New Pink Spencer!

This is something I've wanted to make for a while.  I had *just* enough pink silk taffeta to make a decent early 1820's spencer.  I also have this lovely -albeit not period- dupoini silk my Dad got me in Singapore.  It's cream colored but with green and pink embroidery.  It is VERY me and I love it - but he only got 3 yards.  It's enough for a skirt.

So, I've had the concept of this outfit planned out for at least two years.  I'm so happy I finally finished it.

Here are some of the inspirations for the spencer:

• At Augusta Auctions and the main spencer I was looking at
• A fun yellow one
• One I like only because it's the only example I can find where it's not self trim or the same colored trim
• One of the three at the Met I kept staring at

I used the Sense and Sensibility pattern as a base and edited to fit what I wanted it to look like.  Yeah, I know - the mock up fabric looks like Scooby Doo and the Mystery Van crashed into it.  That is why it's mock up fabric.

 Basically,  I did two things: I made the neckline higher and close right in the middle, rather than be a double breasted spencer.  Since I wanted a collar, I just drew the collar I wanted on the side I wasn't going to use as a pattern and cut the collar out.  I then traced that on to another piece to make it look more smooth and....

Voila!  Collar pattern.

I didn't have enough time to roll the bias ribbon trim I made to decorate the front of the spencer, S I folded it over as best I could.  It doesn't look bad - just not as thin as I would like.  

 It did take hours to hand sew this down and make sure it matched the other side well.  Most of the inside stitches are machine sewn - it's only the stitches that I knew would be seen that are hand sewn.

 Back of the spencer.  It's largely unchanged from the original pattern.

 Cuff of the sleeve.

 Top of the sleeve.

The full outfit!   I probably should get a close up of the skirt fabric.  It may be a rather slubby dupioni, but it is really pretty.

I'm so glad I finally got this outfit DONE.  I might redo the skirt a bit but the spencer doesn't need anymore work.  

Historical Sew Monthly: Foundations

The Challenge:

Foundations: make something that is the foundation of a period outfit.

Fabric:

Cotton Muslin, Cotton Duck Cloth

Pattern: 

My Own!

Year: 

First Half of the 19th C from 1820 to 1860

Notions:

Pink cotton thread, white cotton thread, Bamboo wood edge from a placemat, cotton twine

How historically accurate is it?

For 1860 - not to shabby. It's machine sewn in part with the upper edge being hand sewn, hand bound eyelets, and hand done embroidery.

Hours to complete:

5 or 6, I think?

First worn:

This weekend, I hope.

Total cost:

Everything was stash so maybe $6?  I think the placemat was $2 when I bought it and I know the muslin wasn't exactly pricey.  The thread was part of a large batch I got years upon years ago from a thrift store for 10 cents.

And the rest of the story!

So, gussets don't like me.  Actually, I know of very few ladies who are gifted up top that can wear gussets without complaint.  Therefore, I went looking for a pair of stays that would work for the Romantic era that didn't have gussets and I found a few.

The first pair I found, and the pair I based this one off of is actually from 1860.  Although it does have side gussets, it's not the type that you typically see with the earlier stays.  Rather, these look more like piecing than that for cup size.  Another one I liked that was from the right time period (1810 - 1830) is at the Met and also lacked the cup gussets.  Both are pretty similar in shape.

The sides to the pieces for the stay I made are curved but the back edge is straight.  I thought it looked way too plain once it was done so I added a bit of embroidery where the busk is.   The busk being the bamboo edge to a placemat I took apart years ago.

It's not the prettiest pair of stays, but it is functional and I finally have a pair of long stays!

EDIT:   Here is another example of stays without gussets.  And another...  And another!  They might not have been the most common, but they also weren't unknown.  

Historical Sew Fortnightly #21: Re do!

The Challenge: #21: Re-do – due Sat 15 November. Pick any previous challenge and re-do it (or do it for the first time). It could be one that you didn’t finish, one that you wish you’d had more time for, or any time for, or one where you loved the theme so much you want to do it again. So, I choose to do #11: The Politics of Fashion for this challenge. The gowns of the Regency era were designed to look nothing like the gowns associated with the French court and based off of the Greek statues as a way to embrace democracy.  You can read a bit more here.

Fabric: Polished cotton

Pattern: My own!

Year: 1820s

Notions: 7 +yards of silver lace and 6+ yards of sari zardosi trim

How historically accurate is it? It's not too bad. It's machine sewn but silver lace and cotton are period.

Hours to complete: 9 or 10, I think

First worn: Today!

Total cost: I can't even remember how much I paid for the green cotton it's been so long. Maybe $5? The silver lace on the bodice was $1.50 a yard and the zardosi trim was maybe $10 for the whole thing.

So, the inspiration:

The above dress is one of the many in the Met's collection.  When I told Mom she needed a new Regency dress if she was going to come to the tea, she choose the above as an example of the dress she wanted.  Okay.

I went through the stash pile and Mom liked the green polished cotton best of the fabrics I presented to her.  She wanted silver trim - which luckily I had- and I started on a new pattern for her.

I tried to carefully mark up the bodice with multiple chalk lines to act as lace placement.  The original gown actually has tucks with netting between the tucks.  However, I have no idea how to do that without do that to the fabric first and then cutting out the bodice - which would waste fabric and take too long.   So, I just applied lace to the front.

