Living History Help
Dressing Girls Sew-Along: Adding A Chemise Placket
With the tucks in place, it’s time to create a center front placket in the chemise. This is an option outside of the Girls Linens pattern, so we’ll walk through step-by-step here. You can also use this technique on adult chemises, as it’s a common feature!
Side-Bar Session Three
There are several historical ways I could handle a center front placket on these chemises.
This chemise, from the MET collection, has an embellished, shaped yoke, and the placket below the yoke is a simple narrow-hemmed slit.
This one, with an interesting faggoted double band, appears to have the placket with one faced edge, and one narrow-hemmed edge.
Here is another with a faced-and-overlapped placket, where the placket forms a bit of a pleat at the base. This is the style of placket I’m leaning toward, as it will take a bit more abuse than a simple hemmed slit, and gives a functional spot for additional buttons and buttonholes if desired, if you plan the center gap wider than I did!
One thing I’ve noticed when looking at chemises with a faced placket is that the placket is often installed, and then the neck band attached and finished. This two-step process is fairly easy to replicate.
I’ll zip through the steps, and let you view the images as a slide-show again.
I measured down about 6″ (this is fairly arbitrary, but it will expand the neckline edge a whole foot for donning/doffing, and my 11yo is not a very large person), and cut a slit in the center front. Then, perpendicular cuts at the base, half-way across the gap in the middle (about 5/8″, in this case.)
Press each flap back, tuck the raw edge under, and press well.
Remove to the machine, or hand-stitch a hem on each pressed edge. Then it’s a quick “stack-em-up”; I folded the extra fabric in the base into two layered pleats, and pinned everything neatly. One pass of stitching just at the base of the folded placket, and another about 1/4″ below that, across the folded extras, and we have a tidy little placket all done!
(Well, actually TWO little plackets, all finished in one 20-minute sewing session!)
Tips for Dressing Daughters
We’re about to start dressing our own little girls for a new interpretive season, and we thought it might be fun and useful and instructional to do a quick series on Dressing Girls… you’re welcome to sew along if you like, or come back to these posts as needed. Subscribe to the blog updates (see the side-bar) and you’ll get each “episode” delivered to your inbox.
First, though, a few tips on general attitude and how to make the good stuff happen. It is entirely possible to dress our girls so well, you could transport them back in time and expect them to excite no notice whatsoever.
Of course, these are the sort of hooligans I’m working with…
(Twirl-ability is an obligatory function of all mid-century girls clothing. Always. Even if you’re just going to the neighborhood park.)
Help your girls pinpoint the mid-19th century look by correcting these commonly-seen problems:
Make it Easy
One-fabric dresses, with the skirts attached directly to the bodice, seem to be the most common garment for girls in the mid-19th century. They are also the most convenient for dressing, and easiest to wear during active play or work. Do your girls a favor, and dress them in one-piece dresses with a gently fitted waist. Cut the skirts in widths similar to their petticoats (70″ for bitty girls, 90″ for girls in childhood, 120″ for tween and young teens, 140″ to 180″ for teenage girls). They’ll look wonderful, and have the freedom and ease they need for a great event or interpretive day.
Start With Good Shapes
If you don’t start with good historic shapes, it’s very hard to get a good historic result! You’ll be happiest with a dress pattern that also focuses on historic techniques. When you combine historic shapes, historic techniques, and historically-consistent fabrics, your girls are always going to look their best. Visit our Shop to view our line of historically-accurate patterns for girls.
Fiber Sense
Use 100% natural fibers for your girls! All-cotton prints in period designs and colors, or good grades of tropical and summer weight wool in solid colors, will keep your girls accurate and comfortable year round. Do not dress girls in man-made fiber blends! It’s both a history faux pas, and a modern health and safety danger.
