The Tree Gown For Real (HSF #9)

May 2, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 17 Comments

Textiles and the natural world are inextricably linked. Until very recently, all textiles were made from flora (linen, raime, hemp) or fauna (wool, silk, fur), and dyed with flora and fauna. Flora and fauna also influenced the decoration of textiles, from Elizabethan floral embroidery, to Regency beetle-wing dresses, to Edwardian bird-trimmed hats. Celebrate the natural world (hopefully without killing any birds) with a flora and/or fauna inspired garment.

This is the description of the HSF Challenge #9: Flora and Fauna. I’m super excited about my garment: the all new 1815 Tree Gown I recently showed a sneak peak of as well as photos of in action during archery and outdoor lounging! The archery and outdoor lounging, in particular, include great pictures of the dress, so if you haven’t seen them yet, you really should go check them out!

1815 Tree Gown and Bonnet with a Stripe-y Reticule.

I love love love this dress! It’s super comfy and super cute. You might remember that I don’t own many printed or patterned clothes (modern or historic), but I branched out (haha, unintentional bad pun) with this one and I love the results! There’s something so refreshing about the classic white Regency dress that has been shaken up a bit with a bold print. Also, from the HSF perspective, it is made from cotton and printed with a flora inspired motifs! Double duty challenge fulfillment right there.

Back view. The drawstring at the back neck is so subtle and clean looking, and I love the results of my careful cutting which keeps the print symmetrical on each side.

There are pictures of the interior construction of this dress in this previous post. To summarize, the dress is machine sewn on the inside seams and hand finished. Most of the interior seams are french seams. The dress closes at the back with hooks at the waist and a drawstring at the back neck. The front neck has a drawstring as well.

More facts:

Fabric: almost 5 yds of hand block printed sheer cotton (made in India and sold on eBay via Heritage Trading).

Pattern: loosely based on my other Regency gown patterns for my basic measurements, but adapted to resemble my main inspiration dress at the Met.

Year: 1815.

Notions: two hooks, about 1 yd of 1/4″ cotton twill tape, thread.

How historically accurate?: I give it 95% rating. Really, the only thing keeping it from “as accurate as can be with modern materials” is that it is machine stitched on the inside seams. It is hand printed fabric, sewn in historic ways, and hand finished.

Hours to complete: 16? Total? That’s not bad for me!

First worn: Regency Dance Weekend, mid-April 2013.

Total cost: $25 for the fabric (it’s almost doubled in price since I bought mine!), maybe another $1 for the notions?

Now for inspiration. The dress is most closely based off of this dress at the Met. I changed some things, but I think the resemblance is quite clear.

These two dresses were other more minor inspiration for the Tree Gown: 1812 yellow silk wedding dress and early 19th century slip, mostly for their square necks and back tie closures.

Eee! All I can say in conclusion is how much I love my Tree Gown!!!

Regency Dance Weekend Part II: Archery And Outdoor Lounging

April 29, 2013April 29, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 6 Comments

Not very long ago, I shared the first section of Regency Dance Weekend photos: Settling In–about dance classes, an 1807 house, and an informal dance. Now it’s time for Part II: relating to archery (yay!) and outdoor lounging. These outdoor events took place on Sunday afternoon at Pioneer Village in Salem, MA. The village had been opened specifically for our use, so we had our run of the place!

Archery was the major activity and took up most of the time allotted before preparing for the Grand Ball and Reception that evening. Given that it was a Regency period event, there were plans made (and executed) to use images of Napoleon as targets, which was super silly and fun. I think there were perhaps 30-40 people who took part in this daytime event.

Our instructor teaching us basics and safety.

I think most people were pretty successful at hitting the target at least sometimes.

There he is! Napoleon is lurking on the left.

Archery in a bonnet is an extra challenge, but we made it work.

Recognize that dress and bonnet? And perhaps the spencer? This is your first glimpse of my new clothes!

We got him, and the tubes he was hiding behind!

There were replacement Napoleons for when the first few had been well hit.

It was pretty cold out, actually, especially when we weren’t distracted by archery! Nevertheless, we prevailed for hours and were still willing to stay outside and lounge for more pictures even after archery was complete.

Climbing a fence. Perhaps while out on a stroll? I feel like this is something the more athletic Jane Austen characters do.

New long sleeved day dress and a new bonnet. You know how it is when someone is wearing something new. It always requires pictures!

I was very pleased with how my new dress and bonnet look and feel, and I’m so pleased that they coordinate so well with the spencer. Yay!

Spencer time. It’s so neat that we’ve built up our wardrobes and are well equipped with dresses and spencers! Bonnets are on most sewing lists, too, which is so much fun!

