I sent a question back during the fall while I was sewing my daughter’s Regency down with removable overlay (she wanted two dresses in one). You asked me to send pictures and, like most homeschool moms, it waited until summer! This is from the Simplicity pattern in silk with a removable lace overlay. We love the pattern but love the pictures (as I’m very visual) online for cutting out and sewing even more. We’ll be making another dress without the overlay for my second daughter for the Christmas formal.

Alison M.

This is a jaw-dropper, isn’t it? I simply love the beautiful aqua blue (believe it or not, it’s correct for the time period), and the removable lace overdress is just the crowning touch. Absolutely gorgeous! Thanks so much for sharing your hard work, Alison!

Hi

I wanted to send through some pictures of the dresses I made from your patterns for a role-playing convention over Easter. The team I play in always costumes, and this year we chose the theme Regency, so I searched found and bought your patterns. I found them very easy to make and very fast to make, the online directions were fabulous, and the girl in light blue even has a boned petticoat made from those instructions. I am the only one with the short stays - though I think the girls look just as nice without them, and as you will notice, the green dress is from your drop front instructions.

Heather

What a wonderful project for a group! I love the variety seen in these gowns — gathered bodices, fan bodices, drawstring bodices — all kinds are represented! Simply smashing work, Heather!

Attached are some pictures of the prom dress I made from your Regency pattern four years ago. I made a dress and a sleeveless overdress out of different satins. I played with the pattern a lot to make it my own: drafted new sleeves, changed the hem, put soft pleats in the back, and put darts in the front instead of gathers. It wasn’t perfect, but I had so much fun both making it and at the dance! Plus, I learned a lot for my next project.

As for my current dress, I’ve just finished fitting the toile for my bodiced petticoat. I move to “real” fabric on Monday. Thank you so much for your beautiful patterns and site! I love all the inspiration for alterations to the basic pattern.

God Bless,
Jenny P.

Lovely work, Jenny! Royal blue is one of my favorite colors.

I have posted on my blog the latest dress for a customer (my first!). The crossover bodice is great, and very flexible. All in all, it was a success and she seems very happy with it. She is a pianist and was concerned to have freedom of movement and comfort, and it passed on both cases. She is preparing for a Regency performance of music and readings, so I think will fit in well.

Now I am preparing to have a booth at the Living History Conference here at the end of the month. I hope some of the re-enactors will want a ball gown, or at least think about ordering one, and it should be fun!

Thanks!
Lynn M.

This is wonderful work! Making a gown for a pianist is a real challenge, as it is essential to have freedom to move through the shoulders and arms. Lynn did a fabulous job on the sleeves to create that freedom. This is just a beautiful outfit!

I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful patterns. My daughter & I have been enjoying them so much! The past few weeks, I have been working on sewing my gown for the Marine Corps Ball that my beloved & I were to attend. I chose the Regency Gown pattern with modifications. I used the Regency sleeve and skirt with a square neck bodice. I widened the bodice for gathering, gathered it, & attached it to a waistband then added a ribbon and a rose. In addition to the gown, I opted to make a long Regency jacket [pelisse]. This was my first time making this & it was quite a challenge (since I didn’t have time to practice on it). I was glad that it turned out as well as it did (& that I had gotten extra material for mess ups).

Thank you so much!

~ Christina K

Isn’t this fun? The ballgown perfectly complements the dashing Marine uniform, down to the red sash to match his red stripes. Simply beautiful! And I love the long pelisse. Fantastic work, Christine!

I made a gown from your Simplicity pattern for a New Year’s party last year. Here are the pictures! The first one is from the Prom-Themed New Year’s party I went to, for which I made the dress. The second picture is from Halloween this year; I went as Jane Austen. Thank you so much, and I’m looking forward to buying more of your patterns.

Sincerely,
Rose B.

Lovely work, Rose! I love the overdress and the light lilac with white. Great use of fabrics for a special occasion dress!

Hello Mrs. Chancey,

I’m Aubrey Lenz. My sister, Emily, sent you pictures of the Regency gowns she made with your Regency pattern a few years ago.

