A Round Regency Reticule

June 2, 2014July 7, 2015 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 12 Comments

I’ve recently finished another Regency reticule (I say another, because not too long ago I posted about a new red and gold reticule). This one is circular!

Robe with slip — I love the round shape.

I was inspired by an image and directions found in The American Girl’s Book: Or, Occupation For Play Hours, which can be viewed here, on google books (the directions for the circular reticule are found on page 262). I was particularly encouraged by having already gathered silk strips left over after adjusting my brown fur muff at the end of last year. In addition to the leftover gathered silk strips, I used some pink silk scraps backed with coutil for the center of the circles, a bit of peach cotton for the lining, pink poly ribbon for the handles (it was the best color, even though it wasn’t silk), and, for the beading, 2 buckles I picked up for $1 each.

I didn’t really follow the directions, instead I just made up my own order of events. I started by cutting out the center circle and basting the coutil to the silk. Then I placed the buckles on these circles and pinned the gathered silk around the edges After that I sewed the edges. The next step was to sew the two finished sides together, then sew a lining of two more circles of the cotton. The last thing was to sew on the ribbons and whip stitch the top edges of the silk to the lining.

Robe with slip (1) — Looking down into the lining.

I decided not to have my ribbons gather the opening, because I so like the look of the circle and really didn’t want to ruin the effect. Plus, the reticule just perfectly fits my phone right now, and if the top was gathered it might not fit! Yay for a relatively quick project that’s entirely hand sewn. It’s exciting to have more reticule options!

1917 Waist Details

May 26, 2014June 6, 2014 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 3 Comments

I finally put finishing touches on the navy crepe waist I made last November! A few weeks ago, I was inspired at the very last minute to attend an early 20th century picnic and decided to wear my 1917 outfit because it was still a little chilly out and I wanted to wear something practical for walking around. So, literally the night before the picnic, I embarked on buttons and buttonholes because despite the best of intentions I hadn’t actually sewn them in the months since November. I also added a yoke around the bottom of the waist to keep it from untucking itself while being worn. It untucked itself often when I wore it November, but it didn’t matter because I was wearing my 1917 sweater of Angorina over it. But for the picnic I expected to be wearing the waist without the sweater and I didn’t want to worry about it staying tucked in.

Wearing the waist and coordinating ensemble in November 2013.

Same ensemble without the sweater and fur accessories.

This is a candid shot, not posed, but I like how thoughtful it is, especially with the natural light filtered by the cloudy sky. You can see the collar with its interesting points which follow the diamond shapes on the lace, as well as the turn back points on the cuffs, which also follow the diamond shapes on the lace. If you look really closely you can also see the buttons down the front, clustered in groups of three rather than being evenly spaced (a detail I pulled from this 1916 image). (Oh, and I added little extensions to the back of my gaiters so that they would stop popping up over the back of my shoes! I didn’t get a picture, but the change made a huge difference in terms of ease of wearing!)

The points on the collar continue around the back neck, a detail which I love, because it makes an otherwise boring collar much more interesting! Also, my hair was surprisingly cooperative that day, and the natural highlights really stood out in the muted lighting!

The waist was made using Past Patterns #9025, which was originally published by The New Idea Pattern Company. “Waist” is the word that was used in the early 20th century to describe the garment we would now call a blouse. Past Patterns lists the date as c. 1915, but the pattern actually has a specific date stamp on it: ” Nov. 19, 1917.” How cool is that? It’s perfect for my 1917 outfit! You can see that I mixed and matched elements from both pattern views, and that I adapted the collar shape to suit the lace that I used for it. The pattern is intended for at 36″ bust (which I am) but it’s pretty roomy. I wouldn’t mind the front being a little bit less full if I decided to make another similar garment one day.

As a bonus, here are some other picturesque images from the picnic.

As usual, playing croquet caused lots of onlookers to stop and watch our fabulous picturesque-ness. I suppose I might stop, too, if I was totally unused to seeing us…

We couldn’t resist taking this perfectly un-posed shot!

