1830s Frock Coat - Frustration... Lining and Tail Finished

As it is the 175th aniversary of the colonisation of our state, I am slowly working towards creating 1830s outfits. As I am still new and unsure when it comes to tailoring coats I decided to purchase the Reconstructing History 1830s Frock Coat pattern as it seemed similar to those in 'Men's Garments 1830-1900: A guide to pattern cutting' and 'Making Costumes of the Eighteen-Thirties: Volume 2'.

 The basic body toiled up quite nicely with only minor adjustments needed. The issue that I found with this pattern had to do with the sleeve cuffs that only have 4 instructions that make no sense whatsoever... I mean who puts buttonholes down the fold line? I did email the company for clarification of their construction, however, they never responded back. Highly disappointing as their help line was one of the reasons why I chose their pattern. In the end I discarded their sleeve cuffs and drafted those from the book ' Making Costumes of the Eighteen-Thirties' by Brian Reader. Another problem with the pattern is that it omits the tail pockets and facings from the illustration.  These I also had to draft from the book. Over all I was very disappointed with this pattern and will probably not purchase from them again. I do highly recommend the book as it goes into very good detail about how to construct different male garments of the1830s, even though it does contain some modernities such as iron on interfacing and over-locking. These, however, are not big issues.

 For the lining I have hand quilted cotton flannel to the linen lining. The flannel holds amazingly well to the worked horsehair. I am hoping that by doing a lot more work on the jacket's insides it will create a far better finish. The lining shape was heavily adapted in the toile stage and then used to create my own pattern for the interfacing.

 As Nic requires glasses I have included a pocket inside the left hand breast lining as this jacket will be required for leisurely afternoons undertaking gentlemanly pursuit of shooting.

 As mentioned I had to draft my own tail pockets and facings. I think they turned out well. I chose to pipe the facings in black velvet to tie in the top collar, which will also be in black velvet. This took me three full days to complete... and a big headache... so I will take a day off tomorrow to work on my 1830s dress.

 Finished pocket facings close up

Inside the pocket

Full placement

Ekkkk messy tail inside, till the skirt lining goes in.

Sigh, the next task is the collar.....

Random Stuffs

Well I haven't done much sewing in the last few months, but I will be very busy stitching for the next three weeks. Either way I have been up to some things so I decided to put up a few more photos. I know I change hair colour a lot... thankfully I have long hair so it doesn't create an issue with hair pieces...

 

1850s Hair

 

Regency hair

Nic and myself at Government House

ohh I have sewn one thing... Nic's new regency night shirt... lol.

Heritage Ball

I know this blog has been a little silent of late, however, I have been very busy with university studies. I now have four weeks mid year vacation and hope to catch up on my sewing projects and blogging.

To start my holidays I attended a very small heritage ball with some very dear costuming friends. We had a wonderful and exhausting evening.

 

Rui, Jessie and Aaron

 

Chris, Anne and Colin

Myself and Nic

Regency Christmas Picnic

This year for the Regency Christmas Picnic I was lucky enough to have no sewing backlog so that I could start a new upper class dress for the occasion. Two years ago I purchased a few meters of a lovely embroider anglais fabric in an ivory voile. The embroidery went about a meter high so it would be perfect for the bottom of a regency dress. To get ideas I looked at many different dresses and went to the visual expert (my husband) to pick a final dress to copy. His choice was the 1804 dress worn by Elizabeth Patterson in the Met Museum online collection.

 

I had not previously made a Regency dress from that time period so I had to fully draft the pattern toile from scratch. The neckline is lower at the front and the bodice starts higher.Another problem was how to design the back of the dress as I was unable to find any close up images of the back. From the distance image I was able to find a dress that looked similar at a distance, which had a close up view from the same time period. After printing photos out, lots of drawings... I finally came up with a concept of how I could construct it. by using a standard side back and extending the centre back I could create the gathers in the back, which would be held down tight from the weight of the train. The skirt is then attaches straight to the side back and gathered under it, tacked down then stitched straight to the extended centre back. It used 3 strings one top drawstring, one lower and a thicker decorative string to pull the sides in to create the lovely V shape.

The front was far simpler to create, but it did take a few toiles to get it to sit right as it still has a gathered front on the square. The front decorative waist panel also had to be measured to fit in with the design of the fabric and the fit of the dress. I was also a little more modest in the fabric used...  Im not overly keen on exposing too much front.

The sleeves also created an issue with their double ruff. In the end I created a short puffy sleeve and taked on a gathered tube. This created the desired affect very nicely. 

The completed dress.

The dress was mainly hand sewen, all but the long seams that I machined sewed. This is quite an achievement for me and I am very proud as I had not drafted a dress from an image before. Its really nice to hit another milestone in my sewing journey.

The picnic itself was wonderful. The weather was lovely and warm and the food was devine. Our small group allocated dishes to each couple to prepare that were all Regency appropriate. We also took a tea set, rugs and cushions to enjoy the day in style.

Wendy laying out the table with Derrek's assistance.

Nic preparing himself for lunch with a light refreshment of port.

Full view of our dining and reclining area.

Nic and myself after the picnic.

The back of my dress in fully glory.

And the front.

House Warming

For our 1 year wedding anniversary we decided to hold a house warming/wedding anniversary period style. As could be expected for our first home we purchased a period stone cottage. We currently have it dated to the 1880's, however, it is of an early building design and features from the 1850's. Either way we still love our home no matter when it was built. Our housewarming was a wonderful day of baked delights, Nic's own recipe punch and wonderful company.

Our Wonderful Home

Main Bedroom - the bed was a gift from the previous owners.

Sitting room.

Guest Bedroom

 Nic's Private Study

Open Plan rear of the house

The Party

Taminick 2011 and Last Minute Sewing

This year we were able to attend the Taminick Military Encampment Weekend in Victoria. It was during the second week of my mid semester break so I had a furious week of sewing to prepare. Nic required longer sleeves on his Brunswick Jacket and I needed a summer weight dress as I only have one for the cold, and new linen petticoat. As always I ended up sewing on site, which provided me with an activity while waiting for the water to boil for coffee and gun cleaning.

Thankfully the sleeves and petticoat were completed before we left for the event.

 Sorry I have no photos of the petticoat, but I do have some of my handsome husband in his new sleeves.

 Sewing my summer weight dress with the last of the light.

This dress was made for warmer days at the campsite for ease of wearing and with a shorter skirt to avoid the mud and wet grass. 

*Dress done now for the hat ribbons.

 The competed trimmed hat.

The weekend was very busy with constantly changing weather from rainy and cold, to sunny and warm,. The men were kept busy during the day with multiple black power musket, rifle, cannon and drill competitions. During the evenings there was entertainment to be had around the fires and on the Saturday evening we had an impromptu dance that was a highlight of the weekend for all who participated.

Nic shooting laying down, in the Sniper Shoot, he came first with a score of 94/100 at approximately 90 yards.

Parade on the final day. Unfortunately due to the poor weather on the preceeding days there was a lack of numbers as many left early the night before.