WWI Nurse's Uniform: The Dress

It wasn't only soldiers that went to war a hundred years ago. Thousands of New Zealand and Australian nurses went as well, serving anywhere from convalescent hospitals in England, to casualty clearing stations not 100 yards from the front line. Most nurses served through the New Zealand Army Nursing Service (NZANS) and the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), but some served through Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service and the Red Cross.

I have focused on making an AANS uniform, as thanks to the mini-series Anzac Girls, based on the book The Other Anzacs by Peter Reese, I managed to make a detailed study of the costumes made for it.

 The cast of Anzac Girls

The rest of my research showed a lot of variation in uniform styling, and I am yet to find a set of actual uniform guidelines for any of the nursing services, so as far as I know it was anything goes as long as it was tidy.

I had hoped to have the entire uniform finished by this Anzac Day, but working six days a week for the past two months hasn't left a lot of extra time for sewing. What I do have today though, is the finished underdress. It should be a darker shade of grey and the skirt isn't quite long enough due to fabric restrictions, but here we are. I ended up using Simplicity 9723 as a general base.

Getting there!

Four weeks later and it still only looks like this... but it's wearable now and only needs hemming so that's something. Now just to make the apron, capelet, and preferably a petticoat or two. But that is SO not going to get done before Anzac Day, as that's only six days away.

Well, the Gallipoli exhibition at Te Papa is going for four years to commemorate the duration of the war, so I guess I've got some time yet before I've completely missed the boat. Looking forward to going to see that actually.

I've started!

See, I've started the nurse's uniform! I'm not completely full of it!

Let's get this party started

THREE MONTHS?! Has it really been three months?? Right, that's it. I'm vowing to update this baby way more often than I have been. My day-job is boooooring and no one is hiring me for what I actually want to do, so I need another outlet for something I actually care about. Cue blog update!

Haven't actually made much lately, just one dress which I wore to a hen's party last weekend but didn't end up getting a decent photo of me in it, so will get on to that soon, promise. Also making the bridesmaid's dresses for wedding relating to said hen's party so that will be coming up on the blog soon too.

In the meantime though, I'm going to put something out to the universe. Every morning I walk through the construction site of Wellington's WW1 centenary Memorial Park on my way to work, and every morning I think "I would like to do something to mark this too". I love the Edwardian era, I love practical clothing, and I admire the working class of all ages. I'm going to make a WW1 nurse's uniform.

Inspired by the story Glory Days magazine did on the up-coming Anzac Girls mini-series to mark the Anzac Day Centenary, I bought the book the series is based on and started coveting the uniforms.

Judging by what I've researched so far, I reckon McCall's pattern M4548 will be a good base. 

A lot of the old photos of the nurses have high collars, but that would be so uncomfortable and I've seen enough photos will flat collars that I reckon it'll still be legit. Here are some of my favourite images: 

The famous Violet Jessop

Queen Mary with Princess Mary

"A New Zealand Army nurse wearing an indoor uniform", Australian War Memorial archives

Some of the cast of Anzac Girls

The cast of Anzac Sisters, a play by Geoff Allen

It's just a pity I can't study the costumes in action from the series itself, as I'm pretty sure it probably doesn't screen until Anzac Day.

Edwardian Mad

I don't mean to cheat on my beloved Downton Abbey, but I've recently discovered Mr Selfridge, which has sent me even more Edwardian-crazy. I'm particularly a fan of Agnes' sailor-collar work dress: 

...And Mrs Selfridge's floaty lace get-ups. 

Not to mention all the gorgeous A-line and bell-shaped skirts. No doubt you'll see my own versions here in the future. In brief other news, I made a party frock to wear to a wedding in November out of the remainder of the fabric from the Edwardian evening dress I made recently. Didn't even need any extra! Think I made the neckline a tad too low but I'm sure my reputation will survive. 

Back to Edwardian-ness - I've been wanting an excuse to incorporate into some ensemble these yummy vintage French made gloves that were given to me by my rad pseudo-mum-in-law.

