19th Century, Historical Fashion, Jane Austen Evening, Regency, Sewing Pattern

Jane Austen Evening and Laughing Moon #138

January 29, 2023

Dancing is back! Last night I attended the Jane Austen Evening (my second large event in the same month!). Dances were danced, cookies were eaten, photos were took.

I used Laughing Moon pattern #138 for my dress, with long stays (#LM115) and a bodiced petticoat (#LM132) underneath. Seriously, you can’t go wrong with Laughing Moon Regency patterns! They are high quality with great instructions, they sew up beautifully and work together well.

I was aiming for c.1820 for this ensemble, and the pattern worked perfectly for that. It has the slightly lower waistline and the trapezoidal (a-line) skirt emblematic of the decade. I made Renaissance inspired puffy sleeves with sleeve puffs, which were really the only tricky part of the dress, but the instructions laid out the process clearly.

The sleeves get individually faced and turned, similar to bound buttonholes, and then the gathered puffs get whipped in by hand to the openings. I did add an additional flatlining of my thin taffeta after the puffs were inserted, both to act as more support and to protect the underside of the sleeve from getting my hands caught in the openings.

The backside of my main fabric has lots of delicate “floats” from the weave design and I needed a little more oomph to the body of the skirt, so rather than making a separate petticoat (in addition to the bodiced petticoat) I opted to fully line the skirt with more cream taffeta. I honestly hate dealing with how many layers are involved with historical costuming (oops? I don’t think I’m supposed to admit that) and a lining both protects the skirt and simplifies things for me. I prefer lining modern dresses and skirts to wearing slips, too.

Inspiration dress from c.1818-1822
https://agreeabletyrant.dar.org/gallery/1810s/figured-silk-sarsnet-dress/

Other details: I lowered the neckline of the “low” neckline an additional 1″, shortened the skirt 2″, and added drawstrings to the neckline and the waist. The bustpoint is a little high on me, so if I make this again I’ll lower the dart point 1″ and maybe split the dart into 2.

Wig: Styled by me; Jewelry: Monet; Reticule, Shoes, Gloves: Amazon

*, 19th Century, Jane Austen Evening, Sewing

One Step at a Time

January 18, 2023

I’m in the middle of sewing a new Regency dress right now for our local Jane Austen Evening. (Yay, it’s back after the world’s multi-year hiatus!) I’m excited to have a new dress for one of my favorite events, it’s coming along ok, but I keep getting overwhelmed by it. It’s not the biggest project and I haven’t hit any major problems, but I do need to have it finished in the next 10 days and I hate sewing to deadlines. (When I wrote that sentence I almost jumped up from my computer to go work on it again because it stressed me out.)

It’s REALLY REALLY easy to get overwhelmed working on a big costume project. Not only is there lots of sewing to do, but you have to think of all the other styling elements – hair, shoes, jewelry, makeup, stockings, gloves, a fan, a reticule…my mind is spinning. And like I said, this isn’t even the biggest costume project. How to handle all that?

I like lists. A lot. In fact, I’m going to grab a 3×5 card in a second to write down that list of things I need to have. It’s easy to let those little things sit until the last second, but then it’s too late to, say, replace your worn out gloves or get a new fan. So I need to check on all those things while I still have time to do something about them and chuck them all in a box to keep them together until the event.

Then it’s back to sewing. It’s stressing me out, and I’ve put together loads of garments that are similar to this. The problem isn’t the project, it’s my brain. I’m trying to do the project on Easy Mode – I’m working with a great pattern (Laughing Moon #138) and not deviating from the pattern too much. I know which steps are likely to take much longer than one would expect (sleeves, I’m looking at you), and trying to budget enough time for those. But still, my mind keeps jumping ahead to all the zillion little steps that go into a project like this.

The thing is, though, you can only work on one thing at a time. It’s silly to worry about the sleeves while working on the bodice, or about the skirt while working on the sleeves. I can’t do anything about those sections yet and I’ll get to them in time. The thing that is helping me the most is to put those future parts out of my mind and to focus on what’s in front of me RIGHT NOW. Gather the sleeve caps. Sew the underarm. Attach the cuff. Finish the cuff. Attach sleeve to dress. Each of these steps will take as long as they take, and I can’t do the next thing until the last one is finished. So don’t worry about all that. Just do one step at a time.

