Victoria's New Cycling Costume
As many of us know, young ladies of Victoria's era were fascinated with bicycles. Cycling as a new sport grew in popularity throughout the late 1800's, becoming quite a fashion challenge for anyone who wore petticoats.
Please see the red letter Guidelines below. Thank you.
A few solutions were offered, among them, the one you see here. Some cycling skirts were more like our 1970's palazzo pants, but shorter. These wore like skirts, yet were split like pants for greater ease when cycling. Another design called for "bloomers," or knee length puffy pants, underneath a fairly full mid calf skirt. The more daring cycling outfits designed for women involved no skirt at all, and left the bloomers, along with a blouse under a jacket. Almost every official cycling outfit designed for girls and women during that era wore like a suit. The jacket almost always matched the skirt. The blouse or "shirtwaist" had a stiff, high collar and long sleeves. Often, young women wore manly looking ties over such blouses.
The more daring cycling outfits designed for women involved no skirt at all, which left just the bloomers, the blouse with jacket, and the tie. These more manly-looking outfits were frowned upon by most mothers, of course. Footwear for cycling involved high ankles, with or without "gaiters."
The hats seem almost like uniform items, too. I suppose that we could call them "boaters," for they resemble those flat topped, stiff straw hats often worn aboard yachts and at the seaside. Men wore such hats, too, which is why many barbershop quartet singers wear them today.
There was a more utilitarian use for the bicycle, of course. All was not merely for the sheer enjoyment of cycling through a pretty landscape. Working women could bicycle to and from work, provided they remained sedate and ladylike throughout, and kept their skirts clear of the ground without showing too much ankle.
Victoria's outfit is both prim and proper, if a little daring due to its shorter than average skirt.
The outfit was found online in the public domain, and yet had to be altered and upgraded considerably. Plus, I've added all 5 hair colors, each with its own copy of the hat. This outfit has taken several hours of work to complete. I am still a bit puzzled as to the difference between the two handlebars, and yet have decided to post it anyway.
The Hat Tab (included with the download), as per usual, needs to be glued to the reverse of the hat for the best fit. I like to recommend a tiny dab of Uhu Stick (or any other good quality glue stick) at the very top between the two pieces, only adding further little dabs as you go, until the hat is truly stable.
Happy Playtime Creativity!
As many of us know, young ladies of Victoria's era were fascinated with bicycles. Cycling as a new sport grew in popularity throughout the late 1800's, becoming quite a fashion challenge for anyone who wore petticoats.
Please see the red letter Guidelines below. Thank you.
A few solutions were offered, among them, the one you see here. Some cycling skirts were more like our 1970's palazzo pants, but shorter. These wore like skirts, yet were split like pants for greater ease when cycling. Another design called for "bloomers," or knee length puffy pants, underneath a fairly full mid calf skirt. The more daring cycling outfits designed for women involved no skirt at all, and left the bloomers, along with a blouse under a jacket. Almost every official cycling outfit designed for girls and women during that era wore like a suit. The jacket almost always matched the skirt. The blouse or "shirtwaist" had a stiff, high collar and long sleeves. Often, young women wore manly looking ties over such blouses.
The more daring cycling outfits designed for women involved no skirt at all, which left just the bloomers, the blouse with jacket, and the tie. These more manly-looking outfits were frowned upon by most mothers, of course. Footwear for cycling involved high ankles, with or without "gaiters."
The hats seem almost like uniform items, too. I suppose that we could call them "boaters," for they resemble those flat topped, stiff straw hats often worn aboard yachts and at the seaside. Men wore such hats, too, which is why many barbershop quartet singers wear them today.
There was a more utilitarian use for the bicycle, of course. All was not merely for the sheer enjoyment of cycling through a pretty landscape. Working women could bicycle to and from work, provided they remained sedate and ladylike throughout, and kept their skirts clear of the ground without showing too much ankle.
Victoria's outfit is both prim and proper, if a little daring due to its shorter than average skirt.
The outfit was found online in the public domain, and yet had to be altered and upgraded considerably. Plus, I've added all 5 hair colors, each with its own copy of the hat. This outfit has taken several hours of work to complete. I am still a bit puzzled as to the difference between the two handlebars, and yet have decided to post it anyway.
The Hat Tab (included with the download), as per usual, needs to be glued to the reverse of the hat for the best fit. I like to recommend a tiny dab of Uhu Stick (or any other good quality glue stick) at the very top between the two pieces, only adding further little dabs as you go, until the hat is truly stable.
Happy Playtime Creativity!
PPSPlaytime™: Victoria's New Cycling Outfit
Download HERE
Display version
(lower quality than the download)
©RHMcGuinn as are all of the rest of the Paper Dolls, outfits, rooms, Scenes and Accessories, including standards.
Thanks for the courtesy.
Guidelines
You are free to:
play with, give or trade
this paper doll outfit.
You are not free to:
ever sell it as is or in a set.
Otherwise
you'd be selling my time and work.
Thank you
for helping me to
keep free things free!
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