Regency day dress

This is the first regency dress that I made. I made it to wear to the Jane Austen Festival Australia (JAFA). I used a Sense & Sensibility pattern but I made some changes. Although, looking back, the changes I remember making don’t quite seem to fit the S&S patterns I can find (the one I used was borrowed, and I can’t remember which one it was), so who knows what actually happened.

In accordance with costumer tradition, I sewed on the buttons on the morning of the event. The buttons are clear plastic and should probably be replaced with something more historical.

I was very pleased with the piping of the neckline.

After wearing the dress, I thought it was awful. The bodice didn’t fit right, the sleeves looked silly, the skirt billowed weirdly (more than usual for regency skirts) and the train kept getting stepped on in dances. So for the next JAFA I took it apart and remade it.

At JAFA I had learnt about the cord that runs along the front of the waistline in regency dresses. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE DRESS.

This cord ties around the waist and holds the waistline in place, stopping it from rising over the bust. I also re-gathered the bodice into the skirt, gathering it in the centre rather than all across the front. I took the puff out of the sleeves (mostly by guesswork) and reshaped the bodice. I haven’t taken the train off, because train, but it usually lives pinned up out of the way.

I have made a bonnet and spencer to go with this outfit and it is worn over underpinnings from the Sense & Sensibility pattern.

I still don’t *like* this dress, but it’s because of more superficial things. The colour palette isn’t really ‘me’ and there’s no getting away from the fact that I don’t care for regency clothes in general; especially plain, daywear regency - my blog isn’t called Extravagance is Everything for nothing! This dress is boring and practical and I am bored with it. But on account of the practical it gets a lot of use; and at least it’s comfortable now.