Tag Archives: common dress

In the Pink

14 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by in Clothing, Making Things, Reenacting, Research

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Detail, back pleats

Detail, back pleats

I swear I try to be positive about the mistakes I make. But not only did I discover this morning that I had lost my struggle with spacial processing, now I have found clear imagery to show how I should have handled the pleats on the Zombie Coat. Live, learn, unstitch and restitch: that’s all I can do. Now I have only to decide whether to do the unstitching this weekend, or next week. It will have to be done: now I know the way I’ve done it is wrong, and the master’s eye will be on that mistake and then he will know, and I will know that he knows, and it will just go on from there to tired shame.

Man's wool coat, 1770s. Meg Andrews.

Man’s wool coat, 1770s. Meg Andrews.

My favorite part of the description is this:

Either the coat was altered for another man or the wearer got fatter! … There is a half moon insertion under the arms… There’s no detail photo of that half-moon insertion, but I do so wish there was. The description notes additional changes: “If you look at one cuff you can see a lighter part of a button shape next to the seam. The cuffs have been removed and then added to the edge of the cuff to lengthen the sleeve.” At least we know garments in the past, even ones as lovely as this, were altered and changed.

Puckering on the Zombie Coat. It’s still a nice blue, and you know what? It fits me, so maybe he’ll lose it to his refugee mother.

I will probably be inserting shapes of various kinds into the Zombie Coat, since I do now have a diagnosis for this puckering at the shoulder blades. “Viewed from the back and sides, it appears that the sleeve is binding on the front of his shoulder, causing pulling across the back shoulders – the puckers are caused by the stretching of the fabric across the rounding of the back and shoulders. If you make the top of the upper sleeve wider, or raise the shoulder cap it will create more fullness over the top of the sleeve and reduce the binding that is translating down the sleeve and across the back.”

By the time I make the changes I need to, the Zombie Coat will have acquired its own pre-history.

Sewing for Zombies

13 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by in Clothing, Events, Making Things, Museums

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Death by Fitting

He doesn’t always look this horrible, but when the Young Mr sets out to look like death, he does it very well. Dressing 18th Century style comes at the price of fittings, and while we like to cut a fine enough figure at an event, we want no part whatsoever of the process. Even the promise of playing with a dog won’t get us to a fitting. And he dearly wants a dog…so you know fittings are a trial.

Cutting Out on Sunday

The pattern is by Henry Cooke, based on both a Rhode Island original in a private collection and a jacket in the collection of the Connecticut Historical Society. It is solidly 1770s-1780s, unlined, and both originals made up in brown linen. (From the pattern notes and what I know of the CHS jacket, accession number 1981.110.0; their catalog links are unstable, search for 1981.110.0.)

It goes together well; I started without directions, but as I am more idiot than savant, I got myself confused. I did have to alter the sleeve for the Young Mr, as he has long, thin arms. The rest of the pattern seemed to fit him pretty well, all in all, but a few untoward things happened between measuring, mock-up, basting and fitting. Still, it can be worn, with improvements made next week after he wears it in Cambridge this Sunday. 

Mid-Year Review

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

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Yes, we have those at work. I tend to set enough goals for 3 single-spaced pages, and actually accomplish many of them. My boss, though a Known Over Achiever, thought I should work on this…tendency. So I came up with six goals for the first six months, and mostly got them done, along with a lot of other things.

When I updated the Projects 2013 page here, I thought perhaps I should heed my boss’s advice (don’t tell her that, I have a reputation to maintain) and, you know, assess my goals versus reality ratio.

It’s a long list of stuff, when you get down to it. How did I do, and what else needs to be done? Here’s a chart for the first six months of this sewing year; not all items were planned…some just happened, like kittens.

Item For whom When finished Did it get made?
Tan wool waistcoat Mr S 1/1/2013 Yes!
Red wool waistcoat Young Mr 1/15/2013 Yes!
Off-white cotton trousers Young Mr 1/18/2013 Yes!
Ikea curtain petticoat Kitty 2/11/2013 Yes!
Black Taffeta Bonnet Kitty 2/11/2013 Yes!
Shift Kitty 2/11/2013 Yes!
Monmouth Cap Young Mr 3/29/2013 Yes!
Blue wool jacket, 1770-1800 Young Mr 3/31/2013 Yes!
How Now Brown Gown Kitty 4/7/2013 Yes!
Linen Hunting Frock Young Mr 5/26/2013 Yes!
Linen Hunting Frock Mr S 6/14/2013 Yes!
Striped pocket Kitty 6/15/2013 Yes!
Blue checked linen bags (2) Kitty & Mr S 6/15/2013 Yes!
Chintz jacket Kitty 6/15/2013 Yes!
Linen Overalls Young Mr 6/15/2013 Yes!
Black straw hat Kitty 6/22/2013 Yes!
Alterations to Green Frock Coat Mr S Not yet Nearly!
Linen Overalls Mr S Wearable Nearly!

