Retreaters, some last-minute reminders from Charlotte:

A reminder list for the retreat. 

1. We’ve been informed this week that the retreat center no longer provides bath towels, so if you like to be able to dry off post shower (I sure do!), please bring your own. Also remember to bring your sheet set and blankets.

2. Teapots! If you have a set you’d like to bring, this would be a charming way to create the ambiance of the Regency

3. Raffle items. If you have anything to donate to the raffle, please bring it. Also, if you intend on purchasing tickets for the raffle, you should bring money. Cash or checks only please.

4. Snacks. We will have a communal snack area for in between meals, and are asking that people bring foodstuff to contribute, including beverages aside from coffee, tea and cocoa. Please remember that alcohol is not permitted on the grounds.

5. Boots in case there is mud. One can always bring and change back into your nice shoes upon arrival or return, should we go adventuring outdoors.

6. Room decorations are encouraged and the favorite will be awarded with a lovely prize. If you would like to use candles in your room or to walk around with, you should bring the appropriate candle holders and candles.

7. Any workshop requirements that you might need, including a sewing machine for those workshops which might require one.

8. Remember to change into your Regency wear upon arrival to your rooms; all other things can be accomplished post change.

9. Entertainment. For yourself such as embroidery or crafts, or to be shared, such as games, readings or your musical talents.

10. Also, we do have a few spots available should you know anyone who would like to go. Please let them know to contact us straightaway!

The 'Pemberley' Regency Shoe Available for Pre-Order!

Heads-up, Regency enthusiasts! American Duchess has released another model of period shoe and this time it's Regency. A beautiful Regency slipper complete with the side seams.  The shoe is from the early regency (1790-1810), with the pointed toe and a tiny, precious little heel.  At pre-sale price, they're only $80 and they're made of dyable white leather. Regular price is $95.

Pre-order today so she can continue to sell these shoes in her boutique! Every lady who does Regency costuming needs a pair of these. :) Gentlemen, this is a lovely Christmas gift idea.

Order yours here:

'Pemberley' Regency Shoes

The Fabulous Fichu

Miss Jane Porter apparently wore a Fichu.

The Fichu, the chemisette—false sleeves... these are little fripperies that can change the look of a gown dramatically.  When you are into costuming, you can spend a lot of time sewing gowns and amassing a massive wardrobe of gowns simply because you want a variety of options. Sometimes having the right accessories can really change up looks that you already have.

The fichu comes in a variety of forms. Its purpose, as was the chemisette, was to fill in the neckline and to add a little je-ne-sais-quoi to your clothes.

Some pretty chemisettes.

A chemisette is a small 'dickie' of sorts; a sleeveless, or sometimes sleeved light-fabric blouselet that was put on before the gown as a neckline filler. Some were simple, some quite elaborate. A fichu serves a similar purpose, but is not an actual shirt. It's a piece of fabric wrapped around the neck and shoulders to cover and also highlight the decolletage of the wearer.

It is my experience, looking at the images of extant garments over the years, that items of Regency clothing, although similar in silhouette and style, were often constructed quite differently by different people. As people are today, they were also back in those days, imaginative, inventive and thrifty. They would use and reuse fabrics, and they would find ways to make their items particularly special.  Since the only thing that was mass produced were the fabrics, there’s no end to the variations in construction.

The Fichu is a perfect example of how the simple act of filling a neckline became a sort of competition of creativity, starting with the thickly ruched necklines of the early Regency to the froo-froo ruffled collars of the late Regency.  They are really indispensable necessities for any regency wardrobe, and lend a touch of authenticity that wearing just wearing a gown cannot achieve.

This is a different application of a fichu (left).
Tied 'round the neck, in front of the arms
and then around the waist. It is also a coloured fichu.

All you really need is your imagination, some very nice sheer fabrics and laces, and a couple of hours if your good in order to make some little accessories that will change your gown’s appearance completely.

Fichus were worn underneath the bodice and over the bodice. They varied in shape from a rectangle to a triangle.  Some covered the exposed neckline, while others only served to dress the existing neckline. Some were long, others were just slips of laced netting. In portraits, you see a variety of opacities in fabric, from the sheerest of the sheer, as delicate as dragonfly wings, to only slightly transparent, densely woven laces and embroidered nets.

A lovely post about fichus with some lovely extant examples.

The trick is to decide what looks you want for yourself, and then using the very basic shapes to construct those desired items.

For chemisettes;  there are a few patterns available where you can construct the basic garment, and then build upon it in lace and ruffles and such.  

