It continues...

I had a supremely productive weekend. I have made a lot of progress on a lot of my current projects. But in particular I am referring to my Sister of the Dark costume. It's a fairly simple costume but just has a lot of layers that I have to put together. The thing that really stumped me though has been the fact that not all of the sisters of the dark have the same costume. The necklines on the dress vary as do the skirts - some wear pants. It has worked to my advantage in some respects; giving me a lot of freedom to play and actually find something that works really well for me. 

I decided that I wanted the pants. For comfort and movement sake. So, this was the first piece that I have completed. They are made out of cotton voile for breathability sake. My first hurdle was that I couldn't actually buy red cotton voile. So, instead I headed into the fabric dye section, picked up some idye and headed home. Because of the amount of regency re-enactment that I do, I have a large stash of white cotton voile on hand (I buy a roll every time that I see it on sale) so I just ripped off a 2 metre chunk and dyed it red. The thing I like best about the idye is that you can do it in the washing machine. I put it on and forget about it until it needs to be hung out to dry. And best of all the colour is even because of the motion of the washing machine. When I do it in a bucket, I'm not so good with the even colour. 

Anyway, once my fabric was coloured, I ironed it out and got set to cut out. I ended up using two patterns. I wanted a very harem pants sort of fullness, so I grabbed one of my simplicity costume patterns for the base of the pants. However, instead of an elastic waist and cuffs, I wanted a yoke and button cuffs to that the fullness does not show through on the dress. My resolution was to dig out the pattern pieces for a pair of yoked pants. It was then simply a matter of gathering on the pants and adding an invisible zip in the centre back. I added ankle cuffs that button on the inner seam and they are done. 

I think that they turned out rather well and will provide a good undergarment for my dress. I will be back soon with more updates.

New Bustle Frame

Not sure that I mentioned this before, but next weekend I will be attending a Ghost Walk with my cousin and some friends. The only costumes that are allowed can be historical. So that is what we are doing. I have decided to rewear one of the gown that just does not see much light. Namely my blue bustle.

Unfortunately, my bustle frame is awful and it collapses all the time. It's supposed to collapse when you sit down, but not when you are just walking around. So, I have made myself a new one. I managed to get away early from work on Friday and came home and got stuck into it. Last weekend I had drafted up the pattern and cut out the fabric. The pattern itself comes from Truly Victorian and the fabric is a piece of sheeting cotton from my fabric stash. I bought it last time my favourite fabric store has a $3.95/metre fabric sale on. 

The whole thing came together rather nicely and I got it all made up on Friday. There was a moment of panic there at one point when I realised that I didn't have enough bias tape for all the channels, but digging through my drawers and I stumbled over some white voile bias that I had made for a regency dress. And just the perfect amount. The only finishing it all required were the bones. I stuffed them in when I got home on Saturday and now it is ready to go.

I'm really rather pleased with the shape and I think it will give me a nice bustle underneath my skirts. By the way, I should mention that instead of using actual stays binding, I went with the irrigation tubing. It's what I use in my crinolines - so much cheaper, very light and it still works. Well, at any rate it worked for my mum's bustle and we will see how it goes with this one. There may come a point where I will have to replace it with plastic or wire boning.

The last stays

I had an awful dream the other night, where supanova had arrived and I had nothing to wear (well none of my costumes were ready). Not the way you want to wake up, I tell you now. For me, it was a spur. I came home from work that day and instead of napping and reading a book, I got stuck into it. My final supanova costume is now underway. But onto more exciting things.

My waist stays are complete. And by that I mean my waist length short regency stays. My reasoning for these is that while my short stays fit, I find that after a bit of wear they actually dig into the top of my tummy, and after a few days of complete wear, I end up with a bruise. These stays should counter that problem. The are not full length, so I can still bend at the waist, yet they are longer, helping the lacing stay even and stopping the digging in. Well, that is my thinking anyway. 

I based the pattern for these babies on the simplicity pattern. My first attempt had me working up the wrong size because while I may need a size 12 around the bust, I need a 14 to get around my ribs. I went back to the drawing board and added a little more room to the pattern before cutting out again. They have gone together pretty quickly, aside from the eyelets. And this only because I decided to do them by hand - the reason - so that if I sweat at all in my stays, they eyelets will not rust (has actually been a problem with my old pair).

