Making a Bridgerton Inspired Regency Gown | Dressing like i'm in an episode of Bridgerton!

hello everyone and welcome to a new year and a new video which is actually part of a new series this series will consist of me making garments inspired by some of my favorite tv shows or in some cases even doing my best to reproduce specific garments from said tv shows there are a lot of good shows out there and i had a lot on my inspiration list but i decided that i would start with bridgeton if you're watching a historical sewing channel then there's a good chance you've already heard about this show because i feel like it caused quite an uproar in the costume community mainly because most people hated the costuming and i had some issues with it too but for the most part i liked the historical silhouettes paired with modern fabrics and fantastical flourishes and though i liked a lot of the individual garments it was more the overall feeling that the costuming had that i was eager to recreate or to try and recreate so instead of focusing on a specific garment i chose to raid my stash for fabrics that felt similar to the textiles they used and i came up with a green silk a floral netting pink beaded lace that looked very bridgerton to me so i used them to make a pretty little regency dress and now i'll show you how i did it the main fabric i'm using for this is a green silk and i had very limited quantities of it like less than four yards so i decided to focus on cutting the bodice pieces out first then whatever was left could be used for the skirt and since one edge was already cut on an angle i opted to first cut the buys cut strips that will be used for piping around the bodice then i pinned my bodice and sleeve lining pattern to the silk and cut those out as well and a printable pdf copy of this pattern is available for everyone at the six dollar up tier on my patreon if you're interested in making something similar for yourself this pattern was drafted for a project i made a couple years ago and never really posted about but i altered it to fit more closely below the bust using darts and have poofier sleeves which reminds me sleeves are one of my big qualms with richard and costuming there was this weird preference for flutter sleeves especially on daphne's dresses i just don't understand it when puff sleeves are one of the only good things about regency fashion however enough dresses did have appropriately puffy sleeves that i still felt i could include them in my inspired design so i did because they are obviously superior anyway once the bodice was cut from silk i was ready to cut the overlay and the overlay consists of two layers or three layers two layers of peach tulle and one layer of embroidered floral mesh the overlay is cut using the same bodice pattern but the sleeves are cut to be two and a half inches longer the overlay will be gathered to match the length of the silk lining and the bodice pattern is cut out once again this time from a lightweight cotton that will serve as lining as we've already established the bodice is shaped below the bust with two darts and above the bust with gathers the gathering points were marked on the pattern and transferred to the fabric by notching the material at the markings the darts however are marked on the lining using pencil instead of marking the sewing points of the darts i just marked the center point or the fold point of thumb this way there was less to transfer to the fabric with that done the lining was set aside and i switched my focus to stacking the many other bodice layers i cut out each silk piece is topped with two layers of tulle and one layer of embroidered mesh the edges are aligned then the layers are pinned together and this was repeated for every single piece the pins holding all the layers together were just temporary and so is this next method but it's a less stabby temporary way of keeping them together also known as basting and this is my favorite basting thread since it is pre-waxed and pre-cut it speeds the process up a lot i generally use one inch long stitches near the edges of the pieces because i'm lazy and if they are sewn into the seams then you don't necessarily need to remove them later however i do like using contrasting thread because that makes it easier to find them later if i do need to remove them it's the same reason i use ball head pins otherwise they would probably live in my garments forever until someone else pointed them out now i'm gathering the top edge of the front bodice panel there are two separate points where it is gathered one over each breast it doesn't have to be gathered at the center because there is no volume there that needs additional fabric to cover and i'm gathering this by hand since that gives me more control using two lines of running stitches sewn a quarter inch apart after the fabric is gathered to the right length and the thread is tied off the gathers can be arranged until they look even and off camera i repeated this process at the same points on the lining layer now the straps can be pinned to the front panel i did this with the silk bodice pieces and repeated the process with the cotton lining pieces and i also pinned the back panels to the other end of the straps these were sewn by machine with a normal half inch allowance