I graduated this spring, and Emily and I made a Romantic Era gown for my graduation ceremony. Emily and I followed the family tradition from our great-grandmother who had a dress shop in 1929 and made her graduation dress. One of our inspirations was Molly’s white ball gown in “Wives and Daughters.” You may remember we have a family relationship with a single woman who owns a fabric shop, Ginny’s Fine Fabrics, in a nearby city and that’s where Emily bought her fabric. Once again we went to Ginny’s, and she had picked out the lightest blue cotton batiste she could find ahead of time for the overdress. The underskirt is an ivory colored silk/cotton mix, and the under-sleeves are ivory-colored silk.

One of the challenges with the Romantic gown was the corset. I used the Mantua Maker pattern to make a corset. I made the chemise out of a light crinkle cotton and the corset out of three layers of cotton: a heavy cotton twill and two layers of muslin. The cotton lacing, the wooden busk, and ¼” steel white boning are from Grannd Companies in New Jersey.

To make the dress unique, I hand-embroidered the over-sleeves. We got the over-sleeve idea from one of “Molly’s” dresses and found the embroidery pattern on the Elegant Lady’s Closet pattern. From the same button collection Emily used (from our Great-Grandmother’s dress shop), I found antique glass buttons and we mixed and matched. We wanted many tight little gathers in the front neckline, similar to Molly’s ball-gown, so we ended up revising the bodice after the pictures and raising the waistline ever-so-slightly as well, since I have a shorter waist.

Thank you again for making patterns of historic clothing! We enjoy them so much! Your patterns are truly a delight to work with. Our next project is a modified version of the Regency Spencer Jacket for all three of us (Mama, Emily, and me).

Blessings,
Aubrey L.

Isn’t this breath-taking? Emily and Aubrey both really have an eye for texture, color, and drape. This is one amazing graduation dress, and I love all the details like great-grandmother’s buttons and the embroidery. Wonderful work!

Thanks so much for the Regency gown pattern! It was my next dress to make for my cloth dolls. I finally finished!! She’s gorgeous and so is the dress. I adorned her a little more than was the style during Regency, but I can’t help but bead! Thanks!!

Faith T.

Faith creates her gorgeous soft-sculpture dolls by hand. She simply shrank my Regency Gown pattern to fit the scale of the doll (something you can easily do with ePatterns!). Beautiful work, Faith!

I am a French primary school teacher living in France who loves Jane Austen’s period. This summer, I found Jennie’s wonderful website surfing on internet. Then, I ordered the Regency Dress pattern and went on with it having in mind to go, once in my life and if my dress is a success, to a Jane Austen Festival in Bath. I have never had any sewing lessons in my life, I am just passionate by what I am doing.For the dress, turquoise pearls are sewn on lace which is itself sewn on turquoise organza ribbon.

When I finished the dress, I began a Spencer according to a picture taken in “Costume in Detail, 1730-1930″. The Spencer I have chosen is dated 1816, which could be made with Jennie’s dress pattern. I have just changed the collar. So, I went on. It was not easy, but it was great to do it. The sleeves of the Spencer are done with the same fabric than the one I have used for the dress. Now, I am sewing Regency chemise and stays; but being back to my work (summer holidays are over..snif…) I have not as much time as I would like to, since I am living alone with my three boys.

Really, thanks so much for your great esteem towards my work.

Very warmly,
Joelle

Can you believe Joelle has never taken sewing lessons? This is exquisite work that shows yet again that, with enough passion and determination, anyone can sew and produce beautiful results! C’est si bon, Joelle!

I thought you might like to see a few pictures of my finished dress. I did all the outside stitching by hand and the rest by machine. Though I’d thought about adding trim, I was running out of time and decided on the gold sash and gold wired hair ribbon, along with a pearl necklace, which made it look very elegant. I received many compliments on the dress at the Regency ball.

My only regret with the dress is that it was not quite as ample as I’d expected, hence it barely fit at six months of pregnancy. I’ll look forward to wearing it again once I’ve had my baby.

Thank you for you help!

Ashley B.

Made from the drawstring dress option in my Elegant Lady’s Closet pattern, this works beautifully for early maternity. The fit is charming–and such a delicious shade of pink! I love the attention to detail (look at those close-ups of the hand stitching!). Wonderful work, Ashley!