Regency costume musings
Feb. 7th, 2021 10:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandie_rwAnd I'll make a separate post for this, because the other post was getting a bit long, and this is really just for my own entertainment! A spring Regency picnic was suggested amongst the Local Peeps recently, and between that and trying on my new stays yesterday and being v. pleased, I'm very happily plotting enough outfits for a two-week getaway all spent in Regency!
(As we all know, I'll be lucky to actually finish one single solitary thing. But I don't care. It's a lovely snowy morning, and I'm thoroughly enjoying avoiding planning my lessons, drinking tea, and mentally costuming!)
My first and main conundrum for the picnic is which style to do - late 1790s, 1800s, or 1810-15. It probably won't be 1790s, as I do enjoy a good round gown, but I have to be in the mood for it, and I don't think of it as really Regency (which, yes historically it's not, but usually gets lumped in in a costumer sense). So I'm waffling between the plainer early styles and the more embellished first half of the 'teens. Basically, the difference between the 1995 P&P and the 2020 Emma! If I had to pick my real favorite I'd have to go with c1812, as that's where you really start seeing the poke bonnets, some hem embellishment, and more detail on bodices...but I do also enjoy the simplicity of the P&P aesthetic!
At the very least I want to treat myself to a new bonnet - but, again, that could go earlier or later! Poke bonnets are more fun but more work. And, then, straw or buckram?
Side note: The squiggle print dress, while started, isn't really a contender for a Picnic Dress - it's going to be delightfully frumpy, but I don't want to be frumpy at a picnic, even delightfully so! Plus it very much feels like a "house dress" - not something one Goes Out wearing. Or, that somebody wearing that kind of outfit wouldn't have time for something as frivolous as a picnic.
So, I have several vague half-baked ideas floating around in my head; let's see if I can catch them all and write them down, in vaguely chronological order, illustrated where possible.
- Dark blue wool pelisse, along the lines of this one from P&P. With a bonnet in a similar color family to hers...rust or dark reddish, etc. I have approximately 23 miles of various wools in shades of dark blue, and I've always loved that outfit. Would be worn over my existing print dress.
- 1805-1810 spencer. I have...a lot of things I could make into a spencer to go over that print dress.Depending on when we have the picnic and whether I need a warmer or lighter spencer... Aforementioned blue wools, a chunk of moss-green wool flannel, black or brown velvet, a couple of silks I wouldn't mind losing a chunk from, not to mention god knows what in the scrap bins.
- Sage green mini-stripe silk spencer, about 1812...so with some form of the little puffy oversleeves and a bit of detailing on the bodice. I don't really have a design in mind yet, but along these lines. A halfway tick in the "no" column is that I would have worn my spotted voile "little white dress" with it, and I'm fairly sure that that won't fit over the new stays (although I'll try it), so would require a full new dress or petticoat. Not that white voile will break the bank, but still.
- 1812-15 pelisse of cream figured cotton poplin, same fabric as my late 1830s dress fabric. (I really liked it, bought most of a bolt from my Joanns, and then saw it in another store and bought it there too! So I've got enough for at least one more dress!) This would be more along the lines of the "pelisse-robe", where it's starting to morph into a specific type of dress rather than a coat, per se. No real plan for this design, but here's a light-colored pelisse on the left!
-1812-15 red and cream "roller print" cotton dress. Bought the fabric ages ago because it came in at work and said, "buy me, I'm Regency!", and who can resist talking fabric? Not terribly sure of the design yet, but definitely in that 1812-15 niche, so I can put on a ruffle or three with the print going other-ways, because that seems fun.
I think the moral of this story might be that I should prooooobably stop buying fabric LOL.
NEVAH!
(As we all know, I'll be lucky to actually finish one single solitary thing. But I don't care. It's a lovely snowy morning, and I'm thoroughly enjoying avoiding planning my lessons, drinking tea, and mentally costuming!)
My first and main conundrum for the picnic is which style to do - late 1790s, 1800s, or 1810-15. It probably won't be 1790s, as I do enjoy a good round gown, but I have to be in the mood for it, and I don't think of it as really Regency (which, yes historically it's not, but usually gets lumped in in a costumer sense). So I'm waffling between the plainer early styles and the more embellished first half of the 'teens. Basically, the difference between the 1995 P&P and the 2020 Emma! If I had to pick my real favorite I'd have to go with c1812, as that's where you really start seeing the poke bonnets, some hem embellishment, and more detail on bodices...but I do also enjoy the simplicity of the P&P aesthetic!
At the very least I want to treat myself to a new bonnet - but, again, that could go earlier or later! Poke bonnets are more fun but more work. And, then, straw or buckram?
Side note: The squiggle print dress, while started, isn't really a contender for a Picnic Dress - it's going to be delightfully frumpy, but I don't want to be frumpy at a picnic, even delightfully so! Plus it very much feels like a "house dress" - not something one Goes Out wearing. Or, that somebody wearing that kind of outfit wouldn't have time for something as frivolous as a picnic.
So, I have several vague half-baked ideas floating around in my head; let's see if I can catch them all and write them down, in vaguely chronological order, illustrated where possible.
- Dark blue wool pelisse, along the lines of this one from P&P. With a bonnet in a similar color family to hers...rust or dark reddish, etc. I have approximately 23 miles of various wools in shades of dark blue, and I've always loved that outfit. Would be worn over my existing print dress.
- 1805-1810 spencer. I have...a lot of things I could make into a spencer to go over that print dress.Depending on when we have the picnic and whether I need a warmer or lighter spencer... Aforementioned blue wools, a chunk of moss-green wool flannel, black or brown velvet, a couple of silks I wouldn't mind losing a chunk from, not to mention god knows what in the scrap bins.
- Sage green mini-stripe silk spencer, about 1812...so with some form of the little puffy oversleeves and a bit of detailing on the bodice. I don't really have a design in mind yet, but along these lines. A halfway tick in the "no" column is that I would have worn my spotted voile "little white dress" with it, and I'm fairly sure that that won't fit over the new stays (although I'll try it), so would require a full new dress or petticoat. Not that white voile will break the bank, but still.
- 1812-15 pelisse of cream figured cotton poplin, same fabric as my late 1830s dress fabric. (I really liked it, bought most of a bolt from my Joanns, and then saw it in another store and bought it there too! So I've got enough for at least one more dress!) This would be more along the lines of the "pelisse-robe", where it's starting to morph into a specific type of dress rather than a coat, per se. No real plan for this design, but here's a light-colored pelisse on the left!
-1812-15 red and cream "roller print" cotton dress. Bought the fabric ages ago because it came in at work and said, "buy me, I'm Regency!", and who can resist talking fabric? Not terribly sure of the design yet, but definitely in that 1812-15 niche, so I can put on a ruffle or three with the print going other-ways, because that seems fun.
I think the moral of this story might be that I should prooooobably stop buying fabric LOL.
NEVAH!
no subject
Date: 2021-02-08 02:28 pm (UTC)Huh?
no subject
Date: 2021-02-10 12:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-08 02:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-10 12:47 pm (UTC)2021 can be the year of the Regency picnics and promenades!
no subject
Date: 2021-02-08 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-10 12:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-10 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-11 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-09 02:48 am (UTC)Not me!
no subject
Date: 2021-02-10 12:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-09 08:58 pm (UTC)*hangs head in shame* I cannot. It's not just the historical fibers that talk either... Today's fabric was a modern bit of cotton lycra blend that informed me in no uncertain terms I totally need some black cotton leggings.
no subject
Date: 2021-02-10 12:50 pm (UTC)