Invisible Jane

Why did it take me soooo long to post pictures of me in my Regency dress?

Oh... probably because I didn't want to take photos indoors, in a 21st century setting, and because my digital camera did this:

For several days, wherever we tried, I ended up being the invisible woman.

I'm pale, but...

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 6: Modelling the Dress]

The photos are not really that good (sorry!), but they're the best I could get (and it took four tries in four days, and it was extremely weird since the camera did things I didn't even know were possible, but that's another story).

It's mainly just to give you an idea of the finished product...

Front view (with a completely unauthentic shawl - in my defence, it was rather nippy that day):

Another view of the front (sans shawl):

And finally, a view of the back:

I hope you'll like my version of a Regency day dress.
It took me much longer than I thought to be able to post all this, but many things conspired against me...
Well, it's there... Enjoy!

PS: I'd like a word with whoever invented the corset! That thing was devised in hell.

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 5: Cutting the Pieces & Assembling the Dress]

All right, now that you've got the pattern and that you've printed only the small "bits", here's the battle plan:

* you'll need one piece for:

- the front

- the back

- the belt

- the skirt

* you'll need two for:

- the sides

- the sleeves

The pattern doesn't take into account the seam allowance, so you'll have to keep in mind to not cut the material right against the pattern (about 1 cm/0.5" should be enough - check how your material reacts).

I'm 5'2", and the skirt could fit someone who's 5'6" (if you're taller, you'll need more material).

The dress is size 12 (UK variety). I guess that a size 10 would have to be cut right on the pattern, and add about 2.5 cm/1" for each extra size.

Here's how I proceeded with my 3mx1.5m (9'9"x5'1") remnant.
I folded the length in two, and I pinned the pattern for the sleeve on a corner (1cm/0.5" from the end of the material); then, I cut both sleeves at the same time:

Since my material is striped, it was quite easy to cut off the whole length of material where there was what I needed for the sleeves, and incidentally, I ended up with a nice square of material that can be used for something else (small scarf, reticule,... That's up to you).

Next, I folded the pattern of the front part in two (that's piece #1 in the drawing below). I folded the width of the remnant just enough to cover the folded pattern, and I pinned it. However, I cut the whole length: the huge rectangle that this forms is the skirt, and you can put it away for the moment (and by cutting off the rectangle for the sleeves and the one for the top and the belt, you don't have to actually measure the skirt).
You should be able to pin the sides' pattern (#2 below) on the same piece as the folded front. If your material isn't plain, mind the stripes or pattern when you pin that part.

The stripes don't align perfectly with the front part, but one has to inspect the dress closely to see it.

You're left with one big-ish, rectangle length of material.
Pin the back, and cut it:

In what's left of that length, cut the belt: 10cm/3.9"x1 m/39.4" (that'll work for the front belt and you'll have material for the four loops in the back.

I'll refer to the different pieces according to the numbers on this drawing:

Once you've sewn two parts together, always iron the seam open.

1- Sew the two sides (#2) to the back (#3):

2- Sew the front (#1) to the sides.

3- Sew the shoulders, joining the front and the back parts.

4- Place a pin in the top and bottom part of the front right in the middle (they'll be your guides until the very end; you could even use safety pins).

5- Hem the top part by hand, starting with the front; sew the extremity of the nylon cord thread where the shoulder parts meet and make sure that the thread will stay in place. As you go, make sure that you haven't caught the thread in the hem.
That hem can be pretty small (I had just a couple of millimetres of seam allowance).
When you reach the centre top pin, leave a small opening through which you can pull the thread (that you'll hide inside) to gather the top.

Then, hem the back to match the length of the hem in the front.

6- Sew the skirt (#5) into a tube, and place the seam in the middle of the back.
Just like for the top, use pins to help locate the two sides and the middle of the front.
Measure your ribcage right under your breasts and add 3 to 4 centimetres (1.2" to 1.6"); divide by 2 to know how much you've got to reduce the front and the back of the skirt where it connects with the top.
You'll have to pin the front in regular pleats:

You'll gather the back:

7- Pin the bottom of the front of the top part in pleats to match the top of the front of the skirt. The final diameter should match the diameter of the top of the skirt - of course.
There are no pleats in the back of the top. My ribcage is 78 cm (30.7"), and I pinned/hemmed everything at 82 cm (32.3") [because that's not much, and I need to be able to manoeuvre into the dress since there is no buttoned opening]; the pleats in the front part of the top just reached the side pieces (#2).

