I Made History's Most UNHINGED Dress: An English Regency Court Gown!

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]So, you know how everyone thinks Regency fashion is all about the delicate floaty cotton dresses like the one I'm wearing here? Well, Queen Charlotte said no.

[00:00:08]Absolutely not. And what she made feminine presenting people wear in court instead is so genuinely crazy that I had to make one, obviously.

[00:00:22][music] Okay, so what's up with these 19th century Barbie dresses? What compelled them to go out in public in such a crazy outfit? During the 1790s, a veritable revolution of fashion occurred. A result of the political sentiment and upheavalss of the time. Feminine presenting people went from wearing huge false rumps and elaborately decorated gowns to a much simpler silhouette. The straight columnal look was in much like it was a century earlier with a distinct high waist and scandalously low neckline. But court fashion has always been a bit slow on the uptake. Those side hoops had been out of style for decades already, they were still required to be worn in court. And when the waistlines changed, Queen Charlotte, whether because she was just stubborn or out of sheer diabolical delight, still insisted that those hoops be worn. The result, the most awkward silhouette in history. So many people loathe this look. And not just now. Oh no. That was the general sentiment when they were wearing them, too. It was like wearing the most atrocious 1980s style to this week's MetGala. And since we're all about the wacky and obscure here, naturally, it's time to make our own version.

[00:01:39]A lot of my favorite versions of these gowns come from the tail end of the 1790s instead of the later Regency period. So, I'm opting to use a 1790s pattern for the bodice. And since I only have a few weeks to make [music] it, I've decided to dub this the gown of a thousand balls. We're going to build the base of it for this video and then I will add more crazy decorations each time I wear it. Hello.

[00:02:04]Yes, I'm pretty sure my spirit animal is Robin Williams and drag. This morning I put together a quick mockup, threw on the pet, threw on the stays to see how this was going to work with the supports. It worked pretty well. I did end up making two modifications to the Simplicity 1790s pattern and that was specifically to add a full inch to the arm sigh and I added 2 in to the bodice at the bottom so that it hits not directly under the bust. Now, if you haven't watched the video already, I do not actually recommend this 1790s pattern. It is so whackadoodle, particularly the sleeves are way weird, but it's what I have and it already fits me. So, it has eliminated a lot of time.

[00:02:50]That fast, we're ready to cut out of our lining. Starting [music] with the center back. Since I don't expect to make a second one of these, I've opted here to make my adjustments [music] right on the fabric instead of making the mods on a separate pattern piece.

[00:03:02]I'm using some basic midweight linen that had an accident in the die [music] bath.

[00:03:20]We don't have a ton of fashion plates available to look at. I think there's only like 15 or 16 total. I was inspired by two separate ones. This one is crazy.

[00:03:29]Everything about it I just want on my dress except I hate yellow. So, we're going to NYX that. The other one I was inspired by was this blue one.

[00:03:37]specifically the drapey here that they have on the skirt. A lot of them have big drapes on them and to me that's just going to be really costly. So my theme is going to be English country garden. I want it to be full of roses and vines and lots of sparkly stuff. I acquired some striped silk that I got from a Facebook group. So that worked as a base for me to come up with my design. So here she is in all her glory. So, we've got the big stripe happening on the [music] skirt. And then I'm opting for this nice little crossbody bodice. It took me a while to decide on contrast color, but I like this nice deep berry.

[00:04:14]And all the clouds that lord upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried, which we are going to dye. So, we're going to go for some nice little petal sleeves. There's the full thing.

[00:04:25]So, on the bottom here, all of these roses are going to be [music] silk roses I plan to make by hand. This is definitely a later step. So, we've got the swoopy here, like the blue one, and I really want to put puff balls all over this thing because why not? It's historically adequate. And then we're going to have a nice little gold swoopy here. And I'm going to make some vines out of silk. I think we'll top it with some more roses. Now, this is slightly less unhinged than I really want, but it's easier to add than it is to take away. And we can always add more trim.

[00:04:57]We can always add more crazy. Only time will tell how unhinged this ends up being. With the design finalized, we can finally get started assembling the ground, which is great because we have a little more than 2 weeks to get the entire thing built. So glad I decided to do this in stages. I don't know who needs to hear this, but sometimes you just got to be kind to yourself. We don't need a pattern for the skirt.

