You shall, you shall go to the ball!

The Jane Austen festival was last weekend. My friend, Lady B–, and I decided to go only six weeks out so started having sewing bees straight away. I didn't have time to make all the things I planned (one never does) but I finished my new dress and necessary underpinnings on the Monday beforehand (the festival starts on Friday). I was pleased with this achievement and decided to relax for the event and not add the pressure of trying to finish something else (like I had done every other year).

Then I got a message from a friend of a friend from interstate. She had booked in to the Jane Austen Festival but her dress hire had fallen through. I had a spare day dress she could borrow, but the festival has balls and parties every night; I couldn't let her go without a ball gown.

It wouldn't be JAFA if I wasn't sewing up to the last moment...

Since 'simple' was the watch-word for this outfit I went for the regency classic: a plain white muslin gown. I didn't have time to make something well-fitted so I decided to go with a drawstring bodice. Of course, I haven't actually made one of those before, so this meant adapting a new pattern (Lady B– has quite despaired of me). On the Tuesday I made the skirt using my standard pattern (based on figure 37 in The Cut of Women's Clothes). I made the skirt and hemmed as is, because I know the pattern works, with the intention of correcting the length with a decorative tuck. Then I put together a mock-up of the bodice, ready for trying on.

On Wednesday Lady H– arrived. We did a fitting of the bodice which only needed some narrowing in the shoulders. I spent the rest of the evening hemming the spare day dresses to fit her.

Day wear: I am wearing my grey spencer (for the first time) and blue-flowered  gown. Lady H– (front) is wearing my cream gown.

Before and after work on Thursday the ball gown came together. The three of us had a final sewing bee Thursday night. Even Lady H–, who doesn't sew, proved a valuable member of the team, helping with pinning, pressing, and the inevitable unpicking. I finished the dress before work on Friday morning (getting up at 6am is fabulous – it's like having two days instead of one).

I wore my Joker-inspire regency outfit, Lady H– is in the centre in her new gown, Lady B–, looking very fine, is on the right.

Lady H wore the newly made ball gown on Friday evening. It is made from the leftover fabric from my chemise a la reine (which has gold threads running through it 'cos I don't do plain or simple). I piped the bodice seams in gold to match, because you have got to have piping. Arm movement might be a luxury, but piping is a necessity.

The dress closes with ribbon drawstrings at the neckline and waist. The waist drawstring is done in two parts: one along the font, with the channel ending at the side seams and tying inside the dress; the second set of drawstrings starting at the back seams and gathering the centre back of the dress.

Since I got the dress finished with so much time to spare (before 7am on the day it was being worn) I decided to start another garment: an evening spencer to go with the dress. Again, simplicity was key for this project, so the only decoration was piping. For fabric, Lady H– chose a pair of blue satins (leftovers from Elizabeth's scarf and Musketeer Barbie) and we used the wrong side to avoid an over-shiny finish.

Pretty much everything that could go wrong with the spencer did go wrong, and some of them twice. This was no doubt in part due to the tiredness that resulted from the festival, however I think the mistakes started first. In fact, I think despite the foolishness of starting something new as the festival began and giving myself a job for every spare moment, I actually had a better festival because I was making the spencer. As a task-oriented introvert, being able to come home from ALL THE PEOPLE to 'now I need to hide and make the thing' was actually kind of relaxing, even if it kept going wrong.

The spencer was ready for the final ball on Sunday night. And its recipient was delightful in her appreciation of it and the dress. The spencer made Lady H– a lot easier to spot amongst the sea of white muslin gowns on the dance floor.

Lady H– bought the outfit. I am pleased it went to such an enthusiastic owner.

I also made a petticoat to go under the sheer dress. Its construction was done in the spare moments between Monday and Thursday. No pictures – but I will be making another for myself before too long (read: the night before next year's JAFA).

15th time's a charm

I attended a corset making workshop over two weekends. We made the Laughing Moon Dore corset in twill and silk dupion.

Despite this being my 15th corset there were a lot of firsts for me. First time using silk, first time using spring and spiral steel bones, first time having someone in the room who knew what they were doing.

The corset was made using a method where the outer and lining layers are constructed separately, which allows for a final opportunity to tweak the fitting once you have the front (busk), back (lacing) and all the lining together. I didn't find that last fit particularly useful as there was still no boning so I will probably continue to use the welt method in future. The welt method ensures that your seams line up and that the panels on both layers are the same size. It is also a faster method.

I was surprised at how unscientific the fitting was. Measurements were only taken to choose a pattern and the rest was done by adjusting mockups. Mine had to be made smaller than the smallest pattern size (because of course it did) and also an inch longer above and below the waist. This solved a problem I've had in the past where the hips fit ok and the bust fits ok but the corset can't reach both at the same time.

A lot of the course reaffirmed that what I had taught myself was right but I did pick up a few valuable new techniques. One was seeing how the fitting was done. Another was inserting the waist tape. I also learnt that I don't want to use spiral steel boning again. I had so much trouble getting the ends on and then several came off in the boning channels anyway. Just cutting the bones to length was a challenge. I think I will stick with cable-ties for the time being.

I had been hoping to learn flossing which is something I've heard about and tried for myself but never had a clear understanding of. Sadly that wasn't covered by the course. Still, I have bought thread to do some flossing with and will attempt to educate myself further. I was lucky enough to find in the limited range of topstitching thread the perfect colour to match my lace. Eyelet lace and ribbon was included in the class kit; however since I was making a proper, purple, silk corset nothing but gold would do. So I bought a metre of hand-dyed guipure lace to use instead.

Attaching the lace was a precision exercise. The top of the lace is two rows with an indent between them. One of the rows had to be under the bias binding to secure it and I wanted the other outside the bias to be a neat edge. If I unfolded the bias I wouldn't be able to see what I was doing. So I lined up the fold of the bias on the edge of the lace and used a zipper foot with the needle a bit further over than usual.

Going fast with this setup was an accident waiting to happen so I disconnected the foot pedal and used the hand wheel. By the end my wrist was very tired.

It turned out perfectly.

The corset gives me a more defined waist than I was expecting, which I think pushes the silhouette a bit later into the century. That said, given my hip-to-waist ratio, I really shouldn't be surprised. Lacing it up gave me a two inch waist reduction without my barely noticing. I haven't made a corset fit well enough to get a reduction before so that took me by surprise too.

The fit I ended up with was pretty much right (insert celebration here). The hips are snug but in a good way, I've got a reasonable lacing gap and the top half fits right too.