Regency Fashion - Tumblr Posts
1820s’ / early 1830s’ men’s suit
Everything was made myself based off of different historical fashion plates with some liberties. The majority of the fabrics and all the buttons were second hand.
Information on the materials and patterns below. (Long text)
The shirt:
The shirt:
The shirt:
The pattern is the Kannik's Corner Regency shirt pattern. I really recommend this as a beginning pattern, it was what I made first. It's made with only squares. Just be sure to resize it, and be warned they strongly push historic methods and hand sewing, but I think it's ok to use modern methods. Bernadette Banner also did a video on this type of shirt. I made it with cotton fabric.
The Tailcoat:
The lining is silk but after having the coat for several months, DON’T USE LOOSE BROCADED SILK (for frequently worn garments). It may be pretty at first, but the lining has just started making tons of loose hairs, but that’s what I get for rolling the dice with second hand fabric (and maybe not knowing better). The outside is crepe wool with a velvet collar. The buttons are faux shell. Again, all the material was second hand. The Laughing Moon pattern is great.
Accessories:
The fan and fob on my pants was from Sign of the Grey Horse, the top hat was second hand so I can't be sure of the brand, and the shoes were Miz Mooz but I believe the ones I got are sold out now. The white cravat is a silk from Fabric Mart that I just did a rolled hem around.
I finished making a linen ruffle shirt and silk vest! Plus a better view of my Cossack pants.
The shirt is linen from fabric mart using the same pattern as my other shirt, but this time I added ruffles and shirt-links.
The shirt is linen from fabric mart using the same pattern as my other shirt, but this time I added ruffles and shirt-links.
The pants are made out of bedsheets. I’m not ashamed of it. They’re more 1820s/1830s styled so I’m mixing it up a bit, but I think that’s ok because these clothes are not reenacting.
The cravat is from Burnley and Trowbridge and it’s one of my favorites I have now.
The shoes are American Duchess (yes, they’re Victorian style shoes and not regency period. I don’t care because they’re incredibly cool. Pretend they’re spats).
I’ve been very busy this month. Click on the pictures for full resolution.
I got the socks from American Duchess and my cravat is a rayon fabric I made into a cravat. Rayon is a really great substitute when silk is often too expensive, it also wrinkles less.
I got the socks from American Duchess and my cravat is a rayon fabric I made into a cravat. Rayon is a really great substitute when silk is often too expensive, it also wrinkles less.
I realized I didn’t show off my frog vest very well so here’s some better pictures of that. I haven’t really been able to make anything new for myself lately, but more stuff soon!
The cravat is called the American or similar names such as Independence or Washington. It requires to be well starched and pinned in place. This cravat fabric is probably my favourite. It retains its crispness for hours while being light and extremely comfortable.
Le Blanc makes a joke about it when discussing it, “This style has many admirers here, and also among our friends, the fashionables of the New World, who pride themselves on its name, which they call “Independence;” this title may, to a certain point, be disputed, as the neck is fixed in a kind of vice, which entirely prohibits any very free movements.”
Carvat number 3!
This cravat is called a Cascade. It’s similar to the American but flared out. It was extremely popular in the early regency period but by the late 1820s it had fallen out of high fashion.
New outfit I started making in December! I’m super happy with how each piece came out since I’ve gotten a lot faster at hand sewing, thus significantly more of my garments are done by hand. I would like to do more in depth posts on each garment soon, but for now I’ll add the general info.
The shirt was a nice cotton that was gifted to me. The buttonholes a stud eyelets were done by hand as well as many other elements.
The vest is a linen and cotton blend I got from Fabric mart. The print is called Strawberry Thief. The buttonholes were done by hand, as well as the topstitching along the edge.
The stud set is from the 1930s.
The pantaloons are probably the piece I’m most proud of that I’ve made so far. They’re a wool that my mom had in her stash. The knots were done by hand through a process of ironing, basting, and sewing on. I used Burnley & Trowbridge’s wool braid/tape. I was extremely proud of how they came out and the wool tape pressed beautifully.
