Category Archives: Regency

Finished Project: Regency Short Stays + Pattern Review

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Here’s my finished Regency short stays!  Since asked in a previous post for more info, I thought I’d do this follow up and a brief pattern review.  Sorry,  I’m not going to be modelling these, for modesty’s sake.

Pattern review guidelines borrowed from patternreview.com

Pattern used: Sense and Sensibility Regency Underthings. I used the E-Pattern and only made the short stays.

Pattern Sizing: 6-26D.  I used size 8.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, but I made alterations to the back (made it scooped and not squared), and also cut the front length down at the top.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, very.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? It really works!  It gives the accurate shape and went together pretty quickly for a period foundation garment.  The instructions were also quite well done and I loved that she gave suggestions for smaller ladies.

Fabric Used: Two layers of corset coutil.  This was not what was originally called for in the pattern. She called for three layers- linen, coutil, and cotton, or something similar.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I did make many changes, most of which I outlined in my previous post. Instead of rewriting them, you can read them on my last (very wordy) post about these stays.

After I posted the last post I added twill tape to the top and bottom of the stays to bind them and chose to run a lace through the binding so that I could snug in my neckline even more and prevent it from falling off of my shoulder. I’m very glad I did this, as I can feel the extra stability from having that extra tie there. I just tuck the ends inside my gown when I wear it.  I may, however, replace it with a thinner cord sometime in the future, as this one is a little bulky and made a little bump on the surface of my white cotton gown when worn.  Of gowns of thicker fabric, like my evening gown, you could not see the ties.  I also cut in the underarm 1/2″ at the front because it dug in a bit.  I could even cut it in an extra 1/2″ for more comfort, or convert the straps to tying on in front instead of being fully attached, to be even more comfortable.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes, definitely, on both accounts.  I suggest making at least one mock up. I believe I made two, then still  needed to alter my pattern afterward.  Make your mock up in a hearty fabric like a cotton twill or duck that does not stretch. My muslin stretched on me and caused me heartache.  I also want to play with the straps more in a future version, since I put my straps a bit too close together so they had to be pinned to my evening gown to prevent them from showing.  Alterations for this pattern are very figure specific, and it will probably not fit the same two people the same way (it would really be impossible to make a pattern like this that would fit everyone) and the patternmaker was very thoughtful in her instructions for what sorts  of alterations might be needed.  As long as you take into account, like most patterns, that it will probably not fit straight out of the envelope, it is a fantastic little pattern and I very highly recommend it.

Conclusion: Really great pattern! I highly recommend it, especially for smaller ladies who do not want or need to wear the full stays.

Other notes:

I was asked about comparing these to long stays. I think it depends on the person, and their preferences, but for me, I much prefer them.  These are designed to still give you good posture, but leave the stomach free and you are also free from the front busk, which I found very uncomfortable in my long stays when sitting for long periods of time.  I live a few hours away from most events, but I Could actually wear these in the car with little discomfort.  Since I have poor posture in day-to-day life I did find that my shoulders ached by the time I got home from being pulled back into their proper position.  I have heard that these are not well suited to larger ladies, or larger busted ladies, and they may prefer to wear full stays instead of short stays.

I was also asked about comparing these to a modern bra.  I would not recommend this in place of a modern bra, simply because the silhouette, while great for Regency, does not seem like it would fit well under modern clothing.   The short stays force the bust up higher than the natural bustline, and modern clothing is designed to fit more at the natural bust.   I also find that they sort of smooth the shape at the underbust due to the gores (in a V shape), instead of rounding out like a more modern silhouette.  For Regency wear, however, I wholly recommend these as they will help obtain the period silhouette.  For those who are smaller busted, if these are fitted correctly, you can even add a little bit of padding inside. Be sure you have them fitted snugly, however, or stitch in the padding, so it doesn’t go skittering across the dance floor ;)

I also should say that my stays are not laced in a period correct way.  If they were accurate they would be spiral laced.  And sorry for my sloppy eyelet holes. I decided to do them with a buttonhole stitch, and I found my technique greatly improved from the time I began the first until I finished the last. Oops? Maybe next time they’ll be more uniform and I’ll learn the real way to stitch eyelets.

 

Disclaimer:  I purchased this pattern on my own and was not compensated in any way for a pattern review.  All of the information I shared is my own personal honest opinion of this sewing pattern.

A Regency Outing to the Tall Ships

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The day following the Jane Austen Evening dance, a few friends, my husband, and I head down to visit the San Diego Maritime Museum in Regency costume.  We thought we might as well extend our dress up fun another day!  Here’s a few of my favorite shots:

I made my husband’s outfit (with exception of the trousers, which were bought from Jas. Townsend) several years ago to wear to the Jane Austen Evening dance, and more photos of it can be found here.  I made the dotted swiss dress (more info here) to wear to Costume College several years ago, at the same time as the hat (more info here), and made the spencer jacket to wear to another outing to the Maritime Museum (more photos here).