Anticipate Growth
In the mid-century, girls did tend to grow up. Oddly enough, ours do, too! Historically, dresses were designed to grow with girls, and we can use the same tricks today! Growth tucks are a great way to extend the skirt length potential of a dress, and period techniques for faced waistbands allow you to hide extra bodice length in the waistband against future body growth as well. Use both to get the most out of your girl’s dresses. Our Sewing Academy/Historic Moments patterns do teach the historic techniques you’ll need.
During the Dressing Girls Sew-Along here on the Sewing Academy, we’ll also take a look at recycling things you may have already made, or purchased used from another family. Our youngest is a spritely, slender thing, more-so than either of her elder sisters, so re-cutting this handed-down dress is on the list:
Add Skirt Support
Girl’s clothing works over a system of skirt supports similar to an adult woman’s clothing. Your little girl needs petticoats! Cut full (70″ for bitty girls, 90″ for middle-size girls, and 120″ or more for older, teen girls), then hand-gathered to a fitted waistband, petticoats will do more to improve the look of her clothing than just about anything else! Petticoats are inexpensive, too (under $5 complete in an inexpensive white cloth). One or two petticoats, well starched and worn alone or over a small cage (or corded petticoat for the pre-hoop years) give her the right skirt shapes.
Watch Your Hems
Photographs from our era show a wide range of girls’ dress lengths, but they tend to fall between the upper calf and middle/lower calf for girls under 13 to 15 years. Petticoats and drawers should all be hemmed in the same general range (not designed to peek below mid-calf). Keep in mind that ankle-length drawers are not a mid-century style! It is perfectly acceptable for a girl’s stockings to show to mid-calf. Too-long hems hamper a girl’s ability to play and do active work, and are not consistent with the aesthetic of the period.
Get a Good Ratio
As with adult clothing, undergarments and pinafores (see our free patterns here!) should be the main focus of your young lady’s wardrobe. If funds are limited, you’ll get more good use from one dress, paired with three sets of undergarments and three inexpensive pinafores, than from three dresses and one set of undies! Be sure she has enough underwear for a fresh set each day of your longest event, plus one for spare. (Petticoats can be worn several days running, so she’ll need only one set of those.)
When it’s all put together, you end up with “history kids” who walk around with this sort of happy:
And of course, always study as many original images and extant garments as you possibly can! It’s exciting to see snapshots of living history children, and realize: we look just like the Original Cast!
Avoiding the Pit of Presentism
Pardon a brief anthropology-nerd post, but feel free to share it far and wide!
Lo, these many years ago, I was a student in anthropology with a minor in historic archaeology. I… ummm… kinda really like the study of Olden Days and Olden Days People. A lot.
A few of the concepts we used in anthropology are very useful in living history and living history research, and one in particular can help us improve our recreated, interpreted past tremendously.
That is this: avoiding the pit of “presentism.”
What’s “Presentism,” you so cleverly ask?
It is the interpretation of history with a bias toward present attitudes.
It is the mistaken assumption that everything we currently understand, believe, and hold as aesthetically lovely is the pinnacle of the entire human experience, and anything other than our current understanding is clearly inferior.
Can you see how that would cause problems in living history? In clothing those who “do” living history? Let’s take a quick look:
We display presentism when we describe a member of the Original Cast in a historic photograph as “ugly.” Perhaps that person’s personal beauty is not our favorite style. Perhaps that person has some physical structures that don’t please our modern or personal aesthetics. Perhaps they are subject to the vicissitudes of period photography technology. Perhaps they’re not particularly photogenic.
None of that is actually important when we’re looking at photos to gain an appreciation or understanding of normative expressions of fashion in the period.
We display presentism when we ascribe highly-biased and subjective words like “tacky” or “hideous” or “weird” to images of original garments, fashion engravings, and other primary sources. Not only do those kinds of words exhibit a self-centric and narrow understanding of the era, they are spectacularly unhelpful in exploring it.
Image from In The Swan’s Shadow
Take a look at the lady here: I, sadly, found her by doing a search for “Ugly Civil War Woman.”
The only thing ugly is the presentism used to judge and diminish this useful period image.