• Sense & Sensibility (Regency Underthings Pattern includes 2 styles of chemisette)
• Rocking Horse Farm Early 19th Century Gown (includes a chemisette)

Regency Neck Ruffs were often added on over chemisettes. Here are some tips on how to make a neck ruff:

 Historical Reproductions' Neck Ruff Tutorial

Elizabethans were not the only ones who thought lace-ruffs
were the pinnacle of fashion.

Neck ruffs got more elaborate
as the late Regency wore on.
fashions were getting frillier and frillier.

As for the Fichu, it does not necessarily require a pattern to make one.  You can build them right on your dress-form or you can just use general measurements and cut them from there. Depending on how much you want full you want your ruching around your neckline, you can adjust the width of the fabric accordingly.  Your key measurement points are your shoulder width, and the distance between the back of your regency waistline and the front.  If you’re going to wear it on the outside of your gown, then you can make the ‘lapettes’ as long as you want them to be.  I’ve seen lots of images of older women with fichus on their shoulders with panels that hang down the front the full length of their dress. It’s very pretty.

I'm slightly crazy about the hat,
I must say.

Here are a few styles of Fichu I’ve seen in either fashion plates, costume mining in adaptations or portraits.  These drawings are open for interpretation, because again, these were made individually and to a person’s tastes. You can add and subtract from the basic shape to your heart’s delight.  Each image has a number. Below all the examples is a key with the very basic shaping of the chemisette drawn out on it. Keep in mind, I measured these based on my body--there is NO substitute for your OWN measurements. If you don't have a dress-form, then measure it on yourself.  And measure twice, cut ONCE. If you make something too short, you can always add lace edging, or ruffles--it's not a science, it's all about creativity.  If you use the foundation shapes and measurements, they sky is the limit in what you can do from there.

The simplest form of fichu. A rectangle,
ruched and then tucked.

Another rectangle, with a cut for the neck.

The tuckable triangle.

The triangle worn on the top of the gown.

With long 'lapettes' in front. I've seen these
made to the length of the dress.

This can be made, and set with drawstrings
to set the shape and gathering.

Recommended fabrics for Fichu 

(as a strong recommendation I suggest you try to stick to silk and cotton products) :

• Cotton or silk netting.
• Voile.
• Batiste
• Organdy (although it can be crunchy and stiff but it works wonders for ruffled collars)
• Silk or cotton gauze
• Cotton Lawn

(please pardon my hasty, and quite awful drawings!)

A night at the opera.

This evening at the opera organized by Miss Stephanie Robertson was a triumph.  A small group of us ladies attended the Portland Opera’s production of The Marriage of Figaro.

The set was a star on its own, a delicate dance of perspective, light and colour that transported the audience into this delightful comedy.  The artistry and taste was flawless in the design of the stage, and the light cast in from the windows painted a golden hue onto the actors as they plied their artistry.

 

The cast was tremendous, the principals true stars. The handsome David Pittsinger swaggered across the stage in his flowing frock coat, the very essence of the Count Almaviva, pursuing the elegant Susanna (Miss Jennifer Aylmer) whose clear, bell of a voice trilled out over the audience in song.   The sly Figaro, played by Daniel Mobbs, handsome in side-curls and a striped waistcoat, was performed with expertise by the actor, and the voices of all were resplendent.  Jennifer Holloway’s portrayal of the mischievous Cherubino was comic genius.  

The orchestra was so unbelievably good and on-point, so beautifully intertwined with the singers on stage. The musicians were conducted to perfection by Ari Pelto. 

There was not enough time to sit and absorb all the wonderful details hidden throughout the production; from the beautiful costumes to the talent and humour of these wonderful actors and operatic artists.  The ten of us were delighted by the performance. It has been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a good opera, and the Portland Opera did not disappoint. 

There are still performances available for those who have not seen this wonderful production. There will be shows on November 10 and November 12 at the Keller Auditorium.  The Keller Auditorium was a generous and kind host to our group, and welcomed us kindly.  We hope to return to see more beautiful performances soon with other members of the ORS.

We took few photos, but once we do gather the one or two of them together, I will place them on this post.

Achieving a proper fit with Regency stays.

There’s been a spate of discussion flying about the ORS for a little while now. Mostly it’s a discussion on how a set of Regency stays ought to fit, and how does one compensate for special issues, like more endowed ladies, or wide hips, etc.

The first misconception by anyone who’s accustomed to making corsets from other periods is that Regency stays should be shaped and fitted like a corset.  Of course they should fit you, and of course they should rest along your curves, but a Regency corset has really nothing at all to do at all with shaping a woman’s body. It’s one of the only style of corset in the long line of historical undergarments that is not at all designed to change the shape of a woman’s body. A woman’s ‘natural form’ was the aim (except with a little levitation). It is designed to hug the natural shape of her chest and torso. The Regency corset should wrap tightly around the torso, it should be stiffened with some boning or cording to keep it from crinkling up on you, and have good shoulder straps.

