A Pride & Prejudice Film Costume Reproduction & a Visit to Lyme Park (Pemberly)

Dear Ladies,

Here are pictures from what was one of the most momentous days of my entire trip to England – a day spent at the 1995 filming location of Pemberly from Pride & Prejudice!  I had recreated the golden brown spencer jacket, ruched brown bonnet, and white striped day dress that were used in the film for the scene where Elizabeth Bennet visits Pemberly with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, and I was so thrilled to wear it in such a fitting location!

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“Lyme Park” is the real life location which was used for the exterior of Pemberly in the film.  To quote Elizabeth Bennet, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place more happily situated.”  It was GORGEOUS!  The pristine lawns and imposing mansion looked precisely as you see them in the 1995 Pride & Prejudice movie, only bigger!

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“I believe one would be willing to put up with a good deal to be mistress of Pemberly…” – Mrs. Gardiner

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Here I am standing exactly where Elizabeth was before she ran into Mr. Darcy!

 

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The lush green surroundings where Elizabeth and Darcy bumped into each other.

 

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Standing in front of this magnificent structure was so surreal!

Now here’s a comparison shot – first from the film and then one which a friend on the tour kindly took.

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Here are some more shots of the architecture:

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Here is the famous courtyard inside Pemberly where Mr. Darcy ran out to catch the Gardiners and Elizabeth right before they left.

And here is the same courtyard when shown in the film!

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 ~The Elizabeth Bennet Costume Reproduction~

The Bonnet

Perhaps my favorite part of the whole outfit was the ruched brown bonnet.  Unfortunately the bonnet didn’t show up very well that day (it was drizzly with grey clouds), but I’m thankful I have some pictures I took at home!

This is what the brown taffeta looked like when I was ruching it up to cover the bonnet.
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Here the outer layer of taffeta was pinned to the straw frame.
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And here is the finished bonnet!
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The interior of the bonnet, with the brim lined with the same ruched taffeta.
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And I trimmed the back with a wide ribbon bow, just like the original made by Louise Green for the film.
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Here’s the original film costume which inspired my reproduction.

~The Jacket~

For this Spencer jacket I used a couple of pattern pieces from the Regency jacket pattern at www.sensibility.com, and a lot of pieces that I drafted from scratch. 

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One of the notable features in this garment is the piping, so I covered my own piping using bias strips of the fashion fabric.  The buttons also were covered by yours truly, which you see on the front opening and on the sleeve cuffs.

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regency-spencer-jacket-brown ~~~

I LOVED sewing this costume, and wearing it in the actual “Pemberly” location was so marvelous I can still hardly believe it!  The only thing I regret about the pictures is that my curled hair was rendered rather straight thanks to the rainy weather, but other than that I had the most wonderful time possible. 

I hope you all have enjoyed this “visit to Pemberly”, and if anyone is interested in the same tour I went on, you can find the website for P&P Tours here.

 

Happy sewing,

Katrina

 

19 Comments

  1. Wonderful! Thanks for sharing.

  2. Awesome! You were so lucky, I’m almost jealous! You did a great job recreating the costume, and the pictures are wonderful!

  3. You look amazing! I remember that outfit! I still need to make a Regency dress one day, although I am mainly Victorian inspired at the moment! I missed this year’s Regency Ball, so maybe next year!

  4. So beautiful! I absolutely loved seeing your bonnet in person—what a beautiful color! I was thinking of you yesterday as our family was out enjoying the fall weather in the mountains. I’d love to get together and do something fun sometime—it would be a shame to live this close and not have the chance to meet up again.

  5. Your outfit is fabulous. Where was Mr Darcy? Did he not come to greet you?
    I really must get to Pemberley (I mean lyme park) some time. I was hoping to go this year but the only day we could visit the house was closed so went to chatsworth instead.

    1. Thank you for the kind comments! This was probably one of the amazing costume experiences I’ll ever have, and recreating it was sheer fun. (Well, there were a few tricky parts, but I still had a marvelous time figuring out how to recreate it.) 🙂

      Sarah, that would be so fun! If you’re ever in the Portland area you’ll have to let me know for sure!

      LadyD, ha ha! No, there was no Mr. Darcy there. LOL! There was that dreadful plastic Mr. Darcy sculpture they just put in the pond in front of the house, but I deliberately chose not to get that horrid thing in my pictures at all. 😉

  6. You look amazing, so glad you had a great day..

  7. You did a great job!!! You are an amazing seamstress!!!

  8. Are you on Facebook Kattrina, I would like to send you some lovely videos I received and invite you to see my album which includes your photos from the Pemberly Gallery. Notify me at the above e-mail address,our photos are lovely, at Pemberly, Ahh Memories,
    Shalom
    LOIS

  9. correction-Your photos LUV 🙁

  10. You look absolutely beautiful-so pleased you had such a wonderful day!

  11. I love it, Katrina! I personally think it’s better than the movie version. 😀

    1. Thank you so much, Ladies! I really appreciate the kind words.

  12. You are AMAZING. (and so luckyyy!!!)

  13. That is simply amazing! You did a beautiful job on the ensemble and to wear it in that location must have been a dream come true! I couldn’t afford a tour this time around so I stuck to Bath but hopefully some day…

  14. Brilliant job on a spencer jacket and a bonnet!!
    I have been trying to find the similar patterned cotton , but still no luck 🙁

    1. Thank you so much, Maryam! I bought my fabric for Mill End in Portland, Oregon, so if you call them up they might be able to send swatches. I don’t know that they do this, but it might not hurt to try. 🙂

  15. Wow!! This is beautiful!! I always loved this outfit especially the bonnet! That is so awesome that you got to go to the Jane Austen festival and got to visit the location were they filmed Pemberly!!

    1. Thank you, Samantha! It was really surreal to be there, and yet at the same time it felt exactly as if you’d stepped into the movie. So amazing!

      Happy sewing,
      Katrina

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