The skirt isn’t quite finished yet, as I still have closures and some decorative buttons to sew on. So for now I’ll leave off posting details about it. Hopefully, I’ll finish it soon and get pictures… sometime? It’s going to be too warm to wear a wool skirt soon!

Regency Intensive Dance Weekend 2014 Wrap Up

May 20, 2014 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 6 Comments

As promised last post, here are a few pictures from the two balls at April’s Regency Intensive Dance Weekend. Hopefully, you remember my descriptions of this weekend as being full of amazing learning opportunities and lovely memories with amiable people. Indeed, both balls left me with a feeling, expressed by Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, of being at a very pleasant house party or private ball, though indeed these events are open to the public.

Dancers displaying their waltz at Saturday’s informal ball.

“It is your turn to say something now, Mr. Darcy. — I talked about the dance, and you ought to make some kind of remark on the size of the room, or the number of couples.”

He smiled, and assured her that whatever she wished him to say should be said.

“Very well. — That reply will do for the present. — Perhaps by and by I may observe that private balls are much pleasanter than public ones. — But now we may be silent.”

From Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, in Chapter Eighteen.

Looking into Sunday evening’s formal reception, which included a balcony for the musicians (see them in the mirror?).

The formal ball included lavish and delicious refreshments.

Taking a break from dancing to munch on some super yummy syllabub.

Indeed, we were dancing so often at the formal ball that we really didn’t get many pictures of the dancing in action, so you’ll just have to believe me when I express the elegance of the dancing and the ballroom scene.

You can read more about Sunday afternoon’s imaginary visit to Mansfield Park in this post and more about the new ball gown that I made for the Sunday evening ball in this post. You can read more about the entire weekend here, at Plaid Petticoats blog post about the weekend.

A Dress Suited For Eve

May 14, 2014 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 16 Comments

I know I promised pictures of the two balls at the Regency Intensive Dance Weekend in my last post, and I still promise that those are coming, but we’re going to take a quick detour before we get to ball pictures, to look at…

“A Dress Suited For Eve” (Elusive blue ball gown, 1811)

When dressed for the evening the girls nowadays

Scarce an atom of dress on them leave;

Nor blame them; for what is an evening dress

But a dress that is suited for Eve?

-1818

Quoted from page 42 of C. Willett Cunnington’s Fashion and Women’s Attitudes in the Nineteenth Century.

I came across this quote as I was either planning or starting this dress and I so enjoyed the curmudgeonly generation-gap thoughts expressed in it that it has stuck in my head as a sort of motto. I should explain that this quote occurs as Cunnington is discussing the new Classical style of gowns between the years 1800-1820. These dresses are usually not quite as scandalous to our modern sensibilities as they would have been to people at the time, especially those of older generations. Interestingly, this quote is from 1818 although in my opinion the often sheer muslin dresses from 1800-1810 are generally more revealing than those from 1810-1815, and especially more revealing than those from 1815-1820. Regardless, the idea of these dresses being so revealing that one is dressed as Eve would have been (i.e., wearing nothing!) is amusing to me.

This new gown is actually two separate gowns: a dark blue sleeveless underdress and a lightweight sleeved overdress in a color I call “elusive blue.” Both dresses are a mixture of hand and machine sewing, though all the finishing was done by hand on both pieces.

The underdress is simple and without a waist seam: it is gathered to a yoke in the back and gathered by a drawstring in front. The waist is created by tying the overdress. The overdress, however, is more complicated. The skirt is a simple rectangle with rounded front corners (two widths of fabric wide: there’s a seam at center back), but the bodice has front pieces, shoulder straps, and an interestingly gathered back piece, as well as sleeves. In addition to having more pieces, the overdress is edged all around with lace and faux pearls, as well as having puffs edged with lace and trim sewn on to the sleeves.

Back view (you can see the gathers on the back bodice piece).

