More Runaway Ads

Here are a few more excerpts on clothing from some 18th Century runaway ads!

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, February 4, 1775
Direct Link to Full Ad
had on, when he went away, a Kendal Cotton Jacket and Breeches died with Maple Bark, and has flat Metal Buttons on it, Cuffs to his Jacket Sleeves, a Collar of gray Cloth, and a Felt Hat, with a Tinsey worked Button

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, January 5, 1775
Direct Link to Full Ad
had on and took with him, an old blue Surtout Coat which has been turned, faced, and trimmed with the same Colour; a green Cloth Jacket with yellow Metal Buttons, a Pair of red Plush Breetches; fine mixed blue Country Stockings, a mixed blue Cloth Coat and Jacket lined, and trimmed with black; a stripped [sic] VIRGINIA Cloth Jacket, one Shirt of brown Sheeting with several others of fine Linen, Nankeen Breeches; and many other Cloaths that cannot be particularised. The other is an Englishman named CHARLES BOOTH, and by Trade a Joiner, about 20 or 21 Years of Age, 5 Feet 8 or 10 Inches high, slender made and of a fair Complexion, has white short curled Hair; had on and took with him, a violet or purple Coloured Coat and Vest, a Pair of new Buckskin Breetches, a Pair of old ditto much worn and very dirty, an old blue Coat lined with white Shalloon, a new green Cotton Vest lin'd with Oznabrigs and Plaid Sleeves, a Pair of dark ribb'd Stockings, and several others of different Colours, a brown sheeting Shirt, one fine Irish Linen ditto much patched and several others; also a Silver Watch

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, December 2, 1775
Direct Link to Full Ad
he had on a fine white Broadcloth Coat, which has been turned, a lapelled green Sagathy Waistcoat laced behind, with Breeches of the same, an old Beaver Hat, Thread Stockings, and Country shoes

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, February 24, 1775
Direct Link to Full Ad
had on, or took with him, a suit of blue clothes with a red velvet cape … had on a red waistcoat and trousers … a watch in his pocket, a baker by trade, and will endeavour to pass for a freeman; had on a pepper and salt coloured cloth coat, and leather breeches

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, June 6, 1777
Direct Link to Full Ad
when he went off, a blue Coat and Waistcoat, white Breeches, a grey great Coat, and a black Velvet Cap

Also check out my other post on this here.

Runaway Ads

A lot of the information that we know about the lower class in the 18th Century comes from ads placed for runaways. Since most of the paintings that exist were done of people that had some kind of money, it can sometimes be hard to derive the clothing of an everyday person from those.

The Virginia Center for Digital History has put together a searchable database for ads placed from 1736 to 1777. This database can be of great help when trying to place certain clothing items. It states that you can "search the ads by gender, age, skill, and intent, among other things." Of course since these are out of Virginia, not all of them would apply to New England, but it still a very useful resource for placing everyday items in the 18th Century.

To view the website go here:

http://people.uvawise.edu/runaways/

Happy searching!!

A Pretty Hefty To-Do List

So my second season of reenacting has come to a close. It was an incredible year, yet it was not without it’s ups (the awesome view of the Hubbardton Battlefield from our camp) and downs (gas prices … need I say more?). Overall it was an exciting summer and we had some really great events that we attended. I am pumped for the coming season, but also a little overwhelmed with the projects I have lined up. I think I would give just about anything to be the wife of a businessman in the 18th century (I’m thinking my husband would print and bind books, did they make a lot of money?) and all I had to do all day was chat with friends, and work on projects. But then again, if that were really me, that would mean I would be forced to live without running water as we know it today. And really who wants to carry water around the house in buckets? Not me. Of course if we were rich, maybe I could have a maid to do that for me … ah a girl can dream.

As it stands, my husband is not a wealthy merchant and I cannot stay home all day and work on projects. I guess that’s what I get for wanting my running water. So I am going to make a list of all the projects I have in mind here. And as I work on them, I will put up a post marking my progress. Hopefully this will force me to become accountable for all the things I have to do!

