I’m turning 50 so I’m going to party like it’s 1799-1820. Yes! you heard it here. A party like no other, socially distanced, at the park in regency attire. We’ll all be wearing masks and it will be highly civilized. A girl’s got to celebrate half a century, after all.

As a kid, I always wanted to be both older and live in another time. Now I have my wish on both accounts. There is nothing like embracing the age you are in. At 49+ I’m embracing the fact that I LOVE to dress up in costume and that I love making costumes. For some reason, I’ve become very attached to the regency era. I think it started, long ago in a past life, but in this life , I fell in love with the movie Emma and with Emma’s Mr. Knightly. Then I fell headlong into a grand appreciation of Jane Austen, her books and all the film renditions; not to mention all the great costuming surrounding her stories.

Not everyone has regency apparel just hanging around in their closet. I do have a few friends willing to make something for my party, but for the others, I wanted to make sure everyone had something to wear. I already have a few dresses plus I’m making myself something new. More about that in another post.

In an effort to make sure that everyone had something to wear and also to challenge myself, I decided to makeover some modern thrift store pieces so that they could be worn to this event. With that in mind, I headed over to our local Salvation Army Thrift store and found two pieces from the 1990’s that fit the bill. The dress was already empire waisted and had gobs of fabric draped at the bottom. The jacket coordinated color wise and also had a bit of a military flare. You can see above, the “BEFORE” photos and below I’ll explain how they made it to “AFTER” which are below.

Above, you can see the “AFTER” dress. I’m super happy with how it turned out and was even able to make it have a functioning “Bib Front”. Very exciting. Both the sleeves and side front/shoulders, were created using the excess fabric at the bottom edge. After un picking all the draped up fabric, I was able to cut off over 12” from the bottom edge, which turned out to be just enough to fill in the missing bits.

Because the bodice was strappy and didn’t have shoulders, I needed to create some, where none existed before. To do this, I used the side front bodice lining pattern from the American Duchess Simplicity Regency Pattern increasing the Center Front height a couple of inches so that it would accommodate a fuller bust. These pieces were then flatlined (hand stitched to white cotton) and attached to the back neckline, after a quick fitting on the dress form for positioning.

Next was the “Bib Front” which folds down, allowing one to enter the garment from the front, making it easier to put on by one’s self, own without any help. For this, I sliced the gown down the front on either side of the gathered neckline, creating the bib and into the front skirt. I then removed the side bodice from the skirt at the waist and over to the side seam. The new bodice was sewn to the side seam and side front skirt as well as the back neckline, creating the shoulder seam. Then, the Bib Opening, which extends into the skirt, was finished with a continuous placket.

I finished the inside shoulder seams & neckline of the new bodice with bias tape.

The top edge of the bib was originally, gathered with a drawstring. I needed to reduce bulk along the neckline, so the drawstring was removed and the gathers were set in place on the bib, with binding.

Here you can see the continuous placket on the front openings and bib.

After a quick fitting on the dress form to confirm the center front, I finished the front bodice along the bottom inside edge, with binding and then added hand sewn eyelets to both sides of the front opening, so it can be laced closed.

Here you can see a side view of the garment before the sleeves were added. At this point I added the drawstring from the original dress to each side of the bib, at the waist seam. I also added small skinny belt loops in strategic places, to keep the waistline, in the correct position and the garment closed. The sleeves were simply drawn out on the remaining pieces of fabric, without using a pattern. They were finished with self binding at the openings, made from leftover scraps of the dress.

The Blazer turned Spencer jacket, Was super simple:

1. I cut off the bottom part of the blazer under the bust line.

2. A piece of silk was draped on the back bodice to make the jacket appear to have the slanted shoulder seams common during this era. It was hand stitched in place. I have a ton of this navy blue silk and it’s really come in handy.

3. A navy blue silk waistband was added to the bottom edge. Buttonholes and buttons were added to the waistband.

4. The sleeve puffs were created using the bottom part of the jacket that was previously cut off. The armholes were opened up and inserted into the sleeve openings over the existing sleeves. I believe I actually did this before I added the waistband, so I could get into the the inside of the garment.

My Mom is planning on wearing this ensemble to the party. she will look very cute and is such a trooper for just having turned 78. I also made a navy blue silk bonnet to coordinate, but she made off with it before I could photograph it. I promise to get photos at the party!

More costume Drama coming soon! Until Next Time,

Happy Sewing!

xo Jennifer