I did indeed sew all the pearls on by hand, individually, and good thing, too! You see, if each pearl is sewn on individually then if the thread breaks you might loose a few pearls, but you won’t have your entire pearl job go spilling all over the dance floor (that could be catastrophic for the dancing and your hard work!). I did wear this to the Grand Ball on the Sunday evening of the Regency Dance Weekend, and by the end of the night I had lost a very small section of pearls along the back hem of my dress. Thanks to all my fastidious pearl sewing, that was all I lost and there were no comical/catastrophic scenes with pearls spilling on to the dance floor! If you look closely at the wavy lines you can see that they get a little wobbly at times, but I did do my best to be symmetrical despite the wobbles. I also did my best to estimate the wavelength of the pearls and replicate it as best I could while eyeballing as I went along. (In fact, I think my wavy lines of pearls are actually more regular than those on my inspiration dress.)

My dress is a direct interpretation of the ball gown at the Met from 1811 (pictured below). The most obvious difference is the colors I chose to use (partly because I found the fabulous elusive blue overdress fabric in the perfect light weight fabric for $1/yard!). I’m sure there are other small differences, too, but I did my best to follow the construction methods I gleaned from the zoom feature when making my dress. (The zoom feature on most of the Met’s pictures is so amazing! I love it.)

C.I.66.38.1ab_F — Ball gown, 1811, the Met.

As is usual with the first wearing of a new garment, there are things I am unsatisfied with and want to change. There are also things that didn’t quite get completed and need to be addressed.

First, the sleeves. My sleeves didn’t quite turn out like the ones in the inspiration photo, but they also didn’t get completed before I wore the dress (if you look closely, you’ll see that my sleeves are just raw edges on the bottom!). I ran out of time, but I also wasn’t sure that I would like how my sleeve puffs look and I didn’t want to spend time completing the sleeves if I was going to wind up disliking them in the end. Each puff is edged in the narrow bit I cut off of the wide edging lace and then also edged in a bit of trim that perfectly matches the elusive blue fabric (and that I purchased for about $2!). I don’t think my puffs look quite as elegant as the original, but they were a lot of work and I don’t have any more of that elusive blue trim to change things up. Also, if you look closely at the sleeves of the dress on the Met you’ll see that they are not displayed in the same way. I prefer the sleeve that is more puffed up (on the right), but I examined the pictures really closely and I think that it is just caught up on the mannequin and is intended to look like the other sleeve (on the left). So I have to decide, and that will help me determine how to finish the bottom of my sleeves.

Other things that bothered me were the length of my underdress (seems to have a similar length ratio to the inspiration, but I think I want my underdress to be about 2″ longer), the fact that I realized after sewing on all the lace that I had put in on with the wrong side facing out (oops! but I am absolutely not changing that!), and the fact that the blue underdress is a super bag without the overdress holding it in (I think part of the problem is my skirt shaping–I tried something new and it did not work–but the skirt kept wanting to poof out from between the fronts of the overdress, which I didn’t like). I’d like to address the underdress problems, but I’m not going to bother with that lace problem!

The lighting in this photo captures the colors of the dress much better than in the other photos.

I tried a new thing with my hair for this event which I think was quite successful. The poof is normal, but in front of it and my pearl hair “tiara” (it’s really a necklace!) are two narrow braids, one coming from each side of my head. I managed to hide the ends under the braids and my natural highlights allowed the braids to stand out from my front hair, in the right light (as with the picture, above). The only odd thing was covering up the points where the braids started. I liked it and I think I’ll try it again sometime. I also was able to wear some new earrings: green gems with little fake diamonds set around the edge of the teardrop shape. Despite not matching exactly, I think they suited the dress.

Ok, now the next post in this series really will be about the balls themselves!

Imagine An Afternoon At Mansfield Park

May 7, 2014 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 10 Comments

This April, I was again blessed to be able to take a weekend and step out of my modern, incredibly busy life to join other like-minded individuals for a Regency Intensive Dance Weekend hosted by the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers. Here is the link to all of last year’s posts, which describe a weekend just as wonderful as this year’s turned out to be.

Saturday consisted of lots of dance class, followed in the evening by an informal ball. Sunday’s schedule had a little bit of dance class in the morning followed by a low-key afternoon of Regency non-dance activities and finished up with a reception and grand ball in the evening.

