Tag Archives: resources

Aspirational Shopping

11 Saturday May 2013

Posted by in History

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So, I always thought that window shopping was a product of the late 19th or early 20th century, the plate glass windows of the Bon Ton, and The Lady’s Paradise.

Providence Gazette and Country Journal, 4-18-1772

Providence Gazette and Country Journal, 4-18-1772

I was wrong.  Check out the last line in this ad from the Providence Gazette and Country Journal of April, 1772:

“Any Person not wanting to purchase, but having a Mind to see the greatest Pennyworths, shall be waited on with great Chearfulness, by their very humble Servant, PAUL ALLEN.”

In case we forget, the past is there to remind us that the consumer culture started much, much earlier than we think it did. Stop blaming Don Draper: I give you Paul Allen.

The 1763 Project

09 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in 1763 Project, Clothing, Living History, Making Things, Reenacting

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Doll, 1763. V&A, T19.36, T19P.36

Doll, 1763. V&A, T19.36, T19P.36

Sweet, right? Who wouldn’t want to look (or at least dress–those pupils suggest something untoward, chemically) like this doll? And she’s 1763. Of course, my friend DC didn’t get the grant he applied for, so he has to try again.

Still, it seems the event will go ahead and I am stumbling on under the impression that I will have a chance to make myself something lovely for August. Of course, that comes only after I make the regimental menswear, so why am I typing and not backstitching? Because after a while, it’s just plain dull. Plus, doll! Printed cotton! Lightweight and lovely! And look: a hairstyle I can manage: birds’ nest.

Nice Petticoat.

Nice Petticoat.

What I like about this doll are her details. (The better written description is on the V&A website, but the better photos are at VADS.) She’s wearing a sacque (known also as a sack-back robe or a robe a la Francaise) and matching petticoat, a green silk quilted petticoat, a white linen petticoat, and a pocket that matches her gown.

The blue silk of her stomacher is used as trim on her sleeves, which are ornamented with flounces. Hallie Larkin goes into this well on her blog post about Changes in Cuffs. And that’s what stops me: the fine linen and the lace.

An actual reproduction, no less.

An actual reproduction, no less.

The gown itself, even a sacque, seems like something I can manage. (And yes, this is but one more piece of cotton sacque evidence.) A very similar fabric is available and if this sells out, there are variations on the theme. The blue silk stomacher can be managed: I have taffeta sources, and from making bonnets have learned the basics of the serpentine designs. I could make that. But those flounces–what about those?

Here she is from the V&A, ca. 1760, T.19-1936

Here she is from the V&A, ca. 1760, T.19-1936

Here’s the V&A description: “lace and cotton elbow ruffles.” Hmm. Cotton, perhaps that I can find in a fine, sheer weave. But the lace?

The more I think about this lovely gown, about the materials, and who would wear it, the more I think I’m better off sticking with lightweight wool and Sandby’s cherry seller...

I love a good challenge, but the lads need regimentals and their own 1763 apparel. Sandby’s woman wears a gown I’ve made before, so construction screw-ups will be fewer time will be shorter. And at least we can all wear whatever I make for various other celebrations and riots. New England had them in abundance in the 1760s and 1770s.

Sampler Resources

08 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in History, Research

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Sew 18th Century had a fun post recently about “Which State House is it?”

Sotheby's Sale N08832, Lot 563: The Sarah Waterman sampler

Sotheby’s Sale N08832, Lot 563: The Sarah Waterman sampler

I’m not usually a sampler fan (you know this is not an area in which I shine), but I have learned a lot more about samplers through work than I ever expected to. And what do you know? Some of it stuck!

I thought I would pass along some helpful resources for sampler fans. Last year, one of the (if not THE) premier sampler collections was sold at auction by Sotheby’s. Through the magic of the interwebs, you can see the catalog online:

Important American Schoolgirl Embroideries: The Landmark Collection of Betty Ring 

Even I say “Yum!” to all those pictures. I like color and texture, but sometimes samplers make me feel like all the air has been sucked out of the room. Walker Evans has the same effect. But when you look at them like this–or arrayed on a worktable–they turn into pictures, and those I enjoy. You page through the catalog and see what Betty Ring had, and whimper a little about these going in to private and not public hands. I know we whimpered…how I covet a green-background sampler!

But wait–there’s more! Be sure to check out  American Needlework Treasures, and Girlhood Embroidery Volumes I & Volume II which are available as full-text PDFs with images. In Girlhood Embroidery, you can read more about the Mary Balch School.

If you like samplers, and want to learn more or support sampler work, visit The Sampler Consortium website. You can become a lifetime member free of charge, and enjoy email updates with sampler news. The Consortium is connected to The Sampler Archive Project, which is funded by the NEH. We’re pleased to be part of the SAP’s first phase, and I am pleased to have learned so much just by cataloging.

In the Grip of La Grippe

07 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in History

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lwlpr13377

The Life of a Nobleman: the sick room, LWL call no.
830.00.00.73+

I had a cold this week past, and quite miserable it made me, too. It got me thinking about illness, and historical perceptions of illness.

