One week before the ball, my sister dressed in her gown and we did a quick photoshoot (in the poring rain).
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Details:
Category: Regency
Greek goodes Regency Dress
For the HSF challenge nr 20 – Parallel universe, Â I decided to enter my sisters regency evening dress.
I’ve been planing her dress for quite some time, ever since I talked her into attending the autumn regency bal, but only started working on it just this other week.
 We looked at some inspiration together and decided to make something similar on this lovely paining.
The pattern I used was the regular Simplicity regency pattern (which I used for my yellow regency gown).
I needed to make it quite a lot smaller to fit my petite sister.
The fabric is a curtain I bought on sale last spring, which my sister called dibs on the moment she found it in my stash.The sewing was pretty easy. I made the bodice and and stitched on the skirt.
Then I inserted the lining and hand tacked it down.
Then I put it on my dress form to make some sleeve-design decisions.
Red or white?
When looking at the dress like this, at the dress form I really hated it.
The fabric looked cheap and washed out, and the sleeves just looked ridiculous. But I decided to keep working, since I hoped the right trimmings and underwear would save the dress and give it some more shape and color.
So on to some more decisions…
White, ok – but long or short?
Short, ok, but should I decorate it? (and so on)
I cut some of the lenght of and started working on a trimming design for he sleeves.
Using some golden trim I dew a scalloped design which I transferred to the sleeves and stitched on.
Then I stitched on the sleeves, and cut the length of the skirt.
I hemmed both layers of fabric, stitched on hooks and eyes and finished of by attaching the whide golden leaf-shaped trim under bust.The finished dress (and I forgot to take pictures of it on my dress form before giving it to my sister):
And at the photoshoot:
Just the Facts:
Challenge: 20 Paralell Universe
What: A Regency dress (approx year 1805). During the early 19th century ancient Greek aesthetics where all in vogue, and ladies wore sheer slim dresses to copie the gowns they saw in ancient pictures and statues.
Pattern: Simplicity 4055, with some alterations.
Fabric: 1 burgundy polyester curtain from Indiska (120 x 220 cm), 2 m of white polyester satin and 40 cm of white cotton.
Notions: Thread, 80 cm of wide gold trim, 2 m of narrow gold trim, 6 pair of hook and eyes, 30 cm of plastic boning.
How historical accurate: Not much. The pattern are pretty good, but the fabrics, trims and construction techniques are way to modern.
Time: About 10 hours
Cost: I would say about 350 Sek.
First Worn: This weekend for photos, but will be worn next weekend at a Regency Bal.
Final thoughts: I really like this dress (and think my sister feels the same), and the only thing I would change is to lengthen the front bodice a bit more to keep the under bust seam from riding up.
Cultural Festival and Regency Dance
Yesterday it was once again time for the annual cultural festival in our town, and I had agreed to join the historic dance team for their recital. Last time I’d performed on the festival was about 8 years ago, together with my friend of the young national dance team (and when I say young, I basically mean any dancer under the age of 40).
This time though, I would not wear my national costume, but my new regency gown compleat with velvet west and bonnet.
I started getting ready by curling my wet hair the evening before, and let it set over night.
This is how I looked when I woke up (way to early on a Saturday), and started to get ready.
I did some light make-up and fuzzes around with the hair, to get something similar to curls in my short bangs.
All dressed up and wearing my new bonnet, I thought it looked pretty decent.
Then it was time t take the bus downtown to the meet up point for the festival.
Sadly the weather was not at all co-operating.
And the dance area was cowered in water and extremely slippery.
Two wet gents testing the floor.
The teams about to perform all gathered and made them self ready, while huddling beneath rain coats, umbrellas and shawls.
Clara and Maud, in matching self made bonnets and happy despite the weather.
Then the dance program started.
Beginning with the classical dance team, in their lovely national costumes.
The two ladies in this pic are wearing identical jackets and two variations of the “Skedevi” costume. (left: the summer costume in white and pink cotton, and right: the sunday costume in red wool). I would love to make that jacket for myself – I do have the pattern…
Then it was time for the kids
.
