Towards the beginning of this summer, and pandemic, we got invited to a socially distant Regency picnic by a member of the Houston Regency Society on their private property. It was so nice to have a historical costuming event to prepare for, as other events were being cancelled left and right. I had a Regency outfit that I made for Dickens on the Strand in Galveston, but it would be too hot to wear outside in the summertime. Following my posts this week on my quick Regency sleeveless spencer, my quick picnic bonnet, and a simple Regency yellow cotton gown, today I’m sharing the Regency reticules that I made for us ladies in attendance.
[Related: My First Foray Into the Regency Era]
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Earlier 18th century clothing included petticoats with side openings as access to pockets. Regency gowns just don’t have that option (that I know of), so a solution is a simple reticule, or handbag. I found some great examples of four-sided reticules on Pinterest and proceeded to copy a pattern on an 8.5×11 sheet of paper, so my 5-sided diamond is 11″ tall and 8.5″ wide. I cut 4 fashion fabric and 4 liner pieces, grabbed 5 tassels from my craft supplies, and some beads with large enough holes for the tassel strings.
With right sides together, I stitched the 4 sides together with tassels at the points (and beads). I repeated this with the liner (no tassels), but left an opening at one bottom side to turn everything right side out. With right sides together, I stitched the liner to the fashion fabric at the top, turned everything right side out, and hand stitched the liner closed. So far so good…
Here’s where I began to realize my choice of fashion fabric, heavy upholstery fabric, was a bad one…adding ribbon to the top for a drawstring did little to allow gathering, so I added another ribbon to widen the channel. I really have to pull/push/squeeze/cuss to get this thing to open and close. Oops.
I mean it looks pretty but damn it’s hard to get my phone and other things in and out of it. I may remake it later. Or because I’m stubborn and just like the colors, I may just keep using it. Who knows it’s such a pain in the ass to use? It’ll be out little secret.
The second reticule I made was with a cashmere cotton and a ribbon panel. Yep, thinner fabric made a huge difference, as well as using fabric instead of ribbon for the drawstring channel. I did use ribbon for the drawstring for a contrasting color and only one tassel at the bottom tip.
And finally the third and most functional reticule of the lot was thin cotton fashion fabric with a silk brocade liner. Both the drawstring and the channel were cotton and that really made it easy to open and close. Lesson learned! I guess third time’s a charm!
Up next is a waistcoat for my husband, and eventually the picnic as a whole.
[Related: A Quick Regency Sleeveless Spencer and A Quick Regency Picnic Bonnet and A Simple Regency Summer Picnic Gown]
More Regency costuming on Red Shoes. Red Wine.
My First Foray Into the Regency Era
A Quick Regency Sleeveless Spencer