Costuming Pride and Prejudice - The Gentlemen

Last week my younger siblings' home school group preformed Pride and Prejudice. I have it on good authority that this young man, my little brother, played his part incredibly well.

His roll you ask? Mr. Collins. He proposed to Elizabeth Bennet, got turned down, and married her best friend instead. All while talking insistently about his patron, Lady Catherine De Bourgh.

 Yes, I am very proud of my little brother's acting ability. And I'm quite proud of my mom for the costumes she made for him and some of the other young men in the play.

Love these two goof balls!

Now, the ladies' costumes were relatively simple - find an easy dress pattern, sew it up, and add some accessories. The gentlemen's costumes were a bit more involved. Tailcoats, waistcoats, trousers, shirts, and cravats were needed for each and every gentleman. So, as neither my mom nor any of the other moms involved in the play had the time to sew regency suits for half the cast, they improvised. Refashioning to the rescue! 

Modern suit coats were obtained from thrift stores.

The lower front of each suit coat was cut away, so that the front of the coat ended at the natural waist rather than the hips. 

The fabric that was cut off the front of the suit coat was then sewn onto the back to make tails. (Now, due to pocket placement and such, some of the suit coats needed addition fabric from other sources added in order to make the tails) 

And there you have it - a tail coat! 

My mom made 3 of these tail coats herself, and led workshops during play rehearsals to help other moms make their sons' tail coats.

 But of course, the costuming didn't end with the tailcoats - oh no, other pieces were needed. Thankfully most of these pieces could be purchased. Modern trousers worked just fine, as by the regency era men were wearing long trousers rather than knee breeches. (Now regency trousers had fall-fronts, rather than zipper flies, but for the play I'd hope no one was paying that much attention to the guys' pants!) Modern dress shirts also worked for the costumes. The collars were flipped up and tied with a cravat. The cravats couldn't be easily bought, but they were quite simple to make - just a long strip of fabric hemmed on all sides.  

Then came the waist coats - the second most involved part of the gentlemen's costumes. Modern vests just don't have quite the right shape, so a little more refashioning was required.

A waistcoat in the middle of refashioning - and a brother who appears to be done with trying things on.

Primarily, the bottoms of the waist coats needed to be straitened out - the hem of a regency waist coat was strait across - not pointed! Some waistcoats required a little extra work as well.

This red one for example needed a back! So, my mom combined it with this black dress shirt to turn it into a real vest.

Didn't she do a great job?

Tailcoats, waistcoats, shirts, trousers, and cravats: after over 2 months of sewing it all came together so that my brother and his friends all looked like perfect regency gentlemen the night of the play!

From all reports the play came off beautifully! Of course, I was disappointed to miss it - but my best friend recorded opening night for me! So next week when I get home I plan on watching it! I can't wait to "see" this play I've heard so much about over the last few months!

The costume coordinator, the set builder, Mrs. Phillips, and Mr. Collins (already out of costumes)

But mostly, I'm looking forward to seeing these people again! I've missed my family this year! Just 5 more days till we're re-united!

This Jacket Suits Me! #therefashioners2017

It's no secret that I've missed my sewing machine this year. Like really missed it. Never more so than at the end of July however. As July neared it's end I was mindful of the fact that The Refashioners 2017 would be beginning soon, and that I might have a hard time participating this year - you know, moving countries every month and my lack of a sewing machine really gets in the way of refashioning.

Then The Refashioners was actually announced. My days of trying to guess the theme and wondering if there was any way I would be able to participate were over. I had my questions answered! Well, one of them any way.

The Refashioners 2017 theme is Suits You! Yes, the challenge is to refashion a suit. I had mixed feeling about this - how would I manage to refashion a suit on the World Race? Refashion a T-shirt? No problem! Refashion an African mu-mu? I've got that! Refashion a suit? What? How could I manage that?
But on the other hand - what a fun challenge! Suits are often made out of wool - my favorite fiber! So if there was any way I could take part in the challenge this year I would!

Following the theme announcement, there was another announcement over at Makery, the hosting blog of the challenge: rather than running from August 1 to September 30, like past years, this year the challenge would run from September 1 through October 31. This meant if I started my project at the beginning of August I would have an entire 3 months to complete it! Considering at this point I thought I would have to completely hand sew my entry, this was perfect! My decision was made. I would be participating in The Refashioners 2017.

That decided, my first step was to actually find a suit to refashion. Easier said than done when you're in a foreign country where you don't know the language, don't know where to find a thrift store, have no car, and are on a very limited budget.

Well, I completely lucked out one day when I was exploring the city of Oradea, Romania, with my teammates. As we were walking down the street I caught sight of a thrift store, so I checked it out. Inside, I found no 2 piece suits - but I did find this pretty blue wool/rayon blend suit jacket! And it was only 20 lui ($5 USD)! I snatched it up, took it back to my home for the month, and began dismantling it - while video chatting with my little sister one night.

Now as soon as the Refashioners was announced I knew exactly what I wanted to make out of a suit coat - a bomber style jacket. Something like this:

Pinterest

With sleeve "cuffs" like this:

Pinterest

And front detailing similar to this suit jacket I saw at the Oradea mall:

So once my suit coat was dismantled I started draping my bomber jacket right onto myself. 

As I draped I pinned all my seams together so that I could sit down and hand sew them - but then I received a fantastic blessing!

The sewing room I got to work with in Romania? They loaned me a sewing machine over a 4 day weekend!!!! I borrowed an iron and ironing board from the hotel laundry and I was set! One end of the hotel dinning room became my sewing room and the jacket refashioning began in earnest.

The back of the suit coat became the back of my jacket.

The front of the suit coat was completely cut up and sewed back together in a way that made use of all the pockets and added fun details.

I used as much of the original lining as possible to line my new jacket, but the suit coat wasn't fully lined so I had to add some "new" lining as well; rayon left over from a dress I refashioned into a shirt.

The original sleeves became my new sleeves. I just shortened them from the top, took them in a bit, and added elastic cuffs using some elastic left over from an African mu-mu I refashioned into a shirt for a friend.

I made the hem band and neck band out of a scrap of polyester knit left over from refashioning a jumpsuit into a dress for another friend. (Dang, I've done more refashioning this year than I realized!)

The zipper? I picked that up for 50 cents at a discount store in Montenegro!

Once I brought that sewing machine 'home' it took me less than 2 days to sew all the pieces together and have a brand new jacket!

Photo Credit: Katy Herder

One that I'm absolutely in love with! 

I am beyond thrilled that I was actually able to get this jacket made on the race!

And I am equally thrilled with these pictures my teammate, Kelsay Singleton, took of the completed jacket! Aren't they amazing?

Now, if you wanna know what else I've been up to on the race (other than sewing), and especially what I've been up to in Cambodia this month (other than getting photographed) check out my World Race blog! 

And if you wanna take part in The Refashioners 2017 - do it! Head over to Makery to read all the details! I highly recommend participating! It's a ton of fun!