Next up is a post specifically dedicated to my new tree gown!

Regency Dance Weekend Part I: Settling In

April 26, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 4 Comments

Not so long ago (only about two weeks, though it seems longer), I had the most marvelous time at the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers’ Regency Intensive Dance Weekend. The weekend included classes, archery and outdoor lounging, an informal dance, and a formal ball. Plus, I had the added bonus of staying with friends in a lovely 1807 house and having extra outdoor adventures the day after the weekend ended!

The weekend had about 50 people in attendance, which was a perfect number for socializing, meeting new people, and filling a ballroom without it being over crowded. It was so special to get to know so many new people, not only by name, but also to have time to get to know a little about them. By the final ball on Sunday night the atmosphere was of the kind you usually only get to dream about when reading Jane Austen: it was a ball where you knew everyone in the room , everyone was constantly changing partners, and everyone knew the steps so there was no teaching, just dancing. It was an absolute blast (and after the weekend I had danced so much that my calves were so sore it was hard to walk for a few days)!

Given that I had such a great time, and that I was able to wear some lovely new clothes (like the tree gown, and my new bonnet, and my blue underdress) you can understand that I have lots of pictures to share. Everyone else looked stunning as well and also had new clothes to show off, which was super fun. Really, people really did look marvelous! Yes, I’ve got lots of pictures, and I’m going to break them down into multiple posts.

First, we’ll look at Saturday, a day with 5 hours of dance classes, checking in to our lovely 1807 house, and attending an evening dance. (Oh wait, did I mention my friends and I also swarmed our lovely and kind friend’s house on Friday night? No great pictures, but it sure was fun to hang out together and squish 8 people into an apartment…! Plus, it made getting to dance class the next morning so much better since we didn’t have to drive very far!)

The wallpaper in my room of the 1807 house we stayed in for the weekend. The room was decorated in this deep red. It was so beautiful!

Dressed in my new blue underdress and square neck gown. I’m heading off to the informal dance. Accessories include my blue American Duchess clocked stockings, blue velvet flats, white gloves, a red bead necklace, and my patterned red pashmina.

Dancing a Regency waltz. Look at us go on our toes!

That’s it for now. Next post will be about archery and outdoor lounging!

Evie, A Front View

April 24, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 4 Comments

In all those pictures of Evie and the Returning Heroes Ball that I’ve posted recently, I don’t think there were any good shots of the front of my dress. So for now, a quick post showing the front of the gown with the double rosette to match the skirt and the graduated ruffle showing itself from under the bertha.

Returning Heroes Ball 2013

April 17, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 7 Comments

I’ve been slow to post my final group of pictures from this event. Sorry! You’ll remember that I first posted Three Series of Photos of my new green 1864 ball gown, Evie, and her undergarments? Then I posted A Second Series of Photos of friends? It’s finally time for the final installment of posts from the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers’ Returning Heroes Ball back in March.

A ballroom full of hoop skirted ladies and suited gentlemen.

A lovely set of dancers. Don’t we all look nice in our light colored dresses?

A “German Cotillion” dance game during intermission, in which the two young men vied for the young lady holding the candle, each trying to blow it out first. Whoever blew it out was rewarded with a waltz.

Do The Jellyfish! There are more Jellyfish pictures from Ochre Court last year.

The chandelier is perhaps not the loveliest style, but I like the artsy style of the photo. The coffered ceiling is great!

1815 Tree Bonnet (HSF #7)

April 10, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 11 Comments

You know how sometimes the best laid plans are waylaid by life? I had every intention of finishing this bonnet before the HSF deadline of yesterday, but along the way got side tracked by life and made conscious choices to do other things with my time instead of bonnet-ing. Oh well, it happens to the best of us!

1815 bonnet (the more interesting side).

I made this bonnet to coordinate with my new Regency Tree Gown (which is why I’m calling it the Tree Bonnet). Lucky for me, it also fulfills the HSF Challenge #7: Accessorize and will coordinate with other items already in my closet (such as my 1819 brown spencer). I’ll be wearing the new gown, the spencer, and the bonnet this weekend for the Regency Dance Intensive, along with a lot of other Regency things, so be prepared for lots of pictures next week!

The facts:

Fabric: Silk twill, changeable silk taffeta for trim, and china silk for lining.

Pattern: Created by me.

Year: 1815.

Notions: Four approximately 8″ pieces of sage green polyester ribbon, a spray of wired millinery flowers, about 1 1/2 yds of navy silk ribbon for ties, about 3/4 yd of navy grosgrain ribbon for inner band, buckram for the base, millinery wire, cotton flannel for mulling, tacky glue, and thread.