Let’s see what this lady can tell us, without the veil of presentism obscuring our view.
She seems to be quite tall and slender, so she gives us a good look at how tall and slender people accomplished the period aesthetic balance in everyday clothing. (Indeed, if we measure her by her own skull length, she actually fits the ratios of modern fashion illustrating; she is just over 8 “heads” tall, versus the average 7 “heads” tall–and similarly contracted proportions–of modern women!)
Her garments are well-fitted to her figure, and sewn by someone with an eye that appreciates symmetry, based on the placement of the garment pieces with regards to the textile pattern.
She wears a pretty conservative mix of current styles: a pleated skirt, darted-to-fit double-point bodice, minimal trim on the dress, and a little frilled collar. Her sleeves are a neat open “coat” sleeve worn with an undersleeve. Her dress is long–it does not hover off the floor–yet another example of the lengths we should be wearing ourselves.
Her hair is smooth, tidy, and worn in a conservatively current fashion, arranged in way that adds a bit of visual width to her slender oval face, which helps her fit the dominant fashionable aesthetic of the era just a bit more.
It’s far more useful to examine her image based on what she can tell us about the clothing choices of a very average young woman in the early 1860s, than to dismiss her worth by terming her “ugly.” If we dismiss her simply for not conforming to our preferred modern style of beauty, we miss all the wonderful information she has to share with us!
To be clear: the blogger at In The Swan’s Shadow entirely avoided presentism when sharing the image. They shared only the facts known about the image, and its source (it’s in the VMI archives). They did it right. Someone further down the line ascribed the presentist opinion that judged her “beauty.”
And what if her dress had features some trim or ornament that we found personally odd? It is far more useful to be able to say, “I’ve looked at 400 examples of this style of garment, and they seem to share these common features…” than to say, “Oh, that’s just ugly. Why did they think that was nice-looking? I don’t like that at all.”
(The question “Why did they think that was nice-looking?” is actually a *good* question, and can be our ladder right out of the depths of the pit of presentism! Being willing to try to find context and meaning, or barring that, just accept that this was something they found attractive, is a great way to remove some presentism from our attitudes.)
We’re not obligated to like every single fashion option in our era. If there’s one we don’t like, we can–and should–choose another for our own personal wardrobes.
Extending this concept briefly, presentism is problematic in understanding the social context of the period as well. We are not obligated to pronounce judgement on the attitudes of the past! We can simply present those attitudes as closely as possible to the documented record of those who actually held the attitudes, and allow space for ourselves and for our visitors to make up their own minds about complex topics.
Being aware of presentism, we can work to root it out in our own observations of historical items and ideas. Communicating our observation process with as little presentism as possible also helps train others to look at the past with eyes as free from modern-is-the-best-ever-pinnacle-of-everything bias. And that better attitude helps shape and inform upgraded interpretive learning for everyone, participants and visitors alike!
What Did They Really Wear?
Just a quick cool thing today!
Here’s a fantastic look at African-American clothing in the 2014 Daguerrian Annual, by Dr Karen Bohleke:
Fitting Out A Sewing Box
Many of us sew in living history situations, and thus have need of an accurately fitted-out set of tools and supplies; others of us simply find the historic tools and styles charming, and wish to have something like them for our own modern use. Certainly, the ingenuity of past kits surpasses the modern plastic-and-sadness models available in most chain stores!
As a starting place for fitting out a sewing set, please visit Mrs Mescher’s excellent article, The Case of the Lost Thimble. In particular, note the illustrations of common styles of scissors… not a single pair of Chinese gardening snips to be found! It’s telling that the classic shape of scissors and shears and their mechanisms has scarcely been improved in a century and a half. For instance, all-metal Gingher 8″ dressmaker’s shears, and basic all-metal 4″ embroidery scissors are both virtually identical to diagrams in Mrs Mescher’s article. Modern nickel-plated brass straight pins (these are a size 20, and 1.25″ long) and period pins are visually very similar, ditto needles. It’s possible to outfit oneself with items that are fully functional for modern and historic sewing, historically accurate, and not hideously expensive.
