Finished Just in Time! 1790's Jacket

Well, I have been reconfirmed in my opinion that people are like fabric.  You can see it and it looks good at first but once you start working with it, it goes the wrong way, does everything except what you want it to and tries to thwart your best-laid plans and you end up despising it.

Thus was the case with my fabric. I have had it for a few months. I fell in love with it when I saw it. It was so pretty and silky and soft and such a lovely silvery-blue color. I was so excited to use it for my 1790's jacket. But I found out quickly that this fabric is evil. The label said 100% cotton but I swear there is something else in there. The fabric does not hold a crease well yet wrinkles easily. It moves and grows and shortens and expands and does not stay in place with the normal amount of pins. Instead of acting as 1 with my lining fabric it acts as its own separate thing. It was horrible to work with.

I had to ditch the style I originally wanted since the pleats looked very odd in this fabric. They stuck out from the back very weirdly indeed. To salvage it I had to cut the jacket off at waist length. I gathered and attached a peplum to the back of the jacket instead of having a peplum cut as part of the bodice pieces. I was inspired by this 1780-1795 era jacket, from Williamsburg:

I had to sew everything on the jacket at least twice except for the eyelet holes. For some reason nothing came out right the first time. The double ruffle I wanted to add around the neckline came out looking very clownish so I had to redo that and ended up just using ruching at the neckline.

In the end though, I am pretty happy with how it looks. Since the fabric has almost zero "give", it is very tight to wear even though the sleeves are cut on the bias. But since the cut is close to the body it is still comfortable to move in.

The center front edges are boned because I meant the jacket to close edge to edge. For some reason the waist came out a bit large so the front edges overlap a bit at the waist but it is not that noticeable from a distance.

For the pictures I am wearing it with my 1840's corded petticoat, my bum pad and my brown cotton hobbit petticoat.

I discovered that the petticoat bands sit around my natural waist which is a bit longer than the waist on this jacket.

I'd like to eventually make a sheer airy white petticoat to wear with this jacket and I will attach suspender straps to it to keep it up at the right level so you don't get glimpses of the waistband!

Anne is wearing one of Malachi's baby caps and the little gown I made Malachi for the Jane Austen festival last year. It is really *not* that big on her! She is growing quickly.

This was my last sewing project of 2012! It is hard to believe. I wish all you darlings a very wonderful and happy New Year!! May this coming one be the best yet!

Love,
Sarah

December Regency Project - 1790's Jacket

For Christmas, a friend gave me a copy of Fashion, A History from the 18th to the 20th Century from the Kyoto Costume Institute. I was totally overwhelmed with inspiration while thumbing through the pages (who wouldn't be?) and totally fell in love with some of the 1790's jackets I saw. Several were way too elaborate for me to want to attempt (at least in this season of my life) but I really liked this one:

Which you can see here, at the KCI Digital Archives.

Mine will be made in a silvery blue cotton print and I think I will wear it with my brown wool hobbit petticoat until I get some proper 18th c. style petticoats made.

Today I began the mock up. To start with I used the 1780's bodice pattern I draped last fall. I lengthened the back piece to include a peplum skirt and added a side seam to the bodice, so I could have a short peplum at the side as well. I added length to the front of the bodice to meet the length of the center front point. The original jacket has lacing that starts at waist length. Below the waist, the jacket flares open.

sorry for the poor quality of the photos. I was in a hurry and the lighting was very bad!

My first mock up attempt was pretty close. To be more like the original, I would have to raise the neckline some and reposition the tabs at the front/sides to be more at side center. . .but I think I will go with what I currently have. If I raise the neckline anymore I won't be able to breastfeed and I am not too concerned with identically recreating this exact style.

I need to tweak the fit of the sleeve above the elbow, but other than that, I think I am ready to cut into my fabric!

I hope to make progress on it over the weekend and maybe even finish it before the 1st!

I'll keep you updated.

Love,
Sarah

1790's Transitional Stays Finished Photos

I am finally getting some pictures of my 1790's Transitional Stays. I have had these done for about a week but failed to wear them thus far because I was too lazy to put in a lace.

I love these. Out of the corsets/stays I have, I think these are my favorite by far. They are insanely comfortable. The back is quite heavily boned and the front boned only at the center front which seemed a bit backwards to me at first, but I really love the great back support and the gathered cups give enough support to the front without additional boning. These are meant to be a little short waisted, but they really do end at just about my waist level. They do not reduce my waist at all which really adds to the comfort level. Nothing is tight, actually. . .just supported.

I used cross lacing instead of spiral lacing just because I find it easier to do when I have to lace something up myself.

I really didn't think gathered cups would offer much support. And, compared to more heavily boned and structured corsets, they do seem flimsy. But I was pleasantly suprised with how well they have worked. I have been wearing them today for the past 8 hours or so and they still seem to be fine.

What is great about these stays is that while they work well for my drawstring gowns, they also work perfectly with my 1820's dress from last year, which I am wearing today. Past Patterns has a similar pattern which is dated 1790-1820. PP usually has fantastic documentation with their patterns so I'm sure their dates are right, which means I can wear these with my early 20's dresses and not feel farbatrocious.

I hated binding the tabs at the bottom but it was worth it, I think!

Love,

Sarah