[00:05:19]Skirts in this period of time were just rectangles. Now, normally I would shoot for about 120 in of a circumference for these skirts, but we have to get over the big panyas. So, I'm going to sneak in an extra 30 in. 15 in the front and 15 in the back.

[00:05:38]When making a skirt over a pany, cut each panel to the length over the longest part of the hoop, which for me is 60 in.

[00:05:46]I gave approximately a 60% effort into matching the stripes for my additional panels because these will be going in the center front and center back of the skirt. Not sure why I decided to put them there, but there you go. Now, we need to create the wrap front for the center front of the bodice. Now, I have a hairrained theory, and maybe, just maybe, the odds are in our favor, and this won't be nearly as difficult as I'm thinking it's going to be.

[00:06:11]I've made a fancy red snowman version of the Simplicity lining pattern since it meets in the center and I want this to be a cross body. First, let's add a little length to the center front. Nice thing about this wrapping paper, it's got a 1-in grid.

[00:06:24]To achieve the gathered front, let's start with the kiss method and use a simple slash and spread to add length.

[00:06:39]Okay, let's give that a shot.

[00:06:44]That worked pretty well. The only thing I have to do is add a little bit of fabric right here to cover the neckline.

[00:06:50]I'm just going to take a piece of fabric and stick it in there and adjust the neckline. BRB.

[00:06:56]Now, you want to modify your paper pattern.

[00:07:07]In the meantime, go ahead and seam up your side back seams. Now that the front is cut out of the silk, we can attach at the side. I like to use the sandwich stitch when assembling bodesses like this, as it's a very strong stitch that doesn't leave a lot of marks on delicate silks. Some less creative people like to call this the English stitch, but I don't care. I'm going to make fetch happen if it kills me. [music] [music] While we're hand stitching, let's go ahead and finish off the center front as well as the neckline of the lining.

[00:07:46]Next, let's get the straps on.

[00:07:54]You'll want to permanently attach at the back, but leave the front pinned in case you need to make any adjustments. That is uh unless you're stretch Armstrong.

[00:08:02]Then go ahead and permanently sew the front and pin the back.

[00:08:15]Honestly, I am quite thrilled by how quickly this has knocked up. This is almost entirely assembled. I just have to readjust the front of the straps, make it a little tighter, and add one more little tie here. And the bodice is complete. Well, apart from the hem, but we'll do that later. Now, we need to move on to what is arguably going to be the most frustrating part of this entire process, which is leveling the hem. But to do that, we need to make a slight costume change.

[00:08:46]So, we're going to gather this around the pany first, and then we're going to see where that's at, and then we can worry about the center front and the center back. All right. Right, I've gone ahead and roughly gathered the back and the sides. The front is hanging loose.

[00:09:01]We'll deal with that later. And in the meantime, I have whipped up a nice little ruffle. Woo! I say little, and I say whipped, I mean agonized over [music] sewing this giant long strip of fabric. So, we're going to get this ruffle attached, and then we can start really leveling the petticoat. Now, we're fully embracing the hybrid method with this project. Meaning, anything that's visible, we're going to hand finish. But anything that's not going to be visible, we're using the machine on.

[00:09:29]So, even though I handstitched like 360 in of ruffle, we're going to attach it to the skirt with the machine. If you're enjoying this chaos or secretly think as I do that these gowns are so crazy that they're awesome, please consider giving this video a thumbs up and saying hello in the comments. It's a small thing, but goes so far into getting this video out to people like you. I also want to say a huge thanks to all of my contributors over on Kofi. This is a huge gown with a ton of fabric, and even getting the things secondhand was a huge undertaking. Thank you for helping me keep this channel running. I've linked below if you'd like to help contribute.

[00:10:16]Okay, with that done, we are ready to level. Except it's a little late in the day for me to get the whole kit on to start leveling it. So, we're gonna have to wait till tomorrow to tackle that.

[00:10:26]But your girl has to keep trucking on this because I have only a little more than a week to at least get it somewhat together. So, we are going to transition to working with the swoopy. The plan for the swoopy is to make it about 12 in wide total.

