A Blue Regency Ensemble
Janet Arnold’s Riding Habit c.1795-1810. Scaled up to fit a classmate. Altered darts, armscye and hem on model. Redrew own pattern. Made jetted buttonholes. Sourced period appropriate fabric. Hand sewn visible seams, machined lining.
My design for the jacket features self drafted square collar, jetted button holes, self drafted sleeves, and covered buttons. The fabric is medium weight worsted suiting wool and lined with white cotton. The construction features tailoring techniques of reinforcement.
In addition to the jacket, I decided to set myself the task of designing and making the complementary gown. The pattern is self drafted, taking notes notes from Patterns of Fashion and also from Elizabeth Friendship's Creating Historical Clothes. The dress is made of cotton, is lined with white cotton, and is trimmed with a cotton satin ribbon waist tie. The design is from the early regency years called an apron front gown, and it is quite an interesting construction. You can see a similar type of closure in gowns from the late 18th century. The front portion of the skirt is partially gathered and the back portion has a slight train and cartridge pleated at the waist in the regency style. The back shaping comes from the princess style seams.
The two items were constructed using both machine where seams not visible, and hand sewn with historically accurate stitches where seams are visible.