These will be completed in no particular order:

· Sew a hunting frock for Kris
· Sew 2 new shirts for Kris, one with white linen and the other with green check fabric
· Change the ties on my red skirt to Dutch Linen Tape
· Sew a new skirt with Green fabric
· Sew a new skirt for myself with some beautiful wool I found
· Sew a new apron with Green fabric
· Sew another new skirt with Silk fabric I found on sale
· Buy a Robe D’Anglais Pattern
· Sew a Robe D’Anglais with a simple linen fabric (need to buy)
· Sew a Robe D’Anglais with Green silk fabric (need to buy)
· Finish decorating straw hat
· Sew a special camera bag for Kris
· Attach the buttons to Kris’ long Gaiters
· Sew 3 new shirts for Kolby
· Sew a wool shirt for Kolby
· Sew (or have made, cause I’m not sure I can sew them) 3 pants for Kolby

Whew that’s a lot of projects!! I guess I have my work cut out for me! Most likely I won’t get through all of these before next year, but some of them, like Kolby’s clothes need to be done or else I may need to change his persona to a wild Indian child we found and adopted on our travels. Then I could just stick him in a loin cloth and call it a day … hmmm … that may not be such a bad idea!

In addition to the things I need to make. I also have a few things I need to buy. Luckily this list is not nearly as long.

· New shoes for Kolby
· New socks for me and Kolby
· New shoes for me
· Linen for Robe D’Anglais
· Green silk for Robe D’Anglais
· Dutch Linen Tape

Wow! That list is really short! That’s a very good thing. Well I better not stick around here too long; I have some projects calling my name!! I am already almost done with Kris’ hunting frock, so I will get that post and some pictures up for you shortly (ya know, in my spare time).

Flamestitched Wallet

Some time ago I stumbled across some information on how to make a flame stitched Wallet. I guess these were a pretty common way for people of the 18th century to carry money. This wallet consists of a needle worked panel on the outside that is stitched using the Irish Stitch design.



This panel is backed with linen and sewn up to form a wallet. Someone shared a link to some really great instructions for making a wallet from Interweave Press.

Wallet Instructions

They also have a chart you can print to achieve the Irish Stitch pattern the author used for her wallet.

Irish Stitch Chart

And here are some more detailed instructions on making the Irish Stitch (also called Bargello).

Irish Stitch How-To

This is a project that I would love to get around to doing, but of course finding time for all these things may require that I create a machine that can double the hours in a day. But if any of you are inclined to try this project before I do, please share with me how it turned out!

Authentic Cartridge Pouch

The U.S. Army Center of Military History website has a monthly artifact of the month. For July the artifact was a Revolutionary War cartridge pouch that they have in their collection.


Contrary to popular belief, American soldiers in the Revolutionary War generally carried cartridge boxes, rather than powder horns and shot pouches. The cartridge box held fixed cartridges of paper for faster loading, even in damp weather. This Pattern 1777 cartridge box represents one of the Army’s first attempts at standardizing military equipment.

Even more on Canes!

I got a great comment today on my canes post. This all started with this post, where I questioned a cane in a picture as to whether it would only be the wealthy that carried one of these. Well the gentleman (Ed St. Germain) that originally posted the pictures on his site, emailed me back about it all, which I posted here. Then just today I got a great comment on that post from Rick Randall, and I wanted to pull it out of the comments and share it with all of you, cause you know I'm all about sharing here. And I want to encourage more of you to leave me comments teaching me something new, cause I have a deep need and willingness to learn. Anyway, here is his great comment:

The reason that a cane became a mark of a physician is simple.

Smell.

Not only are the smells associated with untreated (by 21st Century standards) disease quite repulsive, but it was believed that disease was passed along via miasmas (bad smells -- in fact, malaria means "bad air").

