Work Dress for the Victorian Lady.
What did the pioneer woman really wear?
Surely she was behind the times in style, she would not have worn the bustle or the crinoline....
surprisingly enough, even working women maintained some semblance of style,
as was appropriate to each time period. Just because a lady was at home in a rural area or otherwise worked for her living- fashion was not left behind, it was in many ways a status symbol.

At home for work a serviceable wrapper in wool, flannel or washing cottons would have been ideal.


Left to Right
1869 wrapper, 1880's wrapper, 1905 work dress


For some Victorian women the bodice/skirt combinations would have been more serviceable as a work dress due to the fact more bodices could be worn with a single skirt. However, this option would not be a "white shirtwaist" dark skirt- more often a calico print bodice and skirt might be seen. Many would also have a best dress or town dress made of a more durable fabric like alpaca, fine wool- some might even have a best black silk or farmer's satin(cotton sateen) gown for wear for church, funerals, weddings, and the like.
Here are some of the more "basic" photos in my collection.


A confusing photo the dress style is quite late 1830's but the photo and chair is more early 1870's


This style is early 1870's late 1860's the dress is very simple and somewhat shorter than normal-
this is often the sign of a rural woman's dress as she could not afford to have it ruined by the rough terrain.


A dress from the mid 1880's from Kansas- a very simple bodice and skirt relieved by the white cuffs and collar


this photo is likely from the mid 1870's the dressis quite plain-
the severity lessened by the bit of lace at the neckline.


This photo I have found in several books and is a confusing one to me- although I have found an abundance of similar sack jackets shown in a 1876 Butterick catalog. It is always listed as being taken on the prairie in Nebraska- or as an emigrant family. I believe it to be 1880's but have not put a definite date on it as of yet- notice she is not holding a sunbonnet but a straw hat.

A new idea from Shooting Star- this book on CD was put together as a companion book to our seminar No Lady of Leisure, but is very useable as a stand alone book. The information has been compiled into a PDF format that is readable with a free Adobe Acrobat download. As a special bonus, a slide show presentation of the dresses in Marna Jean's working woman collection is included- over 200 photos! In addition, there is no deciphering technological gibberish just to open files, because the CD automatically opens with an easy to use menu, shown below. 80 pages of hard to find information including period photos, quotations, illustrations and more!Covered are the working woman's home (wife and mother)and outside occupations(maids, nurses, businesswomen). Where else can you find information on the dress of the pioneer woman or homesteader? There are many extant "high fashion" gowns but many of those that were actually worn daily are long gone- get a glimpse of my special collection and of Victorian woman's version of casual/work wear. Either the CD or the class can technically stand by itself - what you don't get from the cd is the thought provoking questions/discussion of class- but most of the basic text is the same- I have added a few more things and re-arranged some stuff on the CD so they aren't total duplicates of each other- and you get alot more photos of my dresses with the CD- not resized so you get more detail than I could do in class because of upload times. Priced at $29.50

A few of the gowns from our private collection featured in our seminar and CD
L-R 1867 Wrapper, 1872 day dress, 1885 work gown, 1890's wrapper
We also offer a pattern for one of the natural form work gowns in our collection- the Allie
One of the Waists(blouse) from our Personal Collection


Home | Reference Room | Custom Clothing
Historical Clothing Seminars

Email Us