A few quick notes on the "Mercy Bradford" cloak.

I put "Mercy Bradford" in quotations for a very good reason: I don't think it's Mercy Bradford's cloak, nor does whoever wrote the accession card!

There's much more to come on this subject, including photos (which I have express permission to post, it's really good to be friends with a curator!), but I couldn't let you all hang in suspense while I prepare the big post. Especially while it's fresh in my mind!

A few notes on the cloak, that are of interest to me, and I'm assuming you all, too:

• The scarlet red cloak is not stitched with scarlet red thread! The seams are sewn with yellow thread; however you don't see the yellow for the most part.
• The black velvet trim is only on the right side of the fabric and is stitched with black thread.
• This cloak has both a hood and a collar.
• There are two strange, non-working "pockets," for lack of a better term, up by the shoulders. They are stitched down on three sides.

I found a few surprises that no one, not even the curator, noticed. But I'll save those for the big post!

It's the weekend: Fly-by post.

Since I'm examining an extant cloak this afternoon, and with the impending winter-weather-in-fall coming, I thought it would be appropriate to feature another beautiful extant cloak that also has provenance in Massachusetts.

Woman's hooded cloak. Last quarter, 18thc. Red wool
broadcloth trimmed in black silk. MFA Boston, 99.664.16.

From the MFA Boston's website:

"Red wool broadclothhooded cloak trimmed in black silk, hood gathered at back, cloak gathered at shoulders and pieced at bottom.

Provenance: Worn by Abigail Robbins (1759-1850); inherited by Ellen A. Stone; gift to MFA, 1899."

Hood is gathered at the back, cloak is gathered at the shoulders
and pieced together at the bottom.

The wool was manufactured in England, and the cloak was made in Massachusetts. It was worn in Lexington. Click on either photo to be taken to its catalog page on the MFA's website.

2am realizations.

The beginnings of some juicy raspberries.

I have been working diligently away on the embroidery. I am really so in love with embroidering, it's very zen and soothing. Saturday night, I ended up staying up until 2 am because I had no concept of time while embroidering! It goes by really quickly though, and I wasn't even tired. I had to force myself to put it down and go to bed.

Finished berries.

However, at 2 am I had the realization that I have been embroidering on the wrong side of the linen since the start. I noticed this when looking at the berries on the linen and on the color code; they were reversed on the linen from the color code. Flipping over the linen, the black ink could still be seen ... and I felt like an idiot! I wasn't ripping all of my hard work out, and in any case, no one will see the pocket. So I know for my next one, don't do it on the side with the ink!

Progress!

When this pocket is completed, I'll be buying a second pocket kit in the same style (the Salem). My biggest concern with getting closest to the end of the embroidery is putting the pieces together. I'm sure it will be fine, but from reading the instructions over I'm already confused! One at a time, one at a time.

My list of things to complete/begin is ever-growing, especially since I'm now planning on attending a ball in early January, so I'll be making a formal silk gown for that. My yellow silk gown is a practice attempt for silk, and I consider this more formal gown a practice gown for the summer garden party in 2012. But there's still a lot to do!

• Finish rewhipping a small section of the lining down in my cotton gown
• Sew and hem the pumpkin petticoat from its basted state
• Finish pleating the back panels of the cotton petticoat, then join the front and back and hem it
• Buy wool broadcloth to make a short cloak for an event on Nov. 19
• Pick out silk and linen lining for January's gown
• Buy linen lining for the yellow silk gown
• Make sleeve flounces
• Make panniers and a hip roll to keep the pannier steady
• Make silk mitts
• Maybe a new, fine linen shift with lace edging on the neck?

So much to do, but thankfully it's all fun stuff!

It's the weekend: Fly-by post.

18thc. pockets, 1796. Linen. American.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979.346.200.

Looks very similar to my pocket pattern! Click the photo to go to the Met's pocket page.

It's the weekend: Fly-by post.