The cape is wool with a cotton velveteen lining. I used one of my old graduation cords as the roping. The tassels hang down the front but you can’t see it in the pictures.
Plus new cravat! Also From Burnley and Trowbridge. I starched my cravat, my shirt front, my vest, and my corset.
Self portrait/rendering of clothes I want to make! I’ve made several attempts to replicate the style of regency fashion plates and using an ink pen proved the most successful. I think they used the dryness of the pen to get the varying thicknesses of ink. I think I can perfect it a bit more, but I’m very proud of this.
Hello all,
I realize I haven’t made a post in a while. I’ve made some things in the meantime but haven’t gotten around to taking nice pictures, such as a 1910s shirt and breeches. It’s a bit harder in the summer since I tend to avoid going outside.
Until then here are some other pictures that were taken in the fall.
(I wonder if you can tell which one of these my friend took without me noticing)
Here are some more pictures of my cape plus the pad stitching I did. I learned that this type of pad stitching is actually more modern so I’ll try the historical method next time. I didn’t end up using these pictures initially because you can’t see the roping in the front, but you still couldn’t see it in the other pictures anyways.
Here’s some of the process pictures for the knot. I marked the measurements of the key positions of each part of the knot. I had a paper example to size that helped but I still changed that slightly to fit my design. I worked the tape into position while ironing it and pinning to my ironing board. Gathering is used at the inside of the tight corners to help get that even flat curve (the dark blue threads on the left picture). After it was the right shape I basted it to the pant leg. Then I back stitched each side of the knot into place. Each one took a little bit more than an hour all together, the second taking significantly less time since I knew the process this time.
Summer Ensemble
The jacket is linen with many hand done elements including the buttonholes and pockets. I based it heavily on the extant example at Colonial Williamsburg and another at the Kent museum. I was going to draft it myself But I lost my book so I just altered my tailcoat pattern. It was really cool to make a garment more specific to where I’m from. It can be worn with or without a vest.
The breeches are made with cotton with a slight sheen. I think it’s glazed cotton. The buckles I got from Burnley and Trowbridge and I like them a lot.
Both fabrics and the cravat fabric were acquired second hand.
The straw hat is vintage from roughly 1950s
I spent quite a long time on this tailcoat and have gotten very busy without time to work on other projects, so I will dedicate a post to it.
Firstly big thank you to @vinceaddams for his deaths head button video which I used to make mine as well as links for making buckram!
Deaths head buttons weren’t really as popular any more by the regency period, but they still had Thread wrapped buttons for coats as well as one vest example I found for.
I made the buckram from scratch using linen I got at a second hand store and glue.
Decorative interior stitching was based directly off an 1830s tailcoat at the MET.
I used silk thread for all of the visible stitches, and it was like butter to hand-sew with. 100m/110 yds was more than enough for that as well.
(You can see the mutton chops I did :] )
A happy new year to all!
New breeches and a new waistcoat I made. The waistcoat I’m particularly proud of as I drafted it from an original 1820s tailoring book. The fabric is a reproduction 1840-1860 print. I’m still tweaking how I construct breeches.
The Trans Court Suit
This was my big project I made over the summer! I am beyond proud of and happy with the coat.
The first initial project I wanted for this was a pink waistcoat. I grew up liking pink and most of my stuff was, but that (along with growing up in a hot pink room) made me start to resent pink a lot especially as a teenager. (I think a lot of trans guys have similar stories.) But of course pink was very popular for men throughout a lot of European fashion history. So in many ways this was a self healing project for me, at least in that regard. Which I think was a success!
I actually found the first two portraits after I started working on the outfit, they looked perfect! The first especially is super close to my hair.
