Update on To-Do List

At the end of 2008 I posted my to-do list for stuff that needed to get done for 2009. I thought now would be as good a time as any to check in, see how I’m doing on my list.

Here is the original list, with my updated comments below each line:

· Sew a hunting frock for Kris
This never happened, I started one, got bored of it and ended up buying Kris one from Townsend. At least he has one now!

· Sew 2 new shirts for Kris, one with white linen and the other with green check fabric
Ummm yeah …. not so much on this one, guess it will be on my 2010 list.

· Change the ties on my red skirt to Dutch Linen Tape
Yay! One down! I did complete this one!

· Sew a new skirt with Green fabric
I am not going to do this one, I ended up not liking the fabric, so I am removing it from my to-do list.

· Sew a new skirt for myself with some beautiful wool I found
Yup, still need to do this …. hmmm good in-camp project ….

· Sew a new apron with Green fabric
Not going to do this one either, it was the same green fabric as the skirt, and I’m just not feeling it. Though I do need a new apron, so I will do this, just with a different fabric choice.

· Sew another new skirt with Silk fabric I found on sale
This has been put on the back burner, I have no need for a fancy dress right now, so I probably won’t get to this until after next year’s season.

· Buy a Robe D’Anglais Pattern
I ended up taking a gown making class, so I have no need for this anymore.

· Sew a Robe D’Anglais with a simple linen fabric (need to buy)
This is done from the class I took, well I need to finish a few things on it, but it’s pretty much complete.

· Sew a Robe D’Anglais with Green silk fabric (need to buy)
This is the same as the silk skirt, I will do this after next year, though I missed out on the green silk, so I will need to find something new.

· Finish decorating straw hat
Done!! Yay!

· Sew a special camera bag for Kris
Ooops, Kris is still asking for this.

· Attach the buttons to Kris’ long Gaiters
Probably not going to happen ….. sorry Kris …..

· Sew 3 new shirts for Kolby
I ended up having enough shirts, so no need to do this this year, but most likely I will need to next year.

· Sew a wool shirt for Kolby
The old one still fit this year, so I didn’t have to do a new one.

· Sew (or have made, cause I’m not sure I can sew them) 3 pants for Kolby
Again, I ended up with enough, so no need to do this, I probably won’t have to do this next year either, it looks like I will still have enough.

Well it looks like I get a big huge fail for RevWar housewife of the year!! I only completed 2.5 things on my list. Oh well, there’s always next year right??

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!

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!!