1795s - 1800s coif

A quick post to update on my 1800s working outfit, today I finish the coif !

It is in thin cotton, and I have used this wondeful tutorial by Art beauty and well-ordered chaos, it has been so helpful and it worked right away! I am very pleased with how the coif turned out.
I now have to add a ribbon, and it's ready for reenacting.

Until next time :)

1940s striped dress - PART 1 : Pattern and fabric.

Spring is here and I have envies of 1940s clothing. I found a pretty coupon of striped fabric in Paris for only 5€ and when I've seen it I instantly imagined an early 40s dress made of it.

I did some research about striped dresses of that period,  to have an idea of how it will look and I found pretty things!

Here are my 3 favourites :

I will be using an authentic pattern I bought on etsy a year ago, I've never used it before so I don't know how it looks in real once the dress is finished.

On this picture you can see the true color of the fabric I bought, as a redhead green is my color to go with!

And here is the pattern I will be using.

Tomorrow I will be cutting into the fabric and maybe start sewing if time allows me to. 

That's all for now :)

1805 Provençal cretonne dress and new shoes!

I've been spending a lot of time on pinterest lately, searching for fashion plates and I have to say I found quite a lot of nice ones. I had the idea of provençal regency clothing because I play a provençal washerwoman at reenactment. I knew there was specific 18th century clothing from that province of France, but ignored that in fact there was 19th century too.

It is characterized by a fabric called cretonne, which is a strong cotton cloth with a very specific print such as this :

A close-up for a better view of the print:

And here are my two favourite fashion plates I found on Pinterest :

 

Amsterdam, 1807.

 

Washerwomen, one of them is wearing a provençal cap. 

I will be making the red dress and the blue spencer as seen on the plate above.

For the dress, I'm using as always the bib-front pattern from Janet Arnold from her "Patterns of fashion" with some alterations, since I am sewing a working class dress there won't be a train and also short simple sleeves.

So far, I finished the bodice and have attached the back of the skirt to the bodice. Everything is handsewn so it takes a lot of time to make, but I prefer it instead of machine stitches which I find breaks a lot easier.

I also bought regency looking shoes from amazon, and I love them, they're perfect for a working class lady. The shipping was very fast, I received them in a week, and also the price is very interesting! I ordered the brown ones, but I will definitely buy more shades.
You can purchase them here :

http://www.amazon.com/Ollio-Womens-Comfort-Pointed-Oxford/dp/B00GXMEC8A/?ref=pd_sbs_shoe_21&ie=UTF8&refRID=19TYMTPVSNH1FTTRJYNH

And here are some pictures :

The back finished. The lighting makes it look pink, but in real it is red.

That's all for now, until next time ;)

Regency day dress - Finished and ready for reenactment !

Finally, some pictures of the dress ! It's all finished and ready for reenactment, I'm so excited I can't wait !

     

Janet Arnold's pattern for this dress is amazing, I highly recommend it! Everything was perfect from the first try, no alterations needed !

Next will be making a petticoat, a spencer for the cold nights, buying a pair of regency boots and also a straw hat to be protected from the sun.

First post... and first projects: Regency gowns.

Here it is, my very first post !

I have been hesitating before creating a blog, but I've finally decided to share with the world my adventures through historical sewing and also reenactment.

First, let's introduce myself a bit. My name is Patricia, I am a 22 year old girl living in south France. I have been admiring costumes since forever I must say, looking at paintings and admiring those gorgeous gowns women had back in the time. So, I've decided to start making dresses from different eras because I've always dreamt owning similar ones.
I've started reenactment since a year now, mainly doing Napoleonic era for the moment, following the soldiers as a camp follower or washer woman sometimes. I have really much fun there, and I always try to live as much as possible like women of this era, avoiding using modern tools during reenacting weekends like my mobile phone for exemple.

I have two projects under progress at the moment.

The first one is a Regency ball gown, which will be made in a black fabric with red prints. For the shape I will use the Janet Arnold's Bib front morning dress pattern.

Here is what inspires me, mainly the shape of the following dresses :

 

Dress ca. 1800-10 from the Centre De Documentacio I Museu Tèxtil De Terrassa.

 

 Dolley Madison's red velvet dress, ca. 1810-1820.

 

ca. 1807-1811 English embroidered red silk dress.

 Quaker wedding dress, 1809,The Philadelphia Museum of Art

Look at that back !

Organza gown, ca. 1800-1810.

The second project will have the same shape as the ball gown, except it will be in a floral cotton, for my camp follower outfit.

A gunner and a camp follower.

I have already started to enlarge the pattern to fit my size, I will start cutting into the fabric tomorrow, which scares me a bit but I got to do it one day I guess ! 

I will post photos of the whole process.

Thanks for reading :)