Jane Austen Festival Bath 2012 - costumes for the event

I'm attending the Bath, UK, Jane Austen Festival this year in September and I am really excited, our Australian Festival in April was fabulous and I expect nothing less from Bath.

But of course my wardrobe is in need of a refresh, as, to quote Mrs Allen from Northanger Abbey

 "Bless you, my child, we neither of us have a stitch to wear!"

So, I must stitch frantically between now and September, and yes, I should have commenced earlier, but too many other things have been happening with The Tailor's Apprentice launch of the Miss Page 1940s Pattern Collection.

As we will be travelling half the world away from here, I must create a wardrobe that will cover all basis but will be easy to carry to England, sadly airlines don't take clothing trunks these days, well not in Economy! I found the following list on eBay of all places and its an excellent guide

A good regency wardrobe that will serve you for many events is as follows;

1 set Stays/Shift/Stockings
1 short-sleeved solid or tone-on-tone print gown with a wider neck-line to double as day and evening.
1 pretty print gown for day activities.
2 chemisettes (different collar styles for variety)
1 set of false sleeves
1 robe (cotton daywear) or half-robe
1 net overlay (or voile or sheer muslin)
1 evening robe in finer fabric
A spencer
A formal stovepipe bonnet, and a soft-poke bonnet
1 pair of off-white opera gloves
1 pair of daytime gloves
A fan
A shawl
A pair of short boots
A pair of neutral-toned slippers
A nice reticule.

That wardrobe can offer you a wide variety of looks with minimum stitching on your part ... 

 I already have many of the items on the above list, but I will be making:

1 petticoat as my current one is a tad sad (completed)
1 'little white gown' of the Regency (completed)

2 or 3 sleeveless spencers to 'ring the changes' with the white gowns (1 completed)
1 chemisette (different collar styles for variety)
1 set of false sleeves
1  open-robe (commenced)
1 net overlay (or voile or sheer muslin)
1 evening robe in finer fabric (commenced)
A spencer (completed)

I also have to make more Regency gentleman's clothing for my partner, she does have a number of things already but will require:


2 linen shirts (1 completed)
2 vests ( 1 completed, 1 commenced)
1 pair of silk knee breeches (completed)
1 pair long breeches (completed)
1 long coat (commenced)

... and maybe, time dependent ...
 1 frock coat (completed)

An a la polonaise, a gown of the 18th century Georgian era

I've stepped into the 18th century, well the end of it at least, to create three gowns, one a la polonaise, one a la turque and one a la Reine.

I've never dabbled in this period before, I usually jump straight to the 19th century from the 1650s. Mainly because opportunities to play with 18th century interested people is pretty rare where I live and there always has to be a reason to wear a gown! However I purchased American Duchess's beautiful silk Georgiana shoes and now I need gowns to wear with them, of course! Plus all the other accessories, hats, fans, gloves, underpinings, etc <grin>. These gowns will be worn at this year's Jane Austen Festival Australia in April 2012.

To start, I needed a whole new set of underpinnings, chemise and stays, though for the fittings of the stays, I used a t-shirt as the thickness is much of a muchness.

I have used the Mantua Maker Georgian stays pattern. It works a treat, with only minimal adjustments for bodice length and underarm comfort. It's made with five layers, silk cover, two layers of canvas, a layer of cotton wadding and linen. I used cable ties for the baleen boning, I like it, it's flexible, cheap and cheerful and no whales need to be destroyed, a very large bonus. Sprung steel boning could be used, but it's really not period. The issue with cable ties is that they are plastic and make a pair of stays quite warm to wear as air doesn't flow through, but there are work arounds to this that I learnt from the Marquise website. I highly recommend her instructions on 18th century stay making, it is brilliant! I have to say that these stays don't feel that much different from my Elizabethan pair of bodies. These are still to be finished, I need to add the busk and the shoulder straps. I will write a separate post on the creating of these 18th stays, eventually!

To create the chemise I will use the Marquise 18th century chemise tutorial, it's easy to follow and simple to put together. I will use a light cotton muslin, linen would have been preferable but I have none in my stash.

a la polonaise gown

I am starting with the a la polonaise and am using Sense and Sensibilities Portrait Gown pattern. I have said this before, but I love Jeanie's patterns, they work really well for me and need very minimal adjustment and this pattern was no different.

The test toile was almost perfect with a few exceptions such as shoulder length, my right shoulder is always a problem, carrying heavy school bags created a dropped shoulder that no amount of osteopathy rectifies!

a la Reine gown

Over the Christmas and New Year break I worked on the bodice, I hope to get it finished by 12th Night, that's Thursday 5th January, I will post images of the bodice creation then.

Here's the next blog post ... Putting the a la polonaise together