Two new articles from author Anna Worden Bauersmith give some additional ideas on fitting out your own tools and supplies. What Is In Your Sewing Box links the reader to images of mid-century sewing, and well-reproduced sewing sets from modern living history enthusiasts. Sewing On The Go shows very portable sets that tuck efficiently into both historic luggage and modern messenger bags, for the mobile sewist.
Of course, one of the first questions to ask is: why am I a mobile sewist? In what circumstances did people at mid-century go mobile with their sewing tools, and what did they use to make that happen?
Sometimes, we may be trying to make settled sewing more portable for our own modern ease, such as portraying a mid-century sewing professional who would normally operate in a workroom or shop, but out of a tent or coming into a village for short-term portrayals. We need to be careful to not impose our own desire for portability over the actual historic practices of our sort of sewist. Investigating the actual practices of the past lets us find a good historic option, or a careful blend of several options, that give us the best solutions.
Going back to the Progressive Questions (What did the Original Cast actually do and use? Can I replicate that? If not, what other things did they actually do and use? Which historic option fits my needs and impression best?) is always the best way to start in the past, and explore a wide range of options for the modern living history impression, including the mobile sewist!
Get Thee To The Symposium!
Every March, something cool happens. It’s January right now, but you still have a month to get in on the cool March something, so I wanted to take some time and share it with you! And we all know I break blogging rules on a very consistent basis, so this is a looooooong bit of happiness. Grab a snack. Nothing sticky or too crumbly.
One of my all-time favorite mentors in living history research is Carolann Schmitt, who took a pretty scattered, very young Liz under her kind wing, and has remained a constant encouragement for all of my adult life… nearly two decades at this point! (Seriously, her willingness to hold up her own mid-century undergarments in public–not while wearing them–was the first moment I knew I was going to adore her. I was right.)
For a great lot of that time, she and a team of very dedicated volunteers have put on an amazing educational experience each year. You may have heard of “The Harrisburg Conference” or “that big thing back East.”
Last March, I was delighted to present two topics to the good people attending Back East, and now I’m delighted to have a chance to sit down (virtually) with one of my favorite people, and grill her (gently, in a Period Approved Manner) about the gathering upcoming this March. You’re going to want to be there. You’ll find the registration information right here on the Genteel Arts Academy website. Go ahead and download the registration form. She and I will wait right here.
A 2015 Name Change
This is the 21st year of the gathering, but moving into the third decade of existence, it’s been reclassified as a Symposium, rather than a conference. Previously, the topics have all focused on citizen life, experiences, and material culture, with each presenter sharing their own research on diverse aspects of mid-19th century life. Will anything change with the types or breadth of citizen-focus topics going forward?
We haven’t begun to cover all the possible topics on mid-19th century life. We’ll continue to see out new topics and new information.
We’d also like to increase our hands-on learning opportunities and are working on how some of the suggested topics can be adapted to a hotel-conference center setting. Harnessing oxen in the hotel lobby is problematic.
Learning for the Eclectic Mind
This year’s topics range from the science of pre-plastics, to jokes and humor, to the lives of army wives, to fine details in clothing, to the common working of the postal service, and medical practices of enslaved people. Other years are similarly diverse. How do you settle on such an interesting mix?
A lot of shuffling, dithering and switching is involved.
We spend a significant amount of time reviewing proposals, considering which presentations will complement the other presentations on the program, which topics will be more appealing to the participants, does a topic contain new research and information, does it relate to an upcoming event or anniversary, is it a topic that everyone needs to learn or be reminded about; will it fit best in this year’s program or should we hold it until next year?
We then make appropriate sacrifices to the gods, read the cards, say a few prayers, and hope we’ve found the right mix.