How historically accurate?: 95% I’d say. There are a few polyester things, but the overall shape, impression, and majority of materials are accurate.

Hours to complete: 28? Hand finishing and trimming takes a long time, especially on hats, because the angles are weird, so it’s a slow process.

First worn: Not yet, but will be worn this weekend!

Total cost: $6ish for the silk twill bit, the green silk and china silk are remnants from other projects, the polyester bits are old and from the stash, the millinery flowers were from the stash, the buckram was maybe $4, the wire was probably $2… so about $12? I didn’t buy anything special for this bonnet, it’s all from the stash! Yay! Go me!

Close-up of the pleated silk trim and rosette-like decoration. You can also see the pleats on the side band of the bonnet.

The millinery flowers on the front of the bonnet.

Inside of the brim, looking into the lining and hat band.

This week marks the end of the MpRSW (though I still have one more post to go about that), with the final goal aimed at yesterday, #5: Anything Left! I’d already completed some packing for this goal, and procurement of kite making supplies (yes, there will be a future mention of kites!), but this bonnet also qualifies!

Now let me share some of my inspiration for this bonnet. There are more bonnet images on my 1810s Pinterest page as well.

9b8f7b45f7afff8db618554b973b5eab — From 1815.

Volare digital capture — La Belle Assemblee, Parisian Promenade Hats, July 1816.

cf83f2dc91eb3bf303ba9087826b8419 — Costume Parisien from 1814.

5aaaeddcc5533ec69fe92be1e72f8c83 — Costume Parisien from 1815.

In trying to determine length of ties for the bonnet, I looked to some fashion plates that included people in them. Here are some of the best examples I found.

61acb0c35e149289d55017462f06b675 — EKDuncan – My Fanciful Muse: Regency Era Fashions – Ackermann’s Repository 1819

800b11831fa576966952e099671eae3e — Robe de Marcelline, 1812 Costume Parisien

Well, there we are. I just finished sewing that pleated brim trim tonight, and I am glad to be done! It’s slow and slightly painful on the fingers. But pretty, so totally worth it!

Very Inspiring Blogger Award, Thanks!

April 6, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 3 Comments

I confess that I’ve been so intent on posting about the usual things (pictures of events and clothes, mostly!) that I’ve been slow at saying thank you for being awarded the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. In fact, I’ve been notified by two different people recently that I’ve been nominated for this award. Thanks Katrina (of Edelweiss Patterns) and opusanglicanum. I’m tickled to know that I’ve been inspiring people! That’s such a cool thing!

Here are the rules: 1- Display the award and link back to the person who nominated you; 2- State seven facts about yourself; 3- Nominate 15 blogs for the award; 4- Notify the winners.

So for seven facts you might not already know about me:

1- I didn’t like chocolate for most of my life; 2- These days I don’t like milk or white chocolate (does white chocolate even count as chocolate?), only dark… the darker the better; 3- I played the cello for 11 years quite seriously (it was my main hobby/activity); 4- I still have my cello, though I only pull it out and play it every few years, usually at Christmastime; 5- I also still have all the sheet music I collected over 11 years of cello playing; 6- I really love penguins (specifically, emperor penguins) and polar bears!; 7- I enjoy other animals that waddle as well, because the waddling makes me laugh, but so does the word itself!

And for blogs that I find inspiring (and have not already been given this award as far as I know):

Dames A La Mode: So many pretty things! I think it’s impossible not to look through them and be inspired!

Diary Of A Mantua Maker: Such lovely historic and historically inspired clothes and shoes! Of course hand made shoes are inspiring!

The Fashionable Past: Drool-worthy historic creations and lots of tutorials, so double inspiration!

An Historical Lady: Despite hard times, Mary still sees beauty in the things around her, an inspirational outlook for us all.

If I Had My Own Blue Box: My favorite are the posts sharing written excerpts from the 19th century, but there are inspiring clothes pictures and research, too!

The Secret Dreamworld Of A Jane Austen Fan: An utter love of all things Jane Austen is inspiring on its own, but there are also pretty clothes!

Classic Costume: A recent addition to my blog list there are lots of pretty clothes and information to inspire.

The Mended Soul: Lyze makes absolutely stunning clothes and wears them in beautiful places, two things which are always inspiring to me!