then the seam allowance was pressed open the next step at making the bodice was going to be adding piping and to do that i first had to make the piping so that's what i'm doing here well sort of in this footage i'm just throwing the bias cut strips together to form one very long bias cut strip the seam allowance was trimmed and pressed off camera then i was back at the sewing machine and after a quick switch to a zipper foot i was ready to actually make the piping this is done by folding the bias strip over a piece of cording or rope so the raw edges are even and the cord is encased in the fold of the fabric sew as close to the cord as you can and try not to stretch the fabric as you sew because then it will cause rippling that's pretty much it i lined the raw edge of the piping with the neckline of the bodice then it sewed the piping on using the same zipper foot which allows me to get right up against the cording after sewing it on the piping tape and bra edges are tucked inward so all you see is a neat line of piping around the now finished neckline at the bodice well half finished to finish it off properly i'm turning that edge of my lining inward by half inch using an iron then i'm pinning the lining so the edges are all even and the folded edge sits just inside the neckline of the silk layer neatly covering all the raw edges and the ugly piping tape the lining is basted to all edges of the silk pieces except around the neckline that edge is carefully slip stitched to the piping and here you can see that my piping is sort of wrinkled i had some rippling issues with it even though i didn't stretch the fabric as i sewed i'm not sure if it was a tension issue or because the fabric wasn't cut on enough of an angle but something was definitely wrong with it if i had more fabric i probably would have reattempted it but i didn't so i didn't now even though the edges are secured together i'm going a step further and basting the lining and silk layers together across the dart marking i really don't want the material to separate at this point because i could end up not catching the outer fabric when i try to set the darts and then it would look really bad and i generally try to avoid things looking really bad after that is done the fabric can be folded on the dart markings and pinned by machine i'm sewing a third of an inch away from this line at the bottom and tapering off to nothing at the point of the dart this is pretty common in vintage pattern instructions so i'm familiar with this process but you could draw the stitch line if that makes you more comfortable personally i'm just using the markings on my sewing machine plate as a guide for accuracy but even without that i've sewn enough darts i think i could do this by eye the darts were all pressed and now it's time for the fun stuff the stuff that doesn't require fittings and measurements we are entering the wonderful world of embellishments which for this project will mainly consist of lace appliques fussy cut from this beautiful lace fabric i only had a yard of this but that was plenty for a project like this you'll see how i stretch it out for the skirt later on but for this part of the project i only needed enough appliques to go around the perimeter of the neckline and once i had enough of them fussy cut out i switched to fussing with their placement i tried to position them somewhat symmetrically with the lowest point and flower at the very center of the garment the edges of the appliques were tacked down using running stitches these are smaller than traditional basting stitches and they aren't temporary but they aren't particularly durable either and they really don't need to be because the appliques will be more thoroughly held down by the hundreds of sequins i sew on in the next step speaking of that next step did someone say hundreds of sequins these seven millimeter cuffed iridescent sequins were so perfect for this project they added sparkle but without too much pigment and really brought the appliques to life by adding more dimension they also help fill in any gaps between appliques making them look denser and more expensive plus they were fun to sew on i love sewing on sequins i just love sequins in general when that was done these side seams could finally be pinned and sewn i didn't document it but after sewing and pressing these themes i trimmed the allowance down with pinking shears and whip stitched it to the lining making it less prone to fraying in the future where that is my hope now the bodice looks like a bodice or at least some type of fancy bra regardless of what it looks like it now needed sleeves the sleeves have a silk lining and a slightly longer tool and mesh overlay i line the top edges of the overlay in the lining first and pin them together then i pin the bottom edges and the excess fabric was arranged evenly and pinned down at what will be the side seams off-camera i swapped these pins out for basting stitches i didn't want to film that part since you saw the process earlier with the bodice and no spoilers but you might see it again when making the skirt then i marked points every six inches along the bottom edge of the sleeve the overlay will be gathered vertically one inch above the hem at these points until the overlay matches the length of the lining