"A night of splendor and elegance. . ." Annapolis grand ball for General LaFayette 1824

 We decided to go to the ball in October which meant I needed a ball gown more appropriate for winter.  The one I made for early fall was thin cotton and I wanted silk.  When I first started researching mid 1820s garments, I really fell in love with this gown in the Metropolitan Museum and I thought I might reproduce it. I went as far as resizing the embroidery pattern and getting wool floss.  I got so busy that I knew I couldn't get the embroidery done so I changed plans.  Plus I had already made a white cotton ball gown.  

Moving on, I found so many other gowns worthy of recognition.  The 1820s are all about the trim.  What kind of trim would be easiest and most efficient timewise to do?  I really fell in love with gowns that had leaves on them.  Here is a sampling:

American wedding gown

Detail from gown in the Met

Full length photo of gown in the Met

Met gown on a mannequin

And finally my favorite which is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art:

Note how the leaves/stems for that typical "V" shape on 1820s bodices.  This bodice inspired me.  I ended up making larger leaves thus needing fewer of them.

The skirt trim appears to have ruched bias cut fabric between the two large pieces of cording.  I was hoping to copy this trim.  As time went on, I started scaling back --first deciding to eliminate the bias cut backing then finally reducing my trim to one strip of cording with leaves on it.  

I used the Laughing Moon 138 pattern as a basis which is the same one I used for my previous three 1824 gowns.

I had 4 yards of this silk left over from the 18th century sack I made last year so I figured I'd use it.  I ordered swatches of some coordinating silks to use for the trim and found the perfect one.

The heavy cording I found at the fabric store was just too dense to use for bodice trim so I made silk turn cord with a wide seam allowance to give it just a bit of dimension.  After that was stitched on to the bodice and sleeves, I cut some paper leaves to determine the size I wanted.  The first ones I made out of silk--16 of them--ended up being a bit larger than I wanted so I put them aside for the skirt.  The leaves were made by stitching two layers of silk together, pinking the edges close to the seam and turning them.  I then took a little pleat in the bottom of each (they mirror image each other in pairs) and stitched those.  Here is the bodice and sleeves:

The sleeves were done first then they were inserted into the bodice.  The sleeve seam and neckline are piped. The sleeve piping is smaller than the neckline piping.

Finished bodice front

Bodice back without closure.  These gowns were typically pinned or had ties.  You do find some with buttons.

I had some leftover cording from my corded petticoat which worked well for the skirt.  I had made the skirt then split it where I wanted to add the large piping.  Then the larger leaves were stitched on.

All the leaves were stitched on the ends.  I didn't want to stitch them flat as I wanted them to have some dimension.  I made a total of 72 leaves.  Had I kept them to the dimensions of the original gowns, I would've ended up having to make many more!

I decided to do ties for the back closure which meant raiding my fabric dye stash to make the 1/4 inch cotton tape coordinate with the gown.

Here is the finished gown:

Front

Back

1820s hair is always a challenge for me with my stick straight hair.  The following products work miracles for curls that will last for days:  

I set the front of my hair the night before using this curl cream on dry hair and 3/8 inch bendy rods.  I used 5 on each side and curled them toward my face.  I'm a back sleeper so this works well for me since it doesn't require curling the back.

Here is the finished result--dressed for my tea earlier in the day.  I used a long braid hairpiece and a bun hairpiece that I added over the small bun my hair made.  The side curls were positioned with hidden bobby pins.

Here are the accessories I wore for the ball:

The images on the reticule and the kid gloves were taken from extant 1824 souvenirs in the collection of LaFayette College.

Dressed for the ball:

The ball was "a night of splendor and elegance" as described the by Maryland Gazette in 1824.  It was held in the same venue as the 1824 event--McDowell Hall at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland.  Here are a few photos from the ball:

It was indeed a night of splendor and elegance.  Kudos to the Historic Annapolis team for a wonderful event.

