Category: Living History

Saratoga!

On By kittycalashIn 1763 Project, Events, Living History, Reenacting3 Comments
Rough Sketch of the US Camp
Rough Sketch of the US Camp

Saratoga is 10 days away. Only 10 days away.

In more exciting news, there’s a map of the American camp so we’ll know where we’re stumbling to in the dark. (We can’t leave town until about 3:00, when the Young Mr will finally be released from school.)

We’ll be with the Lights, in two of those proposed eight tents, near the oval designated “horses.” With a sketch map in hand, we won’t have to remember Lochee while grappling with mallet and flashlight. Well, not too much, anyway.

The coat is done, and while I would have had time to make another for the Young Mr, I took a three-day break from sewing instead. The finished size 40 fits him, in any case, so if there is a spare, he can appear in brown and green with the rest of the company. Now that he’s swimming two days aweek, I don’t epxact him to stay a size 40 for long enough to justify his own hand-sewn, two-events-per-year-max coat…yet…

For me, the next few weeks will be spent sewing for What Cheer Day and thinking about the “People of 1763” event in Boston. Sew18thCentury will be joining me for that, as I play her maid. We’ll be at the Old State House in Boston where I know a very lovely Grenadier’s Cap is on display.

What (Cheer) to Wear?

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, History, Living History, Reenacting, Research

JBs HousekeeperIt’s 1800. Do you know what your housekeeper is doing? I don’t. Or, more accurately, I can’t decide.
I’m hung up on stays, and not wanting to make another pair. I’m indecisive about style, and though Mrs Garnett has her charms, it’s her bonnet I love more than anything.

Here’s what I’ve found, in servant-land:
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Note that this woman is, in the kitchen, wearing an open robe and quilted petticoat.The style of her bodice–which looks  like a cross-over bodice–and the train of the robe suggest the 1790s. Score one for style.

That open robe, where have I seen that before? Why, yes, Mr Sandby showed us that style for a nurserymaid. (It’s interesting, too, that both images show women with their hair quite visible under their caps, and not pulled up and out of sight.)
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Why does “robe stye” matter? Because I only found 3 and a quarter yards of a brown fabric I like, and even with the most careful cutting, that’s unlikely to make a full gown. However, I have some lightweight black wool that will make a decent petticoat. The bodice style is a bit of a stumper, though: the wool has good drape, so it might work for something other than the usual bodice I make. I did consider whether a very smooth, edge-to-edge, front-closing style of the 1780s would be more appropriate, but I think that I can move the bodice style forward, style-wise, and be correct.

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Brown gowns are a fine tradition in the sartorial habits of questionable servants. This young housemaid twirls her mop dry while wearing a brown gown over what could be a dark blue or a black quilted petticoat. The red “bandannoe” is a nice touch, though I don’t think I’ll wear one myself for this event.

In all this there is a compromise: using fabric I like, in a style I know I can make and document, perhaps even without having to make new stays. That would be ideal, because although it’s four weeks to the event, I’ll lose a week of sewing time to other commitments. Three weeks to pattern and hand sew a petticoat, gown, apron and cap seems just manageable.