A friend recently gave me a regency dress she wasn't happy with. The reason was quickly discovered and is one of the most common difficulties when sewing for this period: the front skirt part didn't fit at all. The tricky part is to keep it as flat as possible while still putting enough fabric to the front to keep it from clinging to your belly but not making you look pregnant - which requires shaping the top edge a bit.
So first step: undo the front half of the waist seam and the side seams, as well as the hem which will also have to be adjusted. The upper edge of the front skirt piece is cut out in a slight curve, the sides are cut slightly at an angle. This helps to keep the front flat because this slightly trapezoide shape gives more fabric at the hem where it's needed while keeping the upper part as smooth as possible without adding bulk. Two small tucks (one under each breast) also help. I also had to take a little width out of the bodice, taking in the side seams beneath the sleeves, then closed the side seams again. Always check if the pleated back part of the skirt doesn't come too far to the front, which would ruin the silhouette. Which it didn't do here, so I could adjust the hem and finish a very practical day dress. It can be worn without any kind of undergarments (like corset or even bust-shaping shift) thus being the perfect choice for summer reenactments. Yay again to me being a stick figure :D
Monday 9 December 2019
Thursday 30 May 2019
Green regency hat
If you happen to find a woven golf visor straw hat, buy ten of them, they make lovely regency hats! I found one with a hatband matching my dress which I hastily decorated for a first outing, then took apart, shaped properly and decorated anew.
The crown is rather flat, as it's designed to be worn as sun protection and flat on your head. I beribboned it and during the first trip discovered a few flaws due to this shape.
It doesn't sit on your head tight enough, and tends to slip up or down depending on where on the back of your head your hairdo is. Plus it just looks like a golf visor hat repurposed. So once back, I set myself to do the thing properly. Which meant stripping it of five hours' worth of hand-stitched-on trimming, moistening the crown (spray with water, inside and outside) and putting it into a flower pot for shaping :D You take what you can get... Make sure to remove all ribbons, sweatbands etc., you want just the plain straw weave.
Let dry over night and you'll get a nice, cone-shaped crown, still flexible enough to fit to your head. The bottom of the crown can remain round or you can flatten it once the actual size has been determined.
Put this on as you would the finished hat, if possible with updone hair so you discover where it sits perfectly. Sew a plain cotton ribbon around right where the brim starts to retain this size. If you like, you can flatten the back of the crown by moistening it again and pressing it flat. I just put it on the floor and put a bottle into the crown. Simple as that.
In the meantime, buy a properly shaped hat at a reenactment because you lose your patience and need sun protection...
I sewed the previous green hatband back on (invisible stitches), as well as the satin ribbons. All that's missing now are the proper pictures ;)
The crown is rather flat, as it's designed to be worn as sun protection and flat on your head. I beribboned it and during the first trip discovered a few flaws due to this shape.
Let dry over night and you'll get a nice, cone-shaped crown, still flexible enough to fit to your head. The bottom of the crown can remain round or you can flatten it once the actual size has been determined.
Put this on as you would the finished hat, if possible with updone hair so you discover where it sits perfectly. Sew a plain cotton ribbon around right where the brim starts to retain this size. If you like, you can flatten the back of the crown by moistening it again and pressing it flat. I just put it on the floor and put a bottle into the crown. Simple as that.
In the meantime, buy a properly shaped hat at a reenactment because you lose your patience and need sun protection...
I sewed the previous green hatband back on (invisible stitches), as well as the satin ribbons. All that's missing now are the proper pictures ;)
Tuesday 12 February 2019
Scottish robe à l'Anglaise
I had been toying with the idea of making a dress from this crazy tartan design just for the sake of having an absurd dress. In the end it came out not so absurd at all!
