Regency Tailoring

Pat here. . .

New cover! What do you think? I’m returning to historicals but in mystery format with lots of romance, not as a pure romance. Doors close on ghosts and intimacy. <G> So far, anyway. The cover depicts the heroine first approaching a once-abandoned manor deep in rural Warwickshire, sort of. The actual location is one of the complications I’m researching. (And of course, she arrived in a carriage with accompaniment, but covers don’t allow for details.)

Looking through my notes for one of the topics I’ve researched to write this book, I realized the FBI won’t worry too much about me being a killer. Yes, I heavily researched poisons, as one does. But my research leans toward the domestic—how does one appoint a magistrate? What kind of crop would farmers grow? Gas lighting, button making, peddlers, the War of 1812, and military academies occupied way too much of my time. Lately, I’ve been diving into the internal operation of the Church of England. . . now there’s a mystery all of its own, one I may write about later.

Today, I wanted to talk about tailoring. I have a teenager obsessed by fashion and who cannot afford a seamstress, so she must make her own clothes. But the child has a reading deficiency and hence cannot read measurements easily. And voila, problem solved! Many seamstresses and tailors and their assistants at the time weren’t proficient at letters and numbers. Hence, a notched paper tape substituted for written calculations. One could note the customer’s name on the tape and, using symbols, mark the notch that measured shoulders, waist, hips, etc.

Paper or cheap muslin patterns could be adjusted to fit each customer using the tape. Uneducated tailors making nearly nothing an hour would produce the baggy breeches and loose coats of the Georgian era with this method. There might be one tailor who measured, another who cut, another who sewed seams, and so forth. An entire coat might be made up for ten shillings, a meager sum even in 1780 when divided up between half a dozen men.

Apparently by the 1820s, though, fashion became so important that the best tailors knew how to read and write, and the long measuring tape came into existence. With the ability to mark centimeters or inches to an nth degree, fashions could be tailored more tightly. Voila, men’s clothing fit “complete to a shade,” making those stockinette breeches very interesting indeed.

Once tailors had the mathematical ability to create drafting systems for men’s attire, they published entire books such as The Grand Edition of Supreme System for Producing Men’s Garments. Tailors raised their menial trade to a science. No wonder the fops of the Regency sought specific tailors who knew these systems, instead of the old-fashioned ones their daddies’ used.

Since my adolescent character has no family and no fortune, she would be doomed to work painfully long hours sewing for a professional dressmaking shop. Because seamstresses merely sewed and weren’t involved in the complex job of measuring and cutting, they were considered lowly labor. Most of them sewed long hours by the light of a single candle, seated in circles around the table so all had a meager portion of the light. These girls didn’t make enough money to put a roof over their heads or food in their stomach—not unlike the garment industry even today.

In the 1700s, a mantua maker might be a seamstress who made simple clothing without direction, possibly from her home, especially in rural environs. (A “mantua” was originally a loose gown in the 17-18^th centuries and developed into a cloak, nothing requiring specific cutting and tailoring, hence the carryover of the term.)

The term “dressmaker” didn’t come along until 1803. A dressmaker might go to school or have professional training, unlike the girls who merely sewed hems and seams. Fashion designers were another level entirely.

My character, of course, wants to be a designer, but she’s limited to adding laces and ribbons to old gowns. Only, she’s living in a rural area where women aren’t wearing laces and ribbons… So she’s sewing uniforms for the maids. And yeah, I know, in the Regency, servants wore their own clothes and not uniforms. So, sue me. The kid has to start somewhere.

I love fashion, but these days, I feel as if we’re returning to the world of mantua makers where we just drop a gown/shirt/whatever over our heads, and let it hang. Add a scarf for a collar, a cardigan for sleeves... I’ll have to start adding my own buttons and lace if clothes get any more boring. (And yes, buttons… they made their own buttons in the Regency or bought them from merchants who bought them from housewives who made them to order.)

Do you like Regency fashions? How do they compare to today’s clothing?

Comments

[Mary M.]

What an absolutely fascinating post, Pat! You answered questions I didn't know I had, especially about how individuals' measurements were stored by the tailors. Eye-opening information, want more! Certainly looking forward to the book.

I first registered the different levels of Regency clothing in one of the P&P movies when Caroline Bingley entered the scene. The Bennets and other characters to that point appeared properly clothed, but Miss Bingley's sleek couture was a whole new ball game. (The ball being of the dancing type, not the round sphere of game and sport, of course.) On the other end of the spectrum, the everyday clothing you reference above was probably like a lot of the reenactors' dresses I've seen: loose and only semi-shapely. I didn't know that!