I was down the Sallies one day and found a huge gorgeous cream brocade curtain. That baby swiftly came home with me and got paired with said gloves, hat, buttons and of course pattern from the late-teens. 

And I've already got this far, because when I get into something I'm like a runaway train...

It just needs back fastenings and possibly some trimming. Notice the darling apron and headpiece with the maid's uniform? Pretty stoked how they turned out. (Ignore the beads, that's just where they live at the moment). Better Half and I joke that I should don the outfit to do our housework. 

The hat in the picture above was also a Sallies score, but it's a little too small. But as I never concede defeat with such things I decided to fix it. Token before photo: 

I picked off the satin ribbon as well as the crown-lining ribbon in hopes to stretch it out, as the weave of the hat is on the bias. So I stretched it over this bowl and gave it a good seeing-to with steam from my iron. 

This should give it more of a cloche shape. I'll see in the morning how well it holds it's bowl-shape, and maybe give it a go over with hairspray or something and see how that helps. Once I'm happy with it I'll return the satin ribbon. And one of these days I should actually take some photos of me IN a dress! 

Evening Edwardian progress

I'm really enjoying making this dress, and am already pretty much on to the finishing touches. Here is a photo taken the other day of how the bodice was coming along:

I was going to take some more photos after some delicate hand-stitching:

But then the cat decided that she thought the dress looked rather comfortable.

So that's that for the time being.

Brooch dress finished ft. I would really like a new bloody camera

I am yet to try it on, but I've finished the 1913 brown velvet day dress designed around the Belgian brooch! Here we are:

Rubbish photo of my brown velvet day dress from 1913

Next on the agenda is a 1909-1913 evening dress from the Laughing Moon Mercantile pattern I recently bought:

Laughing Moon Mercantile pattern #104

I'm going to use some of the fabric I bought in Samoa, and it's going to look vaguely something like this:

Rubbish photo of my plans for an Edwardian evening dress

If I don't have enough left over I may have to try and source some more...as I have another plan for this fabric, and I'm torn between the two. I'll make this first, and see how much I have left :)

The Brooch Dress Begins

I made one more simple dress, a pattern from 1931, before I started on something more meaty.

If you'll remember from a few posts ago I was trying to decide which bigger project to start with, and I've decided to start with a teens gown, for the gorgeous 100-year-old brooch from Bulgaria to go with.

It's going to be reminiscent of this gown of Cora's from Downton Abbey:

Here are the beginnings of it.

The guimpe (neckline insert) is made from some offcuts of lace from a wedding dress I made a couple of years ago (I throw NOTHING away), and the body of the dress is a deep chocolate brown stretch velvet. I am as yet unsure how I will embellish it, I just want to get the shape right first. Then, I'm sure there will be plenty of others following in its wake!

Also, as a final treat before I become a poor student, I bought myself a few more patterns. You can tell I'm Edwardian-mad at the moment, can't you?

Lady of Leisure

Sorry for the huge absence, folks! But I've now quit my job and have a few weeks off before my vet nursing course starts and I plan to make the most of it! To get back into the swing of things as I'm sure I've gotten a little rusty, I've started small...

...With this dress from 1958.

...This blouse a la Isobel Crawley from Downton Abbey.

...This dress from the late 40's.

...And this dress from 1922.

Apologies for the quality of the photos, my camera's a piece of shit!

I actually spent my first week off in Samoa, where cheap fabric is plentiful. I bought some beautiful maroon lace and embroidered satin intended for a yummy Edwardian gown at some stage, and a bunch of Pacifica-inspired prints (most are made in Thailand, but that's not the point). Also featuring in the photo below is Samoa's own beer Vailima, and it's bloody nice actually. The Export Lager was my favourite, and at 6.7% it's got quite a kick!

I may do one more little project before I start on something more epic, but I haven't yet decided what that will be. I keep changing my mind!