After the outing we had to say goodbye to friends and the Regency weekend was over, but my husband and I changed and then went out for a nice Sunday Roast at the Princess Pub in San Diego.  Mmm… yummy food and a big pot of tea was a nice way to end a lovely weekend.

A Jane Austen Evening, 2012

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This weekend was the wonderful Jane Austen Evening event.  This dance is an annual affair in Pasadena, Ca. I had the pleasure of attending again this year with some friends. I took shamefully few photos, but wanted to share some of the ones I took!

Here’s our little group shot.  Some of the ladies have blogs, including Beth at V is for Vintage, Katherine at The Fashionable Past, and Loren at The Costumer’s Closet.  If any of the other ladies pictured have blogs they would like linked, please let me know and I’ll edit the post to add them :)

I wore the same dress I wore last year, but I decided to add a nice shiny trim under the bust and created a new turban hat.  I also got to wear my newly finished short stays- and I must admit I’m a convert! I love short stays and if possible won’t go back to full stays!

My friend, Vanessa, made this scrumptious gown styled after one in the Napoleon and the Empire of Fashion book.  She even hand attached all those pretty spangles and appliques!

I love this photo with Katherine and Beth. I wish I had gotten better photographs of their gorgeous dresses.  Katherine hand embroidered her lovely white gown (and sewed it all by hand), and Beth based hers on one from the Napoleon and the Empire of Fashion book. I love the trim and the cameos, and all the lovely ruffles.  Hopefully they will both post yummy shots on their blogs for us to drool over.

My poor hubby got sick so wasn’t able to attend, but we visiting the San Diego Maritime Museum the next day so we got to extend our dress up fun for an additional day.  Pictures forthcoming…

In Progress: Regency Short Stays

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Oh, look! I actually remembered to take a picture of something in progress! I’m the worst at blogging progress on projects unless they’re of a massive undertaking.  This is borderline time consuming, so here she is!

I’m working on making up my first pair of Regency short stays.  Short stays are basically a Regency equivalent of a push up bra.  You could either wear full length stays (corset) or wear one of these.  I have made two pairs of full length stays, but my last pair don’t quite fit as they did when I made them so I thought it was time to try out a pair of short stays.

Now, I’m giving a disclaimer.  I’m not doing these in the period correct way. They’re not hand sewn, and instead of using period fabrics I’m using two layers of cotton coutil (what you usually make Victorian corsets out of).  I’m also doing guerrilla cording (not the correct way at all), and pretty much all of this is the “quick, let’s make a set of short stays in three days even though we’ve never made them before” project.  We, as in  me and my sewing machine (or fancy pants “we” as in Queen Victoria.  It’s much too early to put much thought into writing since I have not had my tea and stayed up til 1am sewing, so I’ll write long run-on sentences instead explaining why I don’t want to go back and edit them and make silly excuses that are probably of no interest to my readers. So there).

Since this is a last-minute project, I tried my first real pattern e-download.  This is from Sense and Sensibility’s Regency Underthings pattern.  Now, I’m telling you, I am a straight up old fashioned paper pattern girl.  I thought I would never even consider buying an e-pattern.  But when the prospect was before me of actually using the Simplicity version I bought of this and putting the extra time to figure out what ease they added to it, or getting the e-download and saving me some extra headache, I chose the download.  Ideally I would have used the paper pattern from Sense and Sensibility, but I didn’t have the foresight to order it ahead or the time to wait for it in the mail.  I will admit, now that I’ve tried them, that downloads are not my thing.  I spent entirely too much time taping together pieces. I’m sure, if I had actually watched the videos she linked to in the email I would  have saved myself the headache of trying to match together pieces (though my printer threw them out of order anyways.. oh, that dreaded sound of paper maneuvering itself out of order in the print tray…), and if I was smart I would have had the foresight to print the stays only, instead of the ENTIRE pattern and wasted paper.  I wasn’t that smart.  Don’t be like me. Do what the pattern says to do and watch her videos and read the instructions.

Actually, now that I’m writing it, this entire sewing project seems to be a “oh, duh” sort of project.  Do you ever have projects like that? You start with the best of intentions but your brain only running at half mast, and create all sorts of problems for yourself that could have been easily avoided?  I usually do that when I’m on a time crunch, or after I’ve completed a series of really good sewing projects. When the brain SHOULD be probably focused, that’s when I foul up.  And I admit I seldom read instructions, as I usually work through any issues in the mock up stage. But if I had done THAT properly, I would have realized that not only did I put the straps on facing the wrong direction (and would, therefore, have probably not had to “fix” them as much), but should have paid attention to my mock up fabric, which ended up having too loose of a weave and stretched on me when I put it on.  No WONDER the mock up fit so well! It was stretching to fit me!  So much for saving fabric from the pile of “to get rid of” fabrics. That glaring orange should have been my warning sign.  All of my kooky problems aside, I only had to do a few changes to this.