The cane has a perforated hollow head which is filled with strong smelling herbs and such -- think potpouri on steroids. The idea was that, by overwhelming the bad odors, not only did one avoid the revolting smells, but one protected himself from the disease vector. Both silver and gold were used extensively by physicians.

Note that in engravings and such where the artist is trying to identify a character as a physician, he will invariably be holding his cane head to his nose.

Women of stature or who anticipated working in an area where strong foul odors would be encountered would often do the same thing, except using a locket (or, if poorer, a small linen wrapped packet) on a ribbon instead of a cane. Unfortunately, I cannot go into detail on women's fashions, as my knowledge of them is limited to what I have picked up by osmosis.

Rick Randall
Surgeon and Dentist
British Detatched Hospital

Very interesting and it makes perfect sense! I have heard somewhere in the past (8th grade history? Was I fully awake in that class?), that disease was thought to be spread by bad odors (which I would guess there were a lot of them back then) and they carried these good smelling things to help ward off disease. I never realized they put it right in their canes! Very interesting.

Here are 2 websites that Rick left. I want to point you to them for him, since he was kind enough to share his information with me, I’ll share his with you. Thanks Rick!

http://detachedhospital.com/index.html

http://www.brigade.org/barmem/british/hos.html

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

Canes

So this blog is all about discovery for me. Yes I use it to display the events that I go to with the First NH (which I do have last weekend's event coming soon ... I promise). But the main reason I started it was to record the stuff I learned about the late 18th century, since I knew very little when I started. I prefer to get my information by looking at pictures of the time, but of course information can be found anywhere and everywhere. Even from kindly folks who read my humble little blog and decide to take pity on me and share the information that they possess. I was lucky enough to have this very thing happen to me today. The gentleman that sparked yesterday's blog post emailed me to give me more information on one of the things I was pondering. Here is the information he provided to me:

I meant to comment on the note on your blog/website that said: "I love that he has a cane of some sort tucked under his arm. I wonder if it was commonplace to carry one whether you needed it or not. I imagine that even if it were, it wouldn’t have been for those that were not higher up on the social scale."

Below is a snippet from my page on French fashions of the 18th century. The general rule when it came to fashion for most of the century was that the English would copy the French (even though they were usually at war) and the colonists (those who could afford to) would copy the fashions of the mother country. That's why I included all three countries on my clothing pages. While there was a "trickle-down" effect to "the lower sort," the working class tended to more utilitarian clothing than ornamentation.

Curiously, the gold-headed cane became a symbol of physicians in England and America, although I've never learned why.

Today, the proper English gentleman will sport a "brolly" (umbrella) and the upper-class chaps know that theirs must have a handle of bamboo, so the fashion is still with us in a sense.

********************

The toilette of ladies who followed the fashions was completed by many accessory objects which were held to be indispensable to the dress of a lady of good condition or of bon ton; as for instance, trinkets, watches, caskets, fans, and even canes. Men had always carried canes, which were made of bamboo, ebony wood, &c., with the head made of metal or some other substance. The long gold-headed cane, once called cane à la Tronchin and afterwards à la Voltaire, was chiefly used by elderly men, magistrates and dignified personages. above: examples of cane heads.

The pliant canes, varying in length, were only suitable for young men in easy morning dress (en chenille). The younger ladies eventually took to using the long gold-headed cane, which they held in the middle, like the suisse at the door of a nobleman's residence. This led to the introduction of very costly canes made of scented wood, tortoise shell and ivory. The fans, which were at first used for fanning, eventually became more ornamental than useful, and the commonest were made of scented wood, while the most expensive were of tortoise shell and ivory, incrusted with ivory and precious stones, and painted by artists of great talent.

And here is a picture he sent along as well:



So maybe I should be picking up a cane for myself? That sounds like a lot of fun!!

Isn't fun to discover something new? Okay I may very well be the only one who didn't already know this information, but I found very interesting to learn!