You need to be pretty devoted as a parent to agree to do this things.
The next team was the “polske – team”, with their beautiful and addictive dances in 3/4 beats. 
My friend Annica (whose wedding I attended in late may).
Then it was our turn.
We did a short variation of our usual routine, and were happy once we put our jackets back on.
The team I liked the most were the swing dancers.
They looked to be having so much fun, and really rocked the style (some more then others).
Then we got a short show from a bride to be on her bachelorett party. 
And yes, of course she could swing to.
Then it was time for another old school dance team, “the Morris team”.
I guess it could have been pretty cool, if they had all been on beat and perfectly choreographed. But as it were, the noise those bells and sticks made was not exactly my cup of tea…
We also got to see a team from Denmark.
Look at those embroidery. So nice to see some new to me national costumes.
And a team from Norwegian.
Our neighbors to the east, are known for their lovely red and black national costumes covered with heavy jewelry.
As you can see from this photos there was not many on-lookers except the dancers waiting for their turn. this seams to be the routine on these cultural days. And as a friend said: I have no idea why we do this year after year, since it’s just society for mutual admiration.
And I guess that’s why it’s been 8 yeas since I last did this recital.
But I did get a photo of me and two old time friends.
Katarina (in the middle), was my dance teacher when I was a kid. And Annika (who also was in the kids dance group), are now a board-member in the dance organisation, and dances so often and long that her shoes are falling apart…
Once home again I marveled over my extremely stupid looking “mössfrilla” (hat hairdo).
I also discovered I managed to tear my dress.
Well, thats just another one for the mending pile.
Now to get ready for next weekends event.
Regency re-working & fiddeling
There are some things that have been bugging me with my new regency ensemble lately. Some of them I’ve told you about, and some I kept for my self – until now.
Look at that hideous bust dart.
This weekend I’m to once more do a dance recidal, and I wanted to wear the yellow gown again. So now was the perfect time to do something about the errors in the outfit.
So last night I finaly picked up the seam ripper and got to work.
I started with my regency corset from last autumn. The corset itself are great and I love the fit and the shape it gives me. But the combination of wear and way to weak fabric have left the boning poking through (and often as not stabbing my thighs.
So I decided to mend it. Starting by un-picking some of the bias binding. 
And stitched on a tiny rectangle of sturdy twill fabric. Then I re-stitched the bias-tape.
Even if it’s a bit bulky it wont show through the lose gowns which will be worn on top.
When finished I also discovered the eyelets where about to lose their grip of the fabric.
Guess I will have to consider making a new one soon.
Then I moved on to re-working the bust of the yellow volie dress.
When I wore the dress for he first time I noticed The gathering at the bust was somewhat to far to the sides, so I un-picked the under bust seam and moved the gathers 1,5 cm to the middle.
Then I stiched the seam shut and pinned the lining back on.
Once the bust was done, I continued on to the sleeve – which I didn’t had had the time to finish, but left raw.
I used a ivory bias-tape to cover the seam allowence.
And lastly I re-worked the bust on the regency west. I decided to scrap the darts and instead gather the fullnes to get a nice shape to the bust.
I basacly did the exact same thing as with the yewllow dress, un-picking the under bust seam.
Gather the with to the waistband.
Then finish the wastband…
… and lining.
I’m not sure it will be that much better, but I hope it will turn out to be an improvement.
(I also re-trimmed the bonnet, but you ill have to wait until my next post for pictures of that).
The Outdoorsy Spencer (sort of) – Photoshoot
And of course I asked my sister to take some photos of me wearing my new spencer/west paired with my yellow voile gown and new bonnet.
Photo: Maria Petersson
An Outdoorsy Regency Spencer (sort of)
By the time it came to start on the HSF challenge 15, The great Outdoors, I was pretty drain sewing wise. I knew that if I was going to compleat this year of cahllenges I needed to give myself a break and make something simple once in a while.
So I decided to make something I’ve been thinking about for a while – a regency spencer.
But then I realised that I only had scraps left of lovely brown coton vevet I’ve wanted to use. and I did like the idae of buying even more fabric.