[00:10:45]So, we're looking at about 60 in on each side is >> the next day.

[00:10:54]>> All right. Now that we're fresh, rested, and in our stays, the hem's looking might fine. Okay, so let's tackle the front hem. Fold it down to where you want it to be. Because of the width of these side hoops, I've got a drastic curve. I've opted for a drawstring channel in the center front. So, now I'm drawing that somewhat incorrectly.

[00:11:18]Now we have to cut it.

[00:11:29]Repeat for the back minus the drawstring channel.

[00:11:45]Now to attach the bodice. I've got the points marked where the hoops begin and end on each side.

[00:11:53]You'll want to leave the front fashion fabric loose.

[00:12:17]Let's tackle that drawstring. Cutting a slit in the center front is terrifying.

[00:12:21]And to be honest, unlike my normal 1790s dresses, it didn't stay closed while wearing. So, five out of 10. Maybe would do it this way again. Maybe not. But at the time, I could not figure out how to gather the front skirt and make it easy to get on and off by myself. Although, I do think I have an idea of how to fix it.

[00:12:46]Not perfect, but looks pretty good.

[00:12:50]And here's the drawstring in action.

[00:12:55]Now we need to make the ties that will attach to the edges of the bodice and wrap around the body to tie in a bow in the back. [music] I'm pretty sure most of the ERCGs were back closing given that it was England's elite that were wearing these things and they obviously had many people that could help them get in and out of them. But my design with the cross body and the drawstring, it is going to be much easier to get into on one's own. Now to gather the center front.

[00:13:24]Yeah, not bad. I can't really tell you how I did it. I just sort of squidged it all down with a needle till it looked right. But with it all tacked down, we can go ahead and add the straps onto each panel.

[00:13:44]Meanwhile, I sewed some shiny shiny trim on the bottom of the gown. Way prettier than it looked in the picture. But I'll tell you what, I did not expect the balls to be that big.

[00:13:59]Yep.

[00:14:00]Regardless of the size of its spherical accutraal, the second row of this trim will go a full foot above the first.

[00:14:07]This will eventually demarcate the area that the silk roses will go.

[00:14:13]Next on the docket, the flower petals for the sleeves. There will be three on each side because that just happens to be how many pattern pieces I already have.

[00:14:26]These are the petal sleeve inserts for the Hamilton Spencer I made a couple of years ago. Why reinvent the wheel?

[00:14:32]Because this dyed silk is so [music] soft, I opted to back it with a little silk oranza I had lying around.

[00:14:44]It is 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, and anything I want to get done on this ball gown before the ball on Saturday needs to be completed by the time I go to bed tonight. Tomorrow evening is dedicated to packing, relaxing, and making my giant feather headdress.

[00:15:01]>> [screaming] >> I'm going to be the tallest person in the room.

[00:15:07]So, let us put on our focusing goggles and get our done.

[00:15:19]First order of business, sle.

[00:15:23]These petals look a lot alike, so I got happy with the tailor shock.

[00:15:33]Ooh, pretty.

[00:15:37]Last thing to do was add the petals to the sleeves. And we'll just tack them down with a tunnel stitch.

[00:15:56]Tragically, they're a little too short for my longest sleeves. Oh well, we'll add trim or something later.

[00:16:10][music] >> [music] [music] >> Okay, so this gown was only about 70% successful the first wear. I will say that everyone was so surprised and loved that I was wearing it. But there are a few things that need immediate fixes. The hem's still too long. I was tripping all over myself when trying to dance in this thing. The pany disintegrated faster than my makeup in that sweaty room. The swoopy is screwing up the flow of the skirt. And the lightweight linen pett coat that I made to go between the pany and the dress itself was just too thin to smooth the lines of the wires out. But the good news is because I decided to do this gown in stages, I'll have plenty of opportunity to fix all of the issues before I wear it again. And next time it'll [music] be even funnier looking.

[00:17:55][laughter] Okay, if you enjoyed this video, why not check out the one where we make the pet to go underneath this thing. That's it for me. Thanks for [music] watching. I love y'all and I'll catch you in my next video.