Finished October Regency Project ~ Grey Wool Spencer and Silk Petticoat

It was a beautiful autumn afternoon so yesterday David and I decided to play dress-up and head out to the "back pasture" to take some pictures and to pretend for a little while that we were a regency gentleman and his lady.

I finished my petticoat over the weekend. This skirt once belonged to my 1860's silk dress but after wearing it very often both with and without the matching silk bodice, the skirt became rather dirty from having three little boys sitting on my lap time after time. In a moment of madness I popped the skirt in the washer and it came out having lost almost all of it's crisp body. . .it went from a smooth, crisp, heavy-feeling silk to a rather light and limp silk.

It seemed ideal for this project and I was happy to have a use for the material. I barely eeked out enough length to be sufficient for the high waist of the era but by using a 1/4" seam to attach the skirt to the waistband and binding the edge of the hem instead of turning it, I think the length worked out all right. The waistband is of brown linen and the straps to hold it up are of the same linen. The hem is bound with a strip of indigo blue wool as a substitute for wool tape.

The entire outfit is fun to wear and the wool spencer is quite warm. My only regret is not having extra fabric in the sleevehead to pleat into the armscye. The way the sleeve on the wool suit jacket was cut I did not have  sufficient width to cut a large sleeve head.

I suppose I could have pieced some in but I didn't. The sleeves fit fine and are comfortable but I would have more range of motion with that extra width. . .so, just something to remember for next time!

David looked quite dashing in his linen tailcoat. He needs a woolen one now! He is considering taking up the impression of a doctor of the era, settling into the role quite naturally as he does a surgeons impression in our 1860's reenacting. It would be an easy transition for him.

We'll see. I have drastically reduced my involvement in 1860's reenactments out of sheer necessity for sanity and this era seems like it could be one both David and I would enjoy together.

In the meantime, we can have fun wandering through the tall grasses, listening to the whisper of the wind in the trees and watching the geese fly south for winter.

Susan's Husband

Soon the snows will come and inside we can be cozy with the spicy smells of Thanksgiving and Christmastime, the smoke from David's pipe and a cheerful fire in the fireplace. The boys listening wide-eyed to the tale of the Three Spirits who visited Mr. Scrooge and the baby watching the way the light falls on our faces, talking in her soft baby coos and waving her hands in the air. Good times are a-comin. It is now November.

Love,
Sarah

David's Regency Outfit - Finished!

I'm sorry I'm posting so much. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now so as I finish things, it really helps me to sit down and write about it. Somehow, it kinda "finalizes" the fact I am done with a certain project, which in turn propels me forward to start the next one.

So, we tried everything on for one last check up to see if there is anything we need to work on. We discovered two things:

#1: David needs longer white stockings.

and

#2: He definitely needs braces to hold the breeches up to the correct level. He already has some braces and all I will have to do is sew some buttons on the waistband to button the braces to. Otherwise, he is happy with the fit and comfort level of his clothes. I was very relieved. I think he looks awesome. :) Of course, I may be biased, but the clothes suit him. He shaved a few days ago and will let his side whiskers grow in a bit before the festival.

Love,
Sarah

A Watch Fob for My Regency Gentleman

I don't know why all the little things hit me at once, with this whole ongoing saga of creating a regency outfit for David, myself and Little Man. The Big Things I had a clear idea of from the beginning. Obvious things. Like stays. Like a tailcoat. Like a bonnet.

I had a vague idea that I would have some sort of ribbony thing hanging from David's watch pocket. I had no idea how sheerly difficult it would be to find any primary information on what exactly a watch fob was, and how it was made, and how it was worn. Here you can see an image that clearly show a ribbony thing hanging from the gentleman's watch pocket:

Touted by some websites as "the" gentleman's accessory of the period, I obviously needed to make one for David, right?

I found this article which was somewhat helpful, and even more amusing: Regency Bling

I was also directed to a site that had a photo of these watch fobs, of uncertain date (here identified as Victorian) but nevertheless helpful. I could not discern how the ribbony thing attached to the watch, so this photo offers a clue:

So for lack of more information, I made a watch fob that seemed reasonable to me based on what information I *could* find. After much though I made it to attach directly to the watch itself instead of the to the silver watch chain that David usually wears with it. I could find no evidence of long watch chains in photos. That does NOT mean they were NOT worn, just that I haven't found a picture from the period depicting a long chain draped across the waist as David usually wears his for 1860's reenactments.

Here is what I did.

First, I found some old costume jewelry to cannibalize for chains, a clasp (to attach the watch to) and a cross pendant. I also found an old brassy colored metal hair clip. I attached a very short length of chain to the clasp (the chain already had this tiny cross on it, as it was from a charm bracelet) and then attached the other end of the chain to the wrong side of the hair clip. The rings on the chain were not big enough to slide over the hairclip, so I attached it with a knot of black linen cord. It is very firm and does not slide around. It works.

