The Usefulness of Retrimming

Though I do not like to wear bonnets or gowns, I have learned others have enjoyed them immensely. What I noticed as a commonality from one Austen Fan Fiction novel to the next novella, variation or vagary, is that the girls are ever retrimming bonnets, exchanging the ribbons for a gown, refreshing garments with changed sleeves to match current styles, or choosing new lace inserts. I learned from my blog last year Your Petticoats are Again Six Inches Deep in Mud! that some garments were rarely worn more than a few times, particularly if the one perspired heavily.

Many small towns had a haberdasher, a mantua maker, and a store that, no doubt, sold fans, reticules, and umbrellas. Above all, there were ribbons. There were a plethora of ribbons in different colors and widths, some better used for bonnets and others for the sleeves of gowns. Gowns might be updated if it was gifted from someone who rarely wore it or if one had a sister with a particular gown she did not wear but once or twice and then outgrew. Sleeves were retrimmed with a new color ribbon to the style a lady preferred. But a lady who owned a special gown they had worn the year before and was from a house of modest means might choose a different ribbon and update the lace or sleeves to make it seem new again.

It was the bonnets that most often got taken apart and remade. Using flowers, ribbons, feathers, and other trimming options to fuel a young lady’s imagination, she might makeover a bonnet to match a new cloak or spencer. It was easier for a bonnet to be updated to match the latest styles if updating a gown was cost-prohibited. Weren’t the creations of the time, as evidenced in the period dramas that many watch again and again, a lovely statement of their own?

Sources for The Usefulness of Retrimming:

Lathan, Sharon “Wherein Sharon Tries to Define Hats and Bonnets” Sharon Lathan October 6, 2021, Updated October 17, 2022, Wherein Sharon tries to define Hats and Bonnets – Sharon Lathan, Novelist (sharonlathanauthor.com)

Vic “Bonnets, Caps, Turbans, and Hats: Fashion Necessities For Regency Ladies” Jane Austen’s World February 22, 2008, Bonnets, Caps, Turbans, and Hats: Fashion Necessities For Regency Ladies | Jane Austen’s World (janeaustensworld.com)

Jeffers, Regina “The Art of Dressmaking During the Regency Era” Every Woman’s Dreams… November 20, 2020, The Art of Dressmaking During the Regency Era | Every Woman Dreams… (reginajeffers.blog)

Forsling, Yvonne “Regency England, Shoes and Hats, Milliners, Modistes and Hatmakers” 1999-2022, Regency England shops (hibiscus-sinensis.com)

Vic “Regency Fashion: Keeping Hems Clean” Jane Austen’s World April 12, 2014, Regency Fashion: Keeping Hems Clean | Jane Austen’s World (janeaustensworld.com)