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

More Clothing Examples

I currently subscribe to a fascinating Yahoo list for the Revolutionary War. Many subscribers will share research they have found on this time period with us. Today I was reading through some older posts and happened upon this post:

Many of you probably know that most of the Victoria and Albert Museum's legendary collection of 18th century clothing has been OFF public display for many years, while they try to figure out how to stop the deterioration of fabrics and dyes.

Before WWI, Harrods, the chi-chi department store in London, acquired a huge collection of clothing, including 18th century clothing, that had been amassed by Mr. Talbot Hughes.

Harrod's donated the collection to the V&A.

I recently came upon a hard-cover catalog of the opening exhibit from the early 20th century (undated, but roughly 1911 to1913 or thereabouts.)

I put it up at:
http://www.americanrevolution.org/harrods.html

If you are of an impatient disposition, and don't want to wade through the text, scroll to the bottom of the page for links to the illustrations.

I only put up illustrations of 18th century garments and a couple of early 19th century ones. If anyone wants the stuff up to the 1880's, let me know.

Best regards,
Ed St.Germain

I wanted to share his pictures here, because I thought they were very interesting. It's hard to find good examples of clothing of the time. Most of the stuff here is for the upper class it seems, not of the common everyday folk, but it stills gives us a good look into this time period. The Victoria and Albert museum is in London, England, so even when they do find a way to put the clothing back on display, I doubt I will be able to visit it easily. So I am grateful that these pictures have been posted online.

This picture shows a quilted petticoat. It still amazes me that women had the time and patience to create something like this. I would love to say that someday I will create a petticoat like this for myself, but unfortunately I do not have the time or the patience to do it. If I were going to spend that much time quilting, I would make a quilt to go on my bed. But I think it is a beautiful statement of how busy our lives have become.



This dress struck me because it’s one of the more simple ones he put up. I also really like the striped fabric here. In my own clothing I have stuck to solid colors and checked fabric, perhaps I will start to venture out and try some stripes soon.



Here is another simpler example of a dress. What I really like in this picture is the little bag she is carrying. I love my pockets, but I think I really need something else to help me carry some stuff, namely my camera. It also is extremely intriguing to me because I really want to know what is in HER bag. Most likely sewing stuff, but who knows! Could be something much more interesting like letters from a secret lover.



This picture is dated from 1780 to 1795, but again I really like the stripes in this. I find is so interesting that they are horizontal stripes on the vest. This picture was titled “A Suit of Interesting Character...” and I have to agree!!



Here is another great picture of a man’s clothing. I love that he has a cane of some sort tucked under his arm. I wonder if it was commonplace to carry one whether you needed it or not. I imagine that even if it were, it wouldn’t have been for those that were not higher up on the social scale.



Here is the link again if you want to look at all the pictures:

http://www.americanrevolution.org/harrods.html

There is also a really good write-up on more specific details of clothing of this time that can be found here:

http://www.americanrevolution.org/clothing/colonial7.html

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

Buttons, Buttons

So adding buttons to things is not fun. But it has to be done, so I do it. I was working on finishing up Kris' buttons on his regimental yesterday, when I realized that I did not have the right buttons for his sleeves. I had bought small brass buttons, thinking those would work, but really I should have gotten the larger ones. So now his jacket can't be finished until I can get my hands on some large buttons, I really didn't want to do another order from Townsend already, but it looks like I am going to have to. I was really hoping to have that jacket done by this weekend. I will at least finish the main ones, and maybe he can get by without the cuff buttons for a bit. You know what they say about the best laid plans!!

I also took some time and actually added button holes and wooden buttons to one of Kris' shirts. Unfortunately I was button hole impaired last year, so Kris had to get by with safety pins hidden underneath the cuffs of his shirts! It worked okay, but I went ahead and bought a sewing machine that actually makes button holes for me. It is pretty slick. So I got the chance to use it today and I added three buttonholes and buttons to his blue shirt today, so he would look good for the upcoming dinner. It turned out pretty dang good if I do say so myself. (No pictures of that, I know, I'm a slacker!) Now I just need to do the same to his white linen shirt and we will be good to go. So many projects, so little time.

