Regency Curls Tutorial

A turban with some curly fringe is my go to regency era hairstyle. It's pretty easy, and doesn't take much work because all you really do is sleep with curlers, take them out and then bam! ready to go! The first two pictures is what my tutorial would have looked like if I had let the curls dry all the way before I took them out. The photos from the actual tutorial are at the bottom, and because several of the curls were damp, they got tucked up into the turban. :P I typically do a center part, because that seems to be what most fashion plates and paintings depict. I've done a side part before though, because I'm lazy, and partly because my hair just, like does NOT want to center part. :) 

So to start, part the front of my hair, from right behind me ears all the way across. 

Then I dampen it (don't soak! Or you will have damp curls by morning! lol) and add some gel and or mousse. I buy most all of my hair products at Walmart. 

my bathroom has horrible lighting. I'm sorry! 

water

Then I sectioned my hair into somewhat small sections to be rolled.

The foam rollers are from Dollar General, size "medium". They looked like size small to me, which was good. I'm not really sure there's a certain way I roll them...typically any which way, but I try to make them vertical so it will make ringlets. 

 Then I go to bed. When I wake up, I spritz the rolls with hairspray. Then I unwind them all and coat them with hairspray. I have like regular hairspray, and then the arisol kind. I don't favor one over the other and will use which ever one is closest.

 And then I wrap my wool scarf (it's a lovely soft lightweight scarf, I've got a red one, and then mama has an olive coloured one) around my head like a turban, and keep the curls out!

~Theresa

I Love Half Boots (my first attempt at shoe making! :D)

I know it seems like I've only got small things going on, but they are still a sewing/reenacting necessity.  My last project (just finished today!) was a pair of Regency half boots. They were made of silk, leather, and even linen during the 1800's, but mine are made from faux suede.  I got it for free from a friend of Bascha's, and it seemed pretty durable.  I'll be wearing them in the Latta house and cabins.  

This was one time I didn't make a tutorial of how I made something.....and then last night I had a friend tell me she couldn't wait to see how I made these so she could make them herself.  Bummer.  If you want to know the details just send me an email and I'll do my best to explain :).

I've put green laces for now, though I'm going to put brown ones just as soon as I get out to the store :)

these were my favorite boots, thus my wanting that color brown laces.  They were also the only ones I found that did not lace completely shut, and mine don't lace shut either.

I thought the bows would be a little corny, but they turned out ok :) They are silk.

the inspiration for my silk bows

inside of the boot

toe and tongue of the boot before the bows were attached

for the eyelets I just punched out holes and sealed it off with nail-polish.  I finished off some other fraying parts with nail polish as well....:)

There's my bootsies, and now I'm off to eat a Thanksgiving dinner :) Happy Thanksgiving!!
~Theresa

1780's Style Garters

I've always wanted to make garters.  I never wanted to just use a piece of ribbon or string for fear of red welts and lack of circulation.  And elastic in the 1860's, though period, never had too much of an appeal to me.  Merji made a lovely pair of silk garters which I was looking at the other day, and when reading one of the comments (in Finnish....I couldn't understand it) there was a link, so I pasted it in my search bar and boom!  Hey, look what I found! Aren't they so pretty?

embroidered silk with silver thread and silk ribbons

1780's ladies garters

These garters combined the tie method with something pretty and a little less painful looking.  They are silk, with embroidery, silk ribbons, and pleated silk trim.  They were made in the 1780's, but I figure 10 years difference to 1770's won't be too bad, and neither would wearing them for regency.  Bascha and I both have the period correct knitted stockings that come way up your legs, and Bascha's stockings give her a headache by being rebellious and not staying there.  Mine are getting pretty annoying as well, I am going to make me some knitted ones here in a sec.  Caroline's are a mess, and she uses rubber bands (owwie) as garters.  But back to the point, we needed garters.

Bascha just turned 18 this month, and so I decided to make these for her birthday :).  Happy Birthday Bascha!!!

If you remember the silk trimmings on my Straw Bonnet, I had just enough left over from that project to make up a pair of garters. I don't know how these artifact garters were made.  But here is how I made mine.  And I tried to make them as similar as I could.

I wasn't sure about exact measurements, but I guessed that the decoration part probably went halfway around the leg...that part being the front.  So I held the paper around my leg, a little above my knee. Yup, that worked.

