A brief look at the 1820s

With the 200th anniversary of LaFayette's Triumphant Tour in full swing, I continue to get a lot of questions about 1820s styles.  Most people ask about wearing Regency clothing.  You can certainly wear what you would like and Regency is earlier than the 1820s which mark the beginning of the Romantic period.  A fashionable lady will want to wear current styles.  Let s take a quick look at some of the characteristics of the 1820s.  These slides are taken from a powerpoint that I made earlier this summer.

1820s underpinnings, most notably the shift and stays, are similar enough to Regency garments that they do not need to be addressed.  A corded petticoat is a must for this era though as it helps to create the more conical shape of Romantic Era gown skirts.

A look at fashion plates

Note the elaborate skirt trims in fashion plates and on extants.  This is a defining characteristic of the 1820s!

A look at mid 1820s exants

Note the variety of neckline depths.

Cording is frequently ncorporated into the skirt trim to create more of a flare on the gown skirts.

Good examples of 1820s roller prints which were popular. Note how the print is used to emphasize the "V" shape of the front bodice.

One of my favorites.  Note the use of large cording in the trim.

1820s bonnets are very different from the earlier poke style bonnets.  These are almost more like large brimmed hats.  The brim narrows in the back which make them sort of a cross between a bonnet and a hat.

Hairstyles consist of a center front part with curls on each side of the head.  The rest of the hair is drawn up into curls or a sculptural bun with braids and loops.  These bun styles become much more dramatic later in the decade and into the 1830s.

Footwear was similar to that of the Regency Era in that it was very flat.  The toe shapes have evolved into a rounded or squared off style instead of the pointed styles of the Regency Era.

Other items:  Caps are similar to those of the Regency Era--large with lot's of ruffles, many of which tie under the chin.  Chemisettes were also still worn.  Ruffles at the neck were still worn but many have not become more like ruffle collars that lay on the bodice.  

Hopefully this quick little guide will help those who are still planning their LaFayette event garb.  There's much more to cover but this should help with the basics.

I would urge you to try the 1820s!  I like the styles much more than Regency wear as I find it to be more flattering.  The one thing I dislike is the back closures as that means I need a helper to fasten my gown.

It's always something! 

Odds and Ends

Sometimes I just get lost in making small projects.  Here is a compilation of what I've been up to lately.   The first project wasn't so small as it was a gown but it was completed in 3 days so it wasn't a particularly taxing project.  I purchased the hand block printed fabric from a friend who was destashing and I used the Larkin & Smith English gown pattern that I had adapted into a center front closing gown as explained in this post.  I wanted to wear this during the Printed Fabrics Symposium in Colonial Williamsburg as my goal was to wear a different print each day.  I got the gown almost completed before leaving and ended up doing some finishing in the hotel.

I love this fabric

I added the ties to draw up the skirt and finished the hem in the hotel.  Here it is with just the side seam ties drawn up.  There are also ties to draw it up at the side back seams.

Whole outfit as worn in Colonial Williamsburg

Visiting Philly for the members' preview at the Museum of the American Revolution and wearing different accessories:

And at Mount Vernon for Call to Arms with different accessories.

I love this gown.  It's lightweight and very comfortable.  Because the fabric is so lightweight, I made sure to use a medium weight linen to line it with in order to provide the necessary structure.

The next project which I had been procrastinating doing was a new shift which I'm wearing in the picture immediately above.  My old shift didn't have cuffs which I prefer so I finally made one that did.  I purchased some lovely cuff links from K. Walters At the Sign of the Gray Horse last year and finally can use them. I really dislike making shifts and shirts.  I think it's the gussets and felled seams that bug me so I'm glad that I got that one done.

Next project was a nifty silk work bag using the instructions in the first Lady's Guide to Sewing.  I used some silk taffeta I had bought to line a yellow cloak and lined it with a scrap of yellow linen.  Silk ribbon trim was added to the outside in a lighter yellow.  I need to order more of this ribbon for the ties as I didn't have enough.  I used white China silk ribbon in the meantime.  I love these bags when I don't wish to carry a basket and I carried this one around Philly when we were there (you can see it in the pic above.)  

Next small project:  A green market bonnet!  This green ribbed silk is one of the new ribbed silks that Renaissance Fabrics is carrying.  They are gorgeous!  This one has yellow threads in the weft which makes it somewhat iridescent.  This silk has a lot of body and is very crisp.  I used the Fashions Revisited Market Bonnet pattern which was very easy to follow and the project took one afternoon.  The ribs on the silk ran horizontally on the fabric so I cut the bonnet on the cross grain which ended up only using 1/2 yard!  I have enough left for another project.  I also had some double layer milliner's buckram in my stash so I only needed one layer of that for the brim.  Finished it off with some wide white double face satin ribbon from my stash which was ruched.

Next project was decorating a new pair of American Duchess Dunmores.  The shoes were on sale and since I wanted blue shoes to wear with a number of projects, I figured why not!  I bought the shoe dyes from American Duchess and mixed two colors using the provided swatch to get the color I wanted then I followed the instructions for dying the shoes.  The color was nice but the dyes did not dry evenly for some reason, leaving white areas along some of the seams and looking a bit splotchy.  AD sent me more dyes and I did another coat which helped somewhat.  After searching online, I found that a lot of people used Rit dyes successfully to dye shoes.  One difference with Rit dye though is that it typically needs to be rinsed out which doesn't happen with shoes so you have to Scotchguard the shoes.  The Rit dye worked great to even out the color and I sprayed the shoes with a water proofing spray created for sports gear.  Since I was using fancy buckles on these shoes, I felt they needed a little more trim so I found a narrow braid at Joann's that worked well.  