[Mike]

As Mary M. said, a fascinating post. It immediately made me think of Thomas Hood's "The Song of the Shirt", especially when I saw that you'd included the Anna Blunden painting. Admittedly this was from about 30 years later but I doubt that conditions for seamstresses had changed much in the interval.

[Christina Courtenay]

Love the new cover - very intriguing - and can't wait to read the new series! I can't say I like Regency fashions much as those high-waisted gowns are extremely unflattering on most people. You have to have a specific kind of figure to carry it off (and I don't, I've tried). But I love the little jackets (spencers?) with puffy sleeves!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Very interesting, Pat, and the Mayhem Consultant agrees! Not being much for fashion these days, I knew very little about how things were done in the old days--I just make sure that my characters go to the best practitioners when they need new clothing. I'm more interested in pretty fabrics than the mathematical end of tailoring!

[Patricia Rice]

You have a sharp eye! I knew about the fashion differences between town and country and so forth, but I'd never sat down to figure out why the modistes in London were so much better than the country.

[Patricia Rice]

yeah, it's difficult to find images that exactly correspond with the time period I want to write about. But the lack of tailoring was one reason men wore neckcloths instead of collars.

[Patricia Rice]

Yes, spencers. I'd need plumpers to wear those Regency bodices!

[Patricia Rice]

everyone writes about the pretty gowns. I had to figure out how they were made. Silly me.

[Teresa Broderick]

I love the Regency style fashion even though I'm not much for fashion myself, if that makes sense. I never really dress up, probably because I don't tend to go out much.
I was just reading your newsletter Pat and I commented on how much I love the cover of your new book. Can't wait to read it!!

[Patricia Rice]

thank you! I kinda worried about the darkness of the cover, but the image was just too good to pass up!

[Janice J.]

Last night I was watching Lesley Manville in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, based on the novel I remember by Paul Gallico, in which our heroine, who has been waiting for her Eddie to return from the war, learns that she is (and has been for some time) a widow. She has supported herself as a cleaner, so she has some interesting but problematical clients, and a best friend from Jamaica (sounds like). One of her clients, Lady Whatsis, who stiffs her on the bill, has a closet full of gowns, including a beautiful new couture piece. Mrs. Harris has never seen anything so beautiful in her life. She decides to save up to visit Paris and buy a gown at Christian Dior.

This is a charming movie, pretty true to its period (early 1950s), and I would recommend it if it hasn't come in your way. It's included in Amazon Prime if you're in the US and have an amazon account.

The filmmakers did not skimp on the care they took in reproducing Dior's atelier and all the steps involved in making haute couture gowns. It doesn't seem to have been too different from the description of modistes's shops in regencies except Dior's house had better lighting :)

As for me, I love the regency styles of the Empire period, because the gowns moved and draped so gracefully when the ladies moved. They didn't bounce around or look rigid or ostentatious even when they were. They drew attention to the wearer, not the gown. They are nothing I have ever worn myself (or could have worn) but I have always admired them.

[Patricia Rice]

Oh, I love Mrs. Harris! The outfits she borrows from the nobleman are so fun. I really need to research whether or not Dior bordered on bankruptcy then, but I love that she spoke up for workers everywhere. It's a fun movie.

[Patricia Franzino]

Thank you, Patricia, for a very interesting blog. I used to be more partial to Regency gowns with their beautiful flow, but the corsets and the empire waist as the only style is not something I would like to wear.

The men look so uncomfortable in the tight-shouldered jackets and waistcoats.

General fashions of today are too boxy in many garments. It goes to the opposite idea from Regency. Only the skinny jeans that I don't wear because they are so tight and uncomfortable, remind me of the tighter pants the men wore in the Regency.

If I had to choose a time period other than today's fashions, I would choose the 1920s. Without a corset and the light shorter dresses with just enough undergarments would feel better on the body.

[Patricia Rice]

oh, and the 20s styles still had all the lovely frills and lace and gauzy fabrics... Lovely

[Karen S. Clift]

Patricia, I used to wonder if I was on an FBI watch list--I purchased books for an academic library & the only copy we had of what was essentially Fidel Castro's Manifesto vanished & both the poli.sci & history folks said we had to have it. So I hunted & I hunted, and called places and this went for ages. I tried to buy a copy from Cuba, having to do it thru a British vendor because of the US Embargo on purchasing from Cuba but never was able to get one. Finally, it showed up online & we could point researchers that way, but I figured the FBI was watching me by then! ;-0!

[Patricia Rice]

LOL! They must find some fascinating searches if theyre really watching...

Pat