*Laughing Moon #138, under construction*

*, 19th Century, Historical Fashion, Outings, pattern, Regency

Little White Regency Dress

May 24, 2019

When I was writing up my post about my green Regency spencer, I wanted to link to a post about my Little White Regency Dress, but realized I had started it but never published it! oops. 🙂

I have wanted a white Regency dress for years and years, and last year finally got around to making one. I love having basic pieces that can be styled different ways, and I think I’ve maximized this one to the utmost!

I used Past Patterns #031, and it definitely lived up to the hype. This is such a good style, and I see why the pattern is so popular. It goes together well, is comfortable, and flattering on just about everyone.

Saundra Ros Altman’s Past Patterns #031: Circa 1796-1806 Lewis & Clark Era: Empire Gown

My version is made with rayon, which is a little drapey but is nice and lightweight. Not HA, but I’ve never yet had anyone comment that the fiber isn’t accurate to the period. It’s hard to tell in these photos, but it’s a white on white stripe, which gives it a little character without being distracting.

Jane Austen Evening, Pasadena, January 2018

You can see now why I wanted a little white dress! Just by changing up my accessories, I can have a dramatically different look. It’s a perfect blank canvas for all kinds of styles, for daytime or evening.

*, 19th Century, Historical Fashion, pattern, Regency

Green Regency Spencer

May 22, 2019

I have projects to share! I’ve been working on so many other things lately (like the new Bon Voyage Sewing Podcast!) that I’ve gotten a little behind on updating this blog. So now I have a little catch up to do!

In my last post I showed how to fit a bodice, and today I want to share the “finished” jacket! “Finished” gets quotes because it is wearable, but I plan to endlessly add trim to it. And maybe closures, so I don’t have to use safety pins every time I wear it. 😉

Green Regency-era spencer first worn to the Jane Austen Spring Assembly with the Historical Tea and Dance Society.

I made this green spencer using Fig Leaf Pattern #216 for the body and Laughing Moon #130 for the sleeves. I decided to simplify the sleeves because I had a limited amount of fabric and time, and really wanted to focus on the trim. It’s green silk taffeta, lined with brown silk taffeta, and interlined with linen to give it a nice body/weight. The collar is machine tailored, and I did the trim on it before sewing it together because it was easier.

I made self rouleaux trim by hand, which is absolutely nuts, but also looks great. I only managed to get the collar trim done for its first outing, but I plan to add more over time to the front, back, and sleeves. It will probably take me YEARS to finish! If I ever do!

Joining bias strips, using receipt paper as a stabilizer

*, Fitting, Historical Fashion, pattern, Regency, Sewing

How to Fit a Bodice

February 15, 2019

Last night I started fitting a late Regency-era spencer, and I snapped some photos of the process. I LOVE fitting. It’s my favorite part of sewing, but of course fitting on one’s self is hard. I use my Uniquely You foam dress form with stays and all the underpinnings to fit garments for myself, and it works really well, even better than the dress form does for modern clothes. (But at least modern clothes have fewer foundation garments, so fitting on myself is a little easier/faster.)

I’m using the Fig Leaf Patterns® 216 Velvet Spencer, c. 1818 pattern, which I’ve admired since I first spotted it. So far I like it quite a bit – pieces seem to match, thorough instructions, etc. These fitting changes in my photos have nothing to do with the quality of the pattern – they are quite minimal fit adjustments and are normal for fitting any garment to a unique body. (My only complaint is that she doesn’t do PDF patterns, which means I don’t get my instant gratification and have to wait a week after ordering for the pattern to arrive!)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/616096838/fig-leaf-patterns-216-velvet-spencer-c?ref=shop_home_active_20&crt=1

I cut out a size 12 mockup based on the size chart and pinned it together to do a quick check, and it’s the right size. The back looks good, but the front needs a little help. This is just the back and 2 fronts, no other pieces are involved yet.

Step 1: Align Center Front. To do this, I unpinned the dart, put CF where it should be, and redraped the dart. You can see this created a little gapping at the neckline.

