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Blair of @beelder3 in the Scroop + Virgils Fine Goods Amalia Jacket

The Amalia Jacket: Tester Makes!

It’s the most fabulous post of the pattern-making cycle. The one where I get to show off all the beautiful tester makes! Scroll down to see all the beautiful jackets made by the Amalia Jacket test group.

Scroop Patterns + Virgil's Fine Goods Amalia Jacket scrooppatterns.com

The Amalia Jacket has been in development since this time last year. It’s a big pattern, and it’s been a big year.

When it came to testing we wanted a whole range of testers: different shapes, sizes, sewing styles, and locations. So many amazing people applied to test the jacket. It was so hard to choose, but we couldn’t have asked for a better group than the one we ended up with.

Thanks to the testers, the Amalia Jacket is the best pattern it could be. They helped us refine fit, instructions, and catch all those little things we might have missed.

Here are the tester makes!

Blair of @beelder3

I’ve had my eye on the ‘brandied raisins chintz’ from Colonial Williamsburg for years, but resisted buying it because I really don’t need any more fabric.

And then Blair started sharing her making photos for the Amalia Jacket, and all my no-fabric-buying resolutions were undone.

Her pattern matching! Her pattern placement! The way she’s mirrored it across the back and front, and carefully placed it so the posies fall on the pleats!

Blair made View A with the View B sleeves in Size 36.

Cait of Willoughby and Rose helped her take all the photos, and captured lots of gorgeous detail shots, like the way the sleeve slit on the View B sleeves gets finished.

Rebecca of @ladyrebeccafashions and Lady Rebecca Fashions on Youtube

I was really hoping that at least one tester would make an Amalia Jacket in one of the famous Ikea 18th century prints, and Rebecca made my fabric dreams come true!

Rebecca of @ladyrebeccafashions in the Scroop + Virgil's Fine Goods Amalia Jacket

Her matching jacket (View A) and petticoat are just adorable. She’s got the most fantastic set of accessories for her 18th century outfit, complete with red mantle that makes it look like she stepped right out of a fairytale!

She made a Size 48, with customised fit and additional length to suit her height. She’ll be showing her making and fitting on her YouTube, so keep an eye out for that!

Emily of @sewingfrankly

Emily used the most gorgeous blue & white chintz for her View B jacket. I love that she used the same fabric for the cutaway front of View B. It’s a really common look in extant garments, even though it doesn’t make the seaming as obvious.

Emily tested Size 32, and used the alterations and fitting guide to make it fit her perfectly.

Ashley of @sewcial.experiment

Ashley made View A of the Amalia in a black and white chintz, and paired it with a black petticoat for a gothy take on the 18th century, which I am so here for!

Ashely adapted the fully handsewn historical instructions for machine sewing. Here’s how she did it:

I marked the stitch line on the back of the outer body pieces, placed it right side down, matched the cut edges up with the previous piece and sewed it down, machine sewing through the lining as well, then just flipped the piece over and continued on. This served to tack the two layers together in addition to sewing down the outer layer. Then, for the front I just folded the body of the jacket up as much as possible so the inner and outer could be placed right sides together and machine sewed those.

Her overall take on the jacket:

I think this is such a great pattern and I love that it makes 18th century costume available for such a wide variety of sizes

Fabulous jacket + figuring out a way to assemble it that works for her sewing style = winning all round!

Ashley tested Size 52, and customised the fit to her body. Check how smooth that bodice is!

Kelly of @society_seams

Pink jackets with blue petticoats and blue jackets with pink petticoats were quite a theme amongst the testers!

Kelly’s stunning Amalia is made from a red, white and blue striped linen from Burnley & Trowbridge, and she styled it a la tricolore for her gorgeous photos.

Kelly of @societyseams in the Scroop + Virgil's Fine Goods Amalia Jacket

She’s got more gorgeous photos of it, and some wonderful videos, on her IG.

Kelly made View A, with the long sleeves of View B, in Size 34.

Hanna of @folkdraktsprogress

Hanna made View A in a lovely pink striped fabric. I love the way the stripes show off the lines of the jacket! She like it so much she’s already planning a second version – and totally cooincidentally, from the opposite sides of the world, it turns out we’re going to be Amalia Jacket twins, because I’m also making another Amalia in a different colourway of the same fabric!

