Regency Capsule Wardrobe - Look Number Four

Whoo boy, it's been a while! I never finished my blog series about the England trip I went on in *checks notes* June of 2019... So let's do a quick recap before we dive back in, shall we? 

First there was all the wardrobe planning and sewing. I ended up with a rather versatile capsule wardrobe that I'm still pretty proud of! 

I brought along two dresses, two petticoats, two sleeveless spencers, one long-sleeved spencer jacket, three bonnets, three shawls, and three pairs of shoes. Also two shifts, two pairs of stays, and four pairs of stockings. From this assortment of pieces (and with washing my shifts so I always had a fresh one), I was able to get five full days of dressing up in Regency without ever repeating an outfit! I have already blogged about days Zero through Four here:  

Day Zero:  Arrival and Elton House

Day One:  Walking Tour of Bath

Day Two:  Chawton House and Jane Austen House Musuem

Day Three:  Lyme Regis and The Roman Baths

Day Four:  Portsmouth

And outfits One through Three here:  

Look Number One

Look Number Two

Look Number Three

All caught up? Ok, let's go! 

For Day Four of the RSV England Trip, I went for a very pink ensemble with splashes of green. I wore my Sheer Striped Gown over my Pink Bodiced Petticoat and my Ruff and Chemisette, topping it all off with the same Pink Silk Spencer as the day before. 

I accessorized with the same straw bonnet as Day One - with a green ribbon tacked on in place of the yellow one - a sheer green paisley shawl, pink stockings and pink shoes.

I really liked the contrast of the green accessories with the pink ensemble. I'll have to play with that combo more in the future. I also love how the pink bodiced petticoat shines through the sheer dress when the sunlight hits in, like in the above photos. I probably won't ever wear those shoes again, at least not for all-day use! They pinch my toes pretty badly. But darn it, they're cute! 

(The start of) A 1940s Wardrobe

 I planned this outfit back in 2016, but never got around to making it until 2020, when I decided to challenge myself to make it within a week, for a YouTube video. 

I was only able to finish the blouse and skirt during the challenge, and I have yet to come back and make the jacket (or the other garments I cut out at the time). 

I have worn the skirt several times in my daily life since I made it, but sadly the blouse doesn't get much use. It's just a little too fancy for normal wear, but perhaps if I made the same pattern in a different fabric? I did like the pattern, and it went together really easily, despite me choosing to use slippery charmeuse! 

I do want to finish the jacket to complete the suit. I think I would really like the blouse more as part of the full look. 

I should really make the two pairs of pants, as I think I would get a lot of wear out of them! I am finding I want increasingly higher-waisted pants in my daily wardrobe, and I think that the 1940s silhouette for pants can be really flattering!

I have a jacket and pants cut out from the brown fabric pictured above. I think it'll make a very smart suit.

The darker teal fabric on the left is going to make a skirt and another pair of pants. The lighter teal fabric on the right will make a couple of blouses to pair with them.

My 1905 Suffragist Ensemble

 I am very behind on this blog, partly because 2020 was a disaster and 2021 was just me trying to recover... while caring for a newborn... and partly because I started a YouTube channel! And video editing has taken over pretty much all of my (non-sewing) free time. But I do intend to be better! I will start by adding the projects that I've made videos about to my blog. First up is my Edwardian Suffragist Ensemble, which I wore for the 2020 election when I cast my vote. I have a whole series of videos about the various pieces that I purchased and created to assemble the outfit. Here is a playlist:  

And here is the breakdown of the ensemble: 

Blousewaist made from self-striped cotton fabric from Burnley & Trowbridge, using the 1903 Plain Blousewaist pattern from Truly Victorian.

Walking Skirt made from lightweight cotton twill flatlined with cotton sheeting (literally an old sheet) using the Fantail Skirt pattern from Scroop Patterns.

A purple silk belt that I self-drafted to be able to adjust to my changing figure during pregnancy.

For undergarments I commissioned a chemise from Willoughby and Rose and a custom maternity corset from LaraCorsets. 

(This is the corset mockup)

And I made a corset cover using cotton Swiss dot fabric and silk ribbon from Renaissance Fabrics and the Early 1900s Edwardian Corset Cover pattern from Wearing History, and a hip pad from scraps of an old sheet, using the Scotty Ventilated Hip and Bustle Pad pattern from Virgil's Fine Goods.

I wore shoes and stockings I already had from American Duchess and Penny River Costumes. 

And I accessorized with a custom hat from Shocking Bad Hats,

Held on by a hat pin from K. Walters at the Sign of the Gray Horse,

A bespoke wig from Custom Wig Company,

Earrings from Lady Detalle and necklace from Dames a la Mode,

And of course my suffragist sash from T.H. Clothiers,

Which I pinned closed with an enamel pin from Aimeekitty Pins.

Finishing touches included my cosmetics from Bésame Cosmetics and LBCC Historical,

And finally, a mask from The Sign of the Coughing Cat.

All in all, with this one ensemble I was supporting 20 women-owned or co-owned small businesses! 

A Studio Photo Shoot in Regency

I never got around to sharing these photos, which are from almost two years ago now. My friend Stephen, who photographed our wedding, invited me to do a (safely distanced) studio photo shoot to showcase some of my costumes in August of 2020. He suggested that I bring three different outfits, so I chose Regency in order to keep the hair styling as simple as possible. (I didn't have my new wig from Custom Wig Company yet, and I had cut my hair shorter than normal for the purpose of teaching myself to do 1940s pincurl sets. 

This blog post has been in my drafts for months, so I'm just going to share the photos without further ado!