18thc. pockets. Cotton, linen; printed cotton. American.
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 48.1218a

From the MFA Boston's site:

Pair of pockets, pockets attached with coarse cotton tape tie, edges of slits bound with white linen tape, face of pockets of blue on white floral printed cotton, backs of pockets of hevy white linen; a number of small yellow stains. Dimensions: 43 x 37.5 cm (16 15/16 x 14 3/4 in.).

Click on the photo to go to the MFA Boston's pocket page.

It's the weekend: Fly-by post.

I don't usually mention men's things in the blog, so how about a lovely man's at-home cap?

Man's At-Home Cap. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Silk plain weave with supplementary warp-float patterning, and silk and metallic-thread embroidery. M.61.6.

A man would wear this with a wrapping gown or banyan while at home instead of a wig.

Lucy Locket lost her pocket!

I am not Lucy Locket nor have I lost my pocket, but I have started embroidering!

Yesterday I worked on a communal quilted petticoat at the historic crafts/trades day, so I didn't bring the pocket kit out at all. This winter I definitely want to quilt one; just a simple diamond pattern to start, but eventually I'd like to quilt the pink petticoat from the MFA Boston I posted about a few weekends ago. Mrs. S. already has the pattern for it, and is even working on it for herself! But that is a long ways off, I need to get better first. :)

This morning I started working on my pocket, and I'm finding it to be just as relaxing and zen-like as quilting. It's much easier then I thought, too (getting the wool through the narrow eye of the provided needle is tough, but a little beeswax fixes that). The stitch diagrams included in the instruction packet are very easy to follow!

Here's some photos of a stem stitch to outline a leaf and a filled leaf with a satin stitch. I'm trying to be economical with my wool, like a New Englander would have in the 18thc., and keep it neat on both the right and wrong sides.

I'll continue to post about it as I work on it!

It's the weekend: Fly-by post

Another beautiful extant from Meg Andrews, this time a straw or chip hat. I'm wearing my simple, completed straw hat today to a big fancy horse show, so it's very appropriate! This is a great example, though a bit later at c.1780, and it is also Dutch.

c.1780 Bergere straw hat.

Check out the underside of the hat on the website, click the picture to be taken there.

It's the weekend: Fly-by post.

Since I'm on a petticoat making mission, here's an interesting petticoat for sale through Meg Andrews. I've never seen fabric like this, it is so amazing!

1760s Norwich fabric petticoat. Remade into
a 19th century skirt.

Click on the image to be taken to the website.

Many thanks to Sew18thCentury for posting the Meg Andrews website on Facebook! I wish my checking account had unlimited funds ...

Maybe I'm more mathematical than I thought.

I'm pleating my printed cotton petticoat right now, and it's kind of awesome! I found it a bit difficult to do on the skirt panels for my gown, but with a flat, very straight-forward piece of fabric, it's really rather easy to do.

That may change when I have to do them backwards on the back panel, though!

I had to piece together the petticoat as my fabric was only about 46 inches wide. This makes it more accurate and authentic, as looms back in the 18thc. were much, much smaller then modern ones. 60 inches of fabric may make it really easy, but maybe consider buying smaller pieces of fabric or chopping up the larger fabrics to make it accurate!

The center front box pleat.
I made it about 4 inches.

The seam where I had to
piece together the petticoat.

These are my photographs. Please do not take or use them without permission.

"A Variety of new fashion Caps, Chip Hats, ..."

I have much sewing to do tonight--I have 2 days to make a petticoat (and yes I have had all week to do it!)--but I wanted to share how I shaped my blank straw hat, as I also need to trim it up with some ribbon before Sunday. I'm wearing it to a garden-party-attired event, as I'm a broke graduate student who can't afford to buy an awesome hat! But that's okay, it's going to look better than anyone else's hat. ;)

Pardon the crappy cell phone pictures, please!

Embroiderers of the 18thc.

My quick and dirty search into slate frames, scroll frames, screws, and general embroidery in the 18thc. proved to be very interesting.

