Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers Front

I have attended Regency balls and never have quite the right shoes to go with my Regency evening gowns. I had tried covering existing shoes with fabric once and bought flats with bling on them, but they did not look right. My goal was to make Regency dance slippers to match evening ball gowns for BAERS and other costumed English country dancing events.

I had attended a Regency shoe workshop at Costume College several years ago which was a disaster. I was the only one who finished shoes and they looked horrible. One of the problems was that the tracing of the foot was used as the sole, so my wide feet made a strange super wide shoe.

I decided to try again using existing patterns as a base. I started with McCall's M7068 because the pattern front had a square toed shoe. Those ended up too big like house slippers.

Then I tried the Regency shoe tutorial here http://oregonregency.blogspot.com/2010/08/miss-charlottes-shoe-tutorial.html that modifies Butterick B5523. Several mockups later, I finally found something that looks closer to a Regency dance slipper after a whole day of trial and error.

Line of slipper shoe mockups:
Reproduction Regency Dance Slipper Mockups

Butterick B5523 Shoe Pattern

Pattern Base

Butterick B5523
Made a smaller size smaller than what the pattern suggested. Squared off the toe. Used 1/4" seam for all seams. Cut the top into two pieces with the side back having straight seams and the front having a slightly slanted seam to tighten up the opening and lift up the toe box. Extant Regency slippers often have a slanted seam.

Reproduction Regency Dance Slipper Pattern Adjustment

Reproduction Ice Green Regency Dance Slippers

Regency dance slippers are ice green dupioni silk over faux leather with a cotton lining and satin poly and cotton covering an insole. Seam binding coveres the outside seams. Same fabric bows are tacked to the front.
Size: 6

Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers Front Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers Front Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers Front

Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers Front Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers Left Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers Back Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers Right Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers Top Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers Bottom

Added an "L" to the left shoe since they are very similar.
Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers. L in left shoe.
Here's is how the insoles were cut, covered and added to the shoe.
Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers. Marking Insole. Reproduction Regency Ice Green Dance Slippers. Covering Insole

Completed: February 2017

Mockup 5 and 6

The top on the first shoe ended up too big so I sewed a seam across the toe and had some of the fashion fabric under the shoe, but then the length of the shoe was too small. The second shoe ended up being a right shoe so I ended up with two right shoes. That one, finally, the pattern modifications were better fitting.

Here's what the resulting sole pattern looks like compared to a Scholl's size 6 insole pattern:
Reproduction Regency Slippers Sole compared to insole
The faux leather from stash that was used under the dupioni silk and on the soles:
Reproduction Regency Slippers. Faux leather.
Reproduction Regency Slippers Fail Reproduction Regency Slippers Fail

Mockup 3 and 4

Next mockups used Butterick B5523 and the tutorial. The shoes ended up too big with a gaping problem. On the first shoe, I tried adding lacing loops and ribbon. The placement of the loops and ribbon wasn't quite right, using bias on the inside top didn't work well, and the shoe shape was still not right. The second shoe ended up two inches too big.
Reproduction Regency Slippers. Butterick B5523 Failed Pattern Modification. Reproduction Regency Slippers Fail Reproduction Regency Slippers Fail

Mockup 1 and 2

McCall's M7068 Slipper Shoe Pattern Because McCall's M7068 had the square toe like extant shoes, I tried this first. I tried altering the heel to eliminate the elastic back. On the second shoe, I tried changing the toe box. These used interfacing for the uppers and batting for the insole. A heavy cotton/poly was used for the soles.

Heel adjustment
Reproduction Regency Slippers. McCall's M7068 heel modification.

Reproduction Regency Slippers. Too Big. Reproduction Regency Slippers. Too big - side.