We took fewer pictures this year than last year, but we still captured the amazing essence of this wonderful event: Saturday’s ball really felt like an immersion into an intimate house party rather than a public ball, Sunday’s afternoon events were wonderfully relaxed and felt like an afternoon one might have while visiting Mansfield Park, and Sunday’s grand ball was amazing to behold and be a part of in terms of exquisite refreshments, companionable company, and excellent dancing.

Having so few pictures of the Saturday evening informal ball, I’ve decided to just include them in a second post which will have pictures from both balls. So then this post will be about Sunday afternoon’s event. Activities included sword demonstrations, playing various period card games, participating in or watching a “theatrical,” listening to a short and impromptu piano interlude, and delighting in the delicious refreshments and tea. Of course, there was also lively conversation, as you would expect! (We had hoped to have some outdoor actives, too, such as playing graces in the park and taking a walk, but unfortunately it was raining all morning and things were wet, so we decided to stay inside. In the end, it turned out to be just fine and we still had a lovely time!)

Cards and counting chips laid out and ready to participate in a game.

The “theatrical” was staged for us by a group of interested and theatrically inclined ladies. They only had perhaps a portion of an hour to prepare a few scenes from The Rivals for us (a play first performed in 1775 and written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan). It was highly enjoyable and, we, the audience laughed a lot! Indeed, The Rivals is one of the plays that is dismissed by the party in Mansfield Park when they are thinking of putting on a play (hence why I’ve specifically mentioned that the afternoon felt like visiting Mansfield Park!). In the book, they decide on another play in the end (Lovers’ Vows, from 1798), but it was neat to see scenes from one of the plays mentioned in the book!

“All the best plays were run over in vain. Neither Hamlet, nor Macbeth, nor Othello, nor Douglas, nor The Gamester, presented anything that could satisfy even the tragedians; and The Rivals, The School for Scandal, Wheel of Fortune, Heir at Law, and a long et cetera, were successively dismissed with yet warmer objections.” From Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, in Chapter Fourteen.

1558456_10152056657054327_3929073447392027700_n — Small props had been thought of ahead of time and provided extra amusement: the hat, cravat, and beard were a few of these amusing things!

984026_10152056657274327_5601943787191074466_n — Really, the scenes were amusing and acted with conviction.

10014634_10152056656819327_8573363852811564478_n — Delicious refreshments (we had a variety of scones, cookies, and cucumber sandwiches). Tea is being poured out in the background.

988470_10152056656939327_9019217807155517566_n — A portion of the party enjoying card games, conversation, and refreshments.

Our venue was built around 1816-1817 and provides a wonderful environment for Regency activities especially: beautiful windows, high ceilings, a lovely dance floor that lends itself to Regency style dancing, etc. I also like the creamy butter yellow walls with lovely white trim.

I wore my tree gown. I’m attempting to look pensively out the window hoping that Mr. Darcy will come by…

Yes, I know I’m mixing my books here. Perhaps I should have thought of myself as Fanny Price waiting to see a glimpse of Edmund Bertram out the window. Ah, but I don’t identify with Fanny so much as Elizabeth Bennet, so you’ll have to cope with my mixing of books!

HSF #8: Red/Gold Regency Reticule

May 1, 2014May 2, 2014 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 5 Comments

It’s been a little while since I completed a challenge for the HSF 2014. I’ve either been too busy to sew (sad!) or I’ve been sewing things that haven’t remotely lined up with the HSF challenges as they came along (also sad!). This time, though, I found a little bit of time to finish up a partially completed Regency reticule, which perfectly fits challenge #8: UFOs and PHDs (click through the link if you don’t know what those acronyms mean in sewing-land!).

I was inspired by this Regency reticule pattern which is available on Etsy. I just made up my own pattern based on the image. I didn’t quite get the proportions right so mine is more elongated and a little less round, as well as not bunching up very tightly at the top due to the fabric I chose, but I’m happy with it nonetheless. Perhaps some day, I’ll try making it in a lighter weight fabric and see if I can get a more round shape and a tighter gather at the top (on the other hand, this one does hold its shape nicely… and a lighter weight fabric may not do that for me).