Here is what it looked like from the right side at this point:

Then I cut a scrap of silk fabric into a long rectangle and sewed it right sides together to make a flat, finished tube. This is my ribbon. I made it to equal the width of the hair clip. It came out a bit short in width, but oh well. It will work.

I slid the raw edge of the ribbon up through the hairclip, like this:

I cut a slit from the top raw edge of the ribbon to the hairclip, to accommodate the chain and clasp, like this:

And turned under the raw edges and slip stitched them down, to enclose the back side of the hairclip, like this:

From the right side:

To finish it off, I folded the ends of the ribbon up to make a point. I sewed a length of looped chain to the point for decoration. The chain has a cross pendant hanging from it, which goes with the tiny cross on the top chain.

And here it is with the watch attached and tucked into the watch pocket on David's breeches:

All in all it took me about 15 minutes to make this little thing. Small details help to make up the big picture, right?

Love,
Sarah

Linen Regency Tailcoat ~ Inspiration ~ Research ~ The Real Thing!

Back when David and I decided that we were going to attend the Jane Austen festival in Louisville, KY this summer, I knew in the back of my mind I would have to make him a tailcoat. For some reason, I dreaded making this and put it off. . .and off. . .and off. Til a few days ago, actually. I realized with a lurch that we had two weeks til we had to have our ensembles finished and ready to wear. And I became aware of the fact that, yes, we will probably be taking Malachi with us and no, he has nothing to wear and yes, I will be the one who will have to make it for him.

The last four or five months I've been reading all I can about tailcoats of the regency era. I have a huge bulging computer file stuffed with pictures of extant coats, pattern diagrams, paintings, fashion plates, drawings and tailor guides. Bit by bit over the past months I've tried to digest that information. I've had a lot of help, from a lot of people, and I'd be totally lost with the guidance of those who have Gone Before.

Early on, we decided to go for an 1806 look. Not too terribly early in the grand scheme of regency fashion and not too late either. David did not like the puffy sleeves and tight waists of the later regency period and he wanted something that could be suitably worn for Lewis and Clark and The War of 1812 type events. He liked this fashion plate in particular, and wanted something similar for himself:

We planned on making the tailcoat of a hunter green wool and having it partially lined. However, we found a great deal on some beautiful linen at Jo Anns a few months ago. It was 50% off so we bought it and brought it home. It was originally intended to be used for breeches but after thinking more about the tailcoat, I decided to make an unlined coat from the linen instead. I hoped it would be cooler for David to wear during the festival and I thought it would be a nice change from the wool coats he is accustomed to wearing for reenactments. Here is an original unlined linen coat from the later regency period, from the Tasha Tudor auction site:

For the pattern, I used several diagrams as a guide. The first one is the 1790's tailcoat from Nora Waughs The Cut of Men's Clothes. Also helpful was the 1820s tailcoat from the same book. I also used a graphed pattern for an 1825-1830 tailcoat I found on a website (I cannot find the link at the moment; it is a pdf file). I also was able to look at the patterns from Sheps book about various styles of tailcoats.

We wanted an earlier look than the 1820s so I made the sleeves with minimal poufing at the shoulder. There is no side seam on the coat and there is also no waist seam, as there are on later coats. I left off the tail pockets since I could not figure out how to make them look well on an unlined coat but I did make hip pockets. From what I've read, hip pocket flaps were usually "blinds"; but David wanted functional pockets so I made a bag pocket that hangs from the opening. The flap covers the opening and adds a decorative element to the coat. Here is a picture of all the pattern pieces cut out and laid out before I started sewing them together: (except little pieces like the cuffs, etc, which are not shown as I just cut them as I needed them)

Here is our first fitting after sewing the body pieces together. I was pretty happy with how well it fit. For the pattern above, I started out with David's 1860's civilian frock pattern from the Laughing Moon pattern. It took only a few modifications to change the pattern shape to mimic the shapes in the tailcoat diagrams I had and was much easier than starting from scratch and draping a pattern.

The side. You can see a little wrinkling here because there is no side seam. Unless a man is built like a barrel I think some side wrinkling is unavoidable in styles like this. I was happy with how smooth it was, regardless. And his shirt and vest beneath will help fill out the hollow spots as well. The underarm area of the coat goes all the way up to just below where the arm joins the shoulder. This helps the sleeve to set correctly and also maximizes the movement David will have with his arms when he wears this. The back of the shoulder is cut slightly away too, for the same reason.

The back. I wasn't quite sure how long to make the tails, so I went with knee length. Hemmed, this comes to just above the knee at the back.

The coat is made of a single layer of linen and is faced at the front opening/lapels and at the back neck, from armscye to armscye. Otherwise, all the seams are finished by felling or are turned under and hemmed by hand. The main seams I sewed on the machine but everything that can be seen from the outside is done by hand. It worked up pretty quickly though.

Excuse the un-masculine shape of the dressform. When I get the buttons and buttonholes on this, I'll get some pics of Mr. Handsome himself wearing it. ;) He wants to use it for the 4th of July festivities this weekend, so, it will be a good practice run for the coat.