this is sort of hard to explain but it's really easy to do i'm just gathering up from the point i marked pulling the thread taut then gathering back down to the point where i started and tying the thread off i pinned a single flower applique to cover each point where the sleeves were gathered these were hand sewn on then embellished with sequins to match the details around the neck here's what they look like finished this was an easy way to make the sleeves look more elaborate without fussing too much with the pattern which is good because sleeves can be sneaky and you don't want to mess with them just in general at this point the backside the sleeve looked a little rough from all the handwork so i decided to line them and here i'm basting it in place but that's enough of that i shall save your eyes and my editing fingers from all the repetition with all the layers secured together i could move on to gathering the bottom edge of the sleeve down i did this with two lines of running stitches pulled taut until the bottom edge measured 15 inches long and that includes one inch of seam allowance at each side i'm using the same method to gather the top edge down to 14 inches between the two points marked on the pattern my gathered sleeves were taken to the sewing machine and trimmed with piping and this my friends is why you should lock the camera's focus before filming anything otherwise your camera decides the singer logo is what really needs attention brought to it like how sponsored by singer does this footage look sadly it is not unless my camera knows something i don't but all of my sewing machines are by singer so if they want to reach out to me that would be great anyway in this unfortunately blurry clip i'm sewing piping onto the bottom edges of the sleeves to form a cuff of sorts the piping tape and raw edges were covered with cotton tape which was top stitched atop them and turned inward i whip stitched the other edge of the tape down so it neatly sits inside the sleeve then i pinned these sleeves with the right sides facing each other and the side seams aligned these were sewn at the one inch allowance the excess allowance was trimmed away using pinking shears and whip stitch to the lining by hand much like i did and neglected to film with the bodice earlier on this finished the sleeves so the last step was just sewing them on and they were sewn on with a half inch allowance then i sewed another line of stitching a quarter inch away from the first and trim the seam allowance to the second line of stitching using pinking shears this helps prevent fraying and is a pretty common method of finishing arm openings in commercial patterns it might not be historically accurate but it works which i feel like they probably said a lot when making the bridgerton costumes with the sleeves on i went ahead and added additional appliques around the neckline and on the straps if i sewed these on earlier they would have interfered with the seam allowance required for attaching the sleeves and now it was time for the skirt the skirt consists of three rectangles and two gourd panels one on each side i cut out the front panel first since it is the most important one then i cut out the gourd side panels and lastly the two rectangular back panels these had to be cut slightly narrower than the pattern due to fabric limitations but it still turned out okay like the bodice these pieces will have an overlay basted to top them except this time that overlay only consists of two pieces of tulle the mesh overlay will be cut separately and attached later on in the meantime i'm laying the tool over the skirt pieces pinning them together and roughly cutting it to the right size the tool will be trimmed later on so i didn't bother making it too precise and as i hinted at earlier here is more riveting basting footage for you of me basting the tool to the silk pieces now assembly could begin and the skirt pieces will be sewn together using french seams this first requires them to be sewn together with the half inch allowance and the wrong sides facing each other the seam allowance is trimmed to under a quarter inch then the seam is pressed folded and re-pinned with the right sides of the fabric facing each other it's then sewn once again with a half inch allowance neatly encasing the raw edges within i didn't film every part of this process but if you've seen literally any of my other videos then you've seen it step by step before rarely a project passes without some component requiring french seams at least that seems to be the case with my projects also because of all the trimming involved in this assembly process i really wasn't concerned about the tool perfectly aligning with the edges of the silk which is why i didn't trim it too precisely earlier on after the skirt was seamed together and the seams had been pressed i pressed the hem and worked by approximately a half inch then i marked a line two inches away from the bottom edge and turned it up to meet that line resulting in a one inch hem the hem was stitched in place using whip stitches but i left the last five inches or so on each side unsewn for reasons i'll go into later because whip stitches only catch a few threads of the outer layer of fabric these stitches should be almost invisible from the exterior of the