Linen Tailcoat, c. 1815

After looking at Sam at Jane Austen Festival and realizing that he was wearing every article of Regency clothing he had, I jumped into a frenzy of sewing for him that hasn't quite stopped.  Number one on the list was a new linen coat for him.  He is now a costumed interpreter at Historic Locust Grove and their period of interpretation is 1816, so he needed a new coat since his late-1790's secondhand coat would not work.  We decided to base it off of this original in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is dated 1815.

We found the perfect fabric at Regency Revisited, which you might recognize from Sam's Civil War-era waistcoat that I made last year.  Thankfully, Walt and Jan still had it in stock and we could get some for this coat!  

We began by mocking up the pattern.  We used Laughing Moon #122 with some alterations to the collar and lapel.

It got off to a rocky start - right off the bat I had to piece the collar because we forgot to cut 4 pieces and only cut two.

Only to find this giant chunk of fabric left over from the waistcoat after all of the piecing!

Next up came padstitching the collar - gotta love it when it stands up by itself!

I'm so happy with my topstitching on the collar and lapel - look how neat it is!

In true Deviant Dressmaker fashion, this was finished the morning of the event. We were hemming and sewing buttons on the coat until the opening of 200 Years on the Ohio!  Oh well, it is finished, and looks amazing.  And a sewing machine never touched it!  Sam has worn it for multiple events since then and it's holding up very well.  I can't say the same of his breeches, but that's a story for another day!

Check him out :)

200 Years on the Ohio - photo by Past Impressions Photography

200 Years on the Ohio - Photo by J. Meyer

During one of my cooking demonstrations at the antiques fair at Locust Grove - Photo by Story Moon Photography

The Locust Grove costumed interpreters perform at the Annual Meeting - Photo by Story Moon Photography

The Louisville Jane Austen Festival

Hello everyone!  Long time, no talk!  In the weeks leading up to the Jane Austen Festival, I feverishly sewed quite a lot, and in the weeks after, I completely crashed from all of the stress.  Finally I'm getting on my feet again!  With all of the stress that Jane Fest brought, it was immensely fun and worth all of the work.

The weekend began with an early morning drive to Louisville in order to drop off two pairs of trousers and one waistcoat for my dear friend Julia at Bingley's Teas.  After that we wondered around for a bit and finally ended up at the home of our dear friends, Brian and Amy, who were hosting my dear Regency sister, Erica.  We sat around, sewed a bit, and ate pizza until we were ready to Twilight Shop.  I wasn't feeling well so I didn't think I wanted to dress out for the shopping... but about 1 hour until showtime I made the snap decision to dress out anyway!  Monsieur Stay-Lacer Brian aided in my dressing and we went and shopped until we dropped.

Mr. Cushing has many talents. Photo by Amy Liebert.

Saturday brought lots of fun!  We spent most of the day practicing our first-person impressions with Brian and Amy, which was quite fun.  I wore a new gown based off of this original from the Bath Fashion Museum:

I decided to shorten the waistband and make the skirt flat-fronted in order for it to be suited for a time closer to 1815 than 1820.

I accessorized with the bonnet I made in Lydia Fast's workshop, with added cherry blossoms.  Photo by Reva Shottenstein.

There was a light rain in the afternoon, so I covered my bonnet with my wool shawl, courtesy of Maggie :) Photo by Janet Abell

Mr. Loomis had a grand old time, getting to join the boys at the Hellfire Club (don't worry, we had our own inaugural meeting of the Sweet Angels Temperance Society) and serving Mr. Cushing as his second in the duel!  We finished the evening with a fun get-together at Brian and Amy's, watching Blackadder and playing Question and Answers.

For Sunday, I refashioned the first Regency gown I made.  I was just a novice seamstress when I had made that gown and it was no longer indicative of my skill as a seamstress.  I threw it into a corner of my closet and vowed never to wear it again.  

Not only was it an earlier style than the period I currently portray, but it also had some crazy horrible stitching, an accidentally unlined back, and overall clumsy construction.

In my scramble to get gowns ready for the festival, I saw this original on Pinterest, and I was absolutely taken.  I knew I needed to make it, and my old gown was the perfect canvas to start on.

I essentially tore the gown apart, recut the bodice, added piping to the skirt, changed the sleeves, and put it back together.  Then, in a moment of blind faith, I threw it into a dyepot and prayed!  And I LOVE IT!

Photo by Jessica Bagley.  The hat was purchased from Lydia Fast on Friday night, and worked perfectly with the gown!  Maggie, again, helped me out and made the ruff for me to wear.