I haven't worn them yet but I hope to wear them with a gown made from the fabric in the background of the pics.

My last project was a utilitarian one.  I needed a hussif!  I have a lovely 18th century sewing box but it's too big to take with me to events and, quite frankly, I'm tired of hiding zip loc bags in my frail.  I figured out how many pockets I needed and made a hussif that would be able to house all of my basics.  I also made a little leather sleeve for my embroidery scissors so they wouldn't poke through the fabric and I used Pigma pens to create a linen measuring tape.  I have everything I need right at hand!

All in all, it's been a productive few weeks!

1790's Headdress -- a tutorial

Necessity is the mother of invention, or so they say.  When making preparations to attend a 1790's ball, it occurred to me that I didn't have the proper accessories to wear with my Chemise a la Reine as I had styled it from a portrait from 1783.  I originally made a lovely straw hat to wear with it during the day which you can see in this post.  I thought a headdress of some sort plus 1790's shoes were in order to wear to a ball that included an evening of English Country Dance.   I envisioned something with plumes that could be worn with my hedgehog wig.  I looked at some portraits:

I was particularly taken with the last portrait.  I love the wispiness of the sheer fabric along with the darker band and pearls.  I used this for my inspiration.    

For my project, I used the following materials:  Silk taffeta, silk gauze,  batting, glass pearls, wire, felt, ostrich plumes.  The first task was to measure the size of the band needed.  I blocked my wig on a head block which matches my size and measured.  I tamed the wig a bit with bobby pins and used a measuring tape to determine the size of the band.  It measured around 30 inches.

I rolled the thin batting to make a long solid tube around an inch in diameter by 30 inches long then stitched the tube closed.

Next, I folded the cut edge of my silk in by 1/4 inch and rolled it around the tube, pinning it in place.

I stitched the silk in place, connected the ends and sewed the silk closed.

The band is complete.  I checked to make sure the fit was correct.

Next I strung my glass pearls on a piece of beading wire.  At this point I wasn't sure how many beads I'd need so I figured I'd cut the wire long enough to be able to add more beads if I needed them.

I wrapped the beads around the fabric tube and twisted the wire ends together, hiding them in the folds of the fabric.

I placed the band on the wig again and used my measuring tape to try to "guesstimate" the size of the circle I would need for the sheer part of the headpiece.  This was definitely a situation of making it up as I went along!  I determined that I would need a 30 inch wide circle in order to have enough fabric to manipulate it into folds of some sort.

I pressed under 1/4 inch around the edge of the circle and pleated it to the headpiece.  I didn't measure the pleats, but they were quite deep--over an inch deep. When I was pleased with the pleating, I whip stitched it in place to the headpiece.

Here is the result so far.  The sheer part of the cap is very tall--much like a chef's hat!  Now it's time to manipulate it!

This part is hard to describe.  I pushed the center of the cap down and made random pleats with the fabric while the headpiece was on the wig.  I pinned each pleat in place.

Here you can see the pleats from the top. These pleats were just invisibly tacked in place rather than stitched down.

I knew that I'd need a way to secure the plumes so I made a half cockade.  I cut a strip of silk 4 - 5 inches wide, folded it in half lengthwise and pressed it.  I pleated the strip to form a half of a cockade and pressed it.  The pleats were then stitched in place from behind.

The inspiration portrait has 3 plumes:  two white ones with a black one in the middle on top of the white ones--so I decided to do something similar.  The plumes were curled so they did not stand up straight and positioned them the way I wanted them.  I had cut two pieces of blue felt into half circles smaller than my cockade.  The plumes were sandwiched between the felt pieces and stitched in place.

The cockade was stitched on top of the felt pieces, stitching under the pleats and along the bottom.

The plume assembly was then secured to the headpiece by tucking it in the headband and stitching it in place to the band.  This does leave it somewhat lose when wearing but I use pearl headed hat pins to secure it better to my hair.  The pins can be hidden in the folds of the fabric.

Here's a view from the top.

I also decided to add some shoe clips to my American Duchess Pemberly shoes.  I had previously worn my chemise with 1780's shoes and I wanted to dress up my plain Pemberly pair.

Materials for this project were scraps of heavy Pellon, 1.5 inch double faced silk satin ribbon, shoe clips.

I cut pieces of Pellon to the contour of the shoe for the base of the ornament.  I then gathered the ribbon as shown in this post.

The ends of the ribbon were tucked under and the gathered ribbon was tacked to the Pellon base. Three shoe clips were attached to make sure that the clips would be secure during a night of dancing.

Fancy!

Here are some pics from the ball showing the finished items!  

The complete outfit included the items made plus a blue silk sash, a lover's eye pendant (tutorial in this post) and white leather gloves.  Chemise a la Reine is worn over 18th century stays, Regency chemise and two white linen petticoats. Ties were added inside the side backs of the Chemise to draw up the train. Earrings are by Dames a la Mode.

I love having several sets of accessories to make this gown work for two different decades!