Tag Archives: empire

Elegance Revived: A Regency Dress, inspired by a TV Show – Pattern #0223

Purchase pattern #0223 here

The world of historical fashion undoubtedly exerts a timeless allure that stimulates our imagination. For all those enchanted by the magnificent gowns and exquisite ensembles of the TV series Bridgerton, my sewing pattern allows everyone to fulfill their desire for a dreamy dress themselves.

Originally, I had crafted the dress in black for the Wave Gothic Festival in Leipzig. However, I have now revamped it in a colorful style reminiscent of Bridgerton. The instructions still adhere to historical techniques, but the dress can be sewn as much as possible with a sewing machine and closed at the back with a zipper instead of hooks and eyes.

The tulip sleeves are not typical of the Regency/Empire era, however, they are an important stylistic element of the dresses of young women featured in the show. The first tulip or petal sleeves can be seen on extant dresses from the 1850s.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/108118

Let’s dive into the world of hand-sewing a dress! Back in those times, garments were typically sewn with white thread. I didn’t have a matching silk thread at home, so, in keeping with historical accuracy, the entire dress was sewn with white thread.

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Men’s Tailcoat about 1800 – Part 1 – Getting started, steps (1) – (2)

The last garment missing to complete our men´s wardrobe is the Tailcoat. Again, this blog post will supplement the sewing instructions for my pattern. The sewing techniques described in the instructions will follow the construction methods seen on extant garments as much as possible, with some extra information and pictures here.

Grab the sewing pattern here!

Please be aware, that this is a hand-sewing pattern, all long seams can be sewn by machine, but many steps can be only done by hand. Some steps are quite tricky, even for an experienced sewer, some steps are unfamiliar compared to modern sewing techniques.

I´m going to show you the making of a double-breasted Tailcoat of the early 19th with many of the typical characteristics of these days. The body has three seams only, a center back seam, two back side seams, moved wide into the back, and no waist seam. Front and back tails are sewn together along the back side seam, pleated into a backward opening fold. The pocket opening is hidden inside these folds. The back opens into a vent beneath the waist. 

The double-breasted front ends about 1” above the natural waistline, showing the waistcoat underneath.  Breast padding supports the front and no shoulder pads are installed. The sleeves are pretty long, reaching the basal thumb joint, and finishing with a cuff. All the extra width at the sleeve head is gathered at the front. The collar features the typical m-notch. The body is lined with polished cotton fabric. The front facings are extended to meet at the center back.

The edges of non-fraying wool fabrics like felted wool will be left raw. When working with a fraying fabric, I recommend sewing the tailcoat in a more “modern” way.

The first possibility would be to line up the top and bottom layers, wrong sides together. Then turn the seam allowances under and sew all edges with a slip stitch, described in this blog post of my Romantic Tailcoat: https://patterns.bplaced.net/blog/1840s-tailcoat-part-4-1840er-tailcoat-teil-4/

The second possibility is even more modern, sewing collar and lapels with the right sides together and then turning the right side out, as usual nowadays: https://patterns.bplaced.net/blog/an-1830s-frock-coat-part-1-ein-1830er-gehrock-teil-1/

A third (for moderate fraying fabrics) would be to turn under the seam allowances of the top layer, trim back the seam allowance of the bottom layer to the net, and slip or fell stitch the bottom layer in place:

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Sewing Pattern #0422 – a quick illustrated Guide

Welcome back for a new sewing pattern! I made this dress last year in autumn to attend two intimate and small events, a soiree and a Napoleonic ball.

It was not my intention to make a Bridgerton inspired dress, I just fell in love with this extant gown https://www.photo.rmn.fr/archive/15-523923-2C6NU0AOS8H16.html from the Musée national des châteaux de Malmaison & Bois-Préau in France.     

I´m sorry, that I didn´t made lots of pictures during the sewing process because I was in a hurry, I made a mistake when cutting the skirt, but I love the result. Due to the newest release of Bridgerton Season 2 I don´t want to withhold this pattern from you.

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Let´s start with sewing! Just some considerations before we´ll start. Take care that there are no extra pattern pieces for the skirt. The skirt is made from panels of fabric, cut into rectangle and trapezoidal pieces. The following diagram shows how to cut the skirt from different fabric widths.

This is another overview how to estimate the width of your panels. The measurements do not necessarily have to be observed exactly. The width of the front panel should be 1,5 times the length from mark ② to mark ② on the waistband. The side panel should measure about 2 times the length from mark ② to mark ③, and the back panel about 4 times from ③ to ④. (When sewing a larger size with 35” (90cm) wide fabric, you´ll have to piece one of the side panels as shown on the diagram – piecing is period). The remaining fabric strips will be used for the box pleated frill at the hem.  

(1) The importance of a mock-up: Quite sloppy pics of my mine. You can see the additional length at the front to fit over the bust.

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