Thursday, July 5, 2012

Regency Petticoat for Jessie


On Tuesday I was meant to be taking part in a 1800-1900 reverse strip fashion parade for the Freemason wives, during their monthly meeting. As the lady who was wearing the Regency attire did not have the undergarments required I had offered to lend my own. Fortunately/ Unfortunately, my husband did not know of these plans and booked us airfare to Melbourne for the same day. In Melbourne we are to attend the Napoleon Exhibit in period. This meant that I am no longer able to lend out my undergarments.

Thankfully, I recently partook in a fabric swap with my good friend Jessie. She gave me some trims and brocade fabric to make myself a wrapper and I provided her with linen to make herself a regency petticoat, an item she was sadly lacking in. Jessie will be attending the fashion parade and agreed to loan the new petticoat. She, however, had recently broken her reading glasses and was struggling with her own projects and feeling a little unwell. Due to this, I offered my time today to construct her new petticoat. It was also only fair as the linen did not cost overly much.

Jessie required the petticoat for use under Regency gowns dating from 1800 to 1820, so I fashioned the petticoat for the earlier period, which has thinner shoulders. I also added extra fabric to make the petticoat draw string around the neckline and under bust area. Many ladies suffer from weight fluctuations at times and so the drawstring would accommodate this and expand its period of usefulness. I would love to have had the time to finish all of the seams by hand, but even with the machine sewing I am very happy with the result.


The completed petticoat front view.

The completed petticoat back view.

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