English Country Dance Costumes

I have made three versions of headwear to go with three of the ballgowns I have made.  The designs were based on the beautiful drawings in Cunnington’s book English Women’s Clothing in the Nineteenth Century.  The first one I have already worn to a ball, and it certainly made the solution to the ‘hair’ problem very simple!

The first was to go with the royal blue and white gown.  I used the pattern for the crown from the ladies Regency day cap, with a narrow white headband and made a padded twisted band from both fabrics, trimmed with the rose ribbon which decorates the dress.  I didn’t have a large enough piece of blue, or of white, so made a patchwork crown.  A drawstring travels in the headband to make adjustable fit, and the rosette that I wore formerly in my hair decorates the bow of white fabric which finishes the twisted band.   Four ringlet locks of hair from a wig are attached at the back for a hint of authenticity.

Second was the turban to match the purple tartan gown.  I chose to use a piece of tan/gold silk which matched the beige in the tartan, as it falls more elegantly than the stiffer taffeta would.  It is lined with cotton which is smaller than the silk, so that the silk can stand up above the cotton.  Again I made a padded twisted band from the taffeta, decorated this time with purple piping as on the dress.  At the back is a matching silk bow tied with a gold cord and tassels and a small white ostrich feather.

The most recent one is to go with the ivory silk gown.  I made a cap, using again the crown of the Regency day cap, added a band, and lined the crown with cotton.  The silk seemed a bit full, and so I put gathering across the crown in several places, decorated with strands of tiny pearl-coloured beads.  I had seen a cap gathered in a similar fashion in Cunnington.  The headband was decorated with twisted gold and white cords twisted with a strand of  pearl-like beads.  At one side of the cap is a rosette of silk above a silk tie with a few matching feathers as a cockade.

 These caps are delightfully light to wear, and will be fine for dancing!

Here are a couple of the chemisettes I have made.  One has a simple gathered ruffle, the other has a basic ruff, and one has a hemmed ruffle.  All finishes were popular in the first half of the 19th century.  They were worn to fill in the neck of the dresses worn in the daytime, thus extending the wear of the low-necked dresses, as it was not decent, at least in the upper classes, to expose any skin in the daytime.  At night it was different!!  You see many illustrations of ruffs in particular, some of them having almost Elizabethan proportions.

First, here is one made of cotton batiste, with a selvedge edge ruffle.  There is a drawstring through the narrow facing that covers the seam between the body and the ruffle, making it moderately adjustable.  It is open down the front, and another drawstring anchors the hem to prevent it riding up.

Second, here is one with a single layer pleated ruff, also made from cotton batiste, using the selvedge edge on the ruff.   Drawstrings in both cases are made from twisted crochet cotton.  This one has a placket in front so the drawstring ties at the side at the hem.

The third version is made from cotton muslin, and has a narrowly hemmed ruffle.  There is fine lace on each edge of the opening, and it is fastened with a drawstring at the neck and two hooks and eyes.

I picked up this remnant of silk with the idea of making a spencer out of it, and it is quite successfull.  I worked from the Period Impressions pattern, choosing to add reveres and a retangular collar, along with the peplum at the back.  I added a matching reticule, and the whole thing looks good with my new ivory silk dress.  The buttons and buckle are metallic silver coloured.  I was pleased to find a silk gentleman’s jacket, dated to the Empire period, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s database, which had a very similar stripe, only in browns and beige.  I am glad I am on the right track here!

The reticule has the same tassel as on the strings and a matching silver coloured button.

This is my favourite dress at the moment!  I love the feel of the silk and it is so light-weight that you feel as if you are floating, especially with the swirl of the skirt with its flounce.  I had been saving the fabric for something special, so when another fashion show came up, I made it my goal to make this.  The pattern is my favourite draw back dress from Folkwear, the Empire gown.  I added a small ruffle at the neckline at front, used the shorter puffy sleeves, and added sleeve extensions similar to those on my bib-front Past Patterns dress.  There is a very narrow waistband under the lace, it helps to stabilize the join between two sets of gathers, especially with a lightweight fabric.

