Tag Archives: pockets

Pockets 2.0

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Clothing, History, Living History, Making Things, Reenacting

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Pockets the First

Pockets the First

At left, Pockets 1.0 or perhaps beta. The far left pocket, when worn alone, was definitely beta. Then came the striped pocket, and then sewing them both to the tape. That helped– and I use the small pocket for things like wallet, phone, car keys and Band-aids, and the larger pocket for interpretive things. I try to follow the Under the Redcoat kind of model: one pocket is modern, one is historical; that way I don’t pull the car keys out along with the knitting, or am at least less likely to.

Too much stuff.

Too much stuff.

Here’s the stuff I carry in my purse today, actually a backpack-purse, downsized from a messenger bag. That’s a lot of stuff. But if you compare the list to the list of what might have been in an 18th century pocket, you’ll find a lot of similarities.

There’s a pen and a pencil, wallet and checkbook, granola bar, chewing gum, change purse, keys, more keys, and phone. All of those are just modern analogues for paper money, coins, orange or apple, candy, book and notebook, since the phone can fill in for so many things– notebook, money, keys, pen, book…

DSC_0174

The historical assortment is much more attractive, in part because I don’t use these things every day, and they don’t get tangled up and worn in a bag. Mitts, kerchief, hankie, my husband’s pay, knife, thimble, spoon, and knitting (I may never get a pair of stockings knit): these are all accurate to carry, though the knitting needles will have to change before that’s taken out in public.

DSC_0173

All that, or some combination of like things, will go into one pocket, and the modern mess into the other. I fear these new pockets are, for now, too nice for Bridget. I may just stick with my old, mis-matched ones for now.

What would you carry?

04 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by in Clothing, History, Living History, Research

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The V&A’s extensive article includes many hints about what might be in woman’s pockets.

Pocket ca. 1784, American cotton, wool Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Bequest of Marie Bernice Bitzer, by exchange, 1996 MMA 2009.300.2241

Pocket
ca. 1784, American
cotton, wool
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Bequest of Marie Bernice Bitzer, by exchange, 1996
MMA 2009.300.2241

Sharon Burnston, on the Historic New England site, points out that “Pockets thus represent the kind of dilemma that objects of material culture can present to scholars. Much is known about how and when these items were made, but evidence of how they were used remains fragmentary and tantalizing.”

Fragmentary and tantalizing indeed!

Another scholar posits that “Pockets empowered women in many ways: they allowed them to carry possessions around with them for practical and personal uses, and gave them rights of ownership and privacy. I argue that decorative pockets also heightened women’s self-esteem by making them to feel more attractive – and that they esteemed their pockets in return.”

From the Workwoman’s Guide

As we can see from this diagram from the Workwoman’s Guide, pockets could take many shapes, and the extant evidence bears this out. There are oblong pockets, and more rectangular pockets, rounder pockets, longer and shorter and wider pockets. One suited one’s self, and cut one’s pattern to one’s cloth.

The identification of pockets with self, with intimacy and privacy, is explored in Women’s Pockets and the Construction of Privacy in the Long Eighteenth Century, by Ariane Fennetaux.
Fennetaux’ article and the V&A page on pockets were particularly useful in enumerating more specific kinds of items that might be carried in an 18th century woman’s pocket.

Nutmeg grater ca. 1690, British Cowrie shell, silver Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1968 MMA 68.141.278

Nutmeg grater
ca. 1690, British
Cowrie shell, silver
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1968
MMA 68.141.278

Using cases from the Old Bailey, we can begin to draft possible contents lists.

A pair of silver buttons
A pair of buckles
A pen knife
Thimble
Coins
A silver spoon
A pair of scissors
Keys
Needlecase
Biscuit
Nutmeg and grater
Smelling bottle
An orange or an apple
A pocketbook
Comb
Snuff box
Jewellery
Needlebook
Pocketbook
Paper
Pen or pencil

When Pamela runs away, she takes with her, in her pocket, two handkerchiefs, two caps and five or six shillings.

Of all the listed things, what might Bridget have carried? Some of the things she carried would be needed, but others would be wanted.

Details. All in the Details.