And you will again, notice that they have pretty lining - this time cupcake. I should also mention that instead of binding with fabric bias, I use twill tape. It's my favourite for regency stays because I find that I can sew it on easier around curves. Simply because the weave of the tape is more flexible. How do I use it? I sew it wrong sides together to the front of my stays at a depth a third of the tape. I then fold the tape over and whip stitch it down to the stitching line on the inside. It's a very neat finish and I remove all that hassle of making my own bias. Granted I do that anyway when I am working on all other stays, but this is what I do for regency and I cannot see me likely to change it. 

And in conclusion - a review. Of all the three regency stays I have made, these are my favourite. There are features in the others that I just don't like. The short ones - bruising. The long ones - not enough room at the hip and the straps keep falling off my shoulders. I am now thinking that the next time I make a set of regency stays (I am thinking full length) they are going to be a bit of a mash of all three patterns, and I am going to spend some time making them pretty (embroidery has been suggested). But all that for another time (when I am not snowed under by the amount of sewing I have to do).

Staying it up...

Next one down. My full regency stays. These have been sitting complete, simply waiting on some lacing, which arrived in the mail today. I have made these before, so I did know what I was doing when I went into it, and I really didn't have to change my pattern (I did make my hip gussets slightly larger so that it would be more comfortable at the waist this time). The first time that I made these stays, I made them entirely as the pattern (Mantua Maker) dictated. For a start, they were way too long in the body for me, and they have almost no waist shaping. While I realise that regency full stays are to straighten your figure, it's not overly comfortable when the stays fit just about everywhere except that they are way too large in the waist. My fault really as there is a huge different between my waist and my hips. At any rate, I rectified this problem quite simply with a little pattern adjustment. And after my last set had to be retired because the boning worked its way through, I made sure that I rounded the corners of it all this time. 

The other thing that I found difficult was the spiral lacing. Because of my shape, there is more stress on the lacing at the bottom than the top. This caused a lot of problems with the spiral lacing as I found throughout the day the lacing would slightly slip so that it pulled in too much at the top and loosened at the bottom. I had the same problem with my first set of Georgian stays. I have since switched to my regular even cross lacing. I also whacked in some metal eyelets down the back as I really could not be bothered hand-stitching them. The ones on the front where the straps tie in though, are simple hand eyelets, more for comfort. 

 I am only sort of pleased with these. They will suffice for the purpose but they are by no means pretty or my best work. They give me the right shape, especially for under my 1820s gown, but I would really like to make this pattern again sometime with a little more tweaking and perhaps some cording and embroidery. They just feel so dull to me, even with the hot pink linen lining. Maybe if I make them out of a nicer white fabric than homespum, they would feel nicer. It definitely bears consideration.

A Regency cape

And another one is done. I've gotten a lot of my projects to almost finished stage where they have just been waiting on some handsewing or the finishing touches to finally get them done. This time it is my cape. I had completely finished it, however forgot that I would need a buckle or tie of some sort to actually hold it closed. My mum stopped in at a fabric store on her way home from work the other day for me, and picked up a lovely little clasp and then it was just a matter of stitching it in place.


As for the actual cape, it is made of a crushed velvet that I picked up on-line a while ago and lined in red tartan flannel. It's only a light-weight velvet so, I wanted something that would give it more warmth as a lining. The pattern for the cape actually came from two. The cape itself from a pattern I borrowed off my cousin and traced up. the pattern is actually a lot fuller, however I had to fold it down as I didn't have enough fabric to cut it the full shape. Next time though, I will be making it a lot fuller. I figured it didn't really matter in this instance as I was making it to be worn over regency gowns with their slim skirts. The cape is completely bagged out (stitched wrong sides together, turned through a split, and the slip-stitched closed) which is a really good thing when working with velvet which just pills everywhere. Absolute mess to make.



With my love of hoods, I had to make this one hooded as well. I was going to use the shaped hood that came with the pattern, but when I was flipping through Janet Arnold Patterns of Fashion, I spotted a pattern for a late Georgian hood which is simple a rectangular sort of shape that is pleated in at the centreback and sides to fit. I really like how it turned out and I simply adore how the large stacked pleats at the back look.


Overall, I am very pleased with it. And I think that in future for my regency hoods, I will definitely consider using the same hood pattern. I would like to make the fuller skirted version though at some point. Probably with a cheaper and wider fabric than my crushed velvet. But at least that is one less thing I now have to worry about. And I won't get cold in the evenings at JAFA.