back and the laces can be let out to accommodate larger sizes.

"Outlander"
Claire in Scotland

This costume includes chemise, stays (or corset), woollen skirt, velvet bodice, stomacher, pockets, bum roll and shawl. Similar to what Claire was first dressed in when she arrived in Scotland in the 18th century. Will fit UK sizes 10-16.
I found the wool for the skirt in the museum stores - someone must have donated it and so now it is an 18th century skirt! The bodice is made of green cotton velvet, the stomacher is green and white striped cotton and the chemise is cotton lawn. Cotton was not so common back in the 18th century and their chemises would most probably have been made of linen.

"Outlander"
Jamie in Scotland

This 18th century Scottish man's costume includes the great kilt, shirt and cravat, linen waistcoat and overcoat, plus baldric and sword belt. The kilt and shirt will fit almost any size - the waistcoat and coat are a size 42" chest, but could fit a smaller or larger gentleman - the waistcoat is laced up the back and the overcoat is edge to edge and does not actually button up.
The great kilt is made up in a Black Watch Weathered light weight tartan - I put "cheat pleats" in it - a great kilt is put on by laying the fabric (6 meters) out on the ground and then hand pleating the back section, putting a belt underneath the tartan, laying on top of it, wrapping it around yourself, fastening the belt, and then standing up. This did not really seem practical to put the kilt on this way - it would require a lot of space and time to put it on (though I am told by the lovely lady at the kilt shop she can do it quite quickly!), I figured that hand stitching the pleats in place would save a lot of time.
I added a laced up section to the back of the waistcoat as I had observed that the waistcoat worn by Jamie on the show had lacing, and I also saw other examples of 18th century waistcoats constructed the same way. The eyelets had to be stitched by hand (18 of them)...though after doing lots of them on the corsets, I was getting a bit quicker at doing them.
This outfit is made up in wool, linen, cotton lawn, cotton voile and cotton velvet, with metal buttons and hand sewn buttons on the shirt.
Whilst researching men's 18th century shirts I saw that buttons for shirts were almost always hand sewn "Dorset" buttons. This was a new thing I had to learn, but good old YouTube had a video showing how it was done, so voila! - hand made buttons -see pic down below in the Accessories section.

Outlander - Claire's Wedding Dress

Coming soon.....

"THE DUCHESS"

Robe à la Française
This gown is a reproduction of a Saque (or sack) back gown from the 18th century, also called a robe à la française (as seen in the movie "The Duchess" with Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes). There is a complicated arrangement of pleats on the back of the gown that flows to the floor with a short train. The gown is made in silk taffeta, with a silk taffeta petticoat, silk brocade stomacher, with chemise, corset and panniers to go underneath. The gown is not laced on but is either pinned or stitched to the corset and stomacher. In the movie you see Ralph Fiennes cut the gown off Keira Knightley on their wedding night. Will fit UK sizes 10-16.
Making up the pleats on the back of the gown was quite the challenge - there is a complicated arrangement of pleats going both left and right, so it took a while to get then exact, even and matching - but it creates a lovely train flowing from the shoulders. Then under this there is an under bodice that is tied up on the inside to keep the main body of the gown tight to the model. Then there was all that finicky trim to cut - scallops within scallops (cut with scalloped shears) - meters and meters of it, that must have taken a day just to cut them out - and then it had to be sewn on by hand. There is quite a lot of hand stitching on these gowns - I'm not a total purist like some who hand stitch the entire gown - I use the machine to sew the long seams that can't be seen when finished, but if it is visible, then I hand sew it.

Robe à l'Anglaise
The brown and gold, silk brocade and taffeta gown is a copy of an 18th century Robe à l'Anglaise - unlike the flowing back of the robe à la française, the back is fitted to the body. This is worn with chemise, corset, split rump, panniers & stomacher. Will fit UK sizes 10-16
I had no pattern for this gown, so had to make it all up by looking at examples of original costumes. Its very similar to the robe à la française, except it does not have the train flowing from the shoulders, but from the waist. Like the gown above, there is a lot of handmade and hand stitched trim, which I cut out of the brown silk lining fabric I had for the bodice with the scalloped pinking shears. I decided to add a spiral lacing to the front of the gown using small brass rings I had found on line.

Lavender Jacket & Floral Skirt

Another 18th century outfit - this time a printed silk skirt and fitted linen jacket. Skirt will fit any size, the jacket will fit UK size 12-14.

THE CLAN GRANT WEDDING DRESS

The Clan Grant Wedding Dress was inspired by the Isabella MacTavish Fraser wedding dress at the Inverness Museum & Art Gallery. This dress is very special because it is the only 18th century wedding gown in tartan known to exist. You can read more about it here -
highlifehighland.com/inverness-museum-and-art-gallery/the-isabella-project/

I decided to make a similar dress in Clan Grant Tartan, so here it is - the dress is shown with a navy linen petticoat and stomacher. The back of the dress has one long rectangular panel that has been pleated into the waist and continues on to form part of the skirt. The skirt also has pleated side panels - just don't count the pleats (the left side has 1 more pleat than the right...how did that happen! ...but it looks Ok so I left it as getting the pleats lined up and attached to the bodice was quite fiddly). The gown is wool with a silk lining in the bodice, and is worn with a chemise and bum pad.

"PRIDE & PREJUDICE"

Now we have moved into the Regency period - Jane Austen reigns supreme, and ladies started wearing looser fitting, higher waisted dresses with a much lighter corset (or no corset at all!). The navy linen cutaway coat with velvet covered buttons goes over the cotton lawn and velvet trim dress. Fits UK sizes 8-10. A Regency costume to fit UK sizes 14-16 is also available.

"YOUNG VICTORIA"

This costume is a reproduction of an early Victorian ball gown made from Swiss knot cotton, lace and silk ribbon. It comes with a chemise, petticoats, drawers, crinoline, skirt and a boned and lined bodice which laces up the back. Will fit UK sizes 12-16.

PRINCE ALBERT

This is a Victorian gentleman's cutaway coat in tweed - will fit a 42" chest. There is also a top hat and cane to complete the outfit.

LATE VICTORIAN DRESS

This dress started life from an original Victorian pattern - unfortunately the waist was so small (they really laced their corsets tight) that the skirt had to be expanded, but still this dress will only fit UK sizes 8-10. Comes with combinations, corset, corset cover and padded bustle. Made in linen, cotton, lace and velvet. Will fit UK sizes 8-10.

"DINNER AT DOWNTON"

Join Lady Mary and Lady Edith for dinner in these Edwardian era evening dresses. Dresses are silk crepe de chine and will fit sizes 10-16.

Young Ladies Costumes

We have several young ladies costumes to try on - the pink one is made from an actual Victorian pattern from 1867, and the blue one is a reproduction of an 18th century design. Both dresses will fit a 28 inch chest (71 cm). No charge to try on.

Accessories & Undies

We have the appropriate undergarments and accessories to help create an authentic historical experience - corsets (18th century, Regency, Victorian), chemises, shawls and pockets (yes, pockets were a separate garment that were tied on the body over your petticoats and under your gown - the handbag of the time). We have tried to make the the construction of the garments as authentic as possible (the notable exception being whalebone!) Note the period details such as handmade 18th century buttons and hand stitched eyelets (metal eyelets were not invented until the 19th century, so Regency and 18th century corsets were not tied so tightly as Victorian corsets - once they invented those metal eyelets then they could really go to town with tight lacing - if they tied the corsets too tight in the 18th century the hand sewn eyelets would rip)