garment and they will be even less noticeable after good ironing now onto the mesh overlay i cut this from the same skirt pattern but added about six inches of length to these pieces that's because like with the sleeves this layer will be gathered to create a ruched detail near the hem these pieces were seamed together with one inch allowances with the right sides facing each other after pressing the seams i trimmed them down to about a quarter inch using pinking shears the mesh doesn't really fray and the smaller the seam allowance the less noticeable they are i just didn't want to make the seam allowance so small that the stitches would rip out if tension was put on out i wanted to incorporate the lace fabric into the skirt too but i thought applique strewn around the hem might look too messy and also puny given the length of the skirt so i decided to make my own more intentional looking lace trim which means i'll be showing you how i turn this fabric into this scalloped trim i started with a self-drafted scallop pattern this was pin to tool then i traced a half inch away from its edges i didn't want to trace too closely to it as the markings might be visible on the finished trim this was close enough to serve as a guide but not so close to get in the way then i cut the lace fabric into smaller pieces isolating the flowers and leaves and making them more applique sized i cut between the natural gaps and blades to try and avoid any fraying of the embroidery or loss of the embellishments and i wanted to make at least three yards of trim so there were quite a few of these needed but i still have tons of this fabric glass a little really does go a long way with these beaded laces which is good because they are super pricey per yard i pinned the appliques to the high points of the scallops first then filled in the space between each one i made sure to keep all the appliques inside the outline with some room to spare i didn't cut the appliques to be a perfect scallop shape i like that they have some natural variants to them but i did try and arrange them to form nicely to my desired shape so it looked relatively even and intentional off camera i basted all of them to the tool after they were attached to the tool i trimmed away access to the edges leaving behind just the lace appliques and the tiny bit of tool they were attached to also it's way easier to sew them on before you trim away the access tool since it gives you more to hold on to it also stabilizes it and makes it less likely to work as you sew i made 350 inch lengths of this trim which was plenty to trim the mesh overlay which is what i'm doing here i lined the bottom arch of the scallops up with the bottom edge of the overlay then pinned outward from those points when i reached the end of the overlay i actually cut the trim to sit a couple inches away from the seam allowance at what will be the center back seam this way it won't interfere when actually sewing that seam speaking of sewing the top edge of the trim was stitched onto the overlay once again i used small not quite basting stitches but not super sturdy stitches either because like all the other bits of lace on this costume it will be secured further by the use of sequins when securing the trim i specified that only the top edge was sewn to the overlay that's so i can lift the trim and cut the overlay to sit slightly underneath it so now the bottom edge of the overlay is cut to the same scalloped design and fully trimmed with the homemade trim now it was time for the sequins i added these to the bottom edge first to attach the bottom of the trim to the remaining mesh beneath it then i went back through and outlined the top of the trim with sequins two because you could never have too many sequins if there were any gaps in the trim i filled those in with sequins too i wish they could fill in the gaps of my heart but as delightful sequence are they do not yet have that power and if you were wondering embellishing the trim at the ham took about six episodes of canada's drag race which is a totally valid measurement of time and what a worthy six hours it was look at how lovely it looks i love how it catches the light it's hypnotizing or it is if you're easily distracted by shiny things like i am now you might recall that i cut the overlay to be six inches longer than the skirt itself so though the hem looked pretty it was way too long but that was part of my plan i gathered the eight inches above the high point of each scallop down to about one inch using two rows of running stitches pulled topped the thread was tied off but i left the tails long i used the length of thread left behind to embellish these ruched points i thought about using more floral appliques but decided to use some green beads and fake pearls instead and i liked how these green beads looked on this project so much that i sewed a line of them around the neckline too that was all done off camera however on camera i sewed up the backseat of the overlay and the back seam of the silk skirt i used the same methods as earlier the overlay was sewn with a bunch allowance that was trimmed down and the silk was sewn with a half inch french seam the only difference is that i left the top eight or so inches of both seams open to create an opening to get the skirt on