The facts:

Fabric: Polyester upholstery fabric for the exterior and gold polyester taffeta for the lining.

Pattern: Made up by me.

Year: c. 1810

Notions: 1 tassel, gold and burgundy thread, and about 1 yd of gold silk ribbon.

How historically accurate?: Accurate in style but not in materials or use of a sewing machine… Let’s say 50%.

Hours to complete: Not many, though I didn’t really keep track since I worked on it in small bits of time.

First worn: Has not yet been used.

Total cost: Free (all stash materials)!

Support 10·38

April 25, 2014 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 4 Comments

On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles broadcasted a radio adaptation of War of the Worlds. “In a 40 minute show, Welles and other actors from his Mercury Theater company recreated what was supposed to be an alien invasion from the planet Mars. Thousands of radio listeners thought it was true and a wave of mass hysteria seized New York. For many, that night was hell on earth, but for one man, it was heaven.”

1d3e9a000c1056159b66b9763c4e318b — Orson Welles broadcasting War of the Worlds in 1938.

Intrigued? This is the plot of a short film titled “10·38: A Broadcasted Dream,” a project which is currently in the funding stage.

The goal is $20,000 and the campaign is about half way funded on kickstarter, but it’s all or nothing and the funding won’t go through unless the end goal is reached in the next two weeks. And if the project is fully funded and all everything gets approved, I will be designing the costumes (and I’m hoping that includes building a few of them)!

So, throw in some old time radio (which I actually do listen to, it’s fabulous!), some historic fashions from 1938 (obviously, you know I love historic clothing), and some monsters (ok, maybe I’m not such a fan of monsters!)… and you can help support the production of a film that can transport viewers to another time and place, just as old time radio broadcasts like War of the Worlds used to do. So please, if you’re at all interested this supporting this project, consider sharing it with others and supporting it!

Returning From Silence

April 18, 2014April 18, 2014 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 3 Comments

This past month was absolutely busy! So busy, in fact, that something in my life had to give. Unfortunately, the thing that gave was my time spent sewing historic clothing and documenting it here on the blog. I say this by way of apologizing for my unintended and unannounced silence. I’m sure you understand how busy life can be and that you’ll forgive me!

While I was away, I was kindly awarded the Liebster Blog Award by Asa at Fashion Through History blog. Here is a rather belated “thank you!” I’ve actually been nominated for this award once before, and in turn nominated other blogs, so I’m going to skip that this time and just take some time to answer the 10 questions that Asa has asked as part of the nomination.

#1: When and how did you get into sewing?

My grandmother taught me how to quilt when I was in elementary school, but I didn’t really learn how to sew clothing or use a sewing machine until part way through my undergraduate studies when I took a Costume Construction course.

#2: What was your very first garment (historical or other)? And what did you learned from it?

Well, I “made” things for playing dress up when I was young, but I don’t think those quite count. So, let’s call the first garments those I made in that first Costume Construction class. They were almost entirely failures, in the sense that I would never wear them in public despite the fact that they were finished garments. I learned that fabric choice makes a huge difference in having a garment that’s wearable! Also, you learn and practice skills with every garment, even if it isn’t one you are happy with, so there’s those things, too.

#3: Do you have a dream project? And what it is? (Picture?)

I have a lot of dream projects! There’s so many I really can’t pick one, or even a few! They’re mostly dresses, but also include accessories, outerwear, and occasionally separates. Here are links to some of my pinterest boards of “future project” ideas: 1820-1850, 1851-1869, 1870-1899, 1900-1929, and 1930-1960.

#4: Which of your costumes are your favorite and why? (Picture?)

Favorites are hard…

I do really like my 1815 Tree Gown, because it is super comfy to wear, has a fantastic silhouette, and the fabric is just so perfect and fabulous!

My 1819 spencer is pretty fabulous, too. It’s got such fun details and fits well!

