I made a red chintz bedgown that I didn’t like very much. I thrifted a curtain panel in a different chintz pattern that toned with it. I used both fabrics as the base of a winter-weather 1770s chintz ensemble and I think that the ensemble is pretty neat!
A High-Fashion French Merveilleuse in Summer
To celebrate the beginning of summer weather, here is last year’s summer blowout with the Hemwick Regency Society! For an outdoor concert at the Van Dusen Gardens, I dressed as a high-fashion French Merveilleuse – wearing all of the best late 1790s fashion trends at once!
Keeping My Ears Warm in Winter – an 18th Century Velvet Hood
I used my grey boiled wool to make an 18th century short cloak, but the short cloak did not have a hood. How would I be keeping my ears warm? In the 18th Century, the answer for a woman would be a separate hood! I had some black cotton velvet in my stash, so I reckoned this would be easy – I would make myself a mid 18th Century velvet hood to go with my Burnley and Trowbridge Short Cloak!
Historical Hat Pins
After my knitting needle misadventure last spring, I leveled up my accessory game and made myself a selection of historical hat pins!
The Burgundy Silk Scroop Charlotte Mantle
I am on a mission to make all of the Scroop Mantle patterns – here’s a silk Scroop Charlotte mantle, sewn in in a red figured taffeta!
A Black Lace Mantelet
A black lace mantelet is, foolish, fragile and one of the most pointless accessories in the history of western fashion. Of course I wanted to make one!
Tutorial: A Raspberry Regency Reticule
When you’ve got an arms-length-long list of projects that all have deadlines, the only thing to do is start another project quick. So here’s a tutorial for a raspberry regency reticule!
A Regency Riding Hat
For a little touch of the funébre for this Halloween season, I made myself a sepulchral woman’s regency riding hat. In early October I scored a “Halloween bowler hat” at a local party store. It was on “pre-season pre-clearance sale” (Do they just make these things up now?!) and I […]
A Pair of 1790s Chemisettes
One long piece of white lace trim with a moth-nibbled middle makes… two short pieces of white lace trim! Here’s a tutorial for a pair of 1790s chemisettes – one with ruffles down the front and one without, suitable for any early regency sartorial vibe!
A White Muslin Summer Mantelet
A sewing friend gifted me a pair of sheer voile curtains to see what I could make with them. One became a ruffled 1780s apron and the other became a white muslin summer mantelet!
