For my Regency project, I started with the Reticule. I bought the pattern from a seller on Etsy. I also bought both the outer and inner fabric from etsy. The tassels were from Etsy. The embroidery floss I bought from Amazon, along with the ribbon.
It took me a good month to do both sides of the Reticule.
The coast breakdown is-
Pattern- £9.30 (A physical pattern was sent in the post)
Inner lining- £5.70
Outer fabric- £8.98
Thread- £7.99
Tassels- £7.99
Embroidery floss pack 1- £5.95
Embroidery Floss pack 2. £3.99
Ribbon-£3.69
I spent £53.29 all together for this reticule, not counting hours put in.
[Image ID: four drawstring bags on a dark background. The top left one is light blue with white embroidery, the top right is blue with a faint silver paisley pattern, the bottom left is thin with a brown and blue brocade, and the bottom right is a bright red floral brocade.]
When I went through my fabric stash at the end of 2020, I rediscovered two pieces of polyester brocade - one in a blue/brown pattern and one in red, both of which I've had since grade school. They're not large pieces, but I realized they'd be the perfect size to make reticules out of!
Up until now I've only had one reticule, which I embroidered and made a few years ago, but now I have three more!
"Reversible" Reticule
I made this reticule during a slump in February 2021 while working on my 1890s corset and procrastinating on two other projects. I was in desperate need of an immediate gratification project, so I dug out this poly brocade, grabbed some scrap cotton for the lining, and got to work.
My pattern was based mostly off this reticule from the Met, this bag from LACMA (whose dimensions I used as a starting point), and this fashion plate. The pattern is really just a rectangle with a triangle on one end, repeated four times. The dimensions of each panel are 4"x10", plus a 0.5" seam allowance on the sides and bottom and full 1" at the top for the drawstring casing.
Things went downhill basically as soon as I started cutting out the four panels - the back of the fabric was just as lovely as the front! I'd better make the reticule reversible! (And Instagram agreed.) So I decided to sew up the seams and then roll the seam allowances to look like piping. Easy, right?
Unfortunately, my fabric and thread disagreed, so I decided to do french seams. I trimmed down the seam allowances, turned the bag, and started sewing. But I didn't make those seam allowances wide enough, and the raw edges poked out of the seam. So I essentially re-did the french seam two more times (instead of just unpicking that seam) to get properly encased seams. That shaved off an extra half inch on each side of my panel, so the resulting panels were only 3" wide. It's still wide enough to be functional, but it throws off the proportions pretty significantly.
With that finally done, I could do the drawstring casing! I had, by this point given up on clean reversibility, and just did a normal drawstring channel, so the blue back of the fabric is visible on the more brown side of the reticule. Finally, I was able to thread a ribbon through for the handle (just some stash ribbon for now, but I may switch it out in the future) and the reversible reticule was done!
Now, one thing I did realize about my pattern was that having a 2" long triangle at the bottom of a 4" wide bag didn't give me the point I was looking for - it just created a flat bottom for the bag. It looks fine in use, but to get the point I wanted, I should have gone for a 3" or so long triangle. Basically, it needs to be more than half the width of the panel, and it should not come to a right angle.
All in all, this is an ugly, poorly constructed bag that will likely get little use. Oh well!
Red & Blue Brocade Reticules
The new year (and the fact that I was in quarantine and not working) gave me a new burst of motivation, so these two reticules were constructed at the same time - right at the beginning of January 2022.
This red reticule was another four-panel design, with each panel being 8" at the widest point and 9" tall (plus seam allowances), with the side points falling about 5" from the bottom. I cut four panels each from the brocade and some scrap muslin, and prepped some cream and gold cording (just shy of a yard?) for the drawstring.
The blue reticule, made from what was left of the brocade I made the reversible bag out of, is only two panels, 8" plus seam allowances in both directions. I chose to use the "wong" side of the brocade for the outer fabric, plus scrap muslin (this was from an old bodice mock-up) for the lining, and some silvery-grey cord for the drawstring (about 2/3 of a yard).
Both were constructed the same way.