Evie, my ball gown from 1864 is a favorite because she’s entirely hand sewn and stunning.

I really love my outfit from 1917. The style is actually quite flattering, I’m impressed that I knitted my own sweater, I love my spat boots, and my fur accessories are just so pet-able! (Plus, my blouse has neat lace details on the collar and cuffs.)

If I only allow myself one more favorite, it’s my 1953 dot dress. It’s grown up polka dots in shades of pink! And it’s super cute and comfortable.

#5: What will be your next big project?

Hopefully, working on my 18th century court gown for Kendra’s sew along over the next few months.

#6: What part of costuming do you enjoy the most (the planning, patternmaking, sewing, details etc.)?

Oh, I do love the planning… Picking out an inspiration image is just so fun! I also absolutely enjoy sewing and adding details.

#7: And what part would you rather not do?

I have to be in the right mood to enjoy patterning. Sometimes it’s just drudgery! And I really don’t enjoy cutting.

#8: Do you have a costuming role model or muse (historical, fellow blogger or other)?

No, can’t say that I have a singular role model or muse. There are lots people I find to be inspiring out there, though, whom have completed amazing and lovely projects.

#9: What’s the reason you decided to start your costuming blog?

I was trying to figure out who I am and what I do in terms of my interest in historic costume research, construction, and wearing. I was encouraged to share that with others and a blog was one way to do that.

#10: What is your best advice for anyone wanting to get into historical costuming?

Get involved with local groups so you have a place to wear your clothes and people who love the hobby and will encourage you. It can be hard to find those groups, sometimes, though, so reading the blogs of people in your area might clue you in as to what they are. Don’t be afraid to comment on blogs, too! You’re invisible until you comment!

A Floral Headband For Annabelle (Returning Heroes Ball 2014)

March 25, 2014 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 8 Comments

Not too long ago, I was again able to be part of the annual Returning Heroes Ball hosted by The Commonwealth Vintage Dancers. I decided to wear Annabelle again this year, even though I’d worn her last year, because I’d just worn Evie and Belle at the 1860s Dance Weekend in November.

Annabelle at Returning Heroes Ball 2014.

Each time I’ve worn Annabelle, I’ve been slightly disappointed with the various incarnations of flower hair wreaths I’ve attempted to match her: the first wreath and the giant mass of flowers. So this year I decided to try again to see if I could get something I like. There are quite a number of evening dresses decorated with flowers right about 1860 and many of them are depicted in fashion plates and portraits with matching flowers in the hair. Here are some examples: 1859 fashion plate, another 1859 fashion plate, a third 1859 fashion plate, 1861 fashion plate, 1861 portrait, 1862 fashion plate, and 1863 fashion plate. For this new incarnation, I decided to try a different style from what I have for my other two evening dresses (Belle has a crescent and Evie has a hair wreath). The style I settled on I’m calling a headband. It creates a halo around the face and extends down towards the ears, but does not connect across the back of the head. Instead, the hair must be interestingly arranged to fill in the back of the head. Here’s an example of the headband style using flowers that match the dress from 1862. And here is the fashion plate that Annabelle is based on which shows a headband style hair wreath worn with the dress.

Here is Annabelle’s new floral headband.

Back view of my hair style. I needed something dramatic to fill in the base of my head. I wanted to do a sideways oval surrounded by rolls, but that didn’t work out and this is what I ended up with. I was dubious at first, but I think it worked. (It’s hard to see, but there’s one big central roll/puff and one smaller one above and below that.)

In addition to my new headband, I was also able to wear my new ca. 1860 corset and my still rather new purple paste jewels (a matching collet necklace and drop earrings) from Dames a la Mode. They worked wonderfully with my outfit (of course, I did pick the purple knowing it would match multiple outfits…!) and I enjoyed wearing them again.

The ball was lovely, as usual, and filled with well dressed people and more uniformed gentlemen than we have seen in recent years. The dancing was well executed and the intermission boasted a lavish spread of refreshments that both looked and tasted scrumptious.