So I re-calculated and decided to make a sleveless spencer instead. And while I was at it why not turn it in to a west compleatly.
I used the Simplicity 4055 as a guide to get the overal line right, since I wanted the west to go over the yellow dress I made from the same pattern.
I made some changes, like added a dart and re-shaped the back.
Then I cut it, made a mock-up and tried it on.
It fit pretty well, but I didn’t really like the high neckline.
So I marked the new neckline and cut.
Ok, so it looks pretty stupid in these pictures but I like the tought of the lower necline and the dress showing.
When the pattern was fitted properly, I started to cut the fabrics – velvet, cotton lining and cotton twill for interlining.
I stiched the back seams and basted the shoulder and side seams together.
A first version to try on.
It fit perfectly, even though the new lower neckline didnt really show due to the seam allowence.
I didn’t like the bust darts though, so I marked hem for shortening.
I toyed with the idea of skipping the dart and gather the bust instead. But decided it looked to bulky on the velvet. So I restiched the darts instead.
Then I putt in the lining, fideling a bit on the arm holes.
The last piece to attach was the waistband, which I stiched to the lower edge.
I made one edge of the wasiband longer to make a cross over clouser.
Before turning the west right side out, I made sure to notch all the curved seams to make everything lay nice and flat. 
I used a regular bath towel when iron the velvet as to not crush the pile.
Lastly I attached some buttons and the hooks and eyes for the clouser.
The finished piece (paired with my yellow regency gown):
Just the facts:
Challenge: 15, The great Outdoors.
What: a regency spencer/west
Pattern: I used Simplicity 4055 as a guide, but re-shaped it quite a bit..
Fabric: 0,4 m of brown cotton velvet and 0,4 m brown cotton for lining (both scraps left over from previous projects) and 0,4 m of cotton twill for interlining.
Notions: Thread, two buttons, 5 hooks and eyes.
How historical accurate: not much I fear – even though it is compleatly hand sewed. I havn’t found any sources on this kind of wests.
Time: about 8 hours.
Cost: Basicly free since everything was leftovers from previous projects but if I would have bought it now it would probably be about 150 Sek (22 Usd).
First worn: For photos in the middle of august.
Final thoughts: I’m not happy with the bust. It looks rediculus and I have no idea how to fix it. Perhaps gathering will be my only alternative after all.
Bonnets and a Bergeré
This spring/summer have been quite intense regarding sewing for me. And as every costume requires it’s own special headwear I haven’t just been making clothes this spring – there have been quite a lot millenery going on as well.
And since The Huge Picture Hatt alredy got its own post, I thought it was time to show a bit more about some of the other pieces of headwear I’ve been doing/re-doing this summer.
Lets start with the 18th century Bergere.
You might remember it from last year (when I made it from an regular sunhat).
This is how it looked when I found it in my big hat box, and decided to make some changes to it.
So I un-picked those green pieces of fabric inside the hat (I put them in last year to get something to attach the hair pins in, but it does work better to just push them through the hat).
Then I stitched on some metalic wire at the edge of the brim, and covered it with white bias-tape.
Then I re-trimmed it with a plain green twill-tape.
And this is how it looked when I wore it with the brim tured up, at the big historic picknic.
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Next up is a  regular straw hat that I’ve turned into a regency bonnet.
I folded the hat in two, made a mark where to cut, 
and grabbed the scissors. Make sure to stich the rows down before you cut, so the hat dont un-ravel.
Then I stiched on metal wire along the cut line, and covered it with bias tape.
I used white bias tape at first , but decided to change it to a  nude tone twill tape instead, to make it more inviseble.
Close up of brown/nude twilltape.
The un-trimmed hat.
Then I pinned on some white lace and a big flower brosh I had in my stash.
Altough it does look pretty, it looks a bit too costumey for my taste.
So I re-trimmed it using another piece of lace and some leftover ribbon from my yellow regency gown paired with a black brosch. Much better.
And here is how it looked worn togeter with my yellow regency dress.
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And finaly a 1840s bonnet made from skratch.
I used the same pattern (and tecniques) as my brown velvet bonnet, only cut it a bit smaler to get a slimer model for this bonnet.
