How To Tie and Make a Regency Cravat; 5 Different Knots

Hello everyone and welcome back to my channel. Today's video is about a subject which I've been asked hundreds of times to do something for and I think I've finally got the right set up in order to show you guys properly how it's done, which is of course making and tying a Regency cravat, just like all your period drama heroes. Firstly we must talk about, well what is a cravat? A cravat is a square piece of lightweight fabric, normally muslin or cotton, which is then folded and starched and ironed into shape and then folded and folded and folded and then tied into any sort of fashionable knot you may so desire. There are many many many many different ways to tie a cravat depending on how long it is, on how wide it is, how extreme you want to be, the colours, the patterns, but it's always about the occasion in which you're wearing the cravat because of course for daytime you can wear coloured cravats but for evening it must always be white. Now you may be thinking why, what is so important about white cravats? Well think about it, for hundreds of years the wealthy showed off their wealth and cleanliness by putting fine cloth and shirts against their skin and then of course from the Elizabethan period onwards you have these very heavy starched ruffs. Now starch here is the key. Starch was expensive, keeping things white was expensive and difficult. Combining the two meant you had a great amount of money so it's the same sort of thing. I've starched my collar so to use it on something which you mainly then wear once and then have sent off to launder, it's showing society that you can take care of yourself so it was always a sign of the wealthy to wear pure whites close to their face, it illuminates the face. Now there are a couple of reasons why you want to starch your cravat. It is firstly to make your knots clean and crisp, it is showing off your wealth but also it's a way for in colder weather the starch is going to form a barrier stopping cold air getting to you and then in the summer the cravat will be stiff enough to be let loose from being tight around your neck to standing out ever so slightly but holding itself up. Firstly you mark out your 30 to 36 inch square of lightweight fabric depending on how large you need your cravat to be. Some designs may require more and during the period were jokingly compared to a ship's sails. In this case I'm using a 30 inch cotton muslin as it is light enough to fold without too much bulk and as it is a natural fibre will take the better. The method I find best for marking and cutting out a cravat to be perfectly square is the method of thread pulling where you cut the fabric and pull a single thread from the warp and weft of the fabric and then cut along the spaces left by the missing thread using small scissors. This will make hemming, ironing and starching the cravat far easier and save you a lot of time in the long run. The hem of a cravat needs to be very strong as it needs to hold up to the rigour of being laundered and ironed multiple times without wearing out. To make a strong hem you fold over the edge of the cravat quarter of an inch just so. You can finger press however I prefer to use an iron so therefore I press flat. You then fold over the same edge another quarter of an inch to encase the raw edge of the fibre and then have a solid foundation for your stitches. Press that down and then we can sew it but in all honesty I'm going to do it by machine because I have no time not patience to hand sew it together so there we go hands! If you find yourself in a particularly accurate or masochistic mood you can sew it by hand. I Now that you have perfectly ironed your cravat and gotten rid of any wrinkles it is time to take the first step in preparing your cravat from a flat square of cloth to the heights of male Regency fashion. Your first step is to turn your square so it becomes a diamond. You must then take the top and bottom corners and bring them together to form a triangle. This triangle will be perfectly on the bias at the bottom and even with the starch there will be some allowance of ease for you. The two points at the bottom of the triangle should match up as close as possible as these are going to be the ends most on show. A way to ensure this is to pick a point a few inches from the end of both sides so it should all come together. Make sure everything is flat. Now take the two layers of the top of the triangle and bring down to about half an inch from the bottom. This will stop the points poking through the bottom of the cravat. Now to start the cravat you will need a clean white ironing board or surface, a laundry rice or potato starch solution of two tablespoons in two cups of cold water and put into a spray bottle. The period way to apply this would be to apply the solution with a brush. You can experiment with the ratios to your liking. You can however use a can sprayed starch but I have found this less effective and it can sometimes leave a residue. Press your iron on a low heat to set the starch. Remember to be patient, too hot and you will burn the starch and it will go yellow and brown. Too cool and you won't cook the starch enough to activate it. If you are unsure try on some spare fabric first. Once that layer of starch is set and you can feel a bit more body in the fabric fold the same point as the first fold and repeat the starching steps and remember take your time. If you are not used to it it can take a really long time to get it right. This is another reason why such things were left to the professionals. The process of starching and folding a cravat was often done by the laundress you would send it to. If you were very particular you would have trained your valet to do it for you or if you're broke like me then you just do it yourself. Once nearly dry fold the cravat one more time and bring the edges together. Press slowly and the side facing you will go against your collar. Now turn over the cravat and apply some starch and press slowly. This will be the front part. Rub the iron back and forth to actually polish the starch. It doesn't come up well on camera but it actually creates a really nice shiny side to the cravat. This shine doesn't show up so well using modern lighting but shows up beautifully in candlelight. I think I was so focused on showing the process that I may have been slightly overzealous with the starch and I think this cravat has gone from a decorative piece to an architectural support. Never mind I think I shall crack on. The first cravat knot we are to try out is the Nord Gordienne. Whilst this cravat is most popular in the latter 18-teens we can see it worn fashionably in 1807. Referred to in 1818 as the sovereign of cravat ties the origin of which is lost in the obscurity of antiquity which is frankly very pretentious to me. The art of tying