Dancing is back! Last night I attended the Jane Austen Evening (my second large event in the same month!). Dances were danced, cookies were eaten, photos were took.

I used Laughing Moon pattern #138 for my dress, with long stays (#LM115) and a bodiced petticoat (#LM132) underneath. Seriously, you can’t go wrong with Laughing Moon Regency patterns! They are high quality with great instructions, they sew up beautifully and work together well.

I was aiming for c.1820 for this ensemble, and the pattern worked perfectly for that. It has the slightly lower waistline and the trapezoidal (a-line) skirt emblematic of the decade. I made Renaissance inspired puffy sleeves with sleeve puffs, which were really the only tricky part of the dress, but the instructions laid out the process clearly.

The sleeves get individually faced and turned, similar to bound buttonholes, and then the gathered puffs get whipped in by hand to the openings. I did add an additional flatlining of my thin taffeta after the puffs were inserted, both to act as more support and to protect the underside of the sleeve from getting my hands caught in the openings.

The backside of my main fabric has lots of delicate “floats” from the weave design and I needed a little more oomph to the body of the skirt, so rather than making a separate petticoat (in addition to the bodiced petticoat) I opted to fully line the skirt with more cream taffeta. I honestly hate dealing with how many layers are involved with historical costuming (oops? I don’t think I’m supposed to admit that) and a lining both protects the skirt and simplifies things for me. I prefer lining modern dresses and skirts to wearing slips, too.

Other details: I lowered the neckline of the “low” neckline an additional 1″, shortened the skirt 2″, and added drawstrings to the neckline and the waist. The bustpoint is a little high on me, so if I make this again I’ll lower the dart point 1″ and maybe split the dart into 2.

Wig: Styled by me; Jewelry: Monet; Reticule, Shoes, Gloves: Amazon