04 Saturday May 2013

Posted by in Clothing, History, Living History, Making Things, Museums

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Detail, pair of pockets. Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Manchester City Galleries. MCAG.1922.2150

This image is from the fantastic VADS site‘s  gallery of pockets. I need new pockets, or a pocket update and overhaul, so I went looking for inspiration.

Child's Pocket, 1720-1760. RIHS 1985.1.9.

Child’s Pocket, 1720-1760. RIHS 1985.1.9.

This is a dangerous path to go down if you are as unskilled with a crewel needle as I am.

Sew18thCentury can do it– so, sew, lovely. Me…well, everything I knew about embroidery I learned as a child, and promptly forgot with puberty. So my skills remain appropriate for reproducing this, from a Rhode Island collection. The pocket is child-sized, at 14 inches, and the embroidery has a crabbed, angry look, as if the girl would much rather have been outside, chasing her dog or brother.  I can relate, at least to the dog part.

My copy, on the clearance-bin frame.

My copy, on the clearance-bin frame.

I  made a pattern of the embroidery, traced it onto linen, and started working on dredging up those long-forgotten skills. As a child, I had a sewing or embroidery book, but what I remember most about the projects I made was how far their finished form was from what I had envisioned.

Jane, and the Oldest Inhabitant

Jane, and the Oldest Inhabitant

This is not an uncommon experience for children; my son has certainly experienced this, and even adults are subject to it. I think the best rendition of it, sewing-wise, is Eleanor Estes’ portrayal in The Middle Moffat of Jane Moffat attempting to make a “brocated bag” for Mama’s Christmas present.

The image of Jane sewing or crocheting under a tree while talking to Cranbury’s Oldest Inhabitant, a Civil War veteran, sums up every reenactment I’ve ever been part of… but I digress.

DSC_0283

A detail. Sigh. I know, practice, but…

My embroidery stitches lack a lot, but most of what they lack is practice–and that’s what makes reproducing that RIHS pocket a perfect project for me. Pockets were “sampler” projects, and suitable for girls to learn on. This combines plain sewing with embroidery, and ends up as something useful and authentic, so what more can I ask?

Pocket, single, embroidered. Snowshill Costume Collection, National Trust (UK). mid 1700s. SNO1452

Pocket, single, embroidered. Snowshill Costume Collection, National Trust (UK). mid 1700s. SNO1452

The VADS site has tons of images to inspire me, and with practice, someday I could manage something as beautiful as this. I need only make sure that it fits my time period and station–and for some events it will, but for most, the plain pocket or the crabbed-stitch embroidered pocket, are probably far more appropriate.

What’s in your pocket?

01 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in Clothing, Historical Sew Fortnightly, Making Things

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A typical rough linen lining

My son’s pockets used to be full of acorns: he collected them at the bus stop, but I don’t know if it was because he planned to feed the squirrels, or if he thought he was a squirrel. Later, he moved on to rocks. Now, rocks, fish hooks, a pocket knife, change and a hankie fill the pockets of his 18th century breeches.

We’ve had some moments of unhappiness when things have gone missing from the pockets, though we’ve usually found them again. When you look at the contents list, you wonder how the linen stands up as well as it does.

There’s a clever way to upgrade pocket bags in menswear, and it’s authentic: leather bags, instead of linen. Original garments have leather bags, probably deerskin, and they’re deliciously soft and very durable. Stuff all the heavy, sharp things you want to in that pocket, and it will probably take it.

1895.4.3A-C

1895.4.3A-C

Based on a suit in the RIHS Collection, I decided to modify the pocket bags on the Young Mr’s new workman’s jacket-in-progress, which I plan to have finished by March 11 for HSF #5, Peasants and Pioneers.

Made of a heavy, rough-finished brown broadcloth (possibly manufactured in New England), both jacket and breeches pocket bags are made of deerskin.

Pocket bag in progress.

To recreate this, I took a trip to the auto parts store, and purchased a large chamois.  Instead of cutting the bags from linen, I cut them from the chamois and trimmed the seam allowances: chamois won’t ravel, so the seam won’t need to be folded over at the top.

A little fuzzy, but you get the idea

I backstitched the bag seam, and in general, I’m pleased with the way it has turned out. I think I’ll look into additional leather options, but otherwise, it seems like a fairly successful experiment.

The real test, of course, will be user testing. How many sharp, heavy things can the kid load in a pocket before it gives out?