Now, when I was thinking of starting this project I scoured online for pictures and reviews and blog posts and found actually very few.  Since these patterns are hugely popular I thought there would be many more reviews online, so, since I thought this and found few, that’s why I’m writing my post.

The alterations to this pattern are VERY figure specific.  Obviously, no pattern will fit the same for all people, but when you get to undergarments it gets even trickier.  Think of all the problems you have shopping for bras (or maybe you’re lucky and don’t, but I certainly do).  In fact, a friend and I were talking about this project.  After I did my mock up and pattern changes I relayed my changes and she relayed her. By sight we’re really NOT that different.  We pretty much wear the same size clothing, or very close to the same size, but our changes with the pattern were night and day different.  So, that being said, it is very hard for me to give watch points or change guidelines for this pattern, but I will relay the changes I made for me.

First of all, I found this too broad in the back, so I took in the back width one inch.  I also took in the width of the shoulder strap 1/2″, lowered the neckline at front by 3/4″ (to hit lower, as I have heard that is more flattering to small bust-lines), and altered the angle of the straps (probably entirely my fault, as relayed above).  I also decided to make the back scooped, instead of square, especially after reading Beth’s blog post on her research for her stays.  Even with my changes, some were not accurate, since, as I said, I made a poor choice of mock up fabric. This pattern has choices of gussets depending on your bust size.  I had read a review online that suggested selecting one size smaller for the gussets, and since I’m borderline sizes I went with the A.  BUT, since my mock up was stretchy, after I actually got my gussets in my coutil and tried it on, they did not fit right and were too small.  They all got ripped out and replaces with the size B gussets, which fit much better.  I want to say that I’m thankful for the options in bust sizes!  Often times patterns are only available in a certain range, and I’m glad she had us smaller girls covered in this pattern.

Another issue I’ve been reading online has to do with the “spring” at the front lacing. If you are unfamiliar with corsets or stays you probably have not heard the term, but it is an intentional gap left for comfort, and, I’m sure, other really good reasons.  I fit mine to have a 1 1/2″ to 2″ “spring”.  Nearly all the photos I’ve seen online do not have this, and butt up right next to each other, or have a very little spring. I’m not sure if I’m doing it correctly this way- I’ll have to get back to you after they’ve had a “test run”, but I thought it would be more comfortable and I remember seeing an engraving from around the same period of a lady in short stays and she had the “spring” in front of about an equivalent of that size. In fact, you can see the image on Kalen Hughes site, here.

The cording I added on my own. It’s a little messy, so don’t mind me.  I used the Sugar n’ Cream cotton yarn for cording and butted it right up to my zipper foot and sewed in instead of pulling it though channels (which is probably why it’s so NOT uniform).  I made it up after seeing various versions online.  I also forgot to mention that I decided to add 1/2″ seam allowance to the center front of this so that I could turn back the stays on themselves and sandwich my boning at my front edge instead of making a separate bound casing.  I still have to put in the boning, work my eyelets, and bind the stays, but they’re getting there!  I really wish I had paid more attention to my mock up, as my gussets are a bit off now, but for a first try they’re not half bad.

I’ve never been one to have patience with period undergarments (other than frilly Edwardian lovelies).  I usually need AT LEAST one try before I figure out why they work the way they do or why I need to change things.  I’m actually quite proud of myself for starting these when there is not either a class or sew-a-long, as I have little dedication to sewing period undergarments. I love seeing other people’s versions of them but don’t like sewing them much myself.  These I actually did have fun with, especially the cording.

So there she is… a near self-induced sewing disaster, but for some odd reason I’m actually a little proud of them ;)   This is actually a really great little pattern.  I loved the pattern and will certainly be making it up again in the future.

>Regency Gown Project

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>All has been quiet here as I did a mad rush to finish a Regency ballgown for the Jane Austen Evening event!  I have some more photos coming soon, but here’s some of what I did and my finished project!
 
I was brainstorming ideas and going through books and got several bodice sketches done, but after visiting Fashioning Fashion again I decided needed the bodice of the beautiful gown with the train in the collection.  So I set about altering my Hunnisett bodice to do what the one in the exhibition did- well- a resemblance of it at any form.

(Gown pictures are property of LACMA and Fashioning Fashion)

Luckily I remembered to take my sketchbook with me to the lectures, so got a chance to capture the bodice front and back in more detail.  The sleeves are similar enough to the sleeves of the gown I wore last year- so I can just use the same pattern, which thankfully enough is still neatly organized in a manila envelope.  I found another image of the gown on LACMA’s website.
This is the fabric I used- a yummy green Indian sari with silver spangles, and a silk blend taffeta in green.
The bodice was the trickiest part for pattern making- I eventually just used the Hunisett pattern as a base and used flat pattern making to alter the front and back bodice.