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| Fabric for: Regency dress, Anglaise and Francaise |
Scottish robe à la Francaise
Another liveroleplay upcoming, Jacobite Scotland this time! Time for yet another Francaise after my tried pattern. Only if you use it for a Francaise instead of a Piemontaise (as I did last time), bear in mind that you'll have to cut the part for the Watteau pleats at an angle, or you'll end up with not very nice pleats that make a perfectionist undo the complete back part to set in gores to get proper pleats. The fabric is a light cotton tartan weave, and six metres were just enough for the robe and the decoration. If you want to have the skirt underneath made from the same fabric, buy at least 8 metres or more for skirt decoration.
The sleeves have two flounces, and two rows of lace underneath. Again, used the usual pinking shears method. Getting a pro in this...
The bodice is fitted with no back lacing as the earlier Francaises would have. The top fabric is sewn to the lining right along the watteau pleats.Make sure you cut the Watteau part at an angle or the pleats won't fall nicely.
And here came the moment when I realized I'd have to make a quick pannier-bumroll because the one I wore for the Piemontaise doesn't work with the pleating of a Francaise... Why do I keep encountering unexpected problems no matter how many years of experience I have?
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| Fabric raid: Regency dress, Anglaise and Francaise |
The sleeves have two flounces, and two rows of lace underneath. Again, used the usual pinking shears method. Getting a pro in this...
The bodice is fitted with no back lacing as the earlier Francaises would have. The top fabric is sewn to the lining right along the watteau pleats.Make sure you cut the Watteau part at an angle or the pleats won't fall nicely.
And here came the moment when I realized I'd have to make a quick pannier-bumroll because the one I wore for the Piemontaise doesn't work with the pleating of a Francaise... Why do I keep encountering unexpected problems no matter how many years of experience I have?
Wednesday 24 October 2018
Robe à la Piemontaise
The tailor's dilemma: What does this fabric want to become?
I made a victorian summer daydress for a friend early this year and bought all they had of this striped fabric with the intention of a) getting a better price, and b) making another dress for myself. The striped cotton would look lovely as a Francaise, the pleats would drape nicely, but on the other hand I'd love to drape the skirt into a polonaise style which to me looks weird with paniers and Watteau pleats and thus requires an Anglaise.
The answer to the dilemma: a robe à la Piemontaise, which combines the advantages of a Francaise (the Watteau pleats) with those of an Anglaise (can be draped into a faux Polonaise). Plus I've seen period pictures of draped Piemontaises but not a single draped Francaise.
There are excellent tutorials on Koshka's website, as well as on Isis' website. My version is to be worn over paniers with a violet underskirt, or draped Polonaise-style with a different underskirt over a bumroll. Two different skirts because for paniers, the sides of the skirt have to be longer to make for an even hemline when worn. If you loop up the gown it doesn't matter if it's actually cut to fit over paniers.
And I still have enough fabric left to make a victorian bustle gown...
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The cut of the slightly boned bodice follows a Francaise pattern from Norah Waugh's "The Cut of Women's Clothes", as does the petal-shape edge of the engageants. I cut them with the same pinking-edge-scissor-trick I used for the flounce of my striped skirt, deto the ruffle that decorates the front edge of the robe. The lace beneath the engageants is machine-embroidered cotton lace, matching the colour chart for this dress. It's good quality, so the embroidery doesn't look machine-made on first and second sight.
The stomacher consists of one layer of buckram with five lengths of boning sewn on, then covered with top fabric and lining which is closed at the top back. It's the same fabric as the Francaise petticoat and imitates the ribbon closing very common in pictures of Mme de Pompadour but is completely detachable, the ribbons look as if they were closing the robe but are merely decoration.
The ribbons were sewn to the edge, then tied into bows and fixated to the stomacher with a few invisible stitches as they're not meant to open. The edge trimming consists of two rows of pre-pleated ribbon zig-zagged together, two rows of lace sewn on top and a length of slender ribbon, slightly curled, stitched on top to cover up any machine seams. I also made some silk flies in violet and cream that I have to put somewhere...