There is fine lace at the waist and on the sleeves, and the ruffle at the bottom has piping in the edge which gives it a lovely bounce.  The buttons are hand made and there is a drawstring at neck and waist.  The one at the neckline is anchored at the front side corners of the opening, and draws both to the front and the back.  This allows for individual adjustments.  I find I can leave the dress buttoned up except for the waist and pull it over my head……making it possible to put it on without help.

The short sleeve is on the left, and on the right is the wrist opening of the long undersleeves which have tape binding the top which is basted securely to the inside of the short sleeve cuff for the long sleeved version.

I’ll be wearing this with the long sleeves and the striped silk spencer for day wear, and with short sleeves and the turban (to come!) for evening balls.

This dress is the same pattern as the green stripe, and is made from a Reproduction Fabrics fabric.  It is all cotton, with a lovely feel and a slightly knobby stripe in beige, very period correct! 

The second picture shows the front open, with the two lining flaps pinned closed over the bust, and the drawstrings.  I made the top drawstring of natural crochet cotton twisted to a cord, while the waistline one is of black cotton, to blend in better to the fabric colour.  Once tucked in it does not show, and the neckline one will blend in with the neckcloth colour.

Here you can see the small back again, and a better view of the fabric with it’s knobby stripe.  These dresses are very comfortable to wear.

This dress was a pleasure to make!  It is the first dress I have made using all traditional methods……no sewing machine!  In fact, the methods of sewing make it easier to do it by hand, at least for the bodice.

The pattern from Past Patterns is based on a dress in the Wayne County Historical Museum in Richmond, Indiana.    My version was first worn during a play at Westfield Heritage Village, and it fit in perfectly for the farmer’s wife ca 1815….good dresses were not thrown out and I am sure were worn long after their debut.

The pattern gives cutting instructions for the original crosswise stripe, I adapted to the lengthwise fabric I had, so had to rearrange the pleats, not difficult to do.  The original fabric for the dress as made in the early 1800’s was a handwoven stripe, with several colours.  Although my fabric is a print stripe, the slightly coarse texture of the fabric makes it appear handwoven.  I also had to enlarge the bodice over the shoulder, following the directions given with the pattern.  The dress is front opening, with drawstrings at neckline and waist and a short placket in the skirt, hidden in the gathers.  It was lovely to work with this fabric and the linen thread.

Note the very narrow back of this time period, and the characteristic diamond shape.   

It’s been a while!   I have been too busy sewing to post, at least that’s my excuse!  I had a lot of fun with this dress.  The fabric was one of those wonderful finds.  It makes me think of the roller printed fabrics of the time period, with it’s slightly coarse texture and the lovely simplified pattern.  There is a dress on the Manchester Musem’s website which is quite similar.  I had some purpose in making it, as I was to be involved in the 1812 Re-enactment at Battlefield House in Stoney Creek.  It was a glorious May day, and a friend and I sat in the shade and demonstrated sewing and spinning crafts to the school children…….some asked good questions and for others we were just a good photo-op!

I followed the Past Pattern’s pattern pretty closely.  I had seen a dress of this type in the Kent State Museum, and wanted to adapt the sleeve in the same way.  Here is the full length:

A close-up of the bodice front.  The flap is pinned up with long straight pins. 

And the bodice back.  You can see the ties from the apron front, and the fabric carriers which hold the ties in the right position.  The bodice and short sleeve are lined with cotton lawn.

The sleeve is a two part construction: the long sleeve is basted firmly to the short undersleeve.  The sleeve in the example at Kent State Museum did not appear to be removable, but I wanted to have that feature.  The long lower sleeves are cut on the bias, more comfortable to wear and a nice design feature with this fabric.   On the right is a close-up of the bum roll which is attached to the waist seam inside the back.  You can also see the tapes which are attached there and tie at the front inside the bib front.  This helps to keep the dress in the right position.

The bodice also has flaps of lining which pin across the bust under the bib front, further stabilizing the bodice.

I added drawstrings at the top and bottom of the flaps, as the drawstring around the neck edge helps to fit it snugly.  This feature is present in some of the dresses from this time period shown in Nancy Bradfield’s book. 

This is the first romantic period gown I have made.  I used Nancy Bradfield’s book a great deal in planning it, and adapted an existing pattern based on the patterns in Jean Hunnisett’s book Period Costume for Stage and Screen, 1800-1909.  Nancy Bradfield features a silk tartan dress with long sleeves from about 1828, and I decided to make an evening dress using my tartan fabric. 