I also put a call in to the woman that made Kris' jacket today. I asked if she could make a cold weather shirt for Kolby and gaiters for Kris. I have the fabric and the patterns for both, what I don't have is the time or the want to make them. She said she would be willing to make them and at a very reasonable price to! So that is a very good thing!! Another project off my list!

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

Satirical Prints

So I was checking out the links from other regiments in the area, I like looking at their pictures and seeing what events they are planning on attending. In my cyber travels I stumbled upon this great little website called the "The Hive Online". They are in Mass and they have some workshops to help people with different aspects of 18th century living. I am not sure if the classes are open to everyone, or if they are meant just for the members of their regiment, but it looks really neat. I may have to look into their classes more.

But what I found really interesting on their site was some pictures of Satirical Prints from the late 18th century. Satirical Prints were little "comic" prints that made some sort of statement about the culture, religion, or customs of the time. These have been around for hundreds of years and are still around in all different forms today. I like these prints because it gives us a slight inkling of what people dressed like at the time. I am not looking at the subject of the print, because of course they are over-dramatized to get a reaction out of people, but I think there is a lot of value in looking beyond the subject and taking a look at what the people are wearing. It's very difficult to find paintings of women that were not royalty or close to it. A common housewife probably couldn't afford to have her picture painted, and even if she did have the money to have one done, I would imagine that she would dress in her finest for the sitting, not in her everyday clothes. You have to think that getting your picture painted in the 18th century cost quite a bit of money, so whether you were rich, poor, or middle class, if you were going to put down the money to be painted, you were most likely going to look your best. Not to say that there aren't a few examples out there of a more common experience, but in general I have found most of the paintings to be a lot nicer then I imagine the everyday people dressed. Now of course I know none of this for fact, but it makes common sense to me. These prints give us a small window into what a woman going to market may have dressed like. To be honest I was very enthralled looking at these because I am missing a few things, like a good shawl, that it looks like a common woman would have worn quite a bit. So I really enjoyed looking at these prints and getting a feel for the more everyday look.

Here is one of the prints I really liked (Picture is clickable for the original site, that this came from):

In this print the girl is wearing two skirts, and she has one tucked up, she also has a small shawl that is tucked into a band of some sort across the chest. I have not seen this kind of thing anywhere else, but I think it makes sense, because one may not want to wear a large shawl that would be tucked into the apron, a smaller one may be more sufficient, especially if it's warmer out and rather than tucking it into the top of the dress, to have a band of some sort to hold the shawl in place would make sense. I wish there was more on this, perhaps it's a ribbon tied around the top of the dress? I also like that she has a ribbon choker around her neck, a very plain and simple one. I have often wondered if I could wear something around my neck, and this shows me that perhaps they did even when they were out doing their daily tasks.

These are a great resource for men and women's clothing. You can also see some more prints from all different dates here:

http://www.lclark.edu/~jhart/mezzoto1770/mezzodatedante1760.html#dated

I think each of these really give us a real look at the real, everyday people of this time.

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

Adding the Buttons

So today we decided to go ahead and attempt to add the buttons to Kris' Regimental jacket. I knew we would have to cut the holes open for the buttons, so I grabbed a steak knife (we have very sharp steak knives). When Kris saw what I was going to use, he suggested using one of his utility knives. I wasn't sure how well they would work, but I figured it was worth a try. So I grabbed a notebook I didn't care about, so I would have something hard to press against and gave the knife a go.


It actually worked out really well!! The knife cut through the layers of wool in one stroke and it was a very clean cut, so I was very happy that Kris made that suggestion. Once we had the holes cut I had to mark where I wanted the buttons to go, luckily since I am a quilter I had a marking pencil. I just laid the flaps of the jacket flat, and poked the pencil through the holes and marked away. I am not sure if this is the most efficient way to do this, but it was the best I could think of.

