A year or so ago, on a trip to JoAnn Fabrics, I stumbled upon some nice fabric in the softest classic-Disney-Cinerella blue. The fabric was 100% polyester, unfortunately, but I had already fallen deeply in love with the color, and it was a decent price, so I caved and bought some. I knew immediately that I was going to make pieces for my Regency wardrobe with it, since it was already shaping up to be a very blue wardrobe.
I knew I wanted to make a reticule with it, for sure. Using my Pinterest boards as a starting point, I looked at common shapes and decorations. I eventually settled on this late 1790s-early 1800s bag from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston as a guide (I can't download a decent image of it, so I'm afraid the link will have to do). I wasn’t looking to replicate it, just use it as inspiration. I decided over the winter that this would be one of my semester sewing projects, to work on during my desk shifts or during other down time.
Materials-wise, I used less that a quarter yard of the polyester fabric for the outside, roughly the same amount of white broadcloth from my stash, some white cotton thread, most of a yard of white spiral cording, and two white tassels (though i picked up six total, and may have lost one somewhere). For tools, I had scissors and needles, of course, and a small embroidery hoop and my awl.
I drafted a simple shape on graph paper to use as a “pattern,” based in part off the example bag, and scaled to make sure I could fit my hand through the opening. Once I had everything cut out (two in the blue and two in white for a lining), I sewed the lining up and used colored chalk to rough out the basic shapes of the embroidery on one of the blue panels.
Now, looking back, this was an ambitious bit of embroidery for someone who has never really embroidered before, but it would have been a boring project if I didn’t learn something! I used a chain stitch for the vines and stems, and everything else is bullion stitches, satin stitches, and some knots of some sort. I really love the texture the knots gave the bit in the middle!
The embroidery took me most of the semester, so it wasn’t until after I returned home (and unpacked) that I finished it. I ironed everything, sewed up the sides of the blue panels, added the cord and tassels into the seam, put in the lining (easier said than done - it took me awhile to figure out and now I’ve forgotten how I did it), and added the drawstring and casing.
Then I took lots of pretty pictures of it because it’s very pretty, and because I was terribly pleased with myself. It even matches with my copy of Sense & Sensibility, which I haven’t finished reading yet.
I’m hoping I have enough of the fabric left to make a spencer, but we’ll have to wait and see. In other Regency news, I’ll have a short post up soon about what I’ve affectionately dubbed my “portrait shawl,” and I’ll soon (hopefully) be re-remaking my chemise. I’d also like to draft (or pick out a pattern for) and mock up my quintessential white regency dress, so I may do a post on the research I’ve done, the patterns I’ve found, and what my plan for it is.
Stay warm, stay safe, stay dry.
Alexandra