8- The sleeves (#6)... (that was the "entertaining" part of this dress).
First, a confession: the shoulder had a tad too much material, and the next time I make this dress, I'll cut the top right on the pattern.
Sew the length of the sleeve.
Try the top on and locate the middle of your shoulder; you know the drill: place a pin.
Fold a first sleeve along the seam, and pin the middle of the top of the sleeve to the shoulder. You should need to make 3 or 4 pleats between the top of the shoulder and the underarm on the front.
When everything is pinned (I'd recommend one careful try on the inside to make sure that everything will fit), you can sew the top and the first sleeve.
Repeat the operation on the second sleeve.

9- Iron the belt (#4). Measure the top of the skirt so that the belt will cover the front of the dress and reaches just a few centimetres beyond the middle of the side. Hem both sides of the belt. With the rest of the belt piece, make 2 or 4 loops for the back.
Pin the ribbon at the bottom of the belt so it doesn't move when you're going to sew the skirt to the top.
Pin the loops to the back (and be very careful to pin them straight!).

10- Pin the top to the skirt+belt and loops (this is when the "middle" pins will help you place everything where it should be; the pins in the front are particularly useful). Sew the pieces together.
You're going to have to take care of many threads.

11- Hem the bottom of the skirt.

12- Hem the sleeves.

13- Eventually add buttons to the sleeves, near the wrists.

14- Have fun in your pretty dress!

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 4: Pattern]

So... It took me a long time, but I hope you'll like the result.

To make this dress, I used a remnant that was 3mx1.5m (9'9"x5'1").

Here's an image of the pieces you'll need (more details in the next post):

You'll also need about 2m (6'5") of ribbon matching your material, some nylon cord thread, and (eventually) six metal self-cover buttons.

And now, the big part of this post: a PDF file of my pattern. If there's any problem with it, leave me a message, and I'll find a way to send you the file.

Once you've got that file, you only need to print the top part (front, side, back, belt, sleeve); there's no point in printing the skirt.

Next post... Let's start the actual fun!

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 3 3/4: Last Update before an Avalanche of Posts]

The toile worked, and the dress is awesome.

Just two things: I need to sew the hem (and since this lil' bunny is being slaved in a garden, that's going to take a few more days), and to work on the cuffs.

And... I forgot in town a few images to help with the assembling of the dress. Oops & drat! I swear I was convinced they were on my flash-drive... They aren't.

I'm going to prepare everything (I can always type what needs to be typed), and when I hop to town in a few days, I'll add the images, and I'll post three posts about the pattern, the cutting/assembling, and the final product (with - hopefully - photos taken in a lovely garden).

See you soon with a Regency pattern for a lovely dress*.

*: yes, I am quite proud of the result. ^_^

V&A Couture-Inspired Dress and Hanabi Petticoat/Skirt

I am working on the Regency day dress right now, but I finished another project recently: the Victoria and Albert Museum couture-inspired dress (if you're interested, but can't find the free pattern online, I'm ready to share; just drop me a line).

I valiantly fought with the hem, and then I realized that the dress badly needs a petticoat, and so I decided to make a petticoat that could work as a skirt, too.

Step one ended up with this: 

 

Then (and that took me hours!), I added beads:

- this is the front:

- this is the back:

And this is me in it (not the best quality, but my camera was not fully cooperating):

From now on, it shall be known as my 花火 (hanabi - ie: fireworks) skirt (花火のスカート).

And then, I give you the couture dress:

Front:

Back:

I'll log off the 1950s, and I'll head back to the the 1810s... See you soon!

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 3 3/4: Spot of News]

Nearly there!

I need to make a toile, and I can post (don't expect anything before next week, at best, though...)

See you soon!

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 3 1/2: Strategy Update]

I dreamt about the dress - and the blue material.

So, first, the green one shall be dealt with in second, and then I came to realize a couple of things: the pattern could be... let's say, not perfect, and instead of sharing something that may need too many adjustments, I'm going to work on a standard pattern that could be adapted to different sizes (hopefully).

In order to make sure that my pattern works, I'm going to try it.

Chapter 4 won't be posted until I've finished the dress, but that means that the pattern can be trusted, and I can post Chapter 5: Cutting the Pieces, Chapter 6: Assembling the Dress, and Chapter 7: Showing Off Modelling the Dress at the same time.

Unfortunately, the Easter break is happening very soon, which means that two weeks of my life are about to be eaten up by Muggles.

Well, I'll have time to convert all the measurements meticulously...

I should have realized the issue about creating the pattern and posting it straight away, but I think the pollen's melting my brain cells.