So once I finally had all the buttons marked, it was time to sew them on. Now I was very glad that we had someone else's regimentals when we came to this part. At first I was going to sew the buttons through all the layers, but Kris mentioned that the other jacket didn't have the string showing on the inside, I looked at it and sure enough the buttons had been sewn just into the top layer of wool leaving the lining clean. So I went ahead and did it that way, it was a little harder to do, making sure not to catch the lining, but it really wasn't bad. Kris helped with sewing on the buttons too. (Well actually he only sewed on one button and gave up, but he may not admit to that. LOL) So I have to finish the buttons on the sides and then I have to do the small buttons on the cuffs. Once I am done it will be ready for Kris to wear! I am so excited to have one project done before the season starts!! Now I only have ... oh 100 or so ... left to do! :) :) :)

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

Townsend Order

Well we ordered a few things off Townsend before the start of the new season. As I mentioned before, this year we were just looking to round out the stuff we already have with more pieces that fit the time period. I figure that we can just add a little bit more each year and eventually we will have everything we need!! Here is what we ordered from Townsend this time around:

Buttons
As I mentioned in the Regimental jacket post, we ordered some brass buttons for Kris' jacket. In addition to those, we also ordered some pewter buttons that we can use for his gaiters and anything else we might need them for. I ordered a total of 20 of these.

Stays
Okay so you may be wondering why I ordered stays. My previous post about stays talked about how I had made my own stays. I also mentioned at the end of that post that I had no desire to redo the stays since I felt they were too small, and even if I felt they were fine, I had no desire to finish them off! So rather than have all that pressure of getting those finished, I decided to buy a pair of stays from Townsend. I think I will still try and finish the ones I made by hand, but I really wanted to have something to wear for this season, so this was the best way. They cost a bit more than I really wanted to spend, but I am happy that I got them.

Ladies Cape
Since we started doing events a little bit later in the year last year, I really had no need for cold weather clothing at the time. But now that we will be doing parades earlier in the year, I really needed something to keep me warm. We did have one cold parade last year, and I just improvised by making Kolby and I wool blankets that we wore over our shoulders. It was sufficient, but I really wanted to get a cape for myself. So I did! Well technically Kris bought it for me as a birthday present, which is even better. I decided to go with a blue one since a lot of my clothes are blue, and I figure it really can match any color.

English Bodice
I have mentioned before that my research on the bodice shows that most likely it was only worn under something else. I also mentioned that I really wanted to make a dress for myself. Well I decided to go ahead and buy another bodice anyway. They are cool for the summer and most of the girls wear them. I still want to make something more for myself, but it's just not in the budget right now. I wanted to have 2 bodices since we are usually at the events for two days and I would like to have 2 complete outfits. I went with a red bodice since I have a red skirt. Once the events start, I will probably keep an eye out at the Sutlers for a nice short gown. Or maybe I can see if someone can help me make one.

Waistcoat
The last thing we got at Townsend on this go round was a waistcoat for Kris. Since we were able to get him his regimentals this year, we figured it was best if he had a waistcoat as well. From doing a little research on men's clothing, it seems that the popular idea is that a man never would have been seen without a waistcoat on. Now of course this was war time, so society rules probably fell by the wayside a bit, but really it's best that he have one to wear. In that time, it seems, that not wearing a waistcoat would be like walking around in public with no shirt on today. Some people might do it, but it's not commonly accepted. We went for a linen waistcoat since it should breath the best and it doesn't cost any more then the cotton or wool. Really cotton would have had very limited use in this time period because cotton had to be sent to England to be processed and just wasn't as readily available as homespun linen was. Don't get me wrong, I still use a lot of cotton for our stuff because it is a whole heck of a lot cheaper than linen today, but if given the choice I will try and choose linen over cotton. Kris decided to go with a gray color, really just because he liked it.

