Get ready to drool–and maybe raise a few eyebrows–at ball gowns of Austen’s day. If you missed the first part of this series, you can find links at the bottom of this post. Now that we’ve been instructed on the proper style of dress to wear to a ball and on the finer points of good taste, lets dig into the ball gowns themselves for a bit, shall we? Ball gowns in a nutshell As … Continue reading →
by Julie Buck As we look at schools in Jane Austen’s time, and the role of needlework within that schooling, I think it’s important that you understand two things. First of all, you need to know what a sampler is. And secondly, you need to see how girls’ schooling developed from earlier centuries to arrive at what Jane Austen found when she was sent off to boarding school. A sampler is an example or sample … Continue reading →
Regency women strove to become an accomplished lady, but what did that mean? During the Regency era, a proper education was crucial to a middle or upper class young lady’s future. Since a woman’s only ‘proper’ aspiration was to marriage, her education focused on making her noticeable to potential husbands. Her accomplishments enabled her to display cultural distinction and set herself apart from women who were merely ‘notable’—those who could only manage a household but … Continue reading →
