(Click for larger images.)"Dear Jennie,
The white one is from the 1914 Afternoon Dress pattern. It’s of white linen, with a hand-embroidered butterfly. I made it for my granny’s 90th birthday, because I found it a nice idea to wear a dress inspired by the fashion of her youth. She liked it very much, especially since she’s a seamstress herself. Next time, I will make it of a very lite fabric, I have some Swiss dotted, which I’d like to use.
The pale pink dress is from your Regency Gown pattern. I had to make the bodice longer and also made the skirt narrower under the bust. The light blue striped dress is a combination of your regency gown pattern and the Elegant Lady's Closet. I like this dress best, because I made draw-strings around the neck and waist. So I can adjust it to my weight and depending on how much I have eaten during the day….!
I’m really very happy with your patterns, one can get so creative with them! My eldest son (aged 9) has made the fotos. We have had a great time together, and he liked doing this very much! I wish you a very happy day and send you warm regards, Alexa"
I love the beautiful scenery setting off the dresses so splendidly. The embroidery on the 1914 underslip is wonderful. Great work!
(Click for larger images.)"Here are some pictures of the Kimono Dress I made recently. I used a velvet-type fabric with a slightly strechy net overlay. NOT a fabric combination I'd like to do again! The net shifted around so much! I was tempted to give up many times, but my Mom kept encouraging me to keep going. So, finally, here's the finished product! ~ Lily" Striking use of color and texture! I love it!
(Click for larger images.)"Here are the photos of the wedding gown. I had a great time putting this together; I hope she is pleased with it! ~ ~Geneece A." Geneece is my Seamstress-in-Residence and is doing gorgeous work!
(Click for larger images.)"I got the itch to make my first Regency gown after watching the A&E Pride & Prejudice for the 50 millionth time. I had also just picked up a copy of the Simplicity printing of Sense & Sensibility's Regency dress pattern. I knew I wanted a silk ballgown, so I started doing some research and looking on EBay for a good deal on fabric. I found a seller on EBay who was selling beautiful, vintage saris from India. What more could I want than vintage, embroidered Indian silk?!?! Saris have lots of different patterns in them, and many times have several borders that you can incorporate on a gown in different places.
Using the Simplicity printing of Sense & Sensibility's pattern was so wonderful! It went together very easily and I had no problems. Because of my body shape, I didn't want much extra fabric in the skirt for pleating or gathers in the back. So, I cut the same size I cut for the bodice and there was very little extra. You can see from the pictures that the back is only pleated a tiny amount. I have used this pattern over again four times and I love it! For those of my friends who wanted a more full skirt, I just cut a larger skirt and pleated it. Thanks for such a wonderful pattern company, research site, and everything! ~ Kieran S." I featured Kieran's work in my e-newsletter's "My Pattern Story" section, which won her a $15 gift certificate! Have beautiful pictures and a great story to share about using one of my patterns? Contact me through my Feedback Form for your chance to win!
(Click for larger images.)"Happy Easter from Vermont!
Here is your girls' Regency dress pattern made up as an Easter dress. Thank you for your lovely pattern; my daughter is thrilled with her dress.
Blessings,
Maureen A." Love these shots in the snow!
(Click for larger images.)"When the opportunity presents itself, I love to help teen girls learn to sew or improve their skills. Last spring I was able to use the S&S Regency pattern with one of those girls. Melinda, like me, loves Jane Austen movies. We struck up a conversation about movies that led to a fun week of sewing during spring break. Although I have dozens of patterns we could have made, when Melinda saw the S&S Regency dress pattern, it was love at first sight. We cut out, learned to fit, laughed, sewed the bodice back pieces together wrong - twice(!), quoted Miss Austen and ended up with a great dress.
This beautiful dress proves that sewing doesn't have to be expensive. The fabric was from my stash: a gorgeous, 100% cotton found for $1 a yard at Wal-Mart. We put an inexpensive, sheer ribbon trim on the front bodice seam and chose to add small train to the skirt. The dress may have cost less than $5 in materials, but the experience and friendship is priceless.