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

Regimental Jacket

Well Kris finally got his Regimental jacket!! A woman in New Boston is the one that makes them for us. We didn't get one last year because it was just too much on top of everything else we were spending. The jacket cost $150 and is made of Red and Green wool. The only thing we have left to do on it is put on the buttons. She sewed the holes for the buttons, but she didn't cut the holes open or put the buttons on. We actually had to buy the buttons from Townsend. We ordered 10 small buttons for the cuffs and 20 large buttons for the jacket part. The buttons ended up costing us another $30. Now I just have to figure out the best method of cutting the button holes open and then I have to go about sewing each button on! I will update once I get around to that!!

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

Men's Clothing

My initial Goal for Kris was to have just enough of his uniform in order to March in the parade. I knew we would have to borrow the rifle since that would be one of the more expensive things we will buy, but I figured I should be able to get most everything else.

Items we needed for Kris to march:

Black Shoes
Although there are sites that sell period shoes, like these from Jas Townsend. These run for $90 on this site, and prices are comparable pretty much everywhere I looked. Many re-enactors decide to go the more cost effective route and will buy plain black shoes at Wal-mart or similar store. At first we used the shoe laces that came with them, but now we have leather that we have purchased from a Sutler and use that for the laces. Some day we may go this route for Kris, but for now the cheaper choice works for us. With so many things to buy up front, it only makes sense to cut corners where it's not so visible to the public. We paid around $20 for the shoes we got.

Cotton Socks
These are relatively inexpensive and are pretty much the same price no matter where you get them. These really shouldn't be bought in the modern style because the men’s socks were very plain with no ribbing in them, so we felt it would be better to just buy a couple of period socks for him. We ended up just buying them from Flying Canoe Traders, since that was where we bought his pants. They ended up being $8 a pair and we bought one in blue and one in white.

Garters
These are inexpensive as well, but Flying Canoe did not sell these, so we did an order from Jas Townsend that included these. Since we were buying period socks, he really needed these to help hold the socks up. Although even the period socks have some grip to them and don’t slide down so easy, in the 1700’s the socks would have had almost no grip and would have slid down very easily, so it would have been rare to see a soldier without garters on. We paid $7.50 for a pair of these.

Breeches
We needed pants for Kris. When I was looking at websites I saw breeches that go to the knee and I also saw pants that go to the ankles. I was not sure which was more appropriate to wear. After looking at pictures of other RevWar re-enactors I saw that the vast majority of them had the breeches, so that’s what I went with. We got them from Flying Canoe because they came highly recommended for their quality and their turn over time in shipping them out. Most other sites will make the pants from scratch when you order, but Flying Canoe has them on hand ready to ship (unless you are an odd size.) Since they are in Canada, you do have to factor in the fact that it may take longer to get to the US, but they shipped them to us the quickest way possible and the pants arrived 2 days before the parade. I chose to buy the Natural color, since it seemed to be the most neutral. The pants were $55 and I believe the faster shipping ending up being $20. The pants were slightly big so I just took them in on the sides for him.

Workshirt
This is the shirt that is worn under everything else. It is supposed to be long enough to wear as a nightgown at night. Generally you would wear something over it, but it is not always necessary. I decided that I would make this shirt for Kris. I bought the pattern from Jas Townsend. The most authentic thing to make clothes with is 100% linen, although they had cotton at the time, it was not as widely used as linen was. But it is perfectly acceptable to use cotton or linen or a blend of the two. If cotton is used it should not be a printed cotton, if it can be avoided. I found that the homespun cotton as Jo-Ann Fabrics worked really well for some of my projects, and it was relatively inexpensive at $2.99 a yard. For the first shirt I made for Kris I wanted to use linen, I found a great online store that sold linen for an awesome price. The store is fabric-store.com. I have linked you to a great article that helps you choose the best weight of linen from their site. I bought the linen for $5.51 per yard plus shipping. Kris’ shirt took 3 yards of fabric. I hand sewed the entire shirt the first time, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. However, the second shirt I made (which I made after our first real re-enactment) I machine sewed any seams that weren’t visible and then hand sewed any seams that could be seen. Although I am sure it wouldn’t have been a big deal to machine sew the entire thing, I chose to keep it as realistic as possible. I think the shirt pattern I chose is more for Rangers, but it’s easy to make and I like it so I am sticking with it for now.