A Hair Wreath For Evie

April 4, 2013December 4, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 1 Comment

Remember Evie, my 1864 green ball gown? I felt compelled to make a matching hair wreath to wear with her, and here it is! A ring of paper covered millinery wire colored black (to blend with my hair) with a sharpie, decorated with a bit of gold silk, some green silk ribbon, and the mysteriously changeable gold/green ostrich feathers. Here those feather look gold, but I assure you that they sometimes appear as green as the silk background (which is the silk the dress is constructed of).

I think I would like to trim the ostrich feather on the right so it is the same shape as the one on the left, but aside from that one change, this is good as is! It’s super easy to bobby pin the wire to my hair and it’s easy to hide the bobby pins under all that silk and ostrich feather business going on at the bottom.

A Stripe-y Reticule And Sneak Peek At A Tree Gown (MpRSW #3 & #4)

April 1, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 6 Comments

I intended to complete this reticule for the HSF Challenge #6: Stripes this past week, but as the deadline approached and I reread the fine print, I realized that the challenge was supposed to be fulfilled by a garment. Whoops! I don’t think I can convince myself that a reticule is garment, let alone other people. So I put the project on hold while working on other things (like Evie, my 1864 ball gown, and the completion of my purple ballroom competition dress), but finally got back to it and finished it off towards the end of last week.

Lucky for me, this reticule does fulfill the MpRSW Goal #4: Accessories (due April 8th: I’m early!). (If you’re paying attention, I did fail to post about the MpRSW Goal #2: Evening Gown… I might have fallen off the wagon on that one and not managed to fix the rip in my gown on time. But luckily, the MpRSW is motivating me to complete that repair this week, even if I am delayed!)

Trust me, this is not a historically accurate reticule. The fiber content is questionable… (probably a blend including polyester), the ribbon is polyester, and the tassels are cotton embroidery floss. But it’s cute and functional and has the general look of the period, so I’m happy. This will get packed for the Regency weekend coming up in April!

Inside the reticule: french seams and a cotton canvas purple (woohoo, extra fun on the inside!) layer whip stitched to the inside of the bottom to provide stability and help keep the triangular shape. The seams are hard to spot because the stripes blend into each other so much, but they’re there!

What you saw in the first picture (behind the reticule) was a first glimpse of my latest Regency gown! This new block printed cotton gown, from 1815, is “The Tree Gown” in my head because the motif reminds me of trees (or shrubs perhaps, but I like the sound of The Tree Gown better than The Shrub Gown). This gown fulfills the MpRSW Goal #3: Day Wear! It’s due today, so I’m right on time. The gown is machine sewn on all of the non visible seams, and hand finished on the visible sections.

Center front. This gown has a mostly squared neckline with a drawstring across the bust, like my 1812 white striped gown.

Unlike previous Regency gowns in my possession, this gown has long sleeves! (This is a back view.)

There are two 1 1/2″ tucks around the hem of this gown, for decoration.

The gown closes at center back with two hooks on the waistband (see the thread loops?) and a tie at the top of the back.

The tie at the top of center back is a drawstring that continues to the shoulder seam, allowing the back to gather slightly. The bow in the middle is the drawstring for center front.

The fullness at center back is gathered. This gown has french seams and the waistband seam allowance is just whip stitched together to keep it tidy.

The inside of the neck opening. The area over the shoulder is reinforced with an extra bit of fabric cut on the straight of grain to keep it from stretching.

This gown below is my main inspiration for this dress: the tucks at the hem, the sleeves, the pattern for the skirt, the gathers on the bodice, the mostly squared neck in front, the tie at the back of the neck… I omitted the extra sleeve puff (partly because I didn’t have enough fabric, partly because I wanted this dress to be more streamlined) and the tie at the back waistband. I love the super zoom on the Met’s website because you can see so many great details!

For example, I could see where the center front skirt panel ended and the angle of that seam (as well as the angle of the back panel). Using that information, I determined that my front panel should be a rectangle (it’s 21″ across in my dress given my proportions) and that the back panels should be cut straight at center back, but with an angle on the side seams that goes up toward center back making an elongated trapezoid. There is a seam at center back, so the hem of each back piece is 45″, but each top narrows to 31″. I’m curious to see how that style of skirt fits me. I certainly like the look of the skirt on the dress in the museum!

1bf6645634e092b2fa8f0b62ffcc9ecc — 1810-1815 dress at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This gown also fills the HSF #9 Challenge: Flora and Fauna, so you’ll be seeing another post about it with some more details (and pictures of it on a body!) coming up in a few weeks (after the Regency Weekend in April, you know!).

A Second Series Of Photos

March 29, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 1 Comment

Last post, I shared the three series of photos of Evie with you. Now it’s time to expand the focus of the camera to include other lovely people from that night!

First: Series Of A Friend