The complete front edge of the robe is decorated with a self-fabric ruffle (take care to cut striped fabric across so you get horizontal stripes) and the same decoration in its centre as on the stomacher - pleated ribbon, lace, curled satin ribbon.
The petticoat for wearing the robe Francaise-style is decorated with a ruffled strip of self-fabric along the hemline and a length of pleated ribbon (I thought I had bought ten metres but it seems it was one of those occasions when I say "oh, you know, I'll take the whole package".)
Assembling the back part of a Piemontaise is a bit tricky. Attach both side parts of the skirt to the bodice. Then attach to the skirt the centre back part that's to be pleated. Mark where it meets the lowest edge of the bodice and sew the part above this into a tube. At the lower end of it make a T-cut that goes edge to edge with the bodice, the rest above is pleated and sewn to the neckline. Those pleats should fall freely but not slacken around where skirt and bodice meet. All I can say is that I love my tailor's dummy!
A not very good shot of the beta-version I wore to the last rococo ball, taking pictures inside was forbidden unless you were the official photographer. Actually this dress wouldn't be a ballgown but rather a nice summer dress - but considering that figuring out the pattern took ten times longer than planned and thus time was short (again) it was good enough.
I made a victorian summer daydress for a friend early this year and bought all they had of this striped fabric with the intention of a) getting a better price, and b) making another dress for myself. The striped cotton would look lovely as a Francaise, the pleats would drape nicely, but on the other hand I'd love to drape the skirt into a polonaise style which to me looks weird with paniers and Watteau pleats and thus requires an Anglaise.
The answer to the dilemma: a robe à la Piemontaise, which combines the advantages of a Francaise (the Watteau pleats) with those of an Anglaise (can be draped into a faux Polonaise). Plus I've seen period pictures of draped Piemontaises but not a single draped Francaise.
There are excellent tutorials on Koshka's website, as well as on Isis' website. My version is to be worn over paniers with a violet underskirt, or draped Polonaise-style with a different underskirt over a bumroll. Two different skirts because for paniers, the sides of the skirt have to be longer to make for an even hemline when worn. If you loop up the gown it doesn't matter if it's actually cut to fit over paniers.
And I still have enough fabric left to make a victorian bustle gown...
----------
The cut of the slightly boned bodice follows a Francaise pattern from Norah Waugh's "The Cut of Women's Clothes", as does the petal-shape edge of the engageants. I cut them with the same pinking-edge-scissor-trick I used for the flounce of my striped skirt, deto the ruffle that decorates the front edge of the robe. The lace beneath the engageants is machine-embroidered cotton lace, matching the colour chart for this dress. It's good quality, so the embroidery doesn't look machine-made on first and second sight.
The stomacher consists of one layer of buckram with five lengths of boning sewn on, then covered with top fabric and lining which is closed at the top back. It's the same fabric as the Francaise petticoat and imitates the ribbon closing very common in pictures of Mme de Pompadour but is completely detachable, the ribbons look as if they were closing the robe but are merely decoration.
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| Unadorned stomacher |
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| Decorated version |
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| Ribbon with lace on top... |
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| ...topped off with satin ribbon |
The ribbons were sewn to the edge, then tied into bows and fixated to the stomacher with a few invisible stitches as they're not meant to open. The edge trimming consists of two rows of pre-pleated ribbon zig-zagged together, two rows of lace sewn on top and a length of slender ribbon, slightly curled, stitched on top to cover up any machine seams. I also made some silk flies in violet and cream that I have to put somewhere...
The complete front edge of the robe is decorated with a self-fabric ruffle (take care to cut striped fabric across so you get horizontal stripes) and the same decoration in its centre as on the stomacher - pleated ribbon, lace, curled satin ribbon.
The petticoat for wearing the robe Francaise-style is decorated with a ruffled strip of self-fabric along the hemline and a length of pleated ribbon (I thought I had bought ten metres but it seems it was one of those occasions when I say "oh, you know, I'll take the whole package".)