The silks for the coat as well as the linen interfacings were second hand or scraps in my stash. The cotton sateen was from Burnley and Trowbridge. This is the first project I fully drafted myself. The waistcoat and breeches were made from an 1820s manual and the coat was primarily taken from Period Patterns by Doris Edison, using also Agreeable Tyrant for interfacings and The Taylor's Complete Guide (for shape reference).
This is also the most hand sewing I’ve done for an outfit. Both of the fronts of the coat and waistcoat are completely by hand. Most of the coat is by hand with machine for structural/backstitches, mostly the seams but not the edges. In total there are 22 buttons.
I made the waistcoat straight across for two reasons A. So I can wear it with my other stuff B. I didn’t have any more trim, that was it. I’ll probably make a more 18th century style waistcoat out of white for this (at some point).
The breeches ended up being too small for my thighs so I started getting frustrated with the fit and rushed them by the end so I could move on. (I accidentally sewed the buttonholes on the wrong side).
Leopard waistcoat I was able to make before getting busy again, fabric from Fabricmart and cravat from Burnely and Trowbridge. It was drafted from the same pattern as my pink waistcoat but closer to the actual draft.
An Introductory Timeline of Western Women's Fashion
I think a good place to start to get into dress history is general overview of the whole timeline. Understanding especially how the silhouettes change is really important ground knowledge to build the rest of the information on.
I'll start the timeline from Middle Ages and go till the first world war. I'll focus on upper class England/French sector, so keep in mind that before 17th century there were huge regional differences in fashion inside Europe and class differences too. There is a lot variance, changes and nuance inside any century and decade I'm about to discuss, but I'll try to keep this short and introductory and very simplified. I used a very scientific method of basically what makes most sense to me to divide the periods. I've made sketches what I would consider to be the basic silhouette of the period stripped mostly out of the detail and then I give couple of primary source examples.
12th century (Middle Ages)
Dress was simple one or more tunics over a chemise. They were overly long for upper classes, made out of straight lines. There were loose tunics often worn over another tunic, and tunics with laced bodice called biaut. In France bliaut sleeves often widened from the elbow, in England they often widened in frists.
13th century (Middle Ages)
Clothing was mostly very similar as in the previous century, though bliaut was mostly gone and new popular style was a loose sleeves surcoat.
14th century (Middle Ages)
Tailoring basically revolutionized clothing production, since clothes weren't made out of rectangles anymore and could be better made to fit form. Also functional buttons and lacing was popularized resulting in very fitted styles. The underlayer tunic, kirtle, became a fitted supporting layer.
15th century (Middle Ages)
Improvements in weaving technology and trade and growing prosperity in Europe showed in clothing as excess of fabric and variety of trends. Houppelande, a loose A-lined overdress lined with fur and fastened with a wide belt under breasts, became a very popular clothing item, and in later decades developed into the iconic Burgundian dress (the red dress). Fitted overdress continued to be popular alongside the warmer houppelandes.
1500s-1550s (Tudor period)
In the renaissance era clothing became increasingly structured and elaborate. The bodice was heavily boned and the skirt was also structured.
1560s-1610s (Elizabethan Era)
Both structuring and elaborate decoration reach it's peak during Queen Elizabeth's reign. She became the defining fashion icon of the late renaissance.
1620s-1670s (Baroque)
In baroque era the bodice was still heavily structured, but more curved than the conical Elizabethan bodice. Otherwise though structuring was replaces with dramatic excess of fabric.
1680s-1710s (Baroque)
In the late 17th century there was a huge shift in the clothing industry as mantua, a loose open robe inspired by Japanese kimono, came to dominate fashion. Rigid bodice was replaces by structured under layer, stays. Stays brought back the conical silhouette of Elizabethan era.
1720s-1780s (Rococo)
Mantua developed into the iconic Rococo dress in France, robe à la francaise (first example picture), and in England robe à la anglaise with closed bodice. Rococo fashion was characterized by the wide silhouette of the skirt.
Since Tumblr won't accept more than 10 pictures per a post I'll have to continue in a reblog. So to be continued!