Step 2: To eliminate the gapping, I unpinned the shoulder seam and smoothed it out and repinned, which means the front and back shoulder seams are out of alignment, so I’ll have to add more to the front neckline to true that up. (looking at the photos, I realized I could have pinched out that excess like a dart, and then removed the excess from the pattern. I might go back and do that, because it’s probably easier than futzing with the neckline.)

Step 3: After addressing the CF alignment in step one and the shoulder/neckline in step 2, it’s time to look at the armhole. There was quite a bit of strain and the armhole is too far back for me (because I have terrible 21st century posture, not the shoulders WAY back posture of the early 19th century). So I redrew the armhole and clipped the curve to release the tension. There is still a little strain, but I don’t want to go too far at this stage. I’ll check it again in my fashion fabric, and I might interface the body to keep that shape and prevent it from collapsing.

Step 4: I futzed with the dart a bit more and called it good. I’ll probably drape that dart on my form when I get to that stage in my real fabric.

I didn’t make any changes to the back piece or the sideseam (other than lowering the armhole height a bit). Now I plan to adjust the front pattern, recut, and baste the front and back together. Then I will check the collar, and after that, the sleeve.

Book Review, Historical Fashion

The Lost Art of Dress: The Women Who Once Made America Stylish by Linda Przybyszewski

January 18, 2019

I finished a non-audio book! My first one for 2019! I have a decently-sized, heavily-referenced collection of what I call “picture books” on topics like fashion history & patternmaking, but a number of years ago I realized that I prefer to absorb via audio anything that is primarily text (instead of pictures). I gave away nearly all my fiction books a few years back to a teacher friend for her classroom, because I had already replaced most of them with audio versions!

But even with the recent rise in popularity of audiobooks, not quite everything is available as one, especially for the esoteric fashion texts that I’m interested in. So in comes my resolution to read paper books this year! I’ve never felt like I was “cheating” with audio, but I know I’ve been missing out on some content that I would otherwise enjoy. (Plus, I do love to mark up the margins of non-fiction books, a pleasure which I’ve long missed.)

The first paper book I picked up for this was The Lost Art of Dress: The Women Who Once Made America Stylish by Linda Przybyszewski, which had been languishing on my bookshelf for several years. I started reading it when I first purchased it, but I just didn’t have the mental focus at that time to get through it (oh hai depression! thanks for making my brain not work right in lots of different ways!). But I’m almost glad that I waited to read it until now – you know that old saying “When the student is ready, the teacher appears”? That’s EXACTLY what happened.

The last several months I’ve become pretty obsessed with 1920s fashion, and in particular the work of Mary Brooks Picken through the Women’s Institute. When I first bought The Lost Art of Dress, I had no idea who she was, so a lot of the insights in this book went straight over my head! The Women’s Institute published books and mail-order correspondence courses on subjects like dressmaking and cooking, and the materials published on dressmaking are pretty darn awesome. Many are now in the public domain and can be found for free online, or as very inexpensive PDF downloads from vintage pattern sellers.

The Lost Art of Dress doesn’t only focus on Picken and the WI, however. It gives a broad overview of the role that Home Economics played in the US during the early 20th Century. Women were not welcomed in many academic departments during this period, so they used Home Ec departments as a way to apply their scientific and artistic proclivities in a practical setting. They earned their own bureau in the USDA, where female scientists could find employment working on subjects such as Nutritional Health and Textiles.

For better and worse, these so-called “Dress Doctors” were products of their time, and little attention was paid to non-white, non-European standards of beauty. The Lost Art of Dress does a decent job of exploring that, but now I’m interested in finding another book that goes deeply in to this topic. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Przybyszewski lays out many of the ideals promoted in designing an appropriate wardrobe in the first half of the 20th century, and I’m planning to reference her distillation as I work on my 1920s capsule wardrobe this year.

Perhaps best of all, this book is written in an engaging tone and is FUNNY, which is rare for academic texts. I think Przybyszewski understands the strange juxtaposition of the serious and frivolous nature of fashion, and that is not lost in her writing.

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Historical Fashion