Le Modiste: Update - Regency wardrobe in the making

Phew!  I am finally on vacation and can concentrate on my wardrobe for the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, this September.  In my last post I was working on a pale celadon green, wool pelisse.  It was a success!  I wore it to a Tea given by the Greater Bay Area Costume Guild along with the Laughing Moon dress I made in April.  Here are some images:

With my BFFs at Tea.  The brown dress is also a Laughing Moon examples.

Even though it was a cool morning that day, I was glad we were done by 3 - it became a sweltering day!

The picture of myself in the pelisse isn't the best but the only one I have in context.  Anyway, I am now working on the next pieces.  You know, once you get into making Regency clothing, you see all sorts of possibilities!  I can't take it all on the trip but, I will try!  LOL.

I am currently working on a spencer, another wardrobe necessity.  I have a brush twill cotton in Navy which I have lined in silk of the same color.  The shell is done and I am preparing the sleeves right now.  The design is a mix and match of different extant example and yes, a 'BBC film' image.

I used a two piece sleeve and added a puff of silk.

 I plan to put a decorative dagged or Vandyke epaulet on top of the silk, similar to the design below of Miss Elizabeth Bennet of P&P.

This satin spencer from the Museo de Traje is the inspiration for the neck line.

As a note:  I don't tend to make replicas as I find it tooo stressful to make it exactly as it should be.  One day I will one day, but given I have a limited amount of time - though I am on vacation - I am doing my usual picking out of exciting details that appeal to me and fashioning a garment from those extant ideas.  I am also, not doing the main construction by hand. I am however, doing all the finishing by hand, including putting in linings, buttonholes, etc.

As of now, I have enough day dresses.  I want to make more of course as each time I make one I get a better feel for the cut and fit and I find more exciting fabric to make others.  What I need right now, however, are the outer wear pieces (pelisse for the rain, spencer and perhaps a caplet). Additionally, I need hats that will pack and two ball gowns. After that it is all icing on the cake. Oh, wait, there is a night gown and wrapper, another chemise and a few chemisettes!  Oh, dear, I better get busy.

I should have something to post by the end of next week.  My goals for the remainder of June is to finish the spencer, start and finish the first ball gown.  Lots to do...Cheers.

Le Modiste: Day Dress #2 - Black and Cream cotton print

Hello and Happy Mother's Day to all ladies who are nurturing, loving and supportive of their loved ones!

Well, I am moving right along with my day wear for the trip to Bath.  As of my last post I have:

1.  Finished the one UFO I have been working on for a while.  The buttonholes are in (not the best job in the world but it is done).  Buttons attached as well.

2.  The black and cream dress is done except for the hem.  Hurrah!

Here are some pics:

I lined it in white cotton.  The apron front is just the skirt, no bib.

Here is the back where the apron strings loop through self-fabric loops and helps keep them up
when tied at the center back.

Not hemmed yet.  This was the last fitting before hand finished seams, etc.

I hope to have better pictures later of the gown hemmed and with a chemisette and all the trimmings.  Taking selfies is not my best talent.  I don't seem to get the best light or  a clear image.  I really like this gown and think it will be a good one for the Bath trip along with the one I made from Laughing Moon Pattern. (http://lachatelainechocolat.blogspot.com/2014/05/le-modiste-back-to-regency.html).

Next:  Either my summer wool pelisse or one of the ball gowns.  I got my fabric from India.  I decided to go with vintage saris.  The vintage ones are not so garish and modern looking.  I found two that I liked: a peach with gold and  a navy blue with supposedly, silver.  Well, the peach with gold is not silk - it is called art silk - so it is a man-made fabric.  I was bummed but I am going to make it anyway.  The blue is great and is a cotton.  But!  The silver turns out to be a cool gold. Bummer again, but what do you expect for $16.00 a piece?  I am still going to use both of them. Here is a sneak peek of the peach:

This part I want to use for either the bodice or the sleeves.

The scallops may be a good detail to line and cut to add to the sleeves or at the waist b/w bodice and skirt.

This is the border trim which I will use around the hem or if I do an open robe gown as trim down the front(?)

Though I have not found an extant gown or fashion plate that inspires me, I am looking!  The great thing about saris is that you have about 5.5 yards of fabric at least 45 to 50" wide to work with.  At one end there is an intense set of embroidered panels from selvage to selvage and about 3/4 of yard depth into the yardage.  You can get up to three to four different patterns.  The rest of the fabric usually has a very simple sprig overall embroidery or plain except for the borders which are usually on both selvage edges.  In 2009, I went to a class at Costume College  (Southern California) and took a workshop with a woman who made a science of turning saris into Regency gowns.  I remember bits and pieces and that she totally draped hers.  I will use patterns where I can and drape the skirt.

Now to get on with the adventure!  Again, Happy Mother's day to all the Mom's in this community.  I include my fellow sisters who do not have children in this wish.  We are mother's, too, in our own way! I am sure that there are friends children, students, friends, siblings, and anyone really that we have all mentored, loved, supported and/or nurtured...including our furry friends.  Happy mothering day to all.  Cheers.

Addendum - Of course after I posted this I found a gown to possibly use as a basic design for the peach fabric.  I also found a picture of the blue sari fabric as well.  So, I will add:

Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Woman's Evening Dress 1817

I am not a fan of the fashions getting closer to the 1820's.  A bit tooo fluffy for me.  I like the simpler fashions of 1800-1810 and just before 1815.  I think the sari fabric will lend itself to this type of design but I am still on the look out for extant fashion plates or gowns a bit earlier with the same 'sari' fabric look.

This a yardage view of the peach or amber sari from the decorated end.

Oh and here is the blue sari fabric.  This is what I got on the internet when I bought it but it is really a very cold gold not silver.  It is pretty though:

I am not going to use the decorative end for the gown.  I will use the striped part above (at the top of the image) for the sleeves.  The plainer yardage - not in the photo - I will use for the bodice and skirt utilizing the simpler border embroidery on the selvages.  Okay, stay tuned for the next posting.  I hope to have started one or the other: pelisse or ball gown.  Cheers