No, really! I'm not an embroiderer, so researching something I know hardly anything about was really neat. In the past, I had picked it up with silly cross stitch kits and kits with round hoops and Disney characters on them. But that's contemporary, and really all I had to do was follow the instructions and the color guide. Thinking about it now, it's all very similar to what I'll be doing on my practice workbag and the pocket. But at the same time, it's also different.

The light at the end of the tunnel.

My apologies to my readers for my absence yesterday! It was a day filled with driving, sewing, and working on my printed cotton gown. I wanted to blog about it last night, but I fear that a second glass of wine did me in (oops).

The end is nigh for my first 18thc. creation! It is so amazing to think how close I am to completing it (and sort of freaking out because I don't want it to end!), when in the beginning I was a panicked mess and truly thought I would never finish. Mind you, this gown is the first thing I've ever created--yeah, you heard that right, I've never sewn. Really, truly, never sewn from start to finish. Hemming, sewing holes? Who hasn't done that? I had no idea the stitches I was doing, I just knew to thread the needle and go. And now, I know many different names of stitches, and the gown is almost done!

Currently, the gown has the skirt panels pleated and basted, and they are basted to the bodice on both sides, and ... the sleeves are on! They have been backstitched into the armscye and when I get together with Hallie next weekend, they will be completed (holy crap!). I have instructions on how to piece together my petticoat--the printed cotton is only about 46" wide, so there will be a few panels--as well as how to make a petticoat with wider fabric, which I will be ordering. I'm also making a practice linen workbag to hold all of my sewing notions and tools, and after that will move on to making a silk one. For the historic crafts day I'll be borrowing a cap and neck handkerchief, but plan on making those as soon as I can. I will probably need to borrow an apron, too. There's lots to do but I still have time.

The following weekend is a colonial faire and muster that I'll be attending with a friend, but after that I will have about a month until another event, so I figure my cap, apron, and handkerchief can wait until then. There is no shame in borrowing what you need but don't have!

Photos of the gown to come soon, as well as my bit of research on embroidery!

Lastly--I'm suddenly up to 8 readers! Hi there, and thanks for following my journey!

Sew alone, but don't measure.

There is a reason why there are such things as dress forms and models and assistants. Thankfully, it doesn't really matter to me, because it's a $30 cotton shift that I needed in a pinch. It had a drawstring neck and sleeves that were too long, also with drawstrings to make a ruffle. Those don't exist anymore. But the neck may be too big and the sleeves too short. And I'm okay with it! I can make a neck handkerchief, and the gown sleeves will be fine. I won't have this shift forever, instead I consider it a practice garment. Yes I'll have to wear it, but I'm not walking around reenactments in my 18thc. undies! It's been a fun experiment, and I've proved to myself that I can do this. Woohoo!

A quick fly-by: Something to look forward to!

It's shaped! (Pardon the messy desk)

Just a quick little post about something I finally got around to last night: shaping my hat! After I post my embroidery research, I'll show the process I did to shape it. Super easy to do, and it was dry by this morning. All it needs now is some simple trim around the crown and maybe some ties--I'll be using hatpins with it (see that piece of white next to my now-defunct Borders card? It's holding 3 hatpins!), so I may not add ties. It also depends on if I bought enough silk ribbon!

Screwed! ... sort of.

Remember yesterday's post, about those scroll frames at A.C. Moore that could pass for period?

Well ... maybe not.

It looks like my initial thoughts about them not having screws were wrong. They do in fact have screws. And wing nuts. Those are definitely not 18thc. I still bought it, because what the heck, right? I am not going down without a fight!

I may be able to get them to work without the screws. I'm going to test a thought I had while thinking about them grocery shopping (usually, all of my best thinking is done in the shower). I think, if I can tie the dowels together in a tight X shape, they could work.

