Fun & Games in the Land of Regency Costume

So, I think I've maybe overdone it a bit lately. Maybe more than a bit. My shop'll probably wander along by itself at this point without my needing to be obsessing over it all day every day, and my novel finally feels like it's on track. It's past time I did something just for the fun of it.

I have for years been wanting to do a proper Regency costume project - undergarments, dress, spencer jacket, bonnet, reticule and all - and I can't understand why it's taken me so long to get around to it. So: I've taken this up as a holiday project for the next couple of months.

Course, even setting it up takes time and certainly money. I guess that's why I've postponed it. To start with, I need...

Patterns

I'd love to develop these myself, but I require a lot more specific historical knowledge to do that. So for the time being, I'll base my costume on someone else's. Get a look at these beauties:

I got these as a birthday gift courtesy of my costumier sister (thanks, Kate). They come from the brilliant website 'Sense & Sensibility Patterns', which I highly recommend for a range of costume interests, not just Regency. Here's the link http://sensibility.com/

Fabric

Expensive, this part, if one expects to use authentic fabrics - and of course, I do. By authentic I mean as close as possible to the original materials employed for garments like these back in the day. It's not always possible to get it spot on - for example, I'd love to use a pretty printed muslin for my day dress, but nobody manufactures fabrics like that anymore. Did you know that a lot of the fabrics used for period dramas like Pride & Prejudice had to be custom-made?

I expect it'll take me another week or two to find all the fabrics I need. After that, I'm starting out with the undergarments. I'll be blogging about it as I go, so visit again for the updates!