Party Like Jane Austen

There is no shortage of Jane Austen fans in the world, and I am no exception.

This Regency evening gown has come a long way since I made it almost 20 years ago. A friend once invited me to a “grand Regency evening” and of course I wanted to attend! I immediately started dreaming up what my ideal Regency era gown would look like. I found this gorgeous deep teal silk changeable taffeta, in a perfect light weight for an evening gown. This fabric just floats around the body, in the most diaphanous way. 

I bought a commercial pattern to make this pattern initially. Because I was still a young sewist at the time, I didn’t care to spend the time on a mockup; which of course turned out to be a costly mistake. Upon trying the dress on, I realized that the bodice was not nearly long enough for me, and it stopped about 2” short of where it should fall under my bust . This is a common fit issue on many women when creating Empire waist gowns, especially on tall people like myself. Nonetheless, I finished my gown and wore it to the party. It had awkwardly scrunched up puff sleeves, an ill-fitting bodice trimmed in contrasting orange silk ribbon, a hem trimmed in lace, and a train which I decorated with small pearl beads. 

Because the dress didn’t fit me properly, I didn’t wear it again after the party. I hung it up In my closet and there it languished for over a decade. It wasn’t until 2017 when I had another opportunity to wear it again; I had begun taking English country dance lessons, and I was going to attend the annual Jane Austen Ball. I knew I wanted to wear my dress again, I loved the fabric so much! But this time, it needed to fit.

How to make this dress fit? I had made it over a decade prior, and all I had were some tiny scraps of the fabric left over in my scrap bin. I knew I wanted to cut the train off; it wasn’t practical for dancing, and all the pearl beads I’d stitched on it were broken from being stepped on. By cutting off the train, I had a decent amount of fabric left with which to work some magic. 

I completely took apart the bodice and sleeves, and patterned a new fabric insert that would span from the shoulder seam at the back, all the way down to the neckline at the front. This would lengthen the bodice so the waist seam would sit correctly under my bust. Of course, in doing this I also expanded the size of the armscye, and the original sleeves wouldn’t fit. To accommodate this, I took apart the original sleeves, inserted an extension panel in the middle of the sleeve (it was going to be gathered up anyway, so the additional seams wouldn’t be too noticeable) and ended up with sleeves that were even more delightfully puffy than the original! For good measure (and because I love engineering), I added a shortened sleeve stay inside as lining, so they would always stay puffed.

The dress was now fitting perfectly! For trimmings, I had the perfect length of vintage handmade lace to stitch around the neckline. In a trip to downtown Los Angeles, I found a gorgeous ribbon trim in a coordinating shade, in two widths. I used the narrower width as bows for the sleeves, and the wider width as a sash, stitched onto matching fabric and attached to the dress with swing tacks at the waist seam.

The result was a truly delightful gown that I have worn several times since remaking it!