Mom ended up loving her dress so much she bought me a new hat!   Yay!   The back picture looks a little funny because I had her in 1790's stays and covered the straps with her 1820's petticoat straps.  I need to make her new short stays.

Mom's Late 1810's/Early 1820's Outfit

 Myself in my handsewn blue checked wool apron front I made last year and Mom in her new Regency Era outfit.  Mom actually liked the petticoat at least.  However, she ended up not liking the dress - she doesn't want a cross front- or the jacket.  *sigh*

Part of the problem was that the Sense and Sensibility pattern I used is ridiculously bulky.  Because I was already piecing the blue wool together from scraps, it ended up with even more seams than necessary as I took it in.  Below is the left back shoulder.  There should be one seam.  There are three.

Even with me taking it in, the jacket was still a bit big for her.   Oh well, it matched the bonnet!

I couldn't do much with the cross over dress - it had to cross over because of the way the tablecloth I used for the skirt was constructed.  It had scallops on three sides but not the fourth.  Therefore, the fourth side had to be hidden in a cross over.  I took off the scallops on the top side to use as trim around the neckline and sleeves. 

The stays and the petticoat are what Mom kept.  The stays are based on an extant pair in my collection.  The pattern for them is available up at Spoonflower.  The petticoat was super simple - just a bunch of trapezoids connected to a waistband with a wide eyelet trim at the bottom.  I also added the cording using a zipper foot - only two rows as I was trying to go for late 1810s/early 1820s.  I wanted the skirts to keep from getting stuck as Mom walked and figured the cording would help.  It did.  :-)

My new 1820's Dress!

I decided, a few weeks ago, that I love the look of the early 1820's.  You still have those Regency waistlines but you get those cute little puffy sleeves too.   I just had to make one.   Here are some of my inspiration first:

I love that it wasn't pastel and that trim around the neckline. The trim goes only around to the back opening and then comes over the shoulders, down to the front waistline like you see here. It's at the MET if you'd like to see more pictures.

This one I liked for it's simplicity. It only has the neckline trim and let's the actual cut of the dress and the pattern of the fabric speak for itself. More at Whitaker Auction



To start with, I needed a new pattern. I've made...a few... regency era patterns for myself. I took one of the many (the first one I found) and used that as a base. From there, I re-cut pieces to make more sense for 1820's. For instance, I has to make the armscye more curvy and take out the side piece so there wouldn't be a visible seam anywhere near the front of the dress - all the seams where in the back or back side.

Once I got the bodice done, I started on the sleeve. I flipped to Janet Arnold, and saw a diagram for the early 1820's sleeves. They are stupid simple. Seriously. It's a trapezoid with a bloated top line. I made mine at 8" for the wrist and about 28" for the top line before it got a massive allergy attack. ;-) In the photo above, the sleeve is just pleated and pinned to the pattern. I ended up gathering my sleeves which, I think, looks really cute.

The dress completely sewn! I was going to add trim but I ended up not having the time. So, I wore it like this! But with a giant red ribbon around my waist.

Close up of the back of the dress. I noticed on a lot of the 1820's dresses, they seem to have slight v-backs. This works well with my pair of short stays!

This is what I was planning on doing. I did cut out the trim and started to sew it but it looked horrible. I'd much rather have a plain dress than one with horrible looking trim. I just need to sit down and handsew the piping along the edge rather than even attempt to machine sew it.

Robin got this great photo of my at the Betsy Ross house.   You can't see the dress, of course, because it was cold out so I had my properly period coat on.  The shawl I have was $4 at the thrift store and the straw hat was $2.   It's a very fine straw - I was surprised to find one that worked decently for Regency.  I just added a black silk ribbon to it and tied the hat down.  Easy! 


Now, no outfit is complete without shoes. Luckily, the flats that were so popular in the 1820's are popular again. Yes, our flats are not historically correct - I machine sewed the dress. I'm not too concerned about straight last shoes with this outfit.

Back in October, I was looking for a good, but cheap pair of flats to wear with my dresses simply because I'm tired of wearing my pink kitten heels with everything.   Not that they are cute, but I need a new pair of shoes!   With that in mind, I saw this:

I immediately made grabby hands for the screen. See that toe? That toe is exactly like the toes I have in a pair of extant shoes and like many pairs of extant Regency shoes I've seen. The elastic would stretch and not be obvious around the foot - and there isn't any at the toe. I needed these shoes.

Insert problem.

They haven't made these shoes since 2006. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

I looked EVERYWHERE. The shoes just didn't exist at all. So, I set up an ebay alert. Tada! Two weeks later, a lady was selling a red pair - but with gigantic mirrors on the toes. I have no idea why anyone would want mirrors on the toes of your shoes. Although I do know a few ...individuals at Renn Faire that would think this was awesome for kilt checking, the problem is everyone else can see up your skirt when you aren't kilt checking. Not a good idea.

So the mirrors came off. Now the problem was the glue left behind.

I ended up adding a bit of black silk to the toes of the shoes to cover up the glue.

By the end of the day, it didn't look all that great.

Oh well.  Try again!