I love words, and old words are best, and one of my favorites has long been catarrh. It sounds just like what it is. The Times (another one of my loves) has a hilarious column on the subject, originally published in 1865. It makes me want to write a chapbook, “Letters on Cattarh.” The first known use of the word is in the 15th century, so chances are good it turns up in 18th century usage. In fact, it turns up in the Boston Post Boy of Jan 1 1736 not as a cause of death, but as the reason for the state of George Bethune’s lungs.

Scanning America’s Historical Newspapers (yes, I do this for fun) turns up more than 1,400 hits before 1783 alone for “illness,” most resulting in death, though some are described as past, and disfiguring. My money’s on smallpox for those.

Providence Gazette and Country Journal, 1768.

Providence Gazette and Country Journal, 1768.

Catarrh turns up 27 times. Here it is in the Providence Gazette and Country Journal of 1768. It’s from an extract of the minutes of the American Society, held at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge. I can imagine the gentlemen sitting with pipes and punch bowl, grumbling to each other, “We can send a ship to Suriname, but we can’t cure the common catarrh.” Or perhaps it is the ladies who say it, as the gentlemen come stumbling home from the meeting to Promote Useful Knowledge.

La Grippe

La Grippe, as experienced by poor Adelaide, is influenza. The etymology suggests a 1770-80 French origin, from gripper, to seize suddenly. That’s pretty descriptive, if you’ve ever had flu. La Grippe turns up in the index of the Philadelphia Repository and Weekly Register, January 1, 1803, as “prevalent at Paris,” and on April 9, 1803, we can read the little article about it.

On April 11, 1803, in the Alexandria Advertiser and Commercial Intelligencer there appears an “Extract of a private letter” describing interments of 400 per day, and 4000 in a ten-day period. This was serious, serious stuff. Facing illness today, we’re so much better off than people were in 1803, or even 1903. Germ theory is only 150 years old at the most, and really, thank goodness for it.

For more on the various diseases and epidemics of the past, I give you the Contagion database from Harvard. It’s an excellent collection of articles and links to additional reading, from smallpox to influenza. I feel better already.

Getting My Mitts On: HSF #7

08 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Clothing, History, Making Things

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Mitts, 18th Century. MMA, C.I.44.8.9a, b

I got in a lather about not having mitts. I have been trying to knit a pair from the Mara Riley pattern for some time, as in well over a year. It’s just an unfortunate thing. I understand the pattern, I like the yarn I have, the needles are authentic enough for events, and yet: I cannot get these things done. As a result, I get cold. (I don’t mean that to sound whiny.)

There’s debate in some circles about whether or not knitted mitts were worn in New England, though there is a nice pair of black frame-knit mitts at the MFA, with a history of use in Lexington, MA. That’s a long way from what I can knit, a fair distance from what lower-middling Kitty would wear, and vastly unsuitable for a woman following the army. Still, I want mitts.

In the Fall, I tried to make myself a pair. It did not go well.

‘Camblet’ lined with linen, linen lined with cotton. More pix on flickr.

Fortunately I have developed more patience or bloody-mindedness since then. This allowed me to spend the time scaling up the pattern in Costume Close-Up. That’s where I started in the Fall, but things went better this time, and I actually have a pair of mitts.

Two pairs. I have problems, I try to solve them with sewing.

The Challenge: HSF # 7: Accessorize.

Fabric:
Left: Silk and wool “camblet,” lined with light-weight linen, both from Burnley & Trowbridge
Right: White linen from Fabric-Store.com, lined with printed cotton from Wm Booth Draper.

Pattern:
My own, scaled up from Costume Close-Up, available here for you if you have large hands,  print it at 100% on 11 x 17 paper. You will need to tweak the thumb placement. Make a muslin. Make two muslins. It’s worth the effort.

Year:
1750-1800. Narrower than that I cannot get, yet.

Notions:
None.

Mittens, 1790-1800. V&A,

Mittens, 1790-1800. V&A,

How historically accurate is it?
Say 8/10, since I have never examined a pair and don’t know exactly how they were made. Yes, I’ve read the descriptions in Costume Close-Up and Fitting and Proper, but at this foggy insomniac moment, I couldn’t tell you much about those descriptions.

Hours to complete:
The bulk of the time was in the patterning, which took a couple of evenings and 4 muslins. But once you have a pattern that works for you, finishing a pair from cutting to wearing is about 3 hours all by hand. You could cut that significantly using a machine instead of hand back-stitching, and add decorative embroidery, which I really cannot do. Really. Photos to come.

First worn:
To be worn April 13…probably the white linen pair.

Total cost:
Nothing, really, as all fabric was left over in the stash. The pretty printed scraps came in handy.

Garters! Jo-Ann plus Wm Booth Draper, but so far no implosion

Oh, I made some garters, too. Easy-peasy. Use the Pragmatic Costumer’s Ten Minute Tutorial. Completely makes up for whatever project you think you just screwed up. The main lilac ribbon is silk, the decorative ribbon is so not silk. These are better than no garters, but I expect my stockings will still droop around my ankles, as required by the laws of physics and reenacting.