Making My Edwardian Bathing Dress

In this video I show how I made my Vintage Edwardian Bathing Suit with Folkwear Pattern 253. I had been wanting to make a Vintage Turn of the Century bathing suit for a while now, so making this dress fulfilled that dream. Support Me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/historicalbelle Step 1 was cutting out this pattern. This was my first time using the Folkwear pattern brand, and I really liked it. I actually mostly followed the pattern… which never happens. My boyfriend’s mom gifted me this pattern for Christmas and I’ve been planning on making it ever since then. For the fabric I chose this beautiful blue cotton and used white cotton for the collar and skirt waistband. Most of the time bathing costumes like these were made of wool, but I was not about to wear wool to the Gulf of Mexico in June. The pattern listed cotton as one of its suggested fabric, noting that original garments were made out of wool. But I just imagined wet wool with sand stuck to it and it was an unpleasant thought, and cotton was a nice light, cheap, alternative. I also used a cotton for the lining, but I only lined the front of the bodice. Because again, I’m wearing this to the Gulf of Mexico in June. I do value historical accuracy, but I’m making this dress just for fun and wearing it just for fun, so I want it to be comfortable. It still defiantly has that Edwardian “look”. I was really proud of how the black pleats turned out. There were a lot of pleats that went into this bathing dress. Of course I