The sleeves I did end up draping. I used the sleeve pattern from the 1825-1830 coat as my guide for a shape. I did have to go through 3 mock ups before I got all the fullness from the head cut down enough to please David - it was VERY poufy at first! The sleeves are cut with a curve at the elbow and end just above David's knuckles. There is a 4"-ish wide cuff at the end of the sleeves and a small opening at the back wrist. This will be closed with 2 buttons when all is said and done.

Here is the coat laid out flat, from the outside:

And from the inside: I did not finish the pocket seams since I wasn't sure how to do it? Maybe a small whip stitch? I had to trim the allowances pretty narrowly to get the pocket to lay flat beneath the outer layer of the coat.

All I need to do now is to make the buttonholes and put on the buttons. Then David's outfit will be COMPLETE! Yes! :D He plans to pair it with his straw hat, which is an extremely similar shape to the hat worn in the photo below. He also has a very nice black felt hat from Tim Bender, with a similar shape, only with a smaller brim. We don't have money to buy a specific "regency" hat, so, he won't be your typical top-hat-wearing-regency-hero but I think he will look appropriate and very much himself anyway, don't you?

And he is on the hunt for a cane of some sort. He will be wearing his black boots, and he has a pocket watch already. . .which reminds me, I *should* make him a watch fob. . .

Love,
Sarah

A Teeny Little Post Before I Creep Back Into My Blog-free Break

I know I wasn't going to post til after our first CW event, but, then, I wasn't going to sew either. And I did.

I just want to thank you all so much for your advice, suggestions and encouragement. What great cheer leaders you all are! When I wrote my last post I felt miserably discouraged with David's regency outfit and was ready to give up. But thanks to you all, who contacted me both here and via email, I was inspired to try again. David's stuff is still not perfect, but it's a lot better than it was, I think! Now I feel like I can take a deep breath and move on. You all are AWESOME.

So here are his breeches, newly refitted. I took quite a bit of width out of the crotch and also the inner leg, on the fronts. The back I left pretty much alone. David tried these on at least a dozen times last night while I fitted and finnagled and fretted with the seams. At last I got them to where I was much happier, and he wasn't complaining about them being too snug anywhere. Actually, he freaked out a bit last night when I snugged up the center seam and we got that nice supported rounded shape starting to go on.

"They're touching me!" he exclaimed, horrified.

"Um, David, they're supposed to!"

A side view:

A butt shot:

For Jenni - here's what I did with the leg placket. I don't know if this is how it was done as I was working from the Cut of Men's Clothes and there are really no instructions that come with the diagrams. Just a basic buttoned placket with a buttoned band at the knee instead of a buckle. I think I could have made the placket a bit taller and used 4 buttons instead of 3, but these should work.

Here's his new shirt. Yes, he is being silly and indecent not buttoning it up. :P Do not Fear. The Cravat and Waistcoat are next on the list and he will NOT be seen in public places (except blogger) in this attire.

And just for comparison purposes, here is a pic of the breeches and the old shirt taken last week, that left me so discouraged:

Yes, despite the imperfections of the current version, I think it is MUCH better.
Love,
Sarah

Men's White Linen Regency Shirt

Progress has been made on my husband's regency ensemble. His breeches are finished and so is his shirt! My goodness, we now have a half dressed regency gentleman! Yay!

I will try to get some photos of David wearing the shirt and breeches tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some basic photos of the shirt.

It is not fancy by any means, but, I hope, will be serviceable and cool to wear this summer. It is made of the lightestweight linen that Fabric-store.com offers and washed up to be almost sheer. It definitely leaves nothing to the imagination. So it is a good thing that David will be wearing a waistcoat on top of this at all times.

It is a basic squares and rectangles shirt. I used the diagram from The Cut of Men's Clothes, the diagram from Everyday Dress in Rural America, 1783-1800, the extant shirt pictures from 18th Century New England and the repro shirt photos from Kannik's Korner. Since I have made many square cut shirts in the past for Civil War reenacting this was not very different. The only differences were good ones - no placket, and reinforcement pieces for the shoulders and armholes.  The shirt is also lightly gathered at the collar, and gussets inserted at the collar slits to make the shirt sit more comfortably around the neck.

The shirt is quite long, coming well down past mid-thigh to just above the knee. The sleeves are full and blousy. The width of the shirt body is cut at 30", based on the suggestion in Everyday Dress in Rural America, but I think I could have gone a tad wider and it would have fit David better. The shirt does fit, but the body is not as loose as I think it could have been and the sleeves do not drop off onto his arms as far as they might have. Next time, I think I'd cut the body width at about 34" or 35". Even 36"; and this would also give me a tad more width to gather into the collar for a fuller look there.

All in all, I'm happy with how my first 18th century style shirt came out. I adore the linen! Such a nice fabric to work with. As usual in my repro clothing, all the inner seams are sewn on machine and everything that can be seen from the outside is done by hand. Next up: Waistcoat and cravat! Here's hoping we'll have all this finished up by July. . .

Love,
Sarah