Hanna says of the pattern:

I really love this pattern! It was easy…even for me, who is a beginner at 18th century dressmaking. The fitting guide was very good and made sewing the final garment a lotta easier.

Check out Hanna’s instagram for more photos of her lovely jacket.

Gracie of @graciesews and Gracie Patten on YouTube

Gracie made View A in a gorgeous reproduction fabric from Penny River Costumes. The original dated to 1781 – perfect for the Amalia. It’s a great example of the breadth of prints available in the late 18th century.

Gracie of @graciesews in the Scroop + Virgils Fine Goods Amalia Jacket

Gracie says of the pattern:

Overall, I’m really pleased with the fit of this jacket and with the appearance. I will be recommending it to my friends who are new to costuming because of the detailed instructions, and I would like to make a version of view B in a plain silk so that the pleats are more visible

Gracie made a Size 34.

Dans l’armoire d’Ã‰lise of @danslarmoiredelise and Ã‰lise’s Closet

Ã‰lise does fabulous cosplays as well as historical costuming, and you can see the combination of those aesthetics come through so beautifully in her Amalia Jacket.

@danslarmoiredelise in the Scroop + Virgils Fine Goods Amalia Jacket

She made a View B with the short sleeves of View A. She used a contrasting fabric for the cutaway front of View B, and matched it to a petticoat she had for another costume. We love a good costume wardrobe switch up! Twice the impact for half the effort.

She made a size 42, and says of the pattern:

I really, really love it. And I can’t wait to make another jacket. It’s a very versatile pattern with the mix and match of fronts, skirts and sleeves, and it can be dressed up or down.

Dai of @this_one_sews

Dai made their Amalia Jacket in a lovely cotton in a fun stripe variant. They made View B with the View A front and sleeves.

I love the way the stripe shows the lines of the pattern, including the way they cut the sleeves with the horizontal grainline. The pattern allows either grainline.

But wait, there’s more! They even turned one of their Amalia photos into a painting!

Dai made a Size 44. They say of the Amalia Jacket pattern:

I adore the fit and cut of this garment… it is something I’ll be definitely make again.

And last, but definitely not least (true story, I pick the order these go in out of a hat because I can’t choose a favourite and want it to be fair!)…

Samantha of @pinpricksandpetticoats

Another tester who made her jacket out of Ikea fabric! Samantha made View B with View A sleeves jacket out of Ikea SprÃ¤ngÃ¶rt.

Samantha is a theatrical costumer, and you can see the precision and professional finish of her jacket. She’s applied some theatrical finishes instead of historical ones: piping to highlight the cutaway front and to finish the neckline, and binding to outline the tail of the jacket.

Check out her instagram for some making photos. Her crisp pleating as she works on it is total sewing goals. She made a Size 36.

Thank you to all the awesome testers! We are so, so grateful for your input!

It’s here! Meet the Amalia Jacket pattern!

Published by The Dreamstress

We are so excited to announce the arrival of the Amalia Jacket pattern: a fashionable late 18th century jacket pattern:

Buy the pattern here! – and get 10% off for the first week!

We know it’s been a long wait for the second Scroop Patterns + Virgil’s Fine Goods collaboration, but we think it will have been worth it.

We put so much work into this pattern to make it as well fitted, historically accurate, easy to make, and fun to wear as possible. Hopefully you’ll like the result!

The Amalia Jacket pattern features two views, with different front, sleeve, and skirt options. Mix and match the views for a whole range of looks.

The detailed historically accurate sewing instructions cover everything you need to make your own beautiful versions, from first fitting to final trimming. There’s even a guide to making sleeve ruffles, tuckers, and fichu!

The pattern comes in bust sizes 30â€³-52â€³ (76-132cm). To help you get the perfect fit there’s a 7-page fitting and pattern alteration guide.

Both views feature a fitted bodice designed to be pinned closed at the front, curved side and back seams which flare out in pleats on the jacket’s skirt, and slim two-piece sleeves.

The sleeves may be snug, but clever patternmaking means they don’t restrict movement.

Thanks to Amber’s historical knowledge the patterns are filled with meticulous historical details that will help you get the late 1770s-1790s look just right, like the three-quarter instead of elbow length sleeves, and the slightly higher neckline seen in many extant garments of this era.

View A has a longer skirt joined to the bodice at the waist with box pleats at the back and knife pleats at the sides. It has a smooth one-piece bodice front, and the fashionable three-quarter length sleeves of the 1780s.