and off after these were pressed i went through and filled in the gap in the scalloped trim that resulted from me not sewing it past the seam allowance doing this after sewing the seam allows me to make the trim look continuous since it goes over the seam as opposed to being part of it and having a visible line in it that's why i left a portion of the human finish too after the back seam was sewn up i pinned the remainder of the hem and whip stitched it down once again this way it looks continuous and just tidier in general now for the opening the seam allowance left open and the silk was turned outward and pressed then it was trimmed using pinking shears the seam allowance on the overlay was pressed inward then the overlay was positioned atop the skirt the top edges were aligned as well as the openings in the back seam they were pinned together at both of these points i slip stitched the layers together at the back seam opening and basted them together across the top edge and the tops of the side back and back panels were gathered down using two rows of running stitches i used two rows because it makes the fabric a bit more orderly and less prone to flaring up and interfering in the seam allowance when attempting to sew it on because you don't have a single point where the fabric is gathered that you're trying to seam the bodice to instead you have a half inch wide target to sew across between the two rows of gathering stitches i don't know if that makes sense but if you sew and you try it i promise you'll notice the difference after it was gathered to the right length the thread was tied off and clipped the top edge of the skirt was aligned with the bottom edge of the bodice then they were sewn together with a half inch allowance much like with the sleeves i sewed another row of stitching a quarter inch below the first then clip the seam allowance to that point this isn't the prettiest finishing method in the world but it is pretty effective the fabric generally doesn't fray past the second line of stitching and it doesn't add bulk in the way binding does the back edges of the bodice were turned inward to be level with the opening of the skirt and sewn down using whip stitches and for closures i used hooks and bars but i hate that part and i hate filming that part even more so i didn't last minute i also went ahead and made a sash which is just a rectangle sewn into a tube and turned right side outward that was sewn on and that finished off the dress here it is in all its finished glory i actually really like how it turned out light green and coral aren't two colors i gravitate towards nor are they colors i would typically pair together but i think it sort of works or at least it works better than i initially expected my favorite part are the details like the splashes of pink lace outlined with sequins i think they are what makes this dress special and they are my favorite parts to work on too the only downside i can think of is that this dress looks absolutely terrible on me i have a large rib cage so anything that cinches in at that point and hangs free below it looks like a maternity gown it's why i don't generally care for regency fashion at least on me personally but on the bright side i do think it looks like a very pretty maternity gown i guess now is as good of time as any to share my thoughts on the show in case anyone even cares i liked it it was one of those shows where i didn't really like the characters but i enjoyed watching it it was eager to keep watching it i feel like the world they created was a bit flawed and predictable and it definitely had some issues that i won't go into but as a whole i liked it and i liked the sparkly ridiculousness of the costumes too it was fun trying to spot all the lace fabrics i've seen and honestly almost purchased in the garment district my biggest issue with the costumes were the accessories specifically the jewelry that you can literally buy on amazon for 10 i've gotten ads for them if this was a prime original i would have thought it was intentional product placement and since a lot of times those pieces were front and center it was distracting to me i didn't want to mar my dress with any hideous jewelry i did buy the cheapest satin gloves i could to complete that bridgeton look but if you can look past the crappy accessories and the insensitive stereotypes it's a fun romp i would give it seven and a half unicorns out of ten that is my official show ranking method and that is all i have to say about this project i hope you enjoyed seeing me create it and that you like the finished result i'm not sure what show i'll be taking inspiration from next but if you'd like to see more videos like this then you should definitely subscribe and if you enjoyed this one giving it a like and a comment really helps me out thanks so much for watching and i shall talk to all of you very soon

Channel: Angela Clayton

Views: 205,215

Keywords: sewing, costumery, diy, Bridgerton, costume drama, netflix, historical drama, how to, regency, 19th century, fashion, historical costume, lace, cosplay, daphne, featherington, gown, dress, regency dress, bridgerton dress, bridgerton costume, featherington costume

Id: fDfw4aHykTQ

Length: 21min 53sec (1313 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 10 2021