More 18th Century Jewelry Examples

My previous post on 18th Century Jewelry has been very popular, so I thought I would follow it up with a post filled with pictorial examples of what was worn at this time. All of these were pulled from Wikimedia Commons. In the pictures I was able to find below, I noticed that there are two types of neckwear. A simple ribbon or pearls.

Pearls
I was able to find three examples of women wearing pearls. In my last post about jewelry I stated that Mrs. Adams’ pearls actually were not real, so it's likely that these pictured below were not either.

1776
The woman below has a rather large neckpiece that goes from her neck down to the top of her dress. The necklace also has a cameo type thing, and two matching pearl bracelets with similar cameos. Also interesting to note in this painting is this woman's earrings. They seem to also be made of pearls and are rather large.


1780-1800
The woman below has a more simple set of pearls on. You can see that her necklace is tied in the back with a ribbon. Similar to the painting above, she also has a matching set of pearl bracelets. It's important to note as well that the pearls here and above are rather large and round. These are not delicate pearl necklaces.


1777
Here is one last example of pearls. This is a drawing, so it's a little harder to see them, but you can tell she has one strand around her neck. They do not seem to be as perfectly round as the two depicted above either.



Ribbon
These pictures below show a more simple neck ornament of ribbon. The pictures I have here show a simple black, thin ribbon, between 1/8 inch and 1/2 inch. I have also seen a few pictures where the ribbon was thicker, maybe almost an inch and a half to two inches, and it was also black.

1771-1772
The woman below is wearing a thin black ribbon in the style we would call a 'drop' necklace. The ribbon goes around her neck and then drops down to the top of her dress in a 'Y" shape. It's hard to tell how she achieved this, but by zooming in you can see that most likely she just doubled up the piece of ribbon and looped it through itself in the front and tucked the end in the top of the dress.


1773
Below is a fun portrait that has a lot of neat things going on, but as far as her neckwear is concerned, it looks like she is wearing a black silk ribbon that is a half inch thick. It is tied in the back and it also has a drop with a good size cross on the end of it. It looks to me like she made a small loop of ribbon, slid the cross on it, and then tied that to the front of the loop of ribbon going around her neck. Pretty simple to do.


1770
This little girl below has a similar necklace to the one shown in the first painting. This shows that this kind of neckwear wasn't only for adults. It's hard to tell if this ties in the back or not, but the double ribbon in the front tells me that most likely it's not and it put together in the same way as the first painting.


1790
This painting below is a little later than the others, but I really like it because it's not a 'portrait' so to speak. It depicts someone of the 'everyday' wearing a ribbon necklace. Unlike the others though, she has the ribbon tied in a knot in the front, close up it looks like maybe a thin silk that is a forest green (maybe black) color. Again this looks like it is a half-inch thick.



I hope these examples give you a better idea of the type of necklaces an 18th century woman would have worn. As you can see it wasn't anything too complicated and relatively simple to duplicate.

Runaway Ads and Clothing

So I was having so much fun looking through the runaway ads, I thought I would share some snippets here with you to try and paint a picture of the clothing choices these people were making. I think this is important when we are deciding what we want to wear.

In order to see the full ads, please click on the direct link, they are very interesting and really give a taste of the 18th century.

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, January 12, 1775
Direct Link to Full Ad
had on when she went away a brown linen jacket and petticoat, plaid stockings, common shoes, a calico jacket and petticoat, 1 or 2 white linen shifts, and several other clothes, which I do not remember

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, July 21, 1775
Direct Link to Full Ad
She had on, and took with her, a calico waistcoat and petticoat, one blue plains ditto, and sundry other apparel. She went off with a free negro fellow, who pretends being a doctor, commonly wears a laced hat

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, March 25, 1775
Direct Link to Full Ad
had on a Check Petticoat, one brown Linen Ditto, and a blue Stuff Jump Jacket

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, June 15, 1775
Direct Link to Full Ad
She had on, and took with her, a homespun striped jacket, a red quilted petticoat, a black silk hat, a pair of leather shoes, with wooden heals [sic], a chintz gown, and a black cloak

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, July 27, 1775
Direct Link to Full Ad
She is dressed with a blue and white Swanskin petticoat, oznabrig shirt, and striped homespun jacket

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!

Hem Stitching

Recently on one of the message lists I follow there was a bit of discussion regarding hand sewing. We were talking about its benefits, which are many. You can take it with you anywhere (dentist office, car ride, child's sports game). You generally have more control over your stitches, which is very helpful if you are new to sewing. It is more authentic. The sewing machine did not come into being until the early 1800s, so although it is a quick alternative, nothing at the time we are reenacting would have been sewn by machine. Now, even though this is true, there are times when it is still acceptable enough to use a machine, so don't think I am telling you to never use one, we were just having a discussion about the benefits of hand sewing and that is one of the benefits!

I personally have used a combination of hand sewing and machine sewing in making my garments. Usually if the seam cannot be seen, I will use the machine, but anything that can be seen will be hand sewn. I am not wholly opposed to hand sewing a garment inside and out, I have done this with one of my husband’s shirts, but it is more time efficient to use the machine where it won’t be seen anyway.

In the midst of this lovely conversation, one of the members of the list shared some great information about stitching a hem. Her name is Steph and she is a member of The Hive Online and The Ladies of Refined Taste. I got permission from her to share the information here with you. I hope you find it as interesting and useful as I did!

In our recent discussions on hand sewing, I'd like to offer up a few period examples of hemstitching. Notice how these are not rolled hems as you might think, rather (1/4" approximately) folded hems. Here's some inspiration for your fine hand sewing...

1. Pretty Girl with her Apron before the Candle

http://lwlimages.library.yale.edu/walpoleweb/oneITEM.asp?pid=lwlpr02989&iid=lwlpr02989
This one is such a gem -- there are soooo many details here. If you zoom in you can see the stitches on the hem of her handkerchief. Notice the straight pin holding it shut -- love that!

2. Portrait of Thaddeus Burr by Copley

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:John_Singleton_Copley_005.jpg
Look at how the sleeve ruffles are hemmed -- see how they are depicted by a band of shading.

3. Portrait of Samuel Quincy

http://www.abcgallery.com/C/copley/copley75.html
Take a gander at the work on this minister's collar -- you can see how it is folded and the corner's finished. Thank you Mr. Copley!

4. Portrait of John Hancock

http://www.abcgallery.com/C/copley/copley40.html
Check out those sleeve ruffles -- how fine the linen is and how they are finished with a folded hem

And there are many, many more examples -- on bosom ruffles, shift ruffles, aprons, etc. Zoom in on the details and they tell you sooooo much – And important enough for the artist to show them!!

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

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

18th Century Jewelry

So I had previously posted about my request for crafts on the Historical Trekkers forum. Well I went back today and Mike had another suggestion for me:

On a different message board (the Nouvelle France section), Ike posted some pics of a Chaplet he made with simple beads and brass wire. A Chaplet is a short version of a Rosary. It only requres some proper beads for the correct time period, some brass wire, plus a round-nose pliers to do the twisting/bending, and a cutter to nip the wire to length, and a repro of an original cross for the end. The rest is carefull bending/twisting of the wire to form the wire links, and to add the loops to the bead to add it into your chaplet/rosary. This would have been a simple little "cottage industry" type craft, and could be demonstrated at many events. Just be careful in selecting the right type of beads, and the correct repro cross at the end.

I have done some beading as projects just for myself (not 18th century), so this sounds intriguing to me. I decided to take a stroll around the Internet and see what I could stir up on 18th century beads.

One of the interesting things I found was a pearl necklace that belonged to Abigail Adams, and is now in the Smithsonian. I found a website that is selling a reproduction of the necklace, although Abigail's necklace was fake pearls and the one this site is selling is real pearls. (They also have some other interesting necklaces.) On the site they have a link to a portrait of Abigail wearing this type of necklace. It looks like the reproduction necklace is all one strand with ribbon attached at the ends, so you can wear it long or wrap it around your neck a few times, I like that idea. This would be fairly simple to make, I think if I just made loops on the strand of pearls and sewed the ribbon on, I could do a pretty fair job of it. I think I will give this project a try, but with fake pearls, just like the original.

I found another interesting site along the way. It looks like they are selling beads that were actually made some time between the 11th and 18th century (If I am reading this right). They are seed beads from a company that just recently shut down, but had all these antique seed beads hanging around. I guess they were used on court dresses and the such. It sounds like a line to me, but I suppose it could be true. They are a bit expensive, but if it were true, it might be nice to have a few if for nothing else but to try and match them to current seed beads and pick a good replacement (at a cheaper price)! Here is the write-up from their site:

18th century French opalescent seed beads. On spools of wire around 14 beads to an inch. Sold by the foot of beads on wire. A pale opalescent cornflower blue. We feel so fortunate to have come acress these amazing beads. We have 8 antique spools in the colors above. The spools are of iron, wood or of a type of pressboard with the spool company "Chauny-Perigeueux" embossed on the spool. These beads came from a very old French glass house of Salvatore. Originally in located in Venice, famiglia Salvatore moved its glass house to France in the 11th century. Up through the end of the eighteen century these beads were produced and then stored in large canvas bags. In the 19th century they were strung on fine wire and wound on the spools we have today. The beads were made for costume and textile decoration for royalty and gentry. They were originally used to decorate court gowns and costumes for weddings, baptisms, balls, coronations. The company closed early in the 20th century and we have been told that the remaining spools are just being distributed for the first time.

Google really didn't come up with much as far as 18th century beads were concerned. I probably didn't try looking as hard as I could have, I will probably do some more looking later. But I could use those seed beads (or cheaper look-a-likes) to hand make crosses pretty easily I think. I also couldn't find much information about the style of cross that would be appropriate. Maybe google isn't my best research friend when it comes to the 18th century!! I may have to actually resort to looking in some books ... *gasp* ... what's a girl to do? Or maybe I will just send a message back to Mike and ask if he has more information on the appropriate stuff to use, now that's my kind of research!!

Also check on my other article on this subject, it includes paintings as well!

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

The Stays Part 2

So I ordered the stays from Townsend after making a pair of my own, but not wanting to finish them up. Well they finally came. I tried them on and they are super comfortable, I really like them. The only problem I have is that they are a medium and I can lace them up such that both the back and the front lacings are closed completely. I was reading something on the Internet that someone preferred to have a gap. I am trying to lose a few pounds so I am a bit concerned that if I lose anything these will be too big. So then I got to thinking that maybe I don’t need to lace them as tight, so I started doing some reading on the web about how to properly wear stays and I found some interesting articles. Here are some of the things I found:

Stays vs. Jumps

Pictures

And here’s a quote from a site that really made me stop and think. This is from Mara Riley:

Stays Rant

“I think many women resist wearing stays because they think that stays will be uncomfortable -- they associate them with the scene in "Gone With the Wind" where Scarlett is being laced into her corset. Nothing could be further from the truth. A good-fitting corset should be snug enough not to move around much on the body, but you should be able to breathe while wearing it (you may need to loosen your stays a little if you plan on dancing vigorously, of course). And stays for women who expected to work in them were cut differently from those worn by upper-class women; the armscyes were bigger, and allowed for more arm movement.”

That really made me think about what I was doing. See when I started reenacting the 1700s, I didn’t know much about the women, all I knew about women wearing corsets was what I had seen in Gone with the Wind or Titanic. (Silly I know, but hey that’s all I had!) So when I started thinking about stays for RevWar, I assumed that they should be tied as tight as those women, but apparently they shouldn’t be. As Mara was saying, it needs to be tight enough not to move, but it’s not there to make my waist small, it’s there to give me a shape. So when I tried on the stays from Townsend, I may have just been pulling them too tight. I also noticed form the pictures link above, that many of the women in the paintings don’t have the heaving bust like you see in later periods. The stays of this period were really meant to give a flatter more cylindrical look to the torso. We may not find that look as “appealing” nowadays, but since I am striving for authenticity, I am going to try and go more for that flat, cylindrical, but able to still breath, look. So I will try my stays on again and try not pulling them so tight and see if that works better for me. I love learning new things!!

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

The Stays

So ever since hearing that we were going to do RevWar, I knew that I wanted to wear stays. Call me weird, but I just think they look cool. I don’t think they are uncomfortable at all. (Okay well granted I had never worn any for extended periods of time, but I truly believe that if they were made to fit your body, they wouldn’t be uncomfortable.) I knew that I couldn’t afford to buy them right now because they usually cost close to $100 and that just wasn’t in the budget this year, so I decided to hold off and look around, do some research and see if I could make a pair. Seemed daunting, but I figured it might be worth a try.

So the first place I started my research was the Internet of course!! Here are a few sites that I found along the way:

Saga of the Stays

Good Directions on how to make Stays

Some good Articles

Timeline of Stays through History

And of course I just did some good old fashion asking around when we were at the events. Many of the women in my regiment don’t wear stays, but some of them had made them, so they had some good tips for me. I also asked Sutlers that I noticed had stays made up, ready to buy. One good tip that I got was to use ¼” reeding for the stays themselves, rather than the poly or metal ones that are sold. (More on this later.)

So now that I had an idea of what I wanted to do I had to find a pattern. The directions above had a drawn pattern, but I wanted something more rigid. I wanted to be able to cut it out easily, so I looked up patterns on Townsend and found a great one. It looked a little more complicated then some of the others I have seen around, but I felt it was one of the more accurate examples from all that I had seen. The one I picked can be found here.

Once it arrived, I sat on it for a while. I was trying to figure out the best fabric to use. I didn’t want anything too thin because I didn’t want the stays poking out at me, but I also didn’t want it to be too hot. One day we were out looking at yard sales and I stumbled upon a great find. Someone was getting rid of some bolts of fabric, I got a black cotton, which I wanted for a Halloween quilt I wanted to make, a black canvas, and two green cotton bolts. I got all of these for $25, which is significantly less then I would have paid for them by the yard, especially considering these bolts were full. I figured that the black canvas would be great for Kris’ gaiters and for the inner part of my stays. It is thick enough so nothing pokes out, and since another fabric would be on the outside, the black wouldn’t absorb heat as much. I picked a nice blue check fabric to go on the outside.

I cut out all the pieces, followed the directions and sewed it all up. I did my best to do channels that were slightly larger than a ¼” since the reeding would be a ¼” I figured it wouldn’t work if the channels were the same size. My lines were not the straightest since I am not a professional seamstress by any means, but I thought it turned out pretty good. The reeding I picked up is found here. It came in a huge bundle, way more then I needed, but it was cheap enough that I wasn’t too concerned. I soaked the reeding to help it uncurl, and I slid it in the channels. Since my channels weren’t perfect, I actually ended up having to trim down some of the pieces of reeding, but eventually they all fit in there. I dried it under something heavy and flat to make sure the reeding didn’t curl back up. The stays still needed a backing layer and the finishing around the edges, but I wanted to try wearing it once before I did that.

In order to wear my stays I had to punch holes in it so it could be laced. I actually used my anywhere eyelet punch that I had from my scrapbooking supplies. I punched the holes using the guide from the pattern, and then I hand overcast stitched each hole. This took quite a bit of time to do, but I think it looks really nice. They would not have used metal grommets in this time period, though I know some people use them and then cover them with thread, I figured that was just an extra step.

I tried them on and they fit fairly well. They only laced in the back, so I had to have my husband help me get them tied up. I wore them for one event, but quickly started to notice that the reeding went too far down. I had brought the reeding all the way down into the tabs, but I think it would have been better to stop right above the tabs. I took the stays off for that day and I went back and pulled the reeding out, trimmed it, and pushed it back in so it was now above the tabs. I wore that version for the last parade we had, and it wasn’t too bad. It was still slightly uncomfortable around the waist, but I was walking and sitting this day and really it was a lot better then the last time.

So that was as far as I got. I still haven’t finished off the stays because to be honest I dread putting the edging on there, and since they are still not quite right, I wonder if I should have made the pattern a little longer. And the thought of starting the whole thing over to try it a little longer makes me nauseous. I have all the materials, but the time it took to make it, is time I really only wanted to spend once. So I gave up, I set them aside. I love them, and I wish they were right, but I just can’t bring myself to finish them right now. Since it’s more of a matter of time then cost or materials, maybe someday in the near future I will try again.

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

Women's Clothes

With Kris' clothes pretty much out of the way, it was time to focus on getting my outfit together. I had started some of my pieces prior to the parade, but had been unable to finish them in time. My new goal was to have mine and Kolby's outfit finished by the next reenactment which was going to be on June 2nd and 3rd. Lori from the regiment was a huge help in getting me started with what pieces I would need.

Here is what I put together for my outfit:

Black Shoes
Just as with the men's shoes, there are vendors that sell period shoes for women. Someday I may get these, but for now $80 for shoes was not feasible. Townsend sells these, but I am not altogether convinced that someone of the status that I want to represent would wear nice shoes like these for everyday. Since the cost is too much for now, I have time to do some more research on this. For now I just used some plain black slip on shoes that I was using for work. I had picked these up at Wal-Mart for around $20. They didn't look overly modern, so they worked well enough for now.

Cotton Socks
Since I would be wearing skirts, my socks would not be showing as much as a man's socks would. For this reason I didn't feel it was necessary to buy special socks for myself. I couldn't find socks that were made specifically for women online, so I just decided to forgo these for the time being. Instead I headed down to the local sports shop and I bought some blue and black soccer socks. They were a solid color. Of course they were by no means period, but since my socks would not be showing too much, they worked fine for now.

Skirts
Before making the actual pieces of my dress, I made sure to do a little research on what was actually worn (see my post with research links). For my skirts, I decided to make two. Most of what I read showed that women rarely wore one skirt at a time unless it was very hot out. I picked a set of patterns from Townsend to help me the skirts (as well as some other things). The skirts in here are sewn directly onto a waistband. I have seen some skirts that float on a string, and are just naturally gathered when they are worn. But I preferred the ones that are sewn in place because I figured I wouldn't be adjusting them as much. I have also heard that some people use an elastic waist for their skirts. Of course this is not period correct either, but considering that no one should ever see the top of your skit, this should not be a problem and would most likely be very comfortable. I made my two skirts out of linen. I sewed the portions of the skirt that would not be seen with my machine, but the seams that would be seen I hand sewed to try and give it a more authentic look. The red linen I bought at a local store, it is 100% linen, but somehow is wrinkle free. I love it! The blue skirt I made I bought the fabric from fabric-store.com. It's a very nice color, but wrinkles very easily. I don't usually iron it, mostly out of laziness.

Pockets
Every woman had pockets. This was the equivalent of a purse. The pockets were big and would hold everything that a woman needed. The pockets were often ornately decorated, but contrary to what one might think, these pockets were always worn underneath clothing. Pockets never would have been worn outside the clothes for fear of pickpockets. The pattern that I bought included a pattern for the pockets as well. I used some of the white linen that I bought from fabric-store.com to make there. I sewed these pretty much all by hand since they would never be worn over my clothing. My pockets are awesome to hold my camera and any small modern day items that I want to have on hand, but do not want to be seen.

English Bodice
After doing a lot of research, I have gotten a lot of mixed feelings on the bodices. I think the more common thought right now is that the bodice was not worn by itself in public, although there has been some proof that it was a real piece of clothing, many believe that it was worn under something else to help keep ladies warm. However, the bodice is the most cost effective piece of clothing that i could get to go over my shift. I wasn't looking to spend a lot of money up front, so I decided that the bodice would not be that bad a choice. A lot of the girls in my regiment wear a bodice, so I would not stand out by wearing one. I got a blue one from Townsend. The pattern pack that I bought does have a pattern for a shortgown, so I plan on making one of these as well, though there is now emerging research that shows that these would not have been worn as commonly out in public either. I think the best route to go will be a gown, a more simple one since I am not portraying a rich persona.

Shift and Cap
I had planned on sewing my own shift, but when it came time for our first reenactment, I still had not made it because I had been spending so much time making my other items. So I decided that I would try and buy these two items from the sutlers there. I was very lucky that one of the girls from our regiment was present as a sutler and had a shift and a cap that she was looking to sell. I bought them right up and was able to use them for that weekend. I figured that I would try and make a shift later since it would probably be a good idea to have two, one for each day.

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