HSF #16: Eugenie Inspired 1857 Straw Hat

July 24, 2013July 24, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 11 Comments

I recently participated in an outdoor mid-century dance performance for which the weather was an un-obliging 90-something degrees + humidity. Yup, not kidding. It was HOT! And we were dancing on asphalt. Luckily, we were out on an island in the Boston harbor and had a breeze. But it was HOT!

Anyway, more on that performance soon, because it involved a new cotton print day dress made from one of my recently acquired historic cotton prints! In addition to the dress, I also restyled a straw hat to go with the outfit and keep some of the sun off of my head. The hat has been used with various other clothes (1780s and Regency come to mind), but I had only ever added a simple ribbon to it rather than really styling it. This was the perfect opportunity to really make something of the hat!

I wanted to keep it simple and in the 1850s/60s, so I started by adding inspirational images to my pinterest board for this project. I visited the board many times before making a decision that I loved the shape of Eugenie’s straw hat in this painting. The hat has that nice downward curve in the front that sort of frames the face and accentuates the fashionable heart shape. The gauzy/tulle trim was a little whimsical for my purposes, so I opted for a more subdued and practical trim style on my hat.

Empress_Eugénie,_Hillwood_Museum,_1857 — Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805–1873) Eugénie of Montijo, Empress of France Date 1857

I started by wetting my hat in the bathtub then tying it with string so it would dry with the curve that I wanted to achieve in the brim. I also wanted the back to curve under a bit, so I let the hat curve on both sides.

Once the hat had dried all that was left was to trim it! I chose to use green silk left over from Evie, my 1864 ball gown, and some silk millinery flowers. The silk is narrow hemmed on both sides and the ends are fringed, showing gold threads (the fabric is green/gold shot taffeta). The long ends hang down the back while the hat is worn, a style like the one below which you can see in the images on my pinterest board. I also added a bow on the front like you see in the images. Turns out that the bow is not quite centered… whoops!

56737fd6fd819eb71c2360fd4be5679f — LAPL, Magasin des Demoiselles, August 1858

And here is the result of my labors, and my fulfillment of the HSF Challenge #16: Separates. “Make a non-matching garment which can be paired with other items in your historical wardrobe to extend your outfit choices.”

You can’t see the curve since the hat is sitting flat on the table… but you can see the trim!

Just the facts:

Fabric: A 4″ width of green silk 60″ wide plus a few scraps.

Pattern: None.

Year: 1850s generally, 1857 specifically.

Notions: Straw hat, silk flowers, thread.

How historically accurate?: I give it 98% (and that’s pretty high for me!). Straw, silk, more silk… The sewing machine was even invented by 1858, so the machine sewn hat isn’t totally out of the realm of possibility. The -2% is for the polyester thread.

Hours to complete: 2, not including time for the straw to dry.

First worn: July 20 for a vintage dance performance on George’s Island in the Boston harbor.

Total cost: I bought the hat a few years ago for probably about $25, the silk was leftover from another project, and the flowers cost some small number of cents since I got them as part of a large box for only $5! Let’s just say $26 total.

Back view of the hat on my head. See how the front dips? This is also a sneak peak of my new gown, Georgina, to whom you will be formally introduced soon.

At first I thought I had made the curve too pronounced, but when I look at the pictures again, I think I was pretty darn spot on! Woo! Completed new separates accessory for my historic wardrobe: check. Oh, and did I mention I’m in early on this project? The deadline is August 12!

Historic Cotton Print Eye Candy

June 24, 2013June 24, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 7 Comments

I was recently able to visit a wholesale quilt fabric company to purchase historic dress fabrics for an upcoming mid-19th century performance on behalf of me and other members in my vintage dance troupe. It was such a treat! The majority of the fabrics we found were Marcus Brothers fabrics, but RJR also had a smaller number of really lovely fabrics.

Marcus Brothers Gettysburg Print 1840-1860. To make an1850s day dress.

Windham Fabrics Colonies Archives Print c. 1850 and Marcus Brothers Charleston II Print. For other 1850s/60s day dresses.

There were so many lovely things, but the best part was the prices! All of the fabrics were between $2.50-$3.75 a yard! You had to buy a bolt, which varied between 7 1/2 and 15 yds, but at those prices it’s still outstanding! We came away with fabric for the 1850s/60s dresses and bit more besides… There were some things that were just so fantastic they couldn’t be left behind!

Marcus Brothers Old Sturbridge Village Print. To eventually make an 1840s dress! It’s going to be so pretty! I love this fabric and the colors (it’s actually yellow and pinkish flowers with brownish vines).

RJR Print. I have no idea what I will make with this, I just love it. I find it to be so striking!

Another sample of the lovely prints. These were purchased by a friend. One will be used for an 1860s dress, eventually, and the other will possibly be used for an 1840s dress, eventually.

