Regency essentials: A little white dress - part II

Alright, here comes the second part of the post about my little white regency dress, with pictures of it being worn. The following few photos were taken after returning from an event so please excuse my poor curls that have loosened in damp weather. We quickly pinned them up because they were way too long for the correct look (although my hair was too long to create proper regency side curls anyhow). 

Noora kindly let me borrow her long-sleeved chemisette and bonnet for our event so I could complete my day look. Doesn't that bonnet just look great!

In these photos you can see that the sleeves aren't as puffy as they ought to be. I didn't add a lining to the sleeves because I wanted them to be sheer but without any support the fabric was too thin to hold up the shape of the sleeves properly. 

I loved this silly look! I know it isn't a flattering look to modern eyes but I don't care! ;)

And here you can see my underwear that I was wearing under the dress. I made a shift with short sleeves, short stays with a front closure and added more tucks to my already existing petticoat. The front lacing of the stays is very practical for getting dressed on your own, however, it doesn't create the correct separation effect that a proper busk would. 

Even though I haven't personally worn this dress again, it luckily hasn't lingered in my closet completely unused! Mia borrowed it for the Jane Austen ball at Skokloster Castle in Sweden last year. She looked absolutely lovely in it! And isn't her pineapple reticule just adorable!

It was fun to see someone else wearing my dress. 

The dress fit surprisingly well for Mia. It was maybe just a tad short, even if regency ball gowns could actually be quite short.

Mia wore a chemise (dated 1820-1840) that I made from the Regency Women's Dress book (see pages 12-13) and gave to her. The pattern was unaltered so it's a direct copy from the book. 

The chemise worked really well under this gown as it supported the puffy sleeves quite well, so the sleeves actually looked nicer this time!

In case you're interested in reading about the construction of this gown, check out my previous blog pos about it.

Photos from L'Amusette's spring ball at Haihara Manor, 2017.

This time I'm here to share some pictures from a ball more than a year ago. (Better late than never, right?) I've already posted about this event once before - it's an annual masquerade ball hosted by the dance group L'Amusette every spring in Haihara Manor in Tampere, Finland. I've been lucky enough to be able to go every year since they started organizing it since 2013 and it's always the highlight of the spring. :) As usual, I was way too busy enjoying the event to take of pictures during the official program but I did take some outfit photos of my friends and they turned out nicely so I'm excited to share them with you. At the end of this post you can also see a couple of photos (by Markku Arvonen) of the actual program.

Mia (@ohgloomysunday) had made a new gown and a utterly fabulous cap which I adore! The first photo is also possibly my all time favorite photo I've captured of her.

Noora totally rocked the 1790s look - she always looks like a vision in her empire dresses and like she has just stepped out of one of the period fashion plates! You can see more pictures of her outfit on her blog.

At this ball we had the pleasure of meeting Anna-Mari (aka @mollamaricreations) for the first time in real life. She has since become a regular member of our 18th century sewing gang in Finland. She such a talented crafts person and an inspiration! ;)

Since she doesn't have her own costume blog, I must share with you several pictures of her outfit. I just can't believe this was her first 18th century gown! Well, technically it was the second but I'm not counting the one she had made years before joining the world of historical costuming.

By the way, she based her gown on the robe à l'Anglaise pattern (diagram XXII) in The Cut of Women's Clothes. It's the same pattern I scaled up for my brown Indienne print gown - it was so much fun to see another version of it come to life!

Mia also made a chemise dress for her little niece. These photos of them turned out so adorable I couldn't pick just one to share!

These pictures remind me of those tender late 18th century mother and child portraits by George Romney and others (you can see more of them on my Pinterest board). I love that even Mia's gown matches with the gown the lady is wearing in the first one!

 Mrs Johnstone and her son, circa 1775-1780, by George Romney. 

Portrait of Lady Georgina Smyth and her son, c. 1780, by George Romney. 

I wore my robe en chemise which I have already shown you here.  The spring ball always has a different theme and this time it was French revolution - hence the revolutionary accessories in my and other's outfits.

Photo by Markku Arvonen.

This year we also met the lovely twin sisters Essi and Emilia (@loveofcostumes) who attended the ball for the first time.

Photo by Markku Arvonen.

At one point of the event we were horrified to witness the poor King and Queen of France loosing their heads in the (miniature) guillotine.

Photo by Markku Arvonen.

Afterwards the death of the King and Queen was reflected in the color of the food at dinner.

Photo by Markku Arvonen.

Johanna brought her jewelry shop to the event as she often does.

To read another description of this event and see some great detail pictures, go check out Rhia the Evil Dressmaker's blog post.