One thing I’ve noticed, looking back over topic ranges from the past decade, is a decidedly universal appeal. This is definitely not a women’s-only or clothing-only gathering. The focus is on mid-century citizen/civilian life. The earliest gatherings, before Genteel Arts took the helm, were not so broad. What led you to make the experience more inclusive to men and women both?
We noticed a change in the hobby. Many veteran military reenactors were looking for events with new opportunities for more in-depth participation. Others still wanted to participate in living history but were facing physical limitations.
At the same time we began to see an increase in high quality, small scale events with a stronger or solely-civilian emphasis. These events offered opportunities for men, women and children, but there was a decided lack of information on what roles may be available for them or how the roles could be executed. Expanding the Conference/Symposium to include everyone was a logical change that has proven to be very popular.
Is this a Symposium open only to those who “do” living history?
Heavens, no. Our participants include staff and volunteers from local, state and national parks, docents and interpreters from historic sites, costume and textile enthusiasts, doll collectors, collectors and enthusiasts interested in non-clothing “stuff”, antique dealers, professionals and tradesmen who are interested in the history of their profession or craft, historians, and living history participants.
This diversity is one of the things that makes the Symposium what it is – the opportunity to exchanging ideas and information with like-minded people from all over the country and around the world.
Looking at presenter bios, I notice one common theme: regardless of professional or academic credentials, everyone seems to be very passionate in their particular topics and fields of research, and the overall level of scholarship tends toward the highest levels. Sometimes, that would lead to some really dry, esoteric lectures.
But, the speakers at the Symposium present in such accessible tones–it’s like really high-grade show-and-tell from passionate, engaged friends. Have you found that the presenters you select just naturally tend toward that blend of great research and accessible language, or do you have to coach as well as organize and do your own presentations?
We do consider speaking ability and experience when reviewing presentations. We don’t coach, but we do offer some tips and suggestions on organizing their presentation, on speaking to a large group, and stress the importance of staying on schedule. Fortunately, the majority of our speakers can transmit their research and enthusiasm in an informative, interesting and entertaining presentation.
Are there particular parts of this year’s Symposium that you’re the most excited to attend?
All of them? Unfortunately, as sponsor and organizer I don’t get to hear all of the presentations in their entirety.
The Philanthropic Bits
The Civilian Symposium has a long tradition of donating the registration fees from select pre-event tours to historic preservation. In the last eight years, nearly $11,000 has been donated. What inspired you to use a fun pre-event excursion to help fund these historic needs? Which excursion is the preservation jaunt this year?
I know how hard historic sites work to obtain funding, and artifact preservation is often at the bottom of the budget.
The staff at the sites we visit have willingly developed special presentations and tours for our participants, frequently giving them access to areas that are normally off-limits to the general public. Donating the registration fees to these institutions was a way of showing our appreciation and supporting their efforts.
The Shippensburg University Fashion Archives & Museum, the National Civil War Museum and the John Harris-Simon Cameron Mansion, both in Harrisburg, will host workshop/tours this year and will benefit from the donation of the registration fees.
Another big tradition with the Civilian Symposium is the yearly “Angel Project,” where attendees provide volunteer labor to a specific historic preservation or education project. This year, it’s helping in whatever ways the Shippensburg University Fashion Archives & Museum needs to settle into their brand new home. That kind of historic community outreach is unique. What led you to incorporate it, and what has been the response from those who go to serve, and those being served?
We ‘borrowed’ the concept from the Costume Society of America, which has conducted Angels Projects during their annual symposium for many years.
The program is designed to assist museums with smaller projects for which they have neither staff nor funding. It is very much a “work day”. The projects vary widely, can require physical effort, and may or may not be related to the mid-19th century. The participants love it and work very hard, and the sites are very appreciative of the donated time and effort.
The Financial Bits
These days it seems like everything just costs more. But, registration for the Symposium, including the reception, the Fancy Dress ball, all the workshops and rotating clothing displays, breakfasts and lunches and snacks, and all the presentation handouts, is actually *lower* this year, under $200 for adults, and as low as $165 for full-time students if registrations are in by 1 February. What inspired or enabled you to make that change?