Don’t worry, there will be upcoming posts with more on the 1850s day dress I’ll be making as well as the other much farther in the future projects. And I’m sure I’ll also have great pictures from the mid-19th century performance as well.

First Picnic Of The Summer: Part I

June 18, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 5 Comments

Last weekend was a whirlwind of events and that means I’ve got lots of pictures to share! The pictures will be coming in small-ish groups. I do hope you’ll be able to vicariously enjoy the nice weather and fun through them.

The first event was a low-key turn of the 20th century picnic in the Boston Public Garden. You might remember that last year we did a Regency picnic in the same place? We were out to have a good time and get some fresh air without worrying about 100% historical accuracy, hence the low-key part of the description. So without further ado, pictures!

There are lots of ducks in and around the swan pond in the center of the garden and this time of year you can also see baby ducks! There were 9 of them in this bunch. Aren’t they cute?

There are also swans around the swan pond. These ones were nesting in a fenced off area. Pretty, but you wouldn’t want to get too close. Swans are big, and mean.

There are lovely old trees around the garden as well.

The trees make great backdrops for photos.

Walk a bit away from the swan pond and you are likely to encounter George Washington, who happened to be showing off his Bruins spirit this past weekend. (I love that the city, presumably, had a custom all-weather jersey-cape made, since Washington can’t actually move his arms to put on a jersey, given that he’s bronze…)

All around the statue of Washington are lovely flower beds. The flowers get changed out pretty regularly so they’re always blooming and pretty. These flowers are my favorite though! They’re called allium, and I love the colors, and the size, and the circle-y-ness of them.

I believe I have a weakness for circle-y things. And, my outfit matched the flowers! I think my gibson-y hair turned out pretty well, too.

I know this picture is similar to the last one… but I can’t decide which one I like best. I’m hoping maybe you have an opinion that will sway me one way or the other?

It got warm promenading about the garden, so we returned to the blankets in the shade to play cards.

After the rest, we broke out the croquet set we had brought along. Apparently we were more interesting while playing croquet than we were at any other time during the day, because we actually gathered a crowd of people who were watching us play.

Contemplating my next shot. I was getting out of the metal panel obstacle…

I was the pink ball! I think it was supposed to be red, but it looked awfully pink to me!

My outfit choice was inspired by an image in the KCI collection. I did my best to imitate it in spirit, despite my lack of a boater.

ce257125a81f4b3e3a2f99407ae4f099 — When revisiting the image I realized that it does not include a croquet mallet. Be that as it may, I tried, and I think the inspiration is clear, even though my memory is not!

Regency Kites!

June 1, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 5 Comments

Well, it’s June now, and that means summer to me. I’ve been slow to post about my kite making adventures because I was busy posting about other things, but it seems fitting for this post to be the first one of June–summery, somehow.

After the official end of the Regency Dance Weekend I’ve been posting about recently, my friends and I stayed in the Salem area to relax a bit and have some further Regency adventures. We had been brainstorming about what sort of activity we might engage in that was outside of our usual occupations and had settled on the idea of flying kites!

I did some research into Regency kites and spent some of my evening time during the weekend sewing these four silk kites with some help from friends.

I didn’t find much to go on with the kite making. The best source I found was Jen’s post about Georgian Toys on her blog Festive Attyre. The post includes a link to this kite making how-to as well as a link to this 18th century extant kite. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find more information on the extant kite than that which is on that one page. Jen’s post is great and includes fun information about other Georgian toys as well as kites. The how-to link is a good one as well, though I did sub out modern methods for more period ones. For example: there is no tape to be found, instead there are stitches.

Making the kites was fun. I went to Home Depot to buy the dowels for the kite frames. They were cheap and luckily you can saw the lengths to be what you need while you’re in the store (good for me since I don’t own a saw!). I also bought twine there. It’s a poly-cotton blend (boo), but it’s smooth on the hands, so that’s worth it! The kite tails are bits of the main fabric and a contrasting fabric just tied around the twine. Instead of notching the ends of the dowels after they were cut (I tried, and it failed, because the dowels just wanted to splinter) I just wrapped the twine around the ends enough times that it wouldn’t move. The method definitely worked and sometimes that’s all you need.

Despite the fact that it was super windy by the water, we had trouble getting the kites to stay in the air. I’ve surmised that my kite engineering skills are not super outstanding, because the kites did lots of circles near our head height and then dove into the ground… over and over and over again… It was a bit frustrating. These pictures capture the few times we got the kites up in the air. Trust me when I say they didn’t stay up very long!

Clearly this kite did not want to go up.

This kite had the best luck at staying in the air.