I had a hard time squeezing in sewing time last week.  I actually sewed one of these sleeves three times- twice the wrong way, then I figured out I sewed two of the same under sleeve. They’re curved very similarly, so I had flipped them all around trying to figure it out, but finally got it. Notches, they are your friends. I should have used them.  In a moment of pure insanity I actually sewed and finished the facings of two of the slits by hand- and then remembered I had just three days to finish the whole gown.
 I finished the front bodice piece with a piping of the green taffeta and then pinned the center front bodice and gathers to position and tried it on for fit (as the dress form is a bit bustier than I am) and hand sewed in the space between the fabric and piping so it wouldn’t show.  After the skirt was attached I marked the hem length for the underskirt and hemmed it.  It was probably a bit of a backward way to do it, but it worked. (Never mind the sewing disaster area- creative process and all that)

 The ball last night was fantastic! I’m still somewhat recovering, but here’s some shots of my finished dress and turbany hat thing.  All the dress was finished and sewn! The turban was sewn as a hat and the trim was pinned into place. Still, it was finished all rather quickly and I was happy with the end result :)

If you are interested in this period make sure to check out Beth’s blog Fashioning Beau Brummel- it was great fun to talk of our projects, and the ensemble she made her husband was just fantastic- not to mention her own lovely gown.  She just started another great blog that I think you’ll all enjoy- V is for Vintage!

>A Jane Austen Evening

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>This weekend we went to the fabulous Jane Austen evening event in Pasadena.  It’s so funny- you daydream and plan and sew and create and look forward, and then all of a sudden it’s here and gone faster than you can imagine!  This dance was a joy.  It was lovely getting to see friends I hadn’t seen in quite a while, and finally meeting a friend I have had on the internet for years but we always kept passing like two ships in the night when events came up.  My husband, of course, looked very handsome and only partly because of his wardrobe ;)   And I felt like a fashionable lady in my “feather head” turban (I had the excuse for my spaciness) and gown that I finished in plenty of time!


 
 

And today, back to the modern world.  Computers, shipping, playing ring around the rosy with cars, and unfortunately taking one of my best girlfriends to the airport this morning means the weekend on historic dress is over!

>Puttering away at the gown…

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>In between working on the Etsy store, doing sales taxes (every year I swear I’ll be better at bookeeping and I’m not!) and normal goings on around here I’ve been puttering away at my Regency evening gown.  The ball is less than a week away, so I don’t have much time! Thankfully, though, the bulk of it is done so all that is left is the finishing (hem, binding, etc) and the trimming, which could be left undone if I needed to.

 
 
It’s been a long while since I’ve had a proper excuse to do a historical gown from scratch, so I admit I’m having a lot of fun with this project! The fabric is silk taffeta that I bought on sale at fabrics.com several months ago.  Although I had bookmarked it at first for a 1950s “princess” evening gown, and then an 1840s gown, it ended up as this and I’m happy to say that I think it was meant to be! I am surprised, however, that the gown has nearly eaten up the whole 7 yards of fabric at 60″ wide that I had!  Usually I don’t think of gowns from this period taking much fabric but with the size of the skirt (this is a later period than I’ve ever done for Regency), bias for the cording and the trims, and the fact that I’ve bookmarked some for undersleeves to make it convertible into a day dress, it’s not that surprising.
Next up is hemming and then finishing the points of the trim.  Probably no more pics before the Ball as I want it to be a surprise!
Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!

>Gloomy days, sewing, and inspriation

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>Our warm weather has subsided for a nice gloomy day! We don’t get much rain here in San Diego, so the weather tends to feul the creative spirit.  This morning I had the looong Pride and Prejudice movie on, a cup of nice warm English Breakfast at the perfect temperature with the perfect helping of milk and sugar, and I was handsewing bias to the slits of my sleeve made of silk taffeta.  What can be more sublime?  With Matt’s tailcoat and ensemble finished but for buttonholes I now have the perfect excuse to throw myself into my ballgown project.
One little puffy sleeve is nearly done:

And here’s my inspiration sketches from earlier this week of different embellishments that caught my fancy:

Happy Wednesday!

>More Progress on the Regency Tailcoat

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>Two steps forward, one step back- but at least I finally have the sleeves set! I did add a little padding to the sleeve cap to give it volume, but after seeing it on the form I think I’ll take it out.  I’m pretty happy with it, even though it’s being a complete bear!  Mostly lining to finish now plus buttons and buttonholes.  Our event is two weeks from tomorrow and I still don’t have his vest finished or a gown for myself!