A Journey to the Deck of The H.M.S Calcutta

For a long time now I have wanted to make the blue dress from James Tissot's painting The Gallery of H.M.S. Calcutta. A few months ago I got lucky and found many yards of semi-sheer blue cotton and decided I was going to make the dress and wear it for my birthday this year. With one thing and another I haven't gotten around to working on the dress until now.


I have also seen this painting titled as Remembrance Ball on Board c. 1877

  The first step to copying any gown is to try and glean as much information as possible from the picture or painting. Depending on the artist it can be impossible to figure out where seam lines lay or exactly what type of trim is used on the gown. In this case, I am relatively lucky as Tissot painted a surprising amount of construction detail.

Of course, this does not mean that there are no mysteries. The first puzzle for me is how these young ladies managed to wear corsets when the back of their bodices are cut so low. In all my research I have not found a single exitant gown that is cut in a similar fashion. So I was confined to trying to find an answer within Tissot's work. As I examined a large scale version of the painting I did see a line above the top of the bodice lining. 

When I first noticed this detail I thought that I was perhaps seeing the woman's corset. However, after closer examination I decided that it was the top of the sitter's combinations.

Since it is hard to see the undergarment, I theorized that the combinations are extremely lightweight. Much like this corset cover from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Corset Cover of Princess Mary of Teck
V&A: T.179-1973

So that is my first task. I am going to make a new pair of combinations out of linen. Luckily, I found some relatively cheap handkerchief linen on Ebay today. I have also decided that there is no way for me to cut the back as low as pictured and still wear any sort of corset. So, I am going to settle for cutting the back as low as possible while still covering my corset.