There were some adjustments and kite injuries along the way. One of the dowels in the pink kite broke, so I have to figure out how I’m going to fix that. The other kites had things like alternate bridles made and pennies sewn into the edges to try to add weight. Some of those things seemed to work. I guess I just need to do some research about what makes kites stay up. I’m not sure the tails worked very well, either. They tangled easily and were hard to sort out again. If you know anything about kite making and have tips, I’d love to hear them!

This is definitely something I plan to work on and try again. Perhaps at a summer picnic? We’ll see. It was a fun endeavor, despite the diving kites (and I had the opportunity to wear my new Tree Gown again!). Plus, there were pretty places nearby to take pictures!

It was pretty windy, so hat holding was totally necessary!

Possibly The Worst 1850s Dress Ever (In My Opinion)

May 29, 2013November 26, 2023 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 28 Comments

70dd23c2f1696b235d0a77e119f15447 — 1859. The Museum at FIT.

In my opinion, it looks like a furry animal (goat, sheep, elk???) got entangled with a fringe machine. All those shades of brown are not pleasing together, to my eye. I imagine this must be very heavy.

What do you think? I’d love to hear from you if you have a differing opinon.

Regency Dance Weekend Part VI: Grand Ball

May 15, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 3 Comments

The time for dancing has arrived! You’ll remember that I recently shared pictures of the reception on the Sunday evening of the Regency Dance Weekend as well as the sharing of the train at that same reception? I’ve been promising to share ball pictures and finally, the time has come. Without further ado…

The Grand March. We had a good quantity of people this ball and because of our practice during the daytime classes all of the figures looked really good!

The Grand March was followed by a good number of country dances and figured waltzes. It was an amazing experience to have a room full of people who had already learned the dances and were able to dance them without instruction. We were able to complete dance after dance after dance and it wasn’t long before it was time for some refreshment.

Punch had been nicely laid out in the refreshment room earlier in the evening.

There were cookies, and fruit, and syllabub (sweet cream) with pound cake, just to name a few delicious treats.

The refreshment room also had small tables set up to encourage chatting while eating.

Unlike some of balls during which we have refreshment breaks, at this ball a person could break for refreshments at any point in the evening. It was a nice change, and especially since we did so much dancing and less standing and listening, it was particularly useful to refresh oneself throughout the evening.

Of course, there was the opportunity to chat with friends and family throughout the evening in addition to time spent in the refreshment room.

Setting up for a country dance. Or perhaps this was Sir Roger De Coverley?

Yes, I believe that was Sir Roger. This was later in the evening after sillyness had set in… We were changing partners and gentlemen/lady positions just to keep things interesting.

Goodness! By the end of the evening my legs were feeling all the dancing of the weekend. The characteristic Regency upbeat rise was getting harder and harder to achieve… But what an event! What a weekend! It was so full of fun, and getting to know new people, and learning dancing… Really, an exquisite experience.

Regency Dance Weekend Part V: Sharing The Train

May 13, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 4 Comments

I’m eager to share pictures of the grand ball with you, but I want to insert this post before continuing to ball pictures. One of my friends had the ambition to complete a Regency court train to wear during the reception I showed pictures of last post. It’s a pretty fabulous train made of velvet printed with golden bees and trimmed with opulent gold lace.

The actual owner and maker of the train.

It’s not the sort of thing to be danced in, but that’s fine, because it attaches at the waist, so it’s easy to take off. During the course of the evening some of us tried on the train and tried out different poses in it. So nice of Antonia to share with all of us! It was quite grand and fabulous.

It’s my blog, and that means I can share as many pictures of me as I want…! Spoiled sounding? Probably… Okay, fine, I’ll return to my more humble un-royalty roots.

There are some absolutely stunning extant court trains out there. Here’s my pinterest page of court gowns and trains from all different periods. And here are some of my favorite Regency court trains to inspire you.

2a9f7d18f6efa162da388068a6fd2796 — ca. 1809. The Met.

6127903c863106593286fb768cf6f770 — 1809. The Met.

6eb9ea6b01ad25fc4f8645202f685d93 — First Empire From the Chateau de Malmaison Costume Collection app

fcb6d976814d2a2975ae67d9b284948c — First Empire From the Chateau de Malmaison Costume Collection app

There is an event at Dress U in about a month that requires court gowns or trains. I won’t be there, but I’m looking forward to seeing pictures of other people’s fabulous court trains! I hope you’ve enjoyed these silly pictures. I promise that the next post in this series about the Regency Weekend will be pictures of the ball: no more delays!

Regency Dance Weekend Part IV: Reception

May 10, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 8 Comments

Having successfully completed the first day of the Regency Dance Weekend and then archery on Sunday afternoon, we hurried off to prepare for the Grand Reception and Ball on Sunday evening. These events were held at Hamilton Hall in Salem, MA. This hall that was built in 1805: perfect for our Regency events!

