My First Attempt Series #1

 Meet Gladys 

I am starting a new series called "My First Attempt", which is basically going to be a portfolio of sorts; a catalogue of everything I've made pertaining to the Regency era so far. This is the first Regency dress I ever made. I was eleven at the time. It is worn by my lovely model, Gladys. Yes, I named my dress form. 

The main fabric is beautiful tea-dyed cotton I got from Candle on a Hill. You can find it at this link, here. The royal blue silk is from an old kimono my great-grandma got in Japan. I used the Reconstructing History pattern, choosing to opt out of long sleeves for the simple reason that I was unwilling to sweat to death. The first place I wore it was the 2018 Jane Austen festival. 

Here, I am posing for the camera on my mom's phone. The brooch is an heirloom from a great-great-grandma that I pinned to a fichu I made from an old curtain. The fichu and shawl were made from the same material. I will make another post in the future all about the hat, but essentially it is a poke bonnet I made from a deconstructed and heavily embellished straw hat from Michael's and some extra curtain fabric. 

 The neckline of the dress appears wider on Gladys because we are different sizes. I ended up making the dress a few sizes up for two reasons. The first was that the pattern I used didn't offer anything below a size six and my eleven-year-old self was barely out of the kid's section. The second was the sheer amount of layering that I had to account for. On top of the chemise, stays, and petticoat it was worn over, it ended up fitting quite nicely. 

As you can probably tell, or at least surmise, the dress is bib-front/drop-front. The blue Dorset buttons are purely decorative and were found at this seller on Etsy. I held the front of the dress up using small pins and drew the waist in using the silk sash. 

One thing I had never done was cartridge pleats. At first, I wasn't sure how I was going to make the back panel small enough to be sewn onto the bodice. I think the pattern called for box pleats, but it soon became apparent that the enormous amount of fabric I was working with could not be shortened by using a few pleats. I tried gathering, and then I tried more pleats than was recommended. Neither worked, so I did some research and found cartridge pleats. As it happens, these were accurate as they were used on dresses of the Regency era. Cartridge pleats are perfect for condensing a large amount of fabric into a shorter length without producing as much bulk as you might expect. 

The second place I wore it was the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, when I went with my family that same year. 

                                  My grandma made the spencer jacket

Here I am in all my mustachioed glory. We hoped to arrive in time for the annual promenade, but unfortunately, we were a few days late, so I settled for struggling down the street in my newspaper stuffed shoes and posing for pictures with people who mistook me for part of the exhibits. It was a lot of fun, and I got to see letters written by Jane Auten herself!!!! I accumulated a lot of dirt on the hem, but it touched the ground in Bath so what can I do but never wash it ever again XD.

                                    Me gazing lovingly at the camera

                                      Me gazing lovingly at the future

                                    Me gazing lovingly at a feather

All in all, this dress was really fun to make and even more so to wear. As you can imagine, I was very proud when I stitched that last stitch and presented it excitedly to every single person I saw over the next year and a half. 

Comment below if you've ever been to the Bath promenade!!!!<3333