The Cherry Seller Gown is not on this list because it was started 7/4/2013, and is thus in the second half of the sewing year.  A blue linen unlined frock coat for the Young Mr was started 7/7/2013, so counts towards the second half as well.  For the coming months, here’s what I know I would like to get done:

Item For whom Due Date Notes
Blue linen frock coat Young Mr 7/14/2013 Ack!
Alterations to Green Frock Coat Mr S 7/14/2013 More Ack!
White linen shirt Mr S 11/2/2013 Just needs one…
Tan Virginia Cloth petticoat Kitty 8/9/2013 1763
White linen petticoat Kitty 8/9/2013 1763
Bed gown Kitty 8/2/2013 For OSV!
Bed sack Kitty & Mr S 7/19/2013 For Salem or OSV
Proper 1770s frock coat Mr S 10/5/2013 For Quincy
Striped 1790s petticoat Kitty 10/5/2013 For JBH
Printed 1790s shortgown Kitty 10/5/2013 For JBH
Dress for a Lady, TBD Kitty 10/5/2013 For JBH
10th Mass 1781 Regimental Mr S 11/2/2013 Putnam Park
Neckstocks Young Mr & Mr S TBD 10th Mass

The list seems alternately doable and crazy. So what am I sitting here writing for? I’ve got to get backstitching!

A Favorite Gown, at Last

08 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by in 1763 Project, Clothing, Living History

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First wearing at the Martin House in Swansea, MA

Most of what I’ve made I’ve hated. It hasn’t been perfect enough. This is pretty much how it works when you are learning something new: your eyes outrun your abilities, and you have to keep working away to build the skills to match your dreams. I’m still building skills, but I have at least managed to get to a place where I can just about trust my ability to make something I can stand to wear.

I’ve also learned that you are likely, in the process of making a gown or what-have-you, to hate the garment in question. My friend hated her Green Gown of Doom, but when it was done and on she liked it. Midway through the Cherry Seller Robe, I hated it, thought it a failure, and wanted to quit.

Persevere: the moment when you are most frustrated is often the moment right before you figure out the thing you have been trying to learn.

Paul Sandby, London Cries: Black Heart cherries... ca. 1759. YCBA, B1975.3.206

Paul Sandby, London Cries: Black Heart cherries… ca. 1759. YCBA, B1975.3.206

The story behind the Cherry Seller Robe is that I plan to wear it in Boston on August 10, so it is very old fashioned. Based on Paul Sandby’s Black Heart Cherries watercolor, it is open with robings, and made of Burnley & Trowbridge’s wool-cotton “Virginia cloth.” The gown fits in a “v” on the front, and to my eye, has a 1750s look. (I have not finished the cuffs, attached lacing strips, or finished the stomacher; once lacing and stomacher are done, it will fit more like How Now Brown Gown.)

It was windy. Catastrophic hat failure resulted.

For August, I’ll make a white linen petticoat and a tan “Virginia cloth” petticoat, a blue linen apron and, I hope, a new lappet cap. (I had one cut out around here somewhere…) The yellow and blue or yellow-blue-white striped petticoat may have to wait; I have a lead on some in a stash, but no sightings yet.  Making new, lighter-weight petticoats is in anticipation of August weather in downtown Boston. I’m still debating about the kerchief, which seems to be a solid color with a striped border; I may just wear the one I have.

Yesterday was hot and windy, with a chance of hat failure. All in all, a fine day to sew and wear wool.

Independence Day Projects

05 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by in Clothing, Events

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The guys love a parade, but I do not. So they went off at 7AM for Manchester-by-the-Sea and I stayed home after they were safely and mostly kitted up and in the car. Here they are with the Adjutant, the Young Mr literally a giant among men. The overalls for Mr S were finished at lunch on Wednesday, and lack only in- and out- seam finishing plus a strap for the instep…as well as a waistband alteration, but he doesn’t bust them squatting, so for now, these are completely wearable. And they fit like tights.

Of course, the lads want regimentals. And you can’t blame them: the more they look like soldiers, the more they act and feel and behave like soldiers. This bit of psychology is particularly useful in dealing with the Young Mr who was lured to the car at that early hour by the promise of a) doughnuts, b) an officer’s coat and sword, and c) not having to drum. He’s so close, and yet light years away, from carrying a musket. And when he is old enough to join a regiment on his own, I predict defection to the bridge-jumping 40th with their short red jackets and ostrich plumes.

(Historically, Mr S’s ancestors were on both sides during the Revolutionary period. One decamped to Nova Scotia after Stamp Act riots, another marched from Connecticut to be part of the Army of Observation, and still yet another ratted out American actions on Long Island to the British. Once we’d researched this, my threats to sell the Young Mr to the British carried no weight whatsoever, though technically, he should settle for a green Loyalist’s coat. My people were in Sweden, wearing wool and eating fish, tending their cows and carpentry.)

I spent the holiday nearly banging out an entire gown: entirely cut out, the bodice, back, and one front skirt are assembled. It’s the same pattern as the Richard III/How Now Brown Gown, but without the center back seam wiggle. Burley & Trowbridge’s cotton-wool “Virginia Cloth” is much easier to sew than the heavier wool from Wm Booth. I hope to have it done by Sunday’s event in Swansea, but cannot swear it will be.

Also to be sewn this week: alterations to the Horrid Green Frock Coat, and one complete, from-the-table-up blue linen unlined jacket based on an extant RI example. (Thanks to a pattern from the Adjutant, about which I am very excited.) We (along with many others) have a date with George Washington in Cambridge on Sunday. If you’re in the area, join us.

ETA: That’s next Sunday, July 14. It feels closer than it is….