I was also guessing how wide the garter should be.  I went with around 1.5".  Using these measurements, I drew out a shape like the original pair onto a scrap of fabric.  I added seam allowances, and cut out 4 of these (two per garter).

my paper pattern/guide and the silk

I printed out the picture of the artifact garters and traced the design over onto a piece of paper. This was to get the hang of drawing it.

I drew over my pencil markings with sharpie so I could literally "trace" the design to my silk.  I wanted to be able to see it through the fabric.

Then I ever so carefully transferred this onto my silk.

I took the embroidery floss and separated it so I was only using two strands.  When I looked at the original embroidery it looked "thin".  So that's what I tried to do.

squeals!! look at all that embroidery! I just love how embroidery looks, but man I hate doing it :P (also, if you are wondering why it's on a plate, I love eating garters of dinner...(I couldn't get the focus/light right))

I tried to analyze how the garters were sewn together.  I couldn't really tell, but this was how I did it.  I put the fabric right sides together and stitched around the edge leaving a small gap on one end. Then I in-sided them out.  About the little hole on the end...it was where the ribbon ties were attaching anyway, so I just tucked the seam allowance in and sewed it down when attaching the ties.

For the ties-I did not have silk ribbon.  I wanted silk ribbon, but I was scared that if I ordered it it wouldn't come in the same color as my silk.  So I...used *whisper* polyester ribbons (which was also a lot easier), that matched.  I pinked the edges how they did though, and then sealed it off with clear nail polish.

I sewed them down to the garters, re-enforcing where they attached with lots of back stitches.  I did gather them slightly before attaching.

Tie attachment

Moving on to the trim.  I cut out several little strips of silk on the bias so they wouldn't fray.  Then I box pleated them to make the trim like pictured in the original.  But-I just really didn't like the way it looked on the garters.  It seemed to take away from the embroidery, add bulk, and just not flow prettily.  So I opted out on that step :(.  I guess now I can't really say I replicated the original garters can I? But at least I tried.

I'm done!

mama modeling for me :D Bascha's legs aren't available at the moment :P

the ribbons are very long right now, I wasn't sure how long to make them

I had meant to use navy instead of that vibrant blue for the ribbon embroidery...but it didn't work out.  I can't remember why though

One of them says "UNIS A JAMAIS" which is supposed to mean "United forever" The other one says "JE MEURS OU JE M'ATTACHE" which the site says means "I die where I cling" or "I must love or I die".  If I had thought about it, I would have put something lovely and poetic, about love and friendship....but I didn't think about it until it was too late.  Sorry Bascha!!!!

 Wee!  Aren't they so cute?  What do you think of these?  Do you wear garters?  Have you ever made some?

~Theresa

Regency Tailcoat

Hello everyone!!  Sorry I haven't posted in a while. :P  Here is a Regency outfit I made for Abraham to wear to Latta and to a homeschool Regency Ball this last April.  Haha, the top hat is from Party City. :P  

 I love his smile in this one! <3

This tailcoat was the hardest article of clothing I have ever made. :O  It was so finicky.  I had to make two mock-ups before I got it right.  My biggest problem was fitting the armhole.  It was two sizes to big! I so wanted it to fit Abe just right.  I actually went to a fellow sewer and asked her for help, she was the one that suggested that the armhole was to big.  So after adjusting the armhole by two sizes and shorting the back by 1-2 inches and shortening the sleeves by a little bit, I was finally able to make the final product! I was so nervous I was going to make a mistake when I cut into my pricey wool.  But in the end I think it turned out pretty good and I think Abe really likes it as well. ;)

I made his breeches from a pair of white pants from the thrift. I just chopped the bottom part of the leg off  hemmed it to below his knee, put a button on it and voila!! :)

His cotton waistcoat was very simple.  It was all the buttons and button holes that took the longest.  Also all of the buttons on the waistcoat and tailcoat are cloth covered.  I believe there are 10 (?) buttons on the waistcoat.

Aha! There are his lovely boots that I found at Goodwill!!! <3 I was so happy when we found them.  We had been searching for a pair of Regency shoes for Abe for a long while, and came across these beauties while searching for material. :D

This is the only photo I have of the back of Abe's tailcoat. :P  My mom took this photo while we were at the Ball last April, which was a ton of fun!  Sometime I will have to do another blog post on my Regency ball gown.

Blessings,

~Bascha