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This Late 1850s Sheer Muslin Dress is an original Past Patterns design
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The Sheer Muslin Dress Sewing Pattern was pulled, with permission, from an extant garment in the Christen Collection in Detroit, Michigan.

The gown has no known provenance. It is a day dress. Pictured below is the dress fabric, a brown cross-barred cotton muslin with either a resist, a discharge, or a white pigment design of a mixed floral wreath, perhaps daisies and roses, with ivy leaves and tendrils.

All the sewing instructions are fully illustrated in great detail.
Special thanks to Glenna Jo Christen for allowing Past Patterns to make a pattern from a dress in her collection, and for the Sheer Dress Background Notes; Elizabeth Bowling for editing the Background Notes; and Holly Turner of Holly’s Custom Sewing for testing the pattern and instructions. Thanks also to Catherine Bishop of Vintage Victorian for supplying period illustrations and descriptions; Barbara and Patri Pugliese; Nancy Rexford, costume historian and author of Women’s Shoes in America, 1795-1930; the Ohio Historical Society; the Western Reserve Historical Society; Evelyn Montgomery, curator of exhibits and collections at the Dallas Heritage Village; Virginia Mescher; K. Krewer; and Vicki Betts.
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Sizes included in this pattern – 08-26
Bust Sizes 32 ½ “ – 48”
Waist Sizes 24 ½ “- 40”
Hips Sizes 34 ½” – 50”
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Fabric Requirements using 45” wide:
Make the dress with the original skirt panel widths purchase:
9-3/4 yds. for sizes 8-14
10 yds. for sizes 16-20
10-5/8 yds. for sizes 22-26.

Make the dress with the full width purchase:
8 yds. for sizes 8-14
8-1/16 yds. for sizes 16-20
8-1/3 yds. for sizes 22-26.
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The pattern package contains Background Notes that describe sheer dresses, when they were worn and by whom, and the variety of linings used in sheer gowns. Sheer dress fabrics popular in the mid-nineteenth century are also described, with photographs and illustrations from Godey’s and Peterson’s magazines. Hook and eye tape, which was used to fasten the original bodice, is documented by patent records and advertising. Also included are the use of a “let-out” seam, a modern method of altering a pattern by increasing the bust, as well as instructions to fit the lining in a period manner using scrap fabric. In addition is a section on making and using a sewing brick, recommended by Miss Leslie’s Lady’s House-Book; a Manual of Domestic Economy (1855): “All manuta-makers and seamstresses should be provided with a brick pincushion. They can be made at a very trifling cost: and, with renewed coverings, will last twenty years or more” (385-6).

The patterns themselves come on 3 sheets of computer-generated sheets, 1 36”x54”, 1 36”x43” and 1 36”x60”.
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Our patterns are printed on 20 lb. white paper and packaged in a reusable plastic. We always attempt to offer the most reasonable shipping rates for domestic and international orders. Multi item purchases are automatically adjusted for combined shipping.
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See sizing chart in images.

Item will be shipped USPS Media Mail

When multiple items are ordered and paid for on the same check,

shipping discounts will be applied

Expedited shipments are available

Pattern developed by Saundra Ros Altman

From the Past Patterns website:

Our first goal, at Past Patterns, is to make patterns of existing antique garments from which you can make reproductions.

We do this with the hope that people will start creating and wearing reproductions instead of antique originals.

The clothes we wear and that our grandparents wore are part of our cultural history.

Just as you would not abuse antiques furniture by cutting off decorative trim, so you should not abuse antique garments by wearing them.

Our second goal is that you pick up a little bit of history when you sew the garment.

The fit, the cut, the fasteners, the fabric design, just to mention a few things, are part to the technology of the time.

Our third goal, in sewing the patterns, is to spark an interest in genealogy and local history.

Researching local history is always a rewarding pursuit.

SKU 0812

Thanks for looking!