We work hard to provide a great value for each participant. We realize the Symposium is not an inexpensive weekend, and we want to include as many participants as we can. That means keeping costs as reasonable as possible and making participation in some of the associated activities optional. A good working relationship with our facility, applying standard business practices, and a sharp pencil help make it possible.
Also, I know the registration packet says you do not accept a first-born child in lieu of payment, but my first-born is of age, and highly useful in class settings and “presenter-minding”. Are you sure I can’t do a swap there?
It’s a possibility… (insert big grin here!)
The Symposium has limited attendance, and tends to sell out… the official deadline is 15 February, but will there actually be seats available by then? Is there a reason attendance is capped?
Attendance is capped due to the available meeting space. The main meeting room is 7,500 square feet, and we use every inch of it for displays and seating. We can comfortably accommodate 225-230 people for the sessions, and 265-270 for dinner. We have been at 90%-100% capacity many years.
Most readers will be seeing this 15 January–get those registrations in ASAP!
The Physical Bits
The hotel and meeting space is quite convenient; I flew in, and got a free shuttle to and from the airport without a problem. Staff was lovely. I had a few odd requests, and they didn’t even blink. There’s a business center right off the lobby that I used to print out shipping labels and avoid having to put everything in my suitcase! (Seriously, plan to ship a box home. Because: juried vendors. Awesome.)
The special rate on the rooms means that if you bunk in with three other sympatico souls, you’ll spend under $30 a night each. And the hotel honors the special rate for a full ten days surrounding the Symposium, if you want to come early or stay late. The majority of your meals are included in the registration costs (the divine supper Saturday night is extra and optional and worth it); there’s a convenient restaurant right in the hotel that serves a great variety of tasty things, as well as some good local eateries a short drive away.
One thing to keep in mind is that you’ll be doing some walking from your room to the various presentations and classes. Bring comfortable shoes, and give yourself time to stroll! With all the good food and the time you’ll spend seated, some exercise is a very, very good thing. You’ll be strolling in good company.
Also, drink plenty of liquids. Yes, you’ll need to “skip to the loo, my darling,” but the loo is lovely (just outside the session rooms!), you’ll be doing a lot of eager chatting with fellow passionate people, and the better hydrated you are, the less your vocal chords will suffer. There are plentifully-tended water stations in the presentation rooms, so there’s no excuse. Drink your water! That way you can get all the visiting in.
Shopping With Confidence. Seriously.
How many times have you been frustrated with not knowing what it’s “okay” to buy from merchants? The Symposium has been solving that for a long time, with a juried vendor area coordinated by Debbie McBeth. Everyone there is vetted, and not everyone gets in every year! This ensures a wide variety of period-appropriate offerings (the general push is to never duplicate product lines from multiple vendors, so it’s a wider range of unique items than you’ll find at most events), and makes the merchant rooms some of the best concentrated historic coolness you’ve ever seen.
Vendor selection is unbiased, too; symposium sponsors aren’t involved in the jury process. Each merchant needs to apply each year, so the mix has a freshness and natural turn-over that serves the living history community very well.
The Marketplace is just down the hall from the session rooms, and there’s ample shopping time all day Friday, as well as during breaks and lunch while the sessions are running. Even if you’re not able to come to the Symposium workshops, the Marketplace is open to the public during business hours.
Here’s my tip list for visiting the Marketplace:
- Make a wish-list before you go in
- Take one tour through just to get your bearings
- Go through again to ask questions and make your selections.
I was able to find just the right ribbons to finish off my Saturday outfit, a gorgeous little lapis brooch, a great deal on corset coutil, a whole new set of corset bones to allow me to finally retire FrankenCorset (some of my bones could vote AND drink!), and very cool historically accurate toys for each of my kids, too. My son, then nearly 15, had jokingly said, “I want a pony, Mama!”, so I brought him home a pair of inch-high carved wooden ponies from the Mescher’s Ragged Soldier tables. The look on his face when he opened them was so funny! (They live next to his laptop, and his little sisters aren’t allowed to play with them.)
