Dumbarton House

Well, you'll probably notice I am NOT wearing a Regency Spencer. I decided not to rush the
Spencer, and wore my cashmere shawl instead. I spent a good portion of the night before decorating my bonnet, so I didn't want to pull an all nighter when I had to get up early the next day.So, here's the costuming group, all together at Dumbarton House in Georgetown. The woman in the middle wearing black is Mary Doering, the co-curator of the lovely period clothing collection we were there to visit. We loved visiting the house which was built at the beginning of the Regency era, and the gowns were lovely (no photos inside the house, unfortunately).
Here's the mandatory group shoe picture! I'm wearing the pink silk slipper in the lower right corner. A few people asked me where I got it - I found it on Amazon, but it's available at many online shoe stores. The shoe is from BC footwear and the model is called "babycakes."I loved so many of my fellow costumers' outfits. Loren, as always, is wearing an AMAZING hat, and I love her matching overgown and muff.I love how Jenny Rose used red and yellow together to make such a gorgeous ensemble.I think my favorite gown was worn by Marilee. Here, she's wearing a fabulous Pelisse that matches her gown, pictured below.Marilee is a Pastry Chef at a very chic restaurant in DC. She and the restaurant treated us to tea and pastries after our tour. We all got a sample platter of three desserts. They were some of the best I've ever had - I loved the Tiramisu, and that's saying a lot since I have rarely, if ever, met a Tiramisu that I liked.I meant to get a picture of the desserts because they were so pretty, but the were SO good that by the time I remembered to take a photo, my plate was clean, as was most everyone else's. Overall, it was a lovely day! I can't wait for our next outing.

George Washington's Birthday Ball

Well, the Regency ballgown is officially completed. I hemmed it last week, and wore it to George Washington's Birthday Ball at Gatsby's tavern. Dave came to the ball with me (it was Valentine's day) and I had a GREAT time dancing! I spent a good portion of the night 'costume shopping,' or admiring other lady's outfits to find out where they got their patterns/wigs/accessories. The Ball was set in the year 1799, and I'm a bit too avant-guard - my dress is more like an 1805 or 1807 dress. The lady that's in the picture with me is perfect for the year 1799:
I love her overgown, the long gloves, and the turban was perfect! I have an overgown and turban planned for this gown, but CostumeCon priorities come first until May.
Mary took this great shot of my dress from the back, and I went ahead and helped myself to it because I like how it shows off the pleats at the back of the gown.Here, Mary and I post together out in the banquet room, as we enjoy chocolate dipped dried fruit, cream puffs, and other yummy indulgences in between dances. Mary attends sewing night with me, and it was great to see a friendly and familiar face there!

Here was another great 1799 gown/overgown combination. The couple pictures is dancing the opening minuet at the Ball. It was very pretty, and I have to admit, not at all what I expected a minuet would be.Loren gets the prize for my favorite costume of the evening. It had that 'all together' look that was just perfect. Her wig is EXACTLY what 1799 hair should look like, the overgown is gorgeous silk, and the undergown is fine transparent cotton with a white embroidered hem. I thought she looked very nice. Loren and I met at the Williamsburg Riding Habit workshop - I'm apparently finally getting a good handle on the costuming community!

Cute as a Button!

I have not lost momentum on my regency gown...I just needed to order the buttons. I didn't want to use the plastic buttons they sell at the fabric store, so I ordered bone china buttons online from a store in Gettysburg. The other options were bone, glass, metal or wood (I discounted mother of pearl because it wouldn't work with my dress), and I was fascinated at the idea of china buttons.Then, of course, I needed to practice buttonholes before going anywhere near my pretty dress. With all the outfits I've done, very few have actually ever required buttonholes. Eyelets, hook and eyes, lacing, drawstrings...these I'm a bit more familiar with. I used some scrap fabric and failed about eight times before I got one decent buttonhole. But I think I finally got the knack:
Note to self on buttonholes: don't forget to put the thread through the special button hole loop on the bobbin. Don't forget to use buttonhole foot or the buttonhole won't work. DO look up sewing machine manual on line to figure out how the five step buttonhole process is supposed to work (that was a BIG help!). Finally, don't slice open thumb while cutting open the holes. It's bad for the thumb, and bad for the silk.

