Curtain Along: Regency Spencer Jacket

                Last month, I decided to try something a little different to challenge my sewing skills; boy was I right on the money. I've never made a spencer jacket before and while I've often considered making one in the past, I'd end up not going through with it. So, this time I decided to challenge myself by jumping in and doing it. Besides, with all of the other things I've made in the past, this couldn't be hard to do right? Aside from that, I just love the silhouette it gives when it's put over the day or evening dress. 

                The fabric I chose for this project was the black Waverly print from Lowe's for $27. When I paired the fabric together with a 2 of my regency dresses, it matched wonderfully. The colors absolutely popped when I paired it with the brown empire gown, and the Chemise La Reine I made back in September; it just gives it a great fall/winter festive look. 

                Now the challenges I did have with making the jacket ended up prolonging its construction: 

First off, I didn't have a pattern for a spencer jacket so I ended up searching all over Pinterest for ideas. To my luck, there were a couple of jackets that looked a lot like the 1804 day dress pattern I have; so I used the pattern from that and it worked out really well. 

            The second challenge was getting it to fit correctly. With the dress pattern requiring that it be buttoned in the back and that the neckline is cinched with ribbon for the drawstring, I had to improvise by making the back part whole (instead of two halves), and cutting the front piece in the middle (where in the pattern it would just be 1 whole piece). This caused the shoulders to become too broad. I ended up having to cinch them up to make the neckline a lot tighter and the back wouldn't sag.

 Once I finished all the sewing and the pinning/measuring (and re-measuring), it turned out to be an appeasing fit. The only thing that was left to do was to shorten the first set of the sleeves, and add the second set of sleeves (the longer ones for fall/winter). Lastly, I added 4 hooks and eyes (2 HUGE brocade looking ones, and then 2 very tiny ones to hold the bottom shut). 

Since I had some fabric leftover, I made a muff cover to match the jacket. 

I plan to wear this hopefully for a holiday tea in a couple of weeks or any future Regency get-together . It just looks too adorable to keep in the closet.