I got to see some of the most gorgeous and accurate carpetbags available today, some amazing leather bags, beautiful bonnets and fabrics… so much glorious stuff in a compact, visually astonishing space!
Show-Offs
Each year, there’s a needlework competition, just for fun. Last year, it was dolls; previous years have included knitted items, sewing cases, and other interesting small material culture items. This year, it’s a little different, as there will be voting on the individual participants’ Fancy Dress for Saturday night’s party. Why Fancy Dress this year? Is there any overall theme for the Fancy Dress? Will participants be talking about their “character” or symbolism beforehand, or is it meant to be a surprise that night? Do you have your costume chosen already?
We had a Fancy Dress ball a few years ago that was very popular and very successful, with many requests to repeat the experience. It will be a Fancy Dress party this year, with a costume parade, contests, games, and a few surprises. There’s no overall theme; costumes can be historical, allegorical, fantasy, fictional, famous persons, a role or job, an artifact, or funny. The costumes will be a surprise that evening, with descriptions provided by the Mistress of Ceremonies.
Several prizes will be awarded, including the best costume in each of the categories listed above, best couple, best group, and outstanding achievement in sewing and needlework.
I usually consider myself fortunate if my conference dress is finished, but I just may have a costume for the evening.
Speaking of awards, in 2014, I got the Official Last Finisher of a Conference Dress Accolade, as I sat down to reset my sleeves and add closures *after* the Conference Dress presentation Saturday morning. The Conference Dress has been a pretty big deal for a long time with this event. Each presenter is given a length of identical fabric and told “Make a Mid-Century Garment.” With that as the only rule, everyone ends up doing something radically different, and I’ve never seen two dresses come out the same, nor two male presenters opt for the same style either. Will this treat of material proportions continue in the 21st year of the Symposium? Any hints on what we might see this year?
The Conference/Symposium fabric has been a tradition since the first event. It has become increasingly challenging to find 120+ yards of an appropriate fabric, but we’ll continue the tradition as long as we can.
And sorry, no hints. You’ll have to wait until breakfast Saturday morning.
Dang it. (Mentally insert another big smile!)
Original Eye Candy!
Each year, there are sizable original clothing and artifact displays that change daily. Can attendees take pictures and notes for personal research and use? What General Artifact Etiquette Tips do you suggest?
Attendees can view the displays at close range and take all the photographs and notes they wish. The owners of the displays are in attendance and are more than willing to show the inside of a garment or the back of an artifact. Some of the garments will be displayed inside out on the following day. Feel free to ask questions; we like to talk about our stuff!
Proper etiquette includes:
1: No touching without permission
2: Keep all food and beverages well away from the displays
3: No ink pens or markers in the vicinity of the displays
4: Obtain permission from the owner before posting images online, and give credit to the owner when you do.
I know that Mr Schmitt is pretty much a wizard with technology; does he have any suggestions for getting great pictures in the indoor Symposium settings?
Don suggests becoming familiar with all the features of your camera before the event. Most cameras today offer an indoor or dim-light setting; learn how to use it if yours has that feature. Keep your arms against your body and hold the camera as still as possible. Flash photography is permitted.
Bring extra batteries and lots of memory cards.
Any odd or unusual things to keep an eye out for this year?
The Welcome Reception and Fancy Dress party will have some new features. And there’s always something odd or unusual during the weekend – officially or unofficially.
What are your top three tips for having a great Symposium experience?
Meet someone new; they’ll likely become a life-long friend.
Take time to view the displays; opportunities to view original garments at this close range are unusual.
Savor every moment and share the information you’ve learned with friends and colleagues at home.
Have fun!
That’s technically more than three, but it’s Very Difficult to limit oneself at the Symposium, so there will be no ceremonial beatings with the Dampened Rayon Snood of Shame, I promise.