All in all, we had the greatest time.  It's hard to express how dear this event is to my heart, and I can't wait for next year!

With love and care,

Mifs. M. Alexander

photo by Dale Matthews

photo by Janet Abell

Regency Clothing for Mr. Loomis

This past weekend Mr. Loomis and I were honored to go to an event at Historic Tunnel Mill, a lovely up-and-coming historic site just outside of Louisville, KY.  This was Mr. Loomis's first event in 1812 clothing, and he thoroughly enjoyed it.  In preparation I completed a few projects that were in my mind to make since Jane Austen Festival last July--clothes worthy of a Regency Dandy.

First was the shirt.  To be honest, I picked up and put down this project so many times that I forget how long it took me!  I had it on the roster since Fall of last year, and it's not even completed yet (it still needs a few reinforcements).  I used the Kannik's Korner pattern and a very light, delightful handkerchief linen.

A picture of the shirt in progress--I'm immensely pleased with the little chest ruffle.

Next on the list was fall-front breeches.  I used the Kannik's Korner trouser pattern modified into breeches--I think next I'll make him a pair with a shaped seat and a slightly tighter leg.

Sam helped cut them out before a night of English Country Dancing--very appropriate!

Before I put the fall buttons on, this was their state.  Fall fronts really aren't that difficult, it's just a matter of motivation!

Next up was a double breasted waistcoat.  I made the mistake of only getting 1/2 yard of silk (and in a stripe!) so it was a headache to cut it out, but I did it without having to piece anything!  I had made a waistcoat before for my friend David, but it was single breasted and had no welt pockets--needless to say this one was an experience and a half.  I had to alter the pattern to account for the double-breast, had to attach twice the buttons and sew my very first welt pockets ever.  I'm pleased with how it turned out!

This is the waistcoat that served as the main piece of inspiration for Sam's waistcoat.

This is the fabric I had left after cutting the waistcoat out--I really pushed the limits on this one!

Preparing to padstitch (one of my favorite things!)

Padstitching...

My first completed welt pocket!  I sewed these very late at night--I was tempted to leave them off of this waistcoat but they really did improve the look.

Since I'm a procrastinator, I didn't get his wool tailcoat finished quite yet, but my dear friends Julie and Terry sold us one of Terry's old tailcoats, which fit Sam impeccably.  He wore a straw hat from Regency Revisited and brown-top boots from Fugawee (a little present for our one year anniversary coming up!)  Here is him all dressed out and looking sharp.

Doesn't he look handsome?

A view of the back

Showing off the waistcoat--we've decided to make the blue wool into a tailcoat that just barely buttons in the front so he can wear it open and show this lovely thing off!

It came down to the wire on a few of the projects but I'm so happy we got him out for his first 1812 event!  He's very excited and can't wait to go to another reenactment--and neither can I!

The Ubiquitous Blue Coat of the Regency Era

Hello everyone!  In preparation for making the beau's regency items, I've done a lot of research regarding men's Regency fashions (with a lot of help from my friends Brian, Maggie, and many others).  In case you couldn't tell from the blue cravat and blue vest I made Sam for the 1860's, Sam barely wears anything but blue.  I had originally planned on making him a black tailcoat from some suiting-weight wool that I had in the stash, but through researching I found out that isn't quite the weight we're going for in the Regency.  I kept finding more and more blue tailcoats in the era, and I came to the conclusion that 1. hopefully this tailcoat would last a very long time and I wouldn't have to make a new one for a while and 2. if they had blue tailcoats, then why the hell not?  I searched and searched for the correct weight of blue wool, but to no avail.  I came pretty close on some of the places I looked at, but either they didn't have the right weight of fabric or they didn't have the right color.  I even went to Joann's, of all places, but that fabric struck out on both accounts.  The night before the Market Fair at Locust Grove, I was talking to Maggie and mentioned my search, and she ended up having the perfect wool for me!  I can't thank her enough, especially because there will be enough left to make a pretty little something for me!  Anyway, enough talk, here are some of the many fashion plates and extant images that show this classic look.

c. 1817

Thomas Cooke, English actor (1786-1864) by James Warren Childe (1780-1802)

Incroyable et Merveilleuse

Costume Parisien 1804

Costume Parisien 1814

Le Beau Monde, 1807

Costume Parisien, 1804

And finally, the tailcoat and waistcoat fabrics I'll be using to achieve this look.  Wish me luck!

Edited to add: thanks to Betsy Bashore for helping me out on terminology.  Anywhere that I referred to a "tailcoat" with the words "frock coat" has been fixed!