Tag: common dress

Independence Day Projects

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, Events1 Comment

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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….

Floral Arrangements

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, Living History, making things9 Comments

By popular request, flowers.

The pieced lining. Click for larger versions.

I debated with myself about whether or not it was OK to piece the lining, and then I figured that it was what I had, so I would make do. It was a hot mess, all freehand, and I was convinced of total failure until I started stitching the lining down just over the millinery wire. Then the shape began to pull tightly and behave better. If I were to do this again, and if I were to make recommendations to another hat fiend, here’s are two changes I’d suggest:

1. Make an actual tidy pattern of your hat circle on a large piece of paper (newspaper, wrapping paper, whatever).

2. Trim and tidy edges so you are piecing straight, radial lines and not curves or tangents; better yet, buy a new remnant and don’t piece. I was too afraid of ‘wasting’ my scraps, so I pieced on the tangent. It’s OK, but I could have made this a bit easier for myself.

Happy birthday, Mr S!

Beyond those minor points, this is easy; piecing and fitting on the fly got a little wonky. Also, though your mileage may vary, 4:00 AM may not be the best time to start new projects. Wait till 5:00, when your coffee has kicked in.

We had real, not printed fabric, flowers in the house on Tuesday, which was Mr S’s birthday. I chose peonies because they looked so Dutch, though you cannot see the little variegated petals here.

Kitty wishes to know if you are getting all your leafy greens, because he is.

Flowers for dessert.

Weekend Update

On By kittycalashIn 1763 Project1 Comment

Not the best weekend, but not the worst. Let’s start with the best parts, and perhaps the worst will be forgotten.

Drilling, 1758 style, at MMNHP

We went up to Minute Man on Saturday for the first of two rounds of early-period drilling for the 1763 event which will feature Marshall’s company of militia. One highway closing and a lack of period clothing later, we arrived. There was crossness, mostly occasioned by the closing of 95 northbound at Pawtucket, as we do not like to be late.

This early drill is pretty interesting, especially compared to von Steuben’s manual, developed nearly 20 years later. The early manual is almost baroque, and seems full of superfluous movements, described with superfluous words. In some ways, it reminds me of Morris Lapidus: Too much is never enough.

I sat under a tree and watched while re-pinning and re-basting Mr S’s bloody overalls, which must be done one week from Thursday, ready to be put on for a 7:30 AM departure for a parade on the North Shore, with a step off at 9:30. DC appeared, watched me sew, watched the drilling, got anxious as he always does, but was favored with the present of a rope work dice cup from one of the older members of the regiment. It’s a small kind of acceptance ceremony he performs.

Mariner’s cuff, adapted from a Costume Close Up coat.

After struggling with the utilitarian overalls, I felt the need for a more artistic pursuit. The horrid green frock coat seemed less horrid after staring at what was on display, so I brought it ought and made Mr S try it on all over again. It will still need altering to fit properly, but I think I can manage that better than I can making it into a waistcoat and making a new, proper frock coat. (Though I have some lovely wool, and a plan to have him turn out in that for next year’s Battle Road.)

With stripey-lined flap.

I found more green linen scraps in my stash, and then it dawned on me: If you haven’t got width, go vertical. With Koshka’s tutorial onscreen and Costume Close Up, I fiddled around with the scraps on Sunday morning, and came up with a mariner’s cuff adaptation. At this point, I figure this is a test garment, and whatever mistakes I make will turn out better on a broadcloth coat, and all buttons are recyclable. It’s a bit of a lie, this coat, since it’s got to be 1775 in July and 1763 in August. For a one-off event, it’s madness to make a totally correct outfit when I haven’t got exactly what is wanted for July. That short wool coat will be murder in August– so wonky cuffs and alterations it is.

The Young Mr might get a blue linen unlined short jacket: I have proven I can make those, there’s one in a Sandby drawing from 1759, and though I dearly want to make him a short, laborer’s coat in brown camblet with a red lining, I haven’t got a suitable pattern yet. With a 34 inch chest, he’s a tough one to fit.

Citizens of Boston

On By kittycalashIn 1763 Project, Events, Living History2 Comments
John Collet, May Morning, 1761-1770. Museum of London
John Collet, May Morning, 1761-1770. Museum of London

I find myself involved in an event scheduled for August 10 in Boston, though I know this could go awry because I worked for a number of years with DC, the organizer of this extravaganza. He’s got a style all his own, and for a taste of the madness, you can see him here (~5:26) with unmistakable and inimitable mannerisms, at Louisbourg.

While the Adjutant is arranging and training the militia, the event still needs civilians, and as the interpretive consultant, my task is to create the context of the day and hammer into DC’s head that when organizing something like this, you can hardly over-communicate, though having been on the receiving end of his phone calls, actually, you can… but that’s where I come in with the editor’s sharpened pencil and cut, cut, cut.

Mr S has signed right up for this event, though he lacks suitable garb, and thus it will soon be time to break out the wool broadcloth. I really liked Sharon’s waistcoat-conversion suggestion, and happily Wm Booth had a lovely dark-green wool remnant of just enough yardage for a skinny man’s frock coat that very morning. Add the brass buttons in the stash, and I thought we were off and headed for 1770 with a regression to 1763.

Except… in doing more looking at 1760/1763 images, I began to wonder if it was better to beat the green linen into an earlier coat, consider it a lesson learned, and move on, since it is only a one-day event. (I saw some small remnants of that same green linen in the Adjutant’s stash, and perhaps I can get them for cuffs.)

My logic is this: it can be tricky to walk a coat backwards in time, especially in sleeve width, and Mr S is in serious need and want of a lovely coat for Battle Road. (Except yes, heh heh, he needs it by July 14 for an event at Washington’s HQ in Cambridge. There’s not even time for gnashing of teeth!) I don’t think it means more sewing, really, it only means penance with alterations and begging for fabric scraps. It also mean focusing, and letting the Monmouth-acquired cuts on my fingertips heal.

John Collet, Scene in a London Street, 1770. YCBA, B1981.25.110

Mr S will be just one of a number of men who will be militia in the morning and civilians in the afternoon. In thinking about the Boston street of 1763, I’m reading the Boston Gazette and Country Journal (which DC had not done beyond the main articles…) and looking at images from London. Maybe the scene won’t be as chaotic, since it is a happy celebration, but it needs to be busy, and populated with men, women, and children of various ages, races, and class levels. There’s a nice way to search for “street” at the Yale Center for British Art, and you get a sense of the crowds and busy-ness of the 18th century street.

To that end, I have asked my silk-gown friends, and I plan to be the cherry seller. (I should so like to have that done by Sturbridge to acquire some patina, but doubt I shall.) For the Young Mr, I see runaway apprentices as a possibility. In the Boston Gazette of August 8, 1763, There is a 16 year old mulatto fellow, “large of his age,” who had on “a brown camblet coat with red lining, a white linnen and a mixt colour’d flannel vest” as well as a blue great coat with yellow metal buttons and leather breeches. There won’t be leather breeches by August, but a camblet coat lined in red may be possible.