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!

Some thoughts on shoes

A very good post on American Duchess about regency shoes and how modern ones are not right. AD is in the process of having reproductions made, but they will not be available in time for my party.

I know I have posted some surviving examples before, but here are some details from Fashion plates of Ladies footwear.

February 1800 Journal des Luxus der Moden (German) 

 

 June 1809 Journal des Luxus der Moden

 

January 1811 Journal des Luxus der Moden

Sometimes the shoes match the dress, like in this Costume Parisien plate from 1808

Other times they match the bonnet like in this English copy of Costume Parisien from 1808

They came in patterns as well as plain, as we can see in this plate, another English copy of Costume Parisien from 1808

Just a few Bonnet Tutorials

Headware can make or break an outfit. Bonnets were often THE fashion accessory of the day

Here are a few tutorials if you are feeling brave enough to try them.

Twila patterned this bonnet off of one in a recent book. There are 2 more posts on making this cute bonnet. While we are at Twila's blog, check out the Strawberry reticule, for fun!

More tutorials on the net

MLS Designs

The Merry Dressmaker

A member of the Regency Society of America

Izodiea on Livejournal

A member on Burda

Jane Austen Center

Simplicity

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

Going Stay-less

Not interested in wearing a corset?
Not wanting to do empire waistlines?

Consider the informal dress styles of the 18th century

Women's waistcoats were often quilted, bot not always

Here are some historical and reproduction inspirations.

V&A 1700-29 494-1902
V&A 1745 T.87-1978
Vintage Textiles C.1770
Vintage Textiles 1800-30 (old fashioned)
Sharon Ann Burnston has a pattern online from an 1740-80 quilted waistcoat
Mara Riley's Time-line of Women's Jackets briefly covers waistcoats of the 18th century.
Two Nerdy History Girls on quilted waistcoats. the ones shown are reproductions
Diary of a Mantua Maker made a reproduction
Costumes, Cats, and the 18th century posted photos from the Power of Fashion exhibit at Nordiska Museet in Stockholm, which include a quilted waistcoat that was not assembled, great for etting a look at the shape of the pattern pieces.

Another option is the Bedgown 
Manchester 1760-80 1972.110 Detail of fabric


Shortgowns are another option

There are other informal robe styles available as well.

A Banyan is also an option. The V&A has a lovely example. T.92-2003
If you do a websearch for Banyan, most of the examples you will find are for men, not women, and this pair was likely worn over pocket hoops, given it's shape.

Robe Volante 1720 French from Kyoto Costume Institute AC9184 95-1-2
Another that was auctioned at Christies
Painting titled The Declaration of Love by Jean-François de Troy 1731


Robe Battante
Isis made one and her research is fairly good.


Please remember that these styles listed hear may have been worn over stays in period, they are just a few examples of what a modern woman may be able to wear without stays.

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.