Hunting Shirt
We were lucky enough to be able to borrow a hunting shirt from another re-enactor in the regiment. A shirt similar to the one we borrowed is sold at Jas Townsend. The one we borrowed didn’t have as prominent a “cape” and it had a little more fringe on the neck part, which I guess is really not period correct, but it works for the time being. I am not sure where the exact shirt we have was purchased, but we did appreciate being able to borrow it.

Leather Belt
Since we knew we had the hunting shirt to borrow, we also knew that we would need a belt to keep it closed. We decided on a leather belt from Jas Townsend. It did not have any holes punched when we got it so I used an eyelet punch to punch the holes. I suppose that it would have been better to cut the holes with a knife since I assume they wouldn’t have had hole punches in the 1700’s, but these are things you think of only after the deed is done.

Hat
We borrowed the hat for the parade as well. The hat that we borrowed was a felt hat, which I believe was a blank, but it had been molded into a tri-corn. There was no white trim on it. The blank can be seen at Jas Townsend. After the parade one of the other re-enactors in the regiment approached Kris and let him know that he had a similar hat that we could have. He had ordered one online, it got lost in the mail so they sent him a replacement, after a while the first one showed up so he had two and he really only needed one. We were very grateful for the hat. The hat was a little small for Kris’ head, so we placed it over a pot of boiling water to steam it, then we put it on Kris’ head which molded it to the shape of his head and we let it dry. Now it is just the right size for him.

Cartridge Box
One of our larger expenses was for a cartridge box. This was something that Kris couldn’t borrow so we decided to go with one from Dixie Gun Works. They came highly recommended from other people in the regiment. The sling for the box came separate from the box itself. The box cost $35.00 (on sale) and the sling was $16.95. We may consider getting another box for Kris later on so he can carry more round with him, but this works for now.

Haversack
The last thing we purchased in time for the parade was a haversack. We were able to buy this at Jas Townsend. Again this was another one of those things that we could find anywhere, but since we were placing an order at Townsend, we decided to just get it there. We went with the neutral color to match everything else. The haversack cost $10.

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

Finding the Right Clothes

My first task in starting RevWar was to find the right clothes for the three of us. Since we had originally planned on doing Civil War re-enactment, I had no idea where to start. Luckily Kolby was taken care of, since some of the other people in the group had had young children that were now grown, they passed down some clothes for Kolby to use. I only had a few other things that I had to get for him to start. For Kris and I, the first place I started was the web page of links from the Regiments website. These were an excellent place to start, but were not by any means conclusive enough for me. I decided to do a little research on my own as well. Some of the sites I found gave a really good how-to for making clothes; others just sold clothes, but were very helpful in seeing the style that was good. The sites that I found very helpful for looking at clothing were:

· http://jas-townsend.com/index.php
· http://www.marquise.de/en/1700/i_herstellung.shtml
· http://www.geocities.com/babettelinks/
· http://www.18cnewenglandlife.org/
· http://www.reddawn.net/costume/butterk.htm (Modern patterns and how they may work for re-enacting)
· http://www.marariley.net/celtic/scotswomen.htm (This is just for a general idea since we are not representing Scots, I didn’t use this exactly)
· http://www.geocities.com/babettelinks/newbie2.html
· http://www.wmboothdraper.com/Patterns/womens_patterns.htm (Great site for patterns)

After doing some research, I was beginning to realize that this was not going to be as quick to get together as I had originally thought. The next event coming up was a parade at the end of May. My priority was to get all of Kris’ stuff together, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get everything together for all three of us, so I figured that Kolby and I would just sit on the sidelines and watch, but Kris could march if I could get all his clothes together.

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel