Quiet Tuesday

30 Tuesday Oct 2012

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The worst for us: dirt and leaves on the house

Quiet for us in Providence because there is no school, so no school buses and no children  chattering past the house on their way to the middle school. After the storm passed last night, the city was eerily quiet, the way it is just at the end of a snow storm. We were lucky: no damage to our property, everything secured and although wind howled between the buildings and it sometimes sounded as if the side of the house would peel off, it did not. Perhaps the sheer power of ugliness held it together.

Far worse weather in NY and PA where museums remain closed and cities overwhelmed by water. I don’t expect much damage here in town, but do expect places in South County and East Bay have damage.

When in doubt and out of danger, keep sewing. And now, off to work.

The Calm is Now

29 Monday Oct 2012

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Closed hurricane barrier at Fox Point

It’s the waiting that’s hard, that and listening to the wind. We’re likely to be fine up here on the hill. Mr S has taken the car to the ground-floor satellite office so he can get a server off the floor…really, I’d expect health care offices to do better on disaster prep than a museum, but seemingly not…but with the car gone, I have only to worry about tree limbs falling on the house. Most came down in Irene, but the maple is old and sick and needs to come down.

What to do when schools and work are closed? Sew, and teach the Young Mr grammar. He needs to cram on commas, and write a paragraph.

A burn test revealed that the only wool (or part-wool) fabric of which I have yardage enough to make a gown will not be safe to wear around fire. Time to rethink…and ride out the storm.

Projects a-waiting

28 Sunday Oct 2012

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From Essex House, 1790

We’re ready at work (electronics unplugged, shutters closed, anything outside brought in) and at home (water and non-perishables in stock, matches–or flint and steel–plus candles at the ready) so now all there is to do is to wait for Sandy’s effects to be felt.

What to do while waiting? Laundry, for one thing, vacuuming for another (day). And what else but obsessing?

First, the Curtain-along-kerfluffle continues. Found last night, a gown from Fairfax House in Essex (UK). Looks like a robe that goes over a lighter gown, shown here with a green silk underdress. And then there are the Kyoto Costume Institute’s English gowns from Revolution in Fashion and Fashion.

I also love the detail in the back of the V&A’s printed cotton open robe, so in the end, what I may do is design a gown based on the principles of extant examples and fashion plates, rather than recreate an extant example.

Before any of that can really happen (sigh), I must have the right undergarments. I have been hunting up examples, and I may be able to adapt and refine the hand-sewn pair based on a set at the Met that I made to wear to Coggeshall Farm. I have to address those anyway because…the guys want to volunteer for winter chores in December, and needs must dress appropriately.

That puts me at a project list:

1. Refine, correct, beat into shape 1790s Met stays………………….December 2

2. Two pairs men’s trousers (5-7 buttonholes each)………………….December 2

3. Two men’s waistcoats ca. 1790 (8-10 buttonholes each)……….December 2

4. Finish grey workman’s coat 1780-90 (12+ buttonholes)…………December 2

5. Undefined outerwear in wool for child (too many buttonholes)..December 2

6. Wool gown and petticoat, 1790s…………………………………………December 2

7. 1790s gown in Indienne print………………………………………………March 9

8. 1790s white cotton petticoat………………………………………………..March 9

9. 10th MA regimental coat, private’s……………………………………….April 20 –or–

10. 2nd RI regimental coat, private’s………………………………………….April 20—and–

11. 10th MA musician’s coat……………………………………………………..April 20–or–

12. 2nd RI musician’s coat………………………………………………………..April 20

13. Umm, excuse me, I lost track of the fun here……………..

Right. I note the lack of wool 1770 gown for April 13 here, or my quilted petticoat, or the floaty blue silk 1799 gown and blue wool spencer I want to make. It’s hard to be dressmaker and tailor. Also not on the list above are the finer shift and white linen shirt that are in process in my basket, and the Williamsburg jacket of remnant reproduction print. At least that’s an easy one, like making gingerbread. I have a pattern that works, I have the fabric, all I have to do is cut it out and sew.

Fun and Wearable

26 Friday Oct 2012

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I thought I’d solved this! Williamsburg’s jacket and petticoat combination, accession number 1990-10. Here’s why: “East Indian textile, worn in Albany, New York, by Ann Van Rensselaer, ca. 1790, textile earlier in date.”

1790 I can wear at work and at Dress U. That makes it fun and useful, which is always better.

Then I woke up at 2:00AM, with this KCI dress in mind:

That’s a dress style that could be worn with the white Ikea curtain petticoat and kerchief. Now, I’m better at jackets and petticoats than I am at gowns (though isn’t an open robe really just a jacket with a crazy-long skirt?) but I can’t get the KCI gown out of my head. It’s English, too, which makes it plausible, if not as close as the Rensselaer gown. Bonus: have to pattern it up myself, which I enjoy. Just because I’m swearing doesn’t mean I’m not having fun.

I have until March to get something finished. First comes some more standing around in the cold, and sewing for men who want to do farm work.

The Great Curtain-a-Long Kerfluffle

25 Thursday Oct 2012

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Not to be confused with the Great Benefit Street Curtain Kerfluffle of 2007, in which I averred in a lectured that the wealthy of Providence did, in fact, have not just shutters but also curtains, and was publicly challenged by irate docents. Sometimes I feel the need to remind them that John Brown did not in fact squat naked in a corner of a fireless room gnawing on a joint until Benjamin Franklin appeared with the gift of fire called down from the sky by a kite….why, yes, I do have some docent issues.

Way back in a warm sunny month I bought the Waverly curtains at Lowe’s in the cream color way, though both the black and the red were also tempting. Now the question is, what to make? Not that there aren’t plenty of other projects requiring my attention…but sometimes, you want to do something just because it’s fun.

“Fun” is a concept I have some trouble with. I am much better with work and responsibility and guilt. “Spontaneous” isn’t too bad (how do you think I end up in some of the situations I find myself in?) but simple “fun” can be tricky. So here I am with the spontaneously purchased curtains, and the need for a plan.

The plan has vacillated between “just for fun” dress and a fully documented dress. A “just for fun” dress would not have to be documented to 1770-1780 New England or 1790-1805 Rhode Island. How liberating! French dressing, here I come! Except…where and when would I get to wear my new creation? So I need not just a plan but a cunning plan.

Where to turn? I chose the Met, and here’s what I found.

Dress number 1, 1725-1750, British, embroidered linen. Has the right features (open, robings, cuffs) and the fabric could be plausibly mimicked with the print. Could be worn with a matching petticoat (need another curtain if I do that) or a red flannel petticoat. Would be super amazing with a crewel stomacher if I made myself do that. Could probably be worn to Rev War events if I felt a bit brazen. (She wore curtains at Battle Road?! My dear, the idea!)

Dress number 2, 18th century, French. Printed cotton. Actually a two-piece item, jacket or bodice and petticoat, this is probably 1790-1800. Dates are good for work and other places in Rhode Island. Problem? It’s French, and there’s no evidence that anything like this was worn in the U.S., much less in New England.

Dress number 3, mid-18th century, American, linen and cotton. The bodice closes edge-to-edge, the back is pleated, and the skirts open. Probably 1775-1785, trending later than 1775 judging by the closed front and the longer sleeves and the style of the cuff. Not OK for Rev War events. Just OK for events at work, but not ideal.

Dress number 4, ca. 1780, from the Scottish National Museums. I have been looking in the National Trust Collections online for an image of the gown that appears in Nancy Bradfield’s book (see below), but to no avail. (I do keep falling asleep at night, and while that doesn’t help, it may be that the dress has not been photographed.) The fun part of this dress is that I have some light-weight Ikea curtains to make a petticoat and  kerchief out of. Also, my hair can get into the crazy hedgehog style practically on its own. But I can document this to Rhode Island 1780-1790?

See the dilemma? Maybe the thing to do is to make the fabric into a banyan for Mr S (that would be a little weird to see on a private soldier in von Steuben camp) and think again about the later styles.

Or maybe the thing to do is to lighten up a tiny bit and make a dress that’s just for fun.