I cut the bodice on the diagonal, made the wide neckline (although the sleeve opening is more vertical than in the 30’s), and decorated it with a narrow bertha of cream satin with a lace edging.  Underneath the bertha the neckline is decorated with two rows of piping, one bias tartan and one lilac contrast.  I like it better with the bertha covering this contrast piping, but it could be worn without the bertha.  The large sleeves were taken from Janet Arnolds patterns for dresses of this time period, and were lined with net to hold their shape.  They are bound with bias tartan with a second piping of contrast lilac, and there is piping at the sleeve head. The back closes with hook and thread eyes, although I wish I had made it front opening……as it turned out I needed to put in a front seam (as in the dress in Nancy Bradfield’s book) and I could have had a side front placket in the dress……hindsight is a wonderful thing! (and it would have been less period correct).  You can see how effective the diagonal cut is with a closer look at the back bodice in particular.  This was a common way to creat interest in design at this time.

 The skirt is pleated with the pleats facing forward to an inverted pleat centre front, and the back 6 inches are cartridge pleated on each side of the placket.  At the moment I have grosgrain ribbon to match tying the back waistband, but plan to put a self fabric bow with hooks and eyes as in Nancy Bradfield’s example.  The hem is padded, with two roleaux, one tartan bias, and one lilac contrast.  I wore it with my full Victorian petticoat, and it has a nice shape.

I wanted a summery cotton dress to wear at conference in April.  As it turned out, no-one wore costume during the day, and I didn’t take my ball gown for the evening reception, so I was a bit miffed!  However, it got me sewing on my nice piece of fabric that I had been saving, and now I have a nice cool summer outfit.

I had been looking at the Fig Leaf front opening dress as a model of a North American pattern.  It is taken from an extant dress in Massachusetts.  I thought the Sensibility pattern could be adapted for this, and so made the bodice with a front opening and two drawstrings, neckline and underbust.  I had a small frill below the underbust drawstring, but it is not quite long enough to prevent the apron front skirt from slipping down, and I added some hooks and thread eyes to support it.  Inside the dress I added a small bum roll to hold out the gathers on the skirt.

Bodice with underlining pinned across bosom, apron front down.

Bodice closed with two drawstrings and apron front up.

Inside dress with bum roll sewn in just below underbust line.

Spencer and reticule added.

Here is the bonnet I wear with it

This dress was designed from an illustration by Mary Gardiner in Cunnington’s book, English Women’s Clothing in the Nineteenth Century.  I am particularly interested in front opening gowns, since it is hard for a single person to don dresses that fasten up at the back, and I am sure that not everyone in those days (and certainly in these days!) had personal maids!  All the exterior finishing is by hand.

I had found some silk twill, another online bargain, and had been thinking about this design for some time.  An occasion arose (a talk to the JASNA chapter in London, ON) which gave me a deadline, and so I got busy.  The silk was a very pale creamy yellow, not very interesting, so I decided to dye it with tea.  I used many teabags in the largest pot I had, and simmered it for 20 min or so.  It came out fairly even, and there were only a few spots I had to avoid during cutting.

I started with Sense & Sensibility’s crossover bodice, but made the opening in the centre front, and used the normal skirt pattern, attaching a band and ties to the skirt front.  I had been experimenting with fine cotton lace crochet, and had some pieces that I thought would do.  I decided not to insert the lace, but apply it to the surface, easier to manage, and also did not do all the insertions that Cunnington shows.  I experimented with dorset thread buttons, often found on dresses of this time, and found I could make 1/2 inch ones on some small jewellery rings I found.   For the sleeves, I made only one tie, and edged the sleeve end with a crochet trim.  The dress has a slight train, as I had just enough fabric for this.

  Front drawstring behind buttons.  It was not clear from the illustration in Cunnington how the bodice was shaped and this was my solution, as seen on other front opening dresses of this time.

Sleeve detail and bodice front.

The apron front ties over the bodice at the gathering line, and would be better with some hooks and eyes to keep it from slipping down.  The ties have carrier just under the arm, and could have two more at centre back, but it is not completely necessary.

Closeup of buttons and lace.

Side view of full dress

Back view.

I wore this hat and the dark green spencer with this dress.