Is that 18thc.? I don't know. Before I do that, my next move is to try and find 18thc. drawings/engravings/paintings of people with a slate frame and see how the dowels were held together; my research yesterday said that one of the books on my library list, 18th Century Embroidery Techniques by Gail Marsh, has engravings of women working at slate frames. I also may find that if I can hold them together with something else--not necessarily a screw, or a tie, but maybe another dowel?--that could pass for period. I can't just try and hide the screws, as I'm going to need to get to the back of the embroidery, and lifting it up would expose the wing nuts.

This is an unexpected but welcome challenge. I may not know a lot about slate frames and embroidery now, but I'll know a little more when I'm finished. And that is really, really cool, and a big bonus to being a serious reenactor. I believe that learning never stops, it should never stop, and why not learn at least a little bit about something new?

Ready? Set? Go!

Modern things for the 18thc.

So, after I posted yesterday about my new pocket kit, I read the included instructions, and my heart sank a wee bit. To be able to sew this in a period correct manner (i.e. while in my kit at the historic crafts day), I would need a slate frame. Otherwise, doing it at home on a round hoop is acceptable. Well, I have round hoops (I bought them as a cheap screen-printing method and never used them for that purpose), but what the heck is a slate frame?!

The short answer is it's a type of frame for holding the fabric with tight tension so that the work is done cleanly and precisely. From my quick Google search, it's a fairly advanced and serious method of embroidery (check out the crazy threads!). I am no advanced needleworker, so it seems a bit hardcore for me to order an expensive slate frame for a little pocket. Realistically, how many pockets will I be making? I don't think more than a couple. They're rather expensive, too, and I can't justify the costs (plus shipping) to get one for a single pocket. Then, I had a thought:

What about a modern equivalent that would pass for period?

It makes sense. We modern people do have to use modern accoutrements occasionally in our reenacting, and sometimes we are surprised that a modern thing could pass for 18thc. It doesn't even have to come from a specialty sutler. So, I set out on a quick search before nixing the pocket embroidery anywhere but at home.

If you looked at the link above, it's actually a scroll frame dressed like a slate frame. Hmm, okay. So, I looked for scroll frames at the commercial arts & crafts stores, and hit the motherload on A.C. Moore's site. Most are definitely out of the question, as they include lights and big honkin' screws. But there were a few that caught my eye, and as far as I could tell from the photos there were no screws, and no sewing or tacking down to the frame (which may make it not-period, but we'll see). The scroll frame I looked at is here, and I'll post the photo below.

The dowels have slits in them to keep the fabric taut. I'll have to measure my working space on the pocket to see if 4"x8" is enough, but they also have other sizes if it's bigger.

So, my embroidery-inclined readers, could this pass for period? Or am I doomed to just embroider this pocket at home?

Wm. Booth delivers!!

Finally, after waiting what seemed like an eternity (it was 9 days), my bag of goodies from Wm. Booth, Draper arrived in the mail today. Like a kid in a candy store, I ripped into the yellow package to reveal my spoils ...

One pocket kit by my friends Hallie and Sam Larkin
(Sam illustrated these kits from extant examples),
remnant burgundy ribbon for garters & a cap,
silk thread, and 1/2 inch ribbon for my straw hat.

I'm saving the pocket kit for the Minute Man National Historical Park's open house and historic craft day, but I just had to open it up and see all the goodies inside.

The colors are way off, the threads are beautiful!

Methinks I need to find an appropriate basket to carry this all in! Any recommendations, dear readers?

What's Under Things? Hidden Colonial Clothing, Part II

As Tropical Storm Irene rages on (our power has flickered and gone out twice, but thankfully came back on!), now is the perfect time to showcase the crème de la crème of What's Under Things? I hope my readers along the eastern seaboard are safe and dry!

What's Under Things? Hidden Colonial Clothing, Part I

My apologies, dear readers, for my absence! The procedure on Wednesday went smoothly, and I slept quite a bit. I had to stay off of my feet and when reclining, sleep just happened to come quite easily. Since I had a couple of days off, I'm going to change up the format just a little bit and instead of fly-by posts, talk to you about the exhibit I worked on and am so proud of! Part I begins beneath the jump.