I was sewing up to the last minute but was pleased with the outcome. I really like this gown and while the design ended up simpler than my original vision, I was happy with it.

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! 

Regency curls for 5 minute hair!

It's no secret that I like quick ways to dress my hair for living history.  Regency is tricky for me though as I have bone straight hair and all of the period images show glorious ringlets and curls.  I've discovered the best solution to be clip in curls.   Once you take the trouble to make a few, you can easily style your hair in 5 minutes.

I had made a few clip in curls which a described in this post.  Those curls tend to hand to the side and get in my eyes so I thought I'd make some shorter ones.

You will need:

• hair pieces of your choice
• end papers
• sponge rollers

I found these clip in bangs on Amazon for cheap in my color so I ordered two sets.  These are short enough where the curls won't hang down in my eyes plus I'll be able to wear them on each side with a center part for other 19th century styles.   I was pleasantly surprised that they matched my hair as well as they did.  Here is one set clipped in.  Usually #33 Dark Auburn works well for me.

I used the smallest sponge rollers I could find--labelled size small and about 1/2 inch in diameter or so.  I started sectioning off little sections--planning on about 8 per hair piece.  One thing to note about synthetic hair--it's extremely curl resistant.  I've learned with my own hair that I just can't curl straight hair without end papers--even with a curling iron.  Wrap an end paper around the ends and roll it up all the way.  The rollers are perpendicular with the clips and I just followed the natural wave of the hair to determine the direction of the curl.  One of the sets has the curls going in the same direction and one doesn't.  It doesn't matter.  Here you can see what the back of these little pieces look like.

Once both sets are curled, fill up a tea kettle and heat the water to boiling.  When it boils, remove it from the heat for 30 seconds - 1 minute.  Place your hair pieces, rollers up, in a metal colander in the sink and pour the hot water over them, making sure to thoroughly saturate them.  Allow them to drain for a few minutes.

Place the hair pieces on a towel and blot with another towel.  Leave them there until cool--probaby a half hour or more.

Once they feel cool, gently remove the curlers.  If a curl gets messy, just wrap it around your finger to reshape it.  The curl is burned into the hair and it won't fall out.

Place the hair pieces somewhere to dry.  This will take several hours.  I dried mine overnight.

Once dry, your hair pieces are ready to use.  You may choose to make the curls neater by combing each one around a dowel or you may wish to shake them out to make them a bit fluffier.

I will use these hair pieces along with an extension strip with 4 longer curls which I detailed in the post linked above:

And I use a clip on hair piece that goes on top of the head.  This one can be worn over your bun.  I may be curling it into tighter curls eventually.  Right now I just wear it as I bought it.

It's just a bundle of curls that has 2 combs and stretches in the middle:

Now to do your 5 minute Regency hair:

Step 1:  Twist your hair up into a tight bun and secure with hair pins.  If your hair isn't long enough, pull it all up and secure with bobby pins as best you can.

Step 2:  Clip your curly bangs close to the front to obscure your hairline.

Step 3:  Take the strip with the 4 curls and clip it behind the bangs so the curls fall to the sides.

Step 4:  Take the curly bun and stretch it so you can stick the combs into both sides of your little bun.

That's it!  You can wear this under caps, poke bonnets and turbans.  I chose to use a dupatta shawl to wrap around my hair.  I love them as they are quite large but tend to be really light airy textiles so you can make small or large wraps. I had these silk chiffon ones to choose from:

I decided on the black one since it's not as fancy.  I folded it in quarters lengthwise and wrapped it around my head so that the top curls were not covered.  I tucked the first end in and pinned it then I wrapped the second end and secured it with several pins so it would hang down.

You can see the back here.  You can also choose to stick a decorative brooch or a plume in the wrap as well. The entire hair style including the wrap took 5 minutes.

Here is the finished product:

These little hair pieces are a life saver.  Living in the Mid Atlantic heat and humidity means no curls for my stick straight hair.  They last about 10 minutes.  This is sooooo much easier!