See you soon-ish with (hopefully) four new sewing posts...

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 3: Material (Shopping) Madness]

So... I went shopping... for Regency plausible material.

I was really trying to find some crépon like the Elinor blue dress in Sense and Sensibility, but there was none, and the only affordable one was black (I love black, but I really thought it'd be a tad too much). 

I went to a store that specializes in selling remnants (10 ft for £4!!!), and I found really nice things:

- first this nice light maroon/dark beige crêpe with golden flowers (yes, I swear they're flowers; hopefully, it'll photograph better with the whole dress):

 [incidentally, I placed the remnant on my dark maroon satin coat lining]

- then, I found this light green light cotton fabric:

 - and last, I adopted this thick cotton fabric:

I'm going to start with the green one.

Everything's almost ready about the pattern, but, as I'd like to give you the measurements in inches and centimetres, I'll have to do some maths and that's going to be barmy and basically pure hell.

Oh... what's going to slow me down, as well, is the local, self-appointed assistant.

Here, you can see him working on what's going to become a petticoat for my V&A Couture Inspired Dress:

So, basically, Chapter 4: Dress Pattern may be slightly slow to appear...

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 2: Planning the Pattern&Testing Things]

So... I was planning to go buy material last Friday, but I had to change my plans, and I'll go only next Friday.

However, I've been collecting quite a few photos of dresses in museums, and I've made choices about the pattern that I'm about to start plotting (can one plot a pattern? Ach! Never mind...). 

I've noticed two ways to deal with gathers on the top front part of the dress (I can deal with that, or with pleats, on a skirt in my sleep, and plan what needs to be done before tea, and with just my non-dominant hand - I've got years of training on 19th century skirts). I could either make the top front part in one or two pieces (both would be historically possible). 

As it happens, I don't want to have two pieces, and so, I'm going to need to make a few tests in order to assess how much material is needed in order to get the proper gathers.

Basically, checking how much material is needed won't take me long, and then I can start combining patterns.

Incidentally, the sleeves may end up being the tricky part of this pattern: what shape to choose? Buttons on the forearm or not?

For my first dress, I'll probably stick to what I can see in the captures from Sense and Sensibility, which means a simple long sleeve with decorative buttons.

All right. See you all in a few days, and wish me luck!

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 1: Addiction&Pattern]

*curtseys*

How do you do?

I see you've met my... Oops! Wrong reference, sorry!

*coughs discreetly*

So... I happen to have addictions: mint sweets, cheeses, books, music... and making historical costumes (that started when I was dancing, and I had to make my own costumes - because that was waaaaaay cheaper that way).

As it happens, Sense and Sensibility (the 1995 version) is my favourite film, and for the past two days (and I can't even remember how it started!), I've been looking at photos and blogs and pages and documentaries and anything I could find really about Regency dresses.

It turns out that I could only find two free patterns on the Internet, and so, I've decided that if I manage to make the dress of my dreams, I'm going to share the pattern here.

My plan is to use what I've found on the Internet, what I know about the history of fashion and... what I can snatch from the Sense and Sensibility film.

Basically, I'll be trying to make something like this: 

Now... I just have to:

- work on the pattern

- go shop for some material and ribbons (that I can afford)

- find time to work on it

- deal with ignore my Muggle relatives as they'll disparage my wish to wear a Regency dress today (basically... So, what???!)

Wish me luck?

Sewing a muff

So... this is what I've been doing this weekend: a muff.

I'd bought a rectangle of Muppet-skin years ago - to make a muff. I'd kept it in my wardrobe for a looong time, but with the weather these days, I started working on it.

I cut a few layers of fleece very slightly smaller than the Muppet-skin:

Then I cut a piece of black satin. I cut it bigger than the Mupper-skin:

Here's a photo of the three layers together:

I used pins to place the rubber bands that would close the muff ends. I sewed the satin on the fleece and made sure that the rubber bands could move smoothly:

The next step was a bit rock 'n' roll because I had to sew the shortest sides together (that were twelve layers of various thickness).

When that was done, I turned it inside out so I had the Muppet-skin on one side and the lining layers on the other - a bit like a butterfly. I sewed the Muppet-skin right against the lining, and when that was done, I put the lining back inside the cylinder.

The next step was to close the longest sides. When I reached the opening with the extra rubber band, I pulled until I was satisfied with the shape of the opening, and I knotted the ends of the rubber band, cut the extra length and hid it under the satin before closing it for good. Then... repeat on side b.

You get this:

My hands will stay warm - and people might talk... Double bonus.