More on Footwear

Some more Juicy shoes, this time for the whole family!

This September 1800 Costume Parisien plate of a man and boy, shows both in long trousers (pantaloons) and slippers

This 1809 Plate from Ackerman's Repository shows mourning costume. I love the doll too!

Children's Shoes (unknown Gender)

Boys shoes. these are young boys in dresses with pantaloons or in skeleton suit like outfits.

Costume Parisien Plate from 1813 shows a Young Man in his clothing. He is dressed in the fashions of an adult, not in a Skeleton suit.

Shoes for Girls

We can see that there isn't much of a difference between shoe styles for little girls and those worn by little boys.
This Plate from Ackerman's Repository from September 1810 shows just how similar they are. the two children wear the same style of sleeve too!

And Lastly Men's Footwear!
A couple of styles from Costume Parisien 1817, showing Shoes with small dainty heels worn with Trousers and Riding boots worn with Breeches.

One last link, this time to a lovely 1800 Costume Parisien plate showing Ladies shoes. notice the back ankle!

Girls dress patern inspiration

Today I spent some time pulling together some images of Printed Cotton Children's Regency Era Dresses.
I had to use originals as my inspiration as the majority of Fashion Plates and Paintings show white, sometimes solid color dresses.

So Here are the inspiration dresses so I can start drafting a pattern

The first pink original found on ebay on Jessamyn's Regency Costume Companion article on Children's Clothes

Next comes a boy's dress from Massillon Museum, Massillon, OH, which was included in Kent State Univeristy Museum's 2006 exhibit Fashion on the Ohio Frontier a better view can be seen on Maggie May Fashions
Tidens Toj shared the pattern for their child's dress.

Then there is this lovely roller print one found on I-like-historical-clothing, which seems to have sold on Vintage Textile

Wisconsin Historical Sociey has another long sleeve dress with buttons on the upper cuff.

Vintage Textile has this lovely dress with long sleeves under the short puffs.

Last is this pink one, for which I have the reproduction fabric from the Lady's Repository Museum

I also have a few saved from e-bay to inspire me.

So far the plan is this: short sleeves with longer lowers that can be buttoned on (or permanently attached if so desired) the back will have ties or a button band. I am wanting a gathered front, but maybe the flat front would be a nice change to see?

Regency Shift/Chemise pattern

“ladies used to wear shifts; they now are called chemises: shoes are turned into sandals, stays are corsets, a girdle is a zone, a band for the head is a diadem, a gown is a robe,” quote by Althea Fanshawe  in 1806

 Well I made my pattern and I made a mock up and now it is ready to share with you!
First off this is not a pattern fro the Historical Accuracy snobs. If you want complete historical accuracy, go buy a pattern from one of the well known pattern companies.

This pattern is one that I personally developed based heavily off of Museum of Fine Arts Boston 99.664.51 and by looking at the instructions in The Ladies Economical Assistant (1808) by Kannik's Korner and The Workwoman's Guide (1838-40) and many other shifts and period diagrams for shifts.


This pattern is multi-sized, but has not been tested for all sizes. Read more bellow

Regency Shifts and Chemises

I am developing a pattern for shifts/chesmises for the ladies to wear under their regency gowns. So today I poked around at museums to find some examples.

Museum of Fine Arts Boston 99.664.51
MFA 99.664.26
MFA 49.895
MFA 49.897
MFA 49.900

Met C.I.41.161.7
Met 1999.216.1
Met 2009.300.392

Slippers!

My dear friend Brid has volenteered to embroider me slippers for my birthday gift. I just had to come up with a pattern.
Well today I did just that!
I put on some little brown flats that I wear with costumes, wraped some plastic wrap around my foot and then many layers of masking tape!

But like the idiot I am, I didn't have a shape in mind! so my foot sat there, all wrapped up while I googled regency slippers. I finally decided on a shape. V&A 1150&A-1901. I chose these for their square toes and no heel.
Others I considered were:
V&A T.565 to A-1913
Met 2009.300.1471a–d

Met 2009.300.1468a, b

So I drew my style lines, then cut open the toe of the shoe, since I needed to extend it to be more square. I also have a very prominent big toe, it really sticks up there! so I needed to make sure that the top pattern piece was smooth without the big bubble from the big toe! Unfortunately I  forgot to take photos of a few of these steps! By now my foot was really wanting to breath better so I cut a slit down the front to remove my foot, then removed the shoe and cut it to style. This is what it looked like then.

You can see the flats I taped over have a bit of a heel, I had to remove this in the pattern.

The top piece are shown right side up, the bottom is right side down,

Now I need to make up a mock up to test the pattern. there should be plenty of ease since they wer not taped directly over my foot.

If this works out I would like to try to make some sandals. I have been holding on to those turquoise vintage sandals to use as a sole for some new shoes for sometimes. They came from Hubby's Grandmother.

