Issue 4 - Civil War / Victorian Collaboration - Scarlett's Wedding Dress by Sata & Haykush Designs
- BbeautyDesigns
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Scarlett's Wedding Dress
By Sata & Haykush Designs
Having seen many fashion shows, I knew one thing, a collection is not a collection without a wedding dress! The dress Scarlett O'Hara wears on her rushed Spring 1861 wedding day to Charles Hamilton is her mother's out-of-fashion wedding dress from the 1830's. Since we are covering a broader Victorian era in our collection, I thought what a nice bonus to add an 1830's Victorian style dress to this collection.
This dress is one of Scarlett O'Hara's outfits that's largely overlooked. While you have probably seen many Prayer and BBQ dresses made for 18" dolls, I doubt that you've seen many or any Scarlett O'Hara wedding dresses made for 18" dolls. And, in my opinion, this dress deserves the spotlight.
Scarlett O'Hara's wedding dress is very representative of where Victorian era really started, with Queen Victoria. In the book the dress is described as a white satin gown with oversized leg-of-mutton (gigot) sleeves that were puffy at the shoulders and narrow at the wrists, trimmed with over 150 delicate silk leaves.
I knew exactly what pattern to use for this dress - "Molly" pattern by Pemberley Threads! So, that was a good start, but then I needed to find the right fabric and trim. I was very successful in my search; I found a beautiful medium-weight silk satin and unique embroidered Venice lace with grape leaves motif and 3-D grapes hanging. Making this dress required a lot of hand stitching, as all the trim had to be sewn to the dress by hand. I also added some pearls to the trim. The bodice and the skirt are fully lined with cotton fabric. I used buttons in the back for closure instead of snaps.
Scarlett was wearing gloves as well, so I made a pair from a matching color Lycra and used the fingered doll gloves' pattern by Ann Van Doren Designs. I accessorized the dress with a tulle veil and a pearl necklace with earrings that I made specifically for this dress.
The style of this dress is not full like the later fashions of the Victorian era, but I still added a mesh underskirt (crinoline) to give the skirt a little bit of volume. The crinoline was made out of stiff mesh fabric with a cotton waistband and embroidered Venice lace trim added onto the bottom. A velcro closure was added to close at the waist.
When I was doing my research on what kind of shoes Victorian brides would wear, I found some information on the style of booties that Queen Victoria wore on her wedding day.
This inspired me to do a little experiment with Heather's Victorian Button Boots in Cream. It was such a fun little project, and I was so thrilled with the results that I decided to make a little tutorial to share with you on how to make Victorian wedding booties!
The drawers pictured above (pantaloons) were made using an 1860's Victorian Unmentionables pattern by Thimbles and Acorns and the stockings were made using a Swish & Swirl pattern. I went light with the undergarments, as I didn't want to add any
more bulk to the top, so just the drawers and stockings. The above picture shows the finished wedding booties.
Tutorial on how these booties were made from Bbeauty Doll's original Victorian Cream Boots can be found below for download:
How to find me:
Facebook: Sata & Haykush Designs
Instagram: @satahaykushdesigns
The wedding dress featured in this newsletter will be available to purchase through the links below:
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