The reception was to include a toast with sparkling cider, so we pre-filled glasses to have ready to go at the right time. In addition, we worked on laying out the refreshments in pretty glass compotes and on silver trays as well as making the punch and laying out all the necessary silverware and dishes. Preparation was a bit hurried and I have to confess to getting super grumpy at one point…

The alterations I made to my skirt to fix the rip created a new issue. Sigh. See those horizontal wrinkles on the rib area? Because the front of the skirt hangs differently now, the front skirt wants to wrinkle. I can fix this problem, but ugh! It’s so much easier when the clothes just fit perfectly!

Partially completed spread of refreshments.

When everything was ready we joined everyone else for some pictures in the lovely ballroom, where there were real candles in the windows! So pretty!

IMG_0958 - Version 2 — These mirrors are stunning and beautiful, in addition to being wonderful places to pose for the camera.

I thought my hair looked particularly regal for this event. Here’s a good picture of my poof and laurel wreath tiara.

It’s convenient for these sort of events to have hair that is easily made poofy. I don’t have any short bits of hair around my face (aside from frizz…) so curly tendrils for Regency hair styles don’t work for me. This had become my go-to Regency style: center part in the front with the front bits of hair saved for last; the back part of the hair put into a pony tail and brushed out to be super poofy, then rolled on itself to create a self rat and hide the ends. The poof is then pinned in place, the front bits are wrapped down and around the back which creates lovely lines on the back of the head, and finally the tiara is added to define the area between part and poof. The whole thing is finished off with a liberal douse of super hold hairspray to contain the frizz and keep the style in place.

But enough pictures of my dress and hair! After these reception pictures we all descended the stairs to the sidewalk, where we watched a celebratory champagne bottle be opened with a saber. Neat!

Each person was served with a glass of sparkling cider on his or her way back up to the ballroom.

And then we all had a bit of time to socialize and admire the room, the people, and the circulating cider refills.

When the cider was beginning to dwindle (which didn’t take too long), the time had come for the dancing to begin. And my, what dancing there was!

Regency Dance Weekend Part III: Fell Off The Sewing Wagon, But Got Back On!

May 7, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ Leave a comment

Yup, that’s me I’m talking about in the title of this post. I was straggling along the first bit of the Mar-pril Regency Sew Weekly road. For Goal #2: evening wear, I had hopes to fix the rip in my 1813 red evening gown, but unfortunately I didn’t get to it in time for the deadline.

I did get to it before the Regency Dance Weekend, though, so I was able to wear the dress for the Grand Ball and Reception on Sunday night. I’ve got pictures of the event to share soon, but for now I’m going to focus on the gown.

When I first made this dress back in January and wore it to the Pride and Prejudice Ball in February, the skirt of the dress was tightly gathered across the back to take in all the fulness of the skirt. But while taking pictures after the ball, the dress caught and ripped! I suppose it’s hard to tell in the picture, but the rip was not small.

Gathers used in the back to take in all the fullness.

Ugh! What to do? Try to patch it, or darn it, or replace the whole vertical panel where the rip was? None of those ideas sounded like they would be pretty or fun.

I didn’t actually get around to fixing this until after I had constructed my Tree Gown, which has a skirt with an angled (trapezoidal) front panel and the back panel cut as a rectangle. The effect of that shaping on the Tree Gown is neat: there is less fabric to gather at the back and the skirt has a nice shape to it that is different than the shape that is created by the original tube shaped skirt on the red gown. In addition, I decided after looking at the pictures of the red gown that the gathers were too poofy in the back and created a shape I wasn’t looking for.

So I came to the idea of using the trapezoid plus rectangle skirt shaping for the red gown, because making a trapezoid would allow me to cut out the section of the skirt with the rip. This required taking the skirt off of the back waistband, sewing the new seams, then reattaching the whole thing. Since I was taking it apart anyway at that point, I decided to also pleat the fabric around the back instead of gathering it, like this dress, below.

1980.189_B — 1812 Wedding Dress at the Met with a pleated skirt.

The ripped side of the skirt, removed from the waistband and with the new seam pinned. Now you can see the scale of the rip!

It looks like I don’t have any great pictures of the back of the gown with the new pleated back… whoops! Here’s one picture, though, where you can sort of see what’s going on with the dress.

Sort of hard to tell, but the area where the skirt meets the waistband is much flatter, and the skirt has a much bigger flare at the hem due to the new seam shaping.

Perhaps hard to envision, but if you compare this back picture to the one at the beginning of this post, there is a definite difference. It wasn’t a fun project, but it needed to be done, and I sure am glad it is! Next time there will be pictures of the reception, including more fun pictures of this dress.

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!!!