I started by seaming the panels of the outer and lining fabric by machine. The outer fabrics were then turned right-side-out and the lining was placed inside, so that the wrong sides of the outer and lining fabrics were together.
I used a small running back stitch about an inch from the top of the reticules to hold the outer and linings together and form the bottom of the drawstring channel. After securing the ends of the cord together to form a loop, I sandwiched the cord between the fabric, turned the seam allowances in, and whip-stitched the fabric together to finish the drawstring casing. I was very careful to reinforce my stitches around the opening I left for the cord to form a handle since that area will get a lot of heavy wear.
As a bonus, I cut a length of the silvery cord and tied a knot in the middle, forming a sort of tassel which I then attached to the bottom point on the blue reticule.
The red reticule is VERY spacious, and might work well as a project bag for small sewing or crochet projects in the future!
I'm MUCH happier with the second two reticules than I am with the "reversible" one, and I'm sure they'll be very useful!
Stay warm. Stay safe. Stay healthy.
[Image ID: a red drawstring bag with white lining, open and shown from the top, with Alex's left hand next to it for scale.]
[Image ID: a photo of a blue satin bag with white embroidery, two white tassels, and a white cord drawstring]
A year or so ago, on a trip to JoAnn Fabrics, I stumbled upon some nice fabric in the softest classic-Disney-Cinerella blue. The fabric was 100% polyester, unfortunately, but I had already fallen deeply in love with the color, and it was a decent price, so I caved and bought some. I knew immediately that I was going to make pieces for my Regency wardrobe with it, since it was already shaping up to be a very blue wardrobe.
I knew I wanted to make a reticule with it, for sure. Using my Pinterest boards as a starting point, I looked at common shapes and decorations. I eventually settled on this late 1790s-early 1800s bag from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston as a guide (I can't download a decent image of it, so I'm afraid the link will have to do). I wasn’t looking to replicate it, just use it as inspiration. I decided over the winter that this would be one of my semester sewing projects, to work on during my desk shifts or during other down time.
Materials-wise, I used less that a quarter yard of the polyester fabric for the outside, roughly the same amount of white broadcloth from my stash, some white cotton thread, most of a yard of white spiral cording, and two white tassels (though i picked up six total, and may have lost one somewhere). For tools, I had scissors and needles, of course, and a small embroidery hoop and my awl.
I drafted a simple shape on graph paper to use as a “pattern,” based in part off the example bag, and scaled to make sure I could fit my hand through the opening. Once I had everything cut out (two in the blue and two in white for a lining), I sewed the lining up and used colored chalk to rough out the basic shapes of the embroidery on one of the blue panels.
Now, looking back, this was an ambitious bit of embroidery for someone who has never really embroidered before, but it would have been a boring project if I didn’t learn something! I used a chain stitch for the vines and stems, and everything else is bullion stitches, satin stitches, and some knots of some sort. I really love the texture the knots gave the bit in the middle!
The embroidery took me most of the semester, so it wasn’t until after I returned home (and unpacked) that I finished it. I ironed everything, sewed up the sides of the blue panels, added the cord and tassels into the seam, put in the lining (easier said than done - it took me awhile to figure out and now I’ve forgotten how I did it), and added the drawstring and casing.
Then I took lots of pretty pictures of it because it’s very pretty, and because I was terribly pleased with myself. It even matches with my copy of Sense & Sensibility, which I haven’t finished reading yet.
I’m hoping I have enough of the fabric left to make a spencer, but we’ll have to wait and see. In other Regency news, I’ll have a short post up soon about what I’ve affectionately dubbed my “portrait shawl,” and I’ll soon (hopefully) be re-remaking my chemise. I’d also like to draft (or pick out a pattern for) and mock up my quintessential white regency dress, so I may do a post on the research I’ve done, the patterns I’ve found, and what my plan for it is.
Stay warm, stay safe, stay dry.
[Image ID: the same blue and white bag as above pictured with white leather gloves and a copy of "Persuasion" with a blue patterned cover]
Thinking if I have enough of that cotton velveteen left over from the spencer I'll make that "frog" reticule from the American Duchess pattern book... That'd be cute.