I used thick canvas and super stiff  interfacing as the inner layers. And a white striped cotton voile for fashion fabric.
Before sewing anything togeter I stiched wire to all the pieces.
It was a bit tricky to sew inside the hat piece.
At least I only broke one needle…
Then it was time to start the hand sewing. Â 
I attached the “lid” and covered it with fashion fabric.
Then I stiched on the brim and more fashion fabric (no pictures sorry). And finaly I attached the lining on the inside.
At this stage I was ready to throw it out, it looked so terrible. The fabric was puckering and nothing I did would make it lay flat. I did a final try and decided to trim it to see if that would make it look any better.
It is fantastic what some pieces of lace can do to a domed project. It does actually look presentable.
An this is how it looked this weekend when I wore it for a photoshoot.
(You even get a sneak a peak of my next HSF project)
1880s & 1810s Photoshoot
Right before me and my sister went home after my dance recidal we took the time to do a quick litle photoshoot, and here are some of the pictures we took.
My sister wore the cherry blossom skirt combined with my suffragett shirtwaist. 
And I of course still wore my green regency gown.
19th century Day with Dance-recidal
It’s been more then a month since I attended the 19th century day “Vid pumpen” in my citys old town, but I haven’t got around to write about it until now. So sorry for the delay, but here it is now.
In the beginning of June (the day after the big multi historical picknic) I put on my Regency attire for a day in the 18th century.
I would ratter have worn something else from this century, but since I was to participate in the regency dance recidal I feelt it would be to much work to change. So I wore my green striped regency gown pared with turban, fichu and mittens.
We started the day with a course in historical dance. Then we moved on to attending a dress-class hold by the wounderful Sofia J (webpage), about the dress and layers of a fairly wealty 1815s lady.
Love all the grabbing hands looking at seams and clousers of her dress.
Then it was time for our dance recidal.
Ankles showing! Oh my…
 Then we gattered at the square to do a quick “show and tell” of our costumes.
Here follows some pics of some of the costumes of the day.
Two dresses made by me from the same pattern.
My sister wearing her “Cherry Blossom” travel suit.
I love this picture!
Then we did some group shots.
All the attendans att the “Vid Pumpen” 19th century day.
And just the dancers.
And one pic with me and the guys.
(If you didn’t notice in the dance pics – I was dancing the gentleman part for the day.)
Then the other participants headed of to dinner, while me and my sister went home to get some much deserved rest after two full days of historic costuming and dancing. (But we did take the time to do a litle photoshoot which I will post about next time).
Regency dancing recidal
This past weekend, I joined up with the local historic dance group for a regency dance recidal. The city celebrated “The day of Dance” and we were invited to perform some of our dances.
I wore my new yellow regency gown – which I just finished the same morning.
And combined it with a new straw bonnet, fishu and white evening glowes.
The weater was sunny and everybody had dressed to the teeth in their finery.
I love Annas parasol – one day I will own my own.
Clara and Anna posing prettily with shawls and staw baskets.
We spent some time walking around the city, awaiting our turn to enter the stage.
Jan and Soleveig.
Me and Calle awaitning our turn in the heat. I was glad I didn’t needed to wear one of those thick wollen frockoats.
Then it was our turn to enter the stage.
And since I’m pretty new to regency dancing I can’t tell you the name of the dances (and seartanly not tell them apart in photos), so we will just have to pretend to know whats going on.
Gentlemen in the middle.
Premiere doing a center cross.
“Sellingers round”
Since we were uneven, at least one lady had to rest, and sometimes more depending on the dance.
“Jenny pluck pears”
love the elegance in my pose in this picture…
When the dancing was over we meet up for a quick summer goodbye, before we hurried of in different directions.
Some of the dancers from our group posing for the turists (and my camera).
My dress hold up suprisingly well, and I feelt rater good in it. I think it will have more outings in the future.
It was such a lovely event and perfect day, I didnt even thought about the sun baking my nose and upper arms all day – well, I did descovered it later that night though…
(I will never attend a costuming event without proper sunscreen again).
Fashion Through Herstory 