Have a lovely week!
Janel M." This is such a fun, inspiring story, and the dress really did turn out beautifully at so little expense. Thanks for sharing, Janel!
(Click for larger images.)"We got the regency dress pattern last year and Mom made two, which she ended up giving to me. But I finally decided that it was high time to make my own! :) After searching through my fabric stash for just the right fabric, I pulled out an off-white curtain that I had gotten from a friend. I did the drawstring version, and was very pleased, as it didn't take much adjusting (especially at the neckline) :) The sash is made from a pink scrap that I had. ~ Hannah C." I love this bright, airy gown--especially as it came from a curtain! Hooray! It looks fabulous on Hannah. Beautiful work!
(Click for larger images.)"Hello there! I wanted to share with you some photos of a dress I made using your Simplicity Pattern 4055. I have worked with several of the Simplicity historical patterns and yours is BY FAR the easiest to work with. It only took me about ten hours (including cutting), and I did not have to tear out a single seam, thanks to the simplicity of your instructions. Other historical patterns I have worked with required hours of headache and re-reading of the directions just to understand the purpose of some of the steps! The only change I made to this pattern was that I kept the overskirt hem even all the way around, in order to allow for the use of the edge of the scalloped lace as a hem. Thanks for making this pattern!
Heidi L." Wonderful work, Heidi! I am so glad you enjoyed the pattern!
(Click for larger images.)"Hello! I received your Elegant Ladies Closet and Regency Underthings patterns for my 16th birthday this past December, and was so elated! A dear friend of mine and I are planning to do a Regency challenge for all of 2009, wearing only period correct Regency clothing the whole year, so I got to sewing my first gown as soon as I found some nice fabric in my stash. I've made a complete outfit: chemise, stays, and gown. I did only a bit of it by hand, as I wanted to get used to the pattern, and this is just my 'practice' gown. :) I wanted to make the gown a little more fancy but still simple, and when I came across the purple print material I knew exactly how my gown was going to look! :) After showing it to my friends, I've got two who are asking me to make them gowns! Eek! I'm going to be ordering your Regency Gown pattern, and the Pelisse/Spencer pattern very soon! :)
Blessings,
HannahBeth"This is a fantastic Regency Gown--hard to believe it's her first! But I've always been so happy to see beginners turn out some of the most stunning work. What a delight!
(Click for larger images.)"Jennie, had I sent you these pictures of Lizzie in her regency gown I made last summer? I thought you might like them for your show and tell page. :-)
Blessings,
Rebecca N."Rebecca is a dear friend and one-time Seamstress-in-Residence. She started Baker Lane as a custom sewing business many years ago, and it now offers her beautiful pattern designs! I always love to see her work.
(Click for larger images.)"I am so excited to start the dresses for my younger girls! The other photos are of my students in my Jane Austen Class and then my oldest daughter in blue and her friend in a pale green, made from the Simplicity pattern of your Regency Dress! Thanks again for the wonderful service and the quick shipping! ~ Deanna R." It's so much fun to get a group together to sew gowns and then put them to good use. What fun! And the little girl dresses are adorable as well.
(Click for larger images.)"My sister and I just finished our first Regency dresses this week, and thought we'd share. Mine (the red one) was made using Jennie Chancey's original pattern. The only change I made was to gather all the way across the front of the bodice, for a 'fan' effect. I also made some piping to edge the neckline. We also raised the necklines on both dresses, cutting the curve 2-3 sizes bigger. My sister's dress is View A of of the Simplicity version of Mrs. Chancey's design. We spent less than $20 total for chemises, stays, and dresses. All of the fabric (excepting the stay interfacing) was $1 sheets from a Goodwill dollar days sale! Our only other expenses were the boning and cord for the stays. We used buttons/thread/lace, etc. that we already had. So be encouraged: you really can make a nice dress without spending a fortune! One twin-size sheet is enough for a size 10 dress(but just barely--as you can see, mine was a bit short!). ~ Kara A." These are my favorite kinds of stories--using sheets, curtains, or bargain materials to create beautiful gowns! These are truly wonderful.
