Sewing Regency Fashion: Part 2

Hi Everyone! In part two Shari is going to take a look at the undergarments worn with a Regency era dress. The Regency Foundation Garments pattern is a great place to start, but for this tutorial she will be showing us how to create a custom petticoat for a specific dress!Traditionally, petticoats were simple skirts that fastened at the waist, but with the higher waistlines of the Regency Era, petticoats started to be made with an attached bodice. Because the necklines and dress lengths vary so much between Regency dresses it is a good idea to tailor your petticoat to suit your dress. Inthis tutorial, I'm going to show you how I made a custom fit petticoat for the Tea with the Governess dress by making a couple of adjustments to the dress pattern.The Tea with the Governess dress has a wide ruffle on the bottom. I didn't want to have a ruffle on my petticoat, so I did a little math and figured I needed to add 3 1/4” to the bottom of the skirting pieces to make up the length of the ruffle.For the bodice of the petticoat, I will be omitting the sleeves and to keep it simple, instead of using the bodice pieces with the pleated insert, I am using the plain bodice front lining piece instead. The only change to the pattern pieces that I will be making is to cut the pattern pieces out along the neck seams to widen the neckline so that it doesn't peek from under the dress.I cut out the skirting pieces as directed in the pattern and for the bodice, I cut out four bodice back pieces and two bodice front pieces. Then sewed the darts and shoulder seams as directed in the pattern.After sewing the bodice pieces together at the shoulders, I pressed the seam allowances open and pinned the bodice and bodice lining pieces right sides together along each of the armscyes, the back edges and neckline.Then, I stitched the pinned edges with a 1/4” seam allowance. Before turning the bodice right side out, I trimmed the seam allowances to 1/8” and clipped the corners and curves up to the seamlines.Then, I turned the bodice right side out by pulling the back sections through the shoulders. The shoulder is pretty narrow, so it would be nearly impossible to do it with your fingers alone. You could use a hemostat, if you have one, or simply pin a safety pin to the lower back seam allowance and use that to draw it through. If you use the safety pin, be careful to keep it within the seam allowances becausethe tugging may pull a hole in your fabric that you may not be able to fix. Once you've pulled the corner of the bodice through the shoulder, remove the safety pin and pull it the rest of the way with your fingers to avoid tearing through the seam allowance.Square the corners with a blunt needle. Press, following the seamlines.To sew the under arm seams with hidden seam allowances, open the bodice sides and pin right sides together, matching the armscye seams. Stitch.Press the seam allowances open. Turn the bodice right side out and press.Now, I just need to finish the petticoat following the instructions for the dress. Minus the ruffle, of course.Now that I have the foundation garments made for my outfit, I'm ready to start in on my dress. I've decided to make my skirting in a semi-sheer white leno check so I can try my hand at whitework embroidery. I'll show you how I get on with that in the next video. See you then!

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