the cravat has this to say. In the first place the cravat for this tie must be of ample size and properly starched, ironed and folded. Whether it be plain or coloured is of little consequence but a rather stout one should be preferred as it will offer more facilities to the daring fingers of the beginner. It will then be necessary to meditate deeply and seriously on the five following directions. Instead of attempting to follow their needlessly complicated instructions here are some of my own. To begin this cravat you take your cravat and ensure that the left side is about two inches longer than the other. You then place the cravat against your collar and bring the ends around the back towards the front. Make sure it is moderately snug. Then take your longer right hand end and put over the left and under to form a basic knot. Then smooth out the end on top of the knot. Then form a loop that passes around the bottom end and pull into place. Adjust the size of the knot to the desired width, smooth out the ends and cross the two ends over each other. You can then place either a cravat pin or a straight pin through the bottom of the knot and the two ends. This keeps the whole thing together. The next knot is probably the most common of the Regency period and either called a bow, youth or sentimental. Leblanc has this to say. It is therefore for the juvenile only that it is at all adopted and there should even be something boyish in the general appearance of the wearer. It may then be worn from the age of 17 to 27 but after that age it cannot, with propriety, be patronised by even the most agreeable. Take of that what you will. To form this cravat you will need a slightly shorter cravat of about 26 to 28 inches depending on your neck size. This time you want your right side to be a couple of inches longer than your left. Place against your collar and bring the ends round to the front. From here it is no different to forming a modern bow tie. So it is left over right and under, the top end held out of the way whilst the bottom end is folded in half and creating a loop. Let the top end fall down into place. Then poke your fingers through the loop and pull through the other end. It just requires a lot of practice and then adjust and adjust. It is better for the knot to sit more in the middle to just under the chin to shaft the cravat and to be out of the way of the shirt frills. The next style of cravat is the cascade, named so for its appearance like a waterfall or the water cascade outside the Palais Royal. This cravat was once very popular to wear at the theatre and opera as a more comfortable alternative to a starched cravat but by the end of the Regency the simplicity of style and creation had been its downfall and had mostly fallen out of fashion and gained the new name of groom or male coach. It's described as the following. This style is generally followed by valets, butlers and other fashionables of the same grade. Very damning indeed for a gentleman. To form this tie one end is made far longer than the other. The cravat placed against the collar and the ends brought around to the front. The two ends going simply right over left to form a simple knot. The longer length on top is then fanned out as much as possible and then tucked under the waistcoat or even inside the shirt. You can also pin this cravat to show off a brooch or fancy stick pin. Our penultimate cravat tie is the cravat a la Byron, named after none other than the infamous poet and libertine Lord Byron. Lord Byron was described as mad, bad and dangerous to know and was quite the goth emo kid of his day but with a fair amount of drugs, poetry and affairs thrown in he was quite simply the Regency equivalent of a rock star. But then again his daughter Ada Lovelace formed the mathematical basis for modern computing so it's not all bad. This cravat is not just for poets and as period texts say it is extremely comfortable in summer and during long journeys. This cravat is in essence like tying a bow tie or a large bow around your neck with the main difference from other cravats being that it starts from the back coming around to the front and forming a large relaxed bow. Black silk was mainly favoured by the rakish poet. It is universally allowed that the least constraint of the body has a corresponding effect on the mind and it must therefore be admitted that to a certain extent a tight cravat will cramp the imagination and, as it were, suffocate the thoughts making this particular cravat favoured by all forms of artists and rakish young individuals wishing to affect themselves of an artistic and poetical nature. The final cravat I will demonstrate for you utilises the cravat I spent the best part of an afternoon ironing and starching which drove me a little nuts. It has a rather problematic name however in that it is called the Oriental or the Turk. Terms totally inappropriate today. It has conflicting reasons as to why it is named so. The knot supposedly is meant to represent a turban but apparently owes its application to the gentleman of the East India Company with whom it is a great favourite. Even in clothing it's hard to escape the racist and colonial nature of our past. In my research however I have failed to find a single image or documented instance of this cravat style being worn and named so. It is basically a slight variation of a barrel knot so I think it is more likely made up to sound exciting and exotic to the regency reader and to Period directions dictate that this tie is made with a very stiff and rigid cloth so that there cannot be the least danger of its yielding or bending to the exertions and sudden twists of the head and neck. To make this cravat the cravat is placed against the collar as is usual and passed around the back. Because of the heavily starched cravat and to make all lie smooth it is best to and twist the ends at the back and then bring them forward. The ends are placed right over left and pulled tight. Then the top end is looped around the bottom and pulled into place. You then need to work the starched ends into a crescent shape. I leave you to decide how successful I was at that. And there you have it, fully starched and ready for a ball. A fully starched cravat is only good for one wear as the following text describes. A cravat which has been once worn in this way can only be used afterwards on negligee as it will be so much tumbled by the intricate arrangement. The slightest error in the first fold of this tie will render all succeeding efforts with the same handkerchief entirely useless. I thought I should now show you how in real time putting on my everyday style of cravat and getting dressed. So thank you so much everyone for tuning in and watching me iron for ages and learn how to tie a cravat. You can do it yourself maybe with a silk scarf or something like that. It's really all open to you.