A regency riding habit

I've been wanting to make a Regency riding habit forever - I mean Koshka's is awesome, isn't it? However, since I didn't really know when or where to wear it I didn't want to buy fabric especially for this. I thought that I had enough lightweight wool in black to make it from, but it turned out that it wasn't so. But then I remembered that I had several metres of a fulled black wool cloth. A little heavier and less drape-y than I had envisioned, but it was there.

I used the Riding habit in Patterns of Fasion 1 as a starting point, but made the jacket with front closure (hooks and eyes) instead, and added braided trim. The metal in it is real metal wire, and the black yarn is wool. It is a vintage trim that I bought at the shop at Göteborg's Remfabrik, a textile heritage museum.

The habit is made from a really long skirt, that you tie up with tapes to be able to walk. Here you can see it tied up, and without the jacket. The shirt is based on men's shirts from the 18th and early 19th century. Under it I am wearing a shift, stays, and a petticoat.

The short bodice is made from two layers of black, checked linen. The whole outfit is hand sewn.

Close-up of the shirt, I make the thread buttons too. The shirt is hand sewn from cotton.

I am not having a perfect curl day. Luckily I had a silly hat to compensate.

My daughter Vendela takes care of a horse, a 26 year old, adorable Tinker horse called Casey, so I even had a horse to take photos with. Unfortunately we had no access to a lady's side saddle, so we decided to make it easy for us, and not use a saddle at all.

I have nto sat on a horse for over ten years, and I have never done much riding, so it is good that casey is such a good natured old lady. Especially since I am rather afraid of horses. But with the help of a stool I got up. And Casey has such a nice even gait that I actually felt rather secure, even after I had thrown my right leg over to the side.

Which was good, since she wasn't too interested in standing still when we took photos.

The hat is made from the same wool and trim as the habit. I am wearing vintage thin white leather gloves, white cotton stockings from the Bohemian Belle and vaguely regency looking shoes from Deichmann.

It is obvious that even with a wide and over long skirt it isn't easy to drape the skirt so that you don't see the rider's legs. It would probably have been ieasier with a saddle, sicne I wasn't inclined to move much after I had managed to get up on Casey and find some kind of balance.

Some more photos.