View B features a shorter ‘pierrot’ style skirt. It has a two-piece cutaway front, and full length sleeves with vents at the wrist.

Buy the pattern here! – and get 10% off for the first week!

The Amalia Jacket is the second collaboration between Scroop Patterns and Virgil’s Fine Goods. Our patterns combine Amber of Virgil’s Fine Goods’ extensive mantua making skills with my patternmaking skills.

Our goal is to bring you easy-to-use historical patterns with comprehensive size ranges and detailed historically-accurate instructions. The patterns are available as downloadable print-at-home patterns, to make historical sewing more accessible to sewists everywhere, and as paper patterns through Virgil’s Fine Goods and other stores.

We’re super proud of this pattern, and are so excited to see your versions!

Check back tomorrow to see all the gorgeous tester versions! Their makes are so inspiring. They combined views, used our trim suggestions, and styled the jackets to their own taste.

1780s hat and chemise a la reine thedreamstress.com

A 1780s hat and a chemise-a-la-reine refashion

Published by The Dreamstress

The Costume Construction course at Toi Whakaari gets a whole range of amazing guest teachers every year. They teach specialised classes on things like millinery, worbla and thermoplastics, dyeing, tailoring, etc. One of the perks of my job is that if I can work it around my teaching schedule, I can sit in on other classes.

It’s fun for me: I get to learn new skills, or new approaches to a skill I have. It’s also good for the course: it means I’m more familiar with all the work the students are doing, and can step in if a teacher can’t make it for a session.

My goal for 2020 was to sit in on the millinery course and make a late 18th century hat along with the students. Happily for us, the millinery class started after lockdown ended, and was able to go on as normal.

The guest teacher was Sarah Carswell, a former graduate of the Costume Construction course whose done a bunch of work with the Royal NZ Ballet, amongst other fabulous places. I really like Sarah’s teaching style: she covers both the ideal way to do things, and then some hacks that are necessary because of time, budget, or what’s available in New Zealand.

We used a standard 1780s hat pattern, and I made mine a little taller, and a little narrower, inspired by this fashion plate:

The construction is all based on modern millinery techniques: shape wire, stitch to buckram, assemble crowns and rims, cover in ice wool to smooth out the surface, cover in fabric, attach crowns and brims, bind.

And above all, mark and mark and mark everything as you work! Meticulous marking and cutting are the key to hatmaking. Get your centre fronts and backs off and the whole thing goes squiffy.

It’s mostly handsewn, but there are a few bits you can do by machine.

The handsewing is hard work, and at the end of it your brand-new-when-you-started-the-hat needle looks like this:

My hat is covered in black linen (backed in interfacing for strength and durability) and I love it. I want to make another one exactly like it so I can trim one in black and one in red and white striped ribbon inspired by this:

But for now, I trimmed in black, partly because I love a good classic black hat, and partly because I first wore it for Hallowe’en at our historical retreat this year:

Who doesn’t love a good historical witch hat for Hallowe’en?

And what to wear with a witch hat? My decade old chemise-a-la-reine, re-trimmed with black ribbons and sash!

I’m really enjoying wearing previously made costumes, and getting as much use out of them as time I put into them. It’s both mentally satisfying, and takes a lot of the stress and pressure off: no more feeling like you have to make something new every time.

Although the chemise is more adjustable than some other costumes, I’ve definitely gotten wider in the last 10 years, particularly in the arms, and I think it’s going to need a re-make if I’m going to wear it again.

But it was certainly fun to wear! It’s so lush and swishy.

I cast greenwitch spells (aka waving your hands artistically at the plants while your friends take lots of photos of you) to make the plants grow:

There aren’t many examples of crowned hats worn with chemise dresses, but there are a couple. In any case I was approaching this outfit as a costume, rather than as a strictly historical accurate ensemble.

My hair, in case you’re wondering, is 1/2 mine and 1/2 a curly wig altered to be a hairpiece. The wig was a lockdown stress-buy and slightly impulsive hack, but it turned out beautifully and I’m madly in love with it. The ‘tail’ is all my hair.

The earrings were a gift from the Toi Costume class of 2019, and the shoes are American Duchess Dunmores in black wool. My friend Averil did my makeup, and I immediately rushed out and bought every product she used on me.

You will be seeing more of this hat…