Assembling the back part of a Piemontaise is a bit tricky. Attach both side parts of the skirt to the bodice. Then attach to the skirt the centre back part that's to be pleated. Mark where it meets the lowest edge of the bodice and sew the part above this into a tube. At the lower end of it make a T-cut that goes edge to edge with the bodice, the rest above is pleated and sewn to the neckline. Those pleats should fall freely but not slacken around where skirt and bodice meet. All I can say is that I love my tailor's dummy!
A not very good shot of the beta-version I wore to the last rococo ball, taking pictures inside was forbidden unless you were the official photographer. Actually this dress wouldn't be a ballgown but rather a nice summer dress - but considering that figuring out the pattern took ten times longer than planned and thus time was short (again) it was good enough.
Monday 1 October 2018
Fingerless mittens
I had yarn left that I wanted to use up, and I wanted an upper-class pair of mittens for rococo and regency, so I found myself some nice sock pattern (there's plenty of them!) that I adapted for mittens.
For the edge, I used the Bintje pattern from https://www.ravelry.com/, the pattern of the mittens being DROPS design: model nr. FA-146 from the German knitting page www.garnstudio.com.
The pattern is pretty easy to knit if you have a bit of experience, as it's logic and repetitive. Don't forget the counting, though ;)
For the edge, I used the Bintje pattern from https://www.ravelry.com/, the pattern of the mittens being DROPS design: model nr. FA-146 from the German knitting page www.garnstudio.com.
The pattern is pretty easy to knit if you have a bit of experience, as it's logic and repetitive. Don't forget the counting, though ;)
Monday 24 September 2018
Jacket and skirt
The fabric combination might seem familiar, it's bedding from Ikea. The striped fabric was the blanket cover, it's going to be an ankle-length skirt with ruching. The Indian-import-style flower cotton were the pillowcases, and having a very limited amount of fabric here, I decided for a short caraco jacket, decorated with - Guess! - fly fringe, as I just discovered how addictive it is to make it. See the post on fly fringe trim for any tips and how-to's.
As to the skirt support, here's a very helpful site to discern what shape was fashionable in what decade and how to achieve it: http://demodecouture.com/late-18th-century-skirt-supports/
The 18th century wasn't all Robe à la Francaise and paniers, during the 1770s there was also a fashion featuring shorter skirts and rounded hips, which I used as a model for this dress.
I have no pinking irons yet to make round pinked edges, and neither was I able to find craft scissors which give the desired edge and are strong enough to cut fabric, so I used the zigzag ones instead and cut a tiny bit off the points with a normal pair of scissors. They appear rounded now, and no one's going that close to my skirt seams anyway.
Pinking irons have the advantage that they press the fibres and the edge is slightly less prone to fraying, but I'll just give it a try.
The ruches measure a bit more than twice the hem circumfence.
The jacket was actually intended to be a caraco until I figured that I don't have enough of the fabric and went for a shorter jacket pattern.
As to the skirt support, here's a very helpful site to discern what shape was fashionable in what decade and how to achieve it: http://demodecouture.com/late-18th-century-skirt-supports/
The 18th century wasn't all Robe à la Francaise and paniers, during the 1770s there was also a fashion featuring shorter skirts and rounded hips, which I used as a model for this dress.
I have no pinking irons yet to make round pinked edges, and neither was I able to find craft scissors which give the desired edge and are strong enough to cut fabric, so I used the zigzag ones instead and cut a tiny bit off the points with a normal pair of scissors. They appear rounded now, and no one's going that close to my skirt seams anyway.
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| pointed zigzag versus almost-rounded zigzag |
Pinking irons have the advantage that they press the fibres and the edge is slightly less prone to fraying, but I'll just give it a try.
The ruches measure a bit more than twice the hem circumfence.
The jacket was actually intended to be a caraco until I figured that I don't have enough of the fabric and went for a shorter jacket pattern.
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