Here are some Sandals for inspiration

Beta Shoe Museum via the Regency Society of America Forum
LACMA (M.2000.10.2a-c)
Met 2001.576a, b

Regency Dress designer

I was recently reminded of this Regency Era Dress Designer. offered by Bonny Blue.

It would be fun for anyone who likes paper dolls or other paper arts, as well as helping you to come up with something you like, particularly if you don't feel that confident with a pencil.

Back to the Library you shall go

Did you find any of the books I listed in the last book post?

See anything you liked?

Here is a list of more books to find

Napoleon and the Empire of Fashion is a very new book, you would be lucky to find it in your local library. You might be better off looking in book stores. I see that Powell's in Portland carries it in their online catalog. My copy arrived this past weekend (what an Easter gift!) and I do think it is a valuable resource for those with an interest in Regency era costumes. You can see some of the costumes here. I will tell you that there is a topless photo of a modern porn star in the book. I don't think it fits, but the photographer evidently did.

The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire, 1789-1815  is another good book on Regency era costume. You are more likely to find this in a well stocked library. As you can see from the Amazon link, it can be rather expencive to purchase.

Jean Hunnisett authored several books on Women's costume with patterns. These are found in many libraries, so you shouldn't have a hard time tracking them down. For those interested in the 18th century, you will want the 1500-1800 book, for those interested in Regency, you want the 1800-1909 book, There are also two books covering outer garments If you have the time, after all it will be November! Cloaks, Capes, Stoles and Wadded Mantles is the first book, the second is Dominos, Dolmans, Coats, Pelisses, Spencers, Calashes, Hoods & Bonnets

Pattern links for women's regency

Today I ran across this lovely resource t hat has complied most of the regency patterns on the market for women.
In the Long Run Women's Regency Pattern Directory includes some online patterns as well as those in books in it's list.

Other links for today include
Sensibility's comparison chart between S&S's original pattern and the Simplicity version. This link is to the internet archive of the page since it has been take off the main page. (no wonder I couldn't find it the other day!)

Oregon Regency Society's blog post on stays is a good overview of different styles available on the pattern market.

Patterns at the chain fabric store

Your local JoAnn or Hancock will carry these patterns. Often they go on sale for $1 or $2, sometimes 5 for $5 or 10 for $10. Opinions are mine.

Simplicity
2354 Women's "colonial dress. quite a bit wrong, pass.
3635 Women's 18th century undergarments to be worn under 3637 Shift, stays, panniers. Rather good for the usual offerings
3637 Women's 18th century gown to be worn over 3635 Rather good for the usual offerings
3644 Children's Pirates of the Caribbean Pirate (licensed by Disney) costume. The coat and waistcoat are actually not that bad, the breeches are not good, the shirt is not a period cut. 
3677 Women's pirate costume. complete fiction, no pirates allowed at the party.
3723 Women's "colonial" costume, quite a bit wrong, pass.
3725 Girls version of 3723, pass
4055 Women's Regency gown patterned by Jennie Chancey of Sense & Sensibility Unfortunately the corresponding undergarment pattern 4052 has been discontinued. Very good for the usual offerings.
4092 Women's 18th century gown styles after PotC Not as good as 3637 (calls for a zipper!) so pass it up.
4923 Men's 18th century costumes styled after PotC Not as good as 3644, the pants are still very wrong.

McCalls
6139 Women's and Girls "colonial" dresses Don't bother

Butterick
3072 Men's "Revolutionary War" costume. Forget the hat. the pants are still wrong, shirt is not a period correct cut. could be reworked to something better.
4254 Corsets for the 18th and 19th century. You want View A or B. there are some issues with these, but overall it isn't a bad pattern. View B was also included in pattern 4484, which also had other undergarments, now Out of Print

6630 Women's "regency" gowns Not terrible, Simplicity 4055 is better though

You may also like to read some other reviews

Jessamyn covers the regency patterns (including ones from other companies I have not included)
Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild has an excellent pattern review section.

Clothing for Mothers of Young Children

Mainly I am referring to clothing for the expectant or breastfeeding mother.
There have always been young mothers in society, but what they wore has not always been passed from one generation to another. In some cases their normal clothes were adjusted to their needs, in other cases specialty clothing was made.

Fashions of Motherhood by Colonial Williamsburg discuses the maternity fashions of the 18th century.

Much has been written about how convinent a high empire waisted dress is for the expectant mother, to this day it is the staple of Maternity wear. The fashions of the Regency time were far more forgiving to the growing figgure than those that preceded it for centuries.


As a mother myself I have looked into what was worn and even tried recreating some items.

My advice to Guests who will be, or may become pregnant is that the Regency fashion is likely a better bet for you as it is easier to adjust to a changing shape and can be easier for nursing too.
For Nursing mother, I would suggest you look for the "Drop Front" or Apron Front" style of gown.

Jennie Chancey of Sense and Sensibility patterns gave a way to modify her patterns to be a drop front.

The Hungarian Chick has one of the best blog posts on this type of gown that I have seen, check out the pattern list on the bottom!