I say this often in posts about corsetry.  The boning in your corset has absolutely zilch to do with shaping or lifting. The only purpose of any type of boning or cording is to keep the fabric of your stays or corset taught.  Otherwise, without the boning, your fabric would fold and crinkle up on itself when you move around.  What gives you shape, and what creates support is the *cut* of your corset. So it’s important to make that distinction and not rely too much on boning to get you the results you want. It’s a supporting role, not the star. The pattern and cut is the star.

Hopefully my drawings don't look too terrible. :)

In all truth, the Regency corset is designed purely for lift.  That’s why there are so many styles of Regency corset (see an overview of the styles of Regency stays and underpinnings here)—because shape from the empire-waistline down, is largely irrelevant. Some women prefer long stays because they have a bit of a belly they want to control, and granted, if you have rather large breasts, you’re better off with a longer set of stays and a busk to divide and keep the center top of your stays against your chest.  Stays range from being no more than seven or eight inches long (almost to the traditional bra-dimensions with shorter straps) to hip-length. As long as your stays are doing what they were designed to do, it doesn't matter how much length is added, how much boning you stuff into the channels , how much cording or whatever else.

The NUMBER ONE thing you have to know and remind yourself when making your stays is that the empire waistline is KEY. You mess with that, you will have problems.  Your garments are designed to fit around this elevated waistline which runs directly under the base of your bust, and if you are not getting the proper lift, or your gussets are too low, your gown’s cut and placing will suffer.

There are three key points on a Regency set of stays that you must always address when constructing from a pattern or drafting your own;  1) a clear waistline, with the breasts securely held aloft above it. 2) Well measured shoulder straps. The length of your straps will determine where your waistline falls, remember that. If your straps are too long, your stays will drop down below the chest-line and mess with the fit of your gown. 3) The gussets—which are pretty important and should be designed to cup and hold the lower hemisphere of your breasts.

Gussets are key.  Some people believe that with larger breasts, you should lengthen your gussets, which means, deepen the cups, and place your breasts closer to where they naturally rest, right in the middle of your waistline.  Gussets can be somewhat lengthened if you do it intelligently, and you cut an arc in the cup before you cut the slits in for the gussets.  The trick really is to WIDEN your cups if you want to accommodate larger cup sizes. You should be building sideways, not up or down.  You are broadening the platter in which your bust should lay, instead of deepening it.

There are a couple of ways of giving that top binding of your cups the strength to cup the bosom. You can install a drawstring along the front of your stays to bring the edges of your ‘platter’ in, or you can bind it tightly so that it pulls the fabric in by itself. I’ve also seen some designs where the creator made cutouts for each breast rather than gusset slits, and then make gathered/ruched half-cups to fit into them wherein their bosom can nestle.

Now many women are concerned about ‘spillage’.  The rule of thumb is this, your gusset cups should not cover much more than the lower half/hemisphere of your breasts. The nipple should be just barely covered by the edge of your binding, or even half-covered.  The top half of your breasts should be pillowed in the cups.  What keeps them from falling out is the neckline of your shift.  The shift is an essential partner in the team that is your Regency underpinnings, and it acts like the top half of your bra.  You really should not wear one without the other.

However you make your stays, if you keep in mind the above key points.

1. Cut your gussets or cups to cup the lower half of your breasts, beginning above the empire waistline. 
2. Your straps should be short and should hold your stays in place Protect the high-regency waistline 
3. Use the shift’s drawstring neckline to retain the upper half of your breasts. 
4. Use a busked corset if your breasts require dividing, or they are large enough to push the whole construct forward with just boning.

An Evening of Dancing

Last night, Mrs. Charlotte Cunningham, Mr. and Mrs. Demlow and I, Mrs. Nora Azevedo made our appearance at the Friday night dance held weekly by the Portland Country Dancing Community.

Mrs. Demlow is a already a member of the PCDC and this time she came in costume, and looked LOVELY. Mrs. Cunningham also looked lovely, having converted a dress she was not 100% happy with into a lovely new ensemble that was excellent!

We met two new members, Chad and Caley, and I have to say that makes me exceedingly happy to see new faces at events, even if technically it wasn't "our" event.

We danced more than just Regency dance, and there were equal men to women. In fact, we had partners for all the dances, learned some new dance sequences and felt the exertion of a full ballroom.

All the ladies and gentlemen that we met were accommodating and genteel. The Gentlemen properly asked for a dance and the ladies were wonderful and helpful when we didn't know the dance steps.

This was so sucessful, that while we may not always go in costume, we will definitively continue to attend Friday night dances.

We hope to see more of the membership there.

Thank you

Mrs. Nora Azevedo