Jane Austen Festival KY 2017: Stays and Chemise

-
Jane Austen Festival 2017

After a grueling semester and a not so good grade in Physics I was looking for some kind of escape. I wanted to get more serious about sewing but I didn't know how to read a pattern or how to use my machine (honestly it used to hate me). I wanted to start with something simple but I didn't want to make a costume for no reason. Then I found the Jane Austen Festival in KY.

The festival occurs in June and I found out about it at the start of May. So I only had a month to pull together a chemise, stays, and a drawstring gown. Note that I have never made any of these things, especially something that is corset like.

So naturally I had to choose a pattern first. The most user friendly one that I found was The Elegant Ladies Closet Pattern and the Regency Underthings Pattern from Sense and Sensibility. I read all of the instructions (or so I thought) and then got started on the chemise.

Patterns used

I'm glad I started with the chemise because it was an absolute mess! For some reason I thought I had to add extra seam allowances. They are already in the pattern and I somehow overlooked it. This became an issue with the armpit gussets. I finally had to cut the excess away just to make it fit properly. I hope to remake it before I attend next years festival.  But I got it done and it only took a week. 

Completed Chemise

Next I wanted to tackle the stays.  Starting with the foundation is very important to get the proper look for the time period. Plus it would give me room to make mistakes that won't be seen. And let me tell you...I made some mistakes.

Interlining

Helper dog is not helping

All three layers put together

More 'helping'


The construction portion was easy. Since I had never made anything like it before I took my time to make sure I was doing it properly. Instead of hand sewing the eyelets I used grommets, which I will never do again because they are horrible. But I do have to say that the instructions were very easy to follow but I did make one large mistake (literally.)  I made it too big.

The face of defeat


Apparently I'm not very good at measuring myself and it was waaay too large. I ended up having to take in over an inch in the back. Then I also noted that the front stuck out way above my chest. I don't really know how to fix that so I left it the way it was.

After taking in the back

Side View


By this time I had been working on them for about 3 weeks. I was tired of looking at them and just wanted them to be finished. So I fixed the difference in the back and went ahead and binded everything. Hopefully in the future I will be able to remake them and size them a bit smaller.

Stays almost complete

Now, for the final word on the pattern I used.

Would I use this pattern again?
Yes! Construction was easy I just suck at sizing.

Would I recommend it to someone that is just getting into this time period?
Yes, but make sure you ask for help especially when it comes to sizing. I apparently can't size properly even after making a few toiles.

Is it historically accurate?
As far as I know yes, although I didn't hand stitch them.

Finally I like to go over what new skills I have learned.

-Boning
-Making three layered garments
-Grommets
-Drawstring casings
-Making my own bias tape
-Making gussets
-Using a pattern

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Brown Elizabethan Kirtle

-
Image
I started this kirtle back in August 2017 after being successful in making my first historical-ish costume for the Jane Austen Festival. I was hoping that I would get done before my classes started at the end of August so I could wear it to the Renaissance Festival in September but that didn't happen. Now 6 months later it is finally complete! Kirtle sketch The pattern that I used for this kirtle was the Reconstructing History Elizabethan Common womens Outfit. I am still very much a beginner sewer so I thought I could handle this pattern. To be honest, I couldn't. The instructions were too vague for my taste; I actually had to reference other books (Tudor Tailor) and the internet to figure out what to do a few times. A pictorial guide would have been wonderful in addition to the instructions. First I tried making the bodice. This was the hardest portion for me. I was confused about their 'kirtle' pattern because there seemed to be no way for the...
Read more

2017 Jane Austen Festival

-
Image
The Jane Austen Festival in Kentucky was wonderful! I live in Columbus OH so it was a three hour drive down to Locust Grove. I went on a Saturday (The festival runs Friday through Sunday). I didn't attend the other days or the ball on Saturday night because I had only sewn one dress. I could have worn regular clothes for the other days (not the ball) but it's not in my nature to do that, lol. Locust Grove, KY The house at Locust Grove is beautiful! It was originally founded in 1790 on 55 acres of land by William Croghan and his wife Lucy Corghan. Lucy Corghan was actually the sister of the famous William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition. In 1806 the expedition was heading back towards the east coast and the Croghans held a homecoming to celebrate the event. Locust Grove is the only residence west of the Appalachians that once housed Lewis and Clark.  Another view of Locust Grove Inside the house were beautiful rooms and quite a few handmade dress...
Read more

Katniss Everdeen Wedding Dress

-
Image
Katniss Everdeen Wedding Dress Photo by Rick Heno Photography Sketch of the costume In 2015 I saw the previews for Catching Fire and fell in love with the wedding dress Katniss wears and I knew I had to recreate it for Halloween. But, to be honest, I didn't know how to go about doing it. I knew that I didn't want to make the entire dress myself, so I headed to the thrift store and found a strapless wedding dress that fit me for about $20. Next, I went about figuring out how to do the metal working on the dress. I studied the one photo I had (which was only shown in the movie previews) and tried to figure out what it looked like most to me. Working with limited photos was a drawback but I think having the limited resources forced me to be more creative. My form of creativity was using pipe cleaners and tin foil! So I started with a duct tape dress form I saw on pinterest. I knew that would be easy to work off of and I could pin to it if I needed to. This...
Read more