(Click for larger images.)"I've been busy sewing some little girl dresses, some of them are from the girls regency pattern. You check more of them out at my blog post. ~ Erin" Darling!
(Click for larger images.)"I absolutely love your site! I bought the Regency era pattern to make my bridesmaid dresses, and loved it so much that I did my wedding dress out of that pattern, too. We bought the Elegant Lady's Closet pattern as well to get the 3/4 length sleeves. We just used the Regency gown pattern as written except for the sleeves. My sister (the red-headed matron of honor) gave birth about a month before the wedding, so we had to guess at her sizes, and made it open in the front (using the guides online which were oh-so-helpful!). Even still, there was a gap in front, so she bought the little wrap at Wal-Mart the night before to cover it, and we think it fit pretty well with the dress.
The ribbon is just satin ribbon bought at a craft store. All of the dresses had a white cotton or muslin lining and the fabric on top is a thin cotton with satiny embroidery and tiny eyelets. The purple ones have a flowery pattern and mine is slightly different. Anyway, I thought they turned out beautifully! Thanks for helping our day be beautiful and economical (I did all three dresses, plus a dress for each of my nieces for about $100 all together, including patterns, ribbons, buttons, etc.).
Thanks!
Rebecca A." So inspirational! I love wedding photos and stories. Beautiful!
(Click for larger images.)"Well, here it is. My first Regency dress! I made a few changes to the pattern to make it more modern and my style, raising the neck line a little, and shortening the skirt. I also had to make all the Miss Petite changes to the bodice. I bought the fabric early in the spring to make my Swing dress before I discovered that cotton lawn wasn't the best choice for it. So I saved it for something else to come along. And here it is! ~ SewingKitty" This is a
(Click for larger image.)"I had ordered the pattern awhile ago and got some excellent advice on the board about which size to order for my quickly growing 11yo dd. She's growing so fast that she outgrew the muslin I started working on for her to wear to a bridal shower. Three days before the shower I had to start all over again! The fabric is a vintage cotton, very fine, almost like a voile. I used cotton for the lining. I hadn't planned a shortened overskirt, but in my haste, I cut the placket on the bottom of the back skirt panel, instead of the top So I whacked off the bottom few inches, hand hemmed the top skirt and trimmed the skirt lining with some lace. A happy accident, I think! She'll be wearing the dress to ride in a 1920's coupe in a parade- I've got to get as much wear out of this as possible, before she outgrows it! ~ Loral" Happy accidents have given me some of my best pattern designs, believe it or not! I absolutely love the overskirt on this beautiful spring gown!
(Click for larger images.)"I simply love all of the Sense and Sensibility patterns, especially because I am permitted to use them professionally. When a friend commissioned me to make a dress for her little girl, I knew exactly where to find the perfect pattern. Her description of the 'dream outfit' fit the Regency dress and pelisse closely, so I ordered the patterns. Needless to say, the little girl loves the outfit, and I loved making it! I have since used the pattern to make three more dresses, and I’m in the midst of helping my eleven-year-old sister as she creates her own version. ~Jordan N. age 15" These are absolutely lovely outfits. I especially like the dress with the underskirt and sash.
(Click for larger images.)"When I first visited this website, I was looking at the show and tell section, and someone had made their two little girls dresses with this fabric. I thought they were so cute, and I was very ecxited to find the same fabric at Wal*Mart. Here is Honey in her new dress, and in the second picture is the matching one for her beloved doll Emily. ~ Bonnie" Isn't she a cutie-pie? I love the matching dolly dress, too!
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