All Dressed Up, No Place To Go

Well, I'm not technically 'all dressed up' since the dress still needs a few last minute touches, but the Jane Austin ball that I was rushing the dress for sadly sold out weeks in advance. I'll have to come up with something else to do with my Regency gown. I've learned my lesson, though. I immediately purchased tickets for Gatsby's Tavern's next event, the Governor's Ball, as well as my membership for Costume Con 2009. The Governor's Ball is 18th century, so I'll be all set with my 18th century Robe Francaise. I would like to get a wig and restyle it in the tall hair of the 1770's before the ball. I'm also starting to think ahead to possibly signing up for Costume College 2009 as well (which will involve going the Costume Guild West), the Dulles Sewing Expo, and Salon Con. I can't do them all...so we'll see which ones catch my fancy.
So, here's the bodice after it was fitted. Oddly enough, it overlapped too much on top in the back, and too little around the ribcage. I say 'oddly' because my ribcage and waist measurements are significantly smaller in proportion to my bust measurement. I normally have issues with the fit on top. It was easy enough to fix - I re-cut the pattern piece so the bottom was larger, and voila!
The bodice is always the hardest part, so once that was fitted it was just a matter of sewing in the sleeves, waistband, and skirt which I had already previously assembled.
I was very happy with the way the back of the dress turned out. All of those pretty gathers and pleats are perfect for the late 1790's/early 1800's, and I even managed to smush the gathers enough that they all sewed onto the back pattern piece only (apparently the gathers aren't supposed to be on the side back panel at all).
So here's how the dress is looking. This week I've been doing small hand stitched finishing details (like hemming the armbands and sewing in the waistband lining). I then need to do a LOT of practice button holes before attempting them on the dress. I've never been to great at button holes, and needless to say I will not go near my dress until I have mastered this elusive skill. Oh, and I should probably also buy some buttons. :)

One question for my readers - does the dress look sufficiently trimmed? The early Regency is marked by the simplicity of the gowns, so I didn't want to overdo it. I still have enough Sari trim to put a band of gold around the hemline (maybe even two stripes, one large, one smaller on top), or I could put a band of gold down the center front of the gown. Check out the Marquise website or Prints George to see pictures from the era if you're not familiar with gown styles. What do you think?

Bodiced Petticoat Complete

Here is my finished Regency Bodiced Petticoat:
It's not hemmed yet: I'll do that at the same time I hem my gown. Check out the great Regency silhouette from the side! I was a bit concerned about how the stays were pushing up my cleavage, but with the petticoat over it, I can really start to see how this is going to look with the dress. Very period!
Compare my silhouette to this print by James Gillray entitled "Stays" (it's one from his series titled "The Progress of the Toilette). Not bad, eh?I went ahead and made up a muslin toile of my ball gown. The back fits beautifully:
I'm not so sure about the front. It looks a bit big. Too poofy and too long on bottom. Any opinions? I may cut out one cup size smaller and see if that improves the fit...but one cup smaller will also shorten the back which I think is perfect. It's sort of hard to tell at this point how the fit is...according to the pattern for my size, I'll add a drawstring waistband to the dress so that I can make sure the bottom edge of the Empire waist fits like a glove. Hmm...
I want to make sure I get my toile right before I touch my fashion fabric. There's no more where it came from (handwoven in India), and I've been safeguarding this one-of-a-kind beauty. Here it is draped over Mini so you can get an idea of what the gown will look like. The gold border is only going to be used around the hem, and possibly for the waistband and sleeve bands.