Register for the Harrisburg Symposium Here
How Much?
“My Dear, it was HOW much?” (Southworth and Hawes. Editorial liberties taken with all captioning.)
It’s a topic that comes up quite frequently in living history circles: how much does a good repro dress cost? Or bonnet? Or corset?
And then there’s usually a pretty good ruckus of people saying it’s highway robbery, or skin-flint cheap, or loads of variations on that theme. And since I wear a few different bonnets in the mid-century world, I have Opinions. Several. And since I own this site, I’m able to share them in permanent form. So, read on, MacDuff!
What Makes it “Good”?
There’s a certain amount of work that goes into any project, regardless of its accuracy. Since I’m not really keen on wasting time, money, or materials, my definition of “Good” is “looks as much like originals as possible, with the same geometry, materials, techniques, and finishing.” If the item is at a lesser standard than that, it’s just not worth my time, effort, or money.
Particularly where budgets are slim, it’s too expensive to waste time buying or making Make Do. Better to go for a simple, accurate item that will last.
But It’s a Hobby!
Yes, it is. And that’s fine, as far as it goes. Most folks, though, claim to be doing living history to preserve it, to educate the public, to introduce the community or kids or whomever to our foundational roots as a society. And once we lay the “educational” moniker on things, we also take up a burden of academic honesty and ethics that mean we need to kick it up a notch or five, with solid research and application, so what the public sees is actually history, not pleasant fantasy or flat-out fiction.
If you’re only making historically-inspired styles for your own use in your home, then go for whatever you want. If you’re in public, or attempting to educate others, that’s a different goal, and the effort and baseline go commensurately up. It’s a hobby AND it’s a thing worth doing Just Like They Did It. Our baseline is that Original Cast, not “other reenactors.” Anything less is just not worth it.
(There are other opinions on this matter. You’ll find those opinions elsewhere.)
Why Do Makers Charge So High?
Not to be unkind, but: they willingly devoted hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of hours to acquire and master skills you’re not willing to learn for yourself. So, they deserve to make more than they would flipping burgers and asking if you want fries with that. A good historic maker is using antique skills that you do have to work to acquire. The workman is indeed worthy of his hire. There’s nothing unethical in charging $15, $30, or even $50 an hour for skilled work, particularly if it’s rare skills. If you don’t want to pay that, then you’ll need to work independently and acquire those skills for yourself.
Private professionals also have to cover all their business costs in order to take commission work from their clients. They have to be able to keep the lights and heat on, feed a family, pay both the employee and employer portion of all city, county, state, and federal taxes (and hooooo boy are some of those amounts high, such as private medical insurance costs!), maintain and repair and upgrade all their equipment, spend time on marketing and bookkeeping and communications. Whatever they charge per hour, consider that they *might* net half that amount, after their business costs. Sometimes. Not always.
Individual makers have to set their own rates. If you feel they’re too high, there are options (see below). If you feel they’re too low, give them a healthy cash bonus at the end of the project to let them know you appreciate their work, even if they say they’re doing it out of love, or just to pay for their own hobby fun. I guarantee you, I’ve never met a maker who was rolling in the lucre from supplying the historic community. Ever.
Is It Really Worth It?
Yes, sometimes. A quality item from a skilled professional can be very much worth a higher-than-average cost. Of course, a high price does not guarantee a good finished project! It really does pay to do your own research, so you know what you’re looking for in your repro items, and know what a red flag looks like if you see one. A maker who charges $800 for a cotton print “ball gown”, and touts how wonderful the machined gauging is? Oh, Red Flag.
It’s Just Too Much. What Can I Do?
Here’s the happy thing: you have so many, many options!
If you are willing and determined to learn to do a running stitch by hand and a whip stitch by hand, you can make your undergarments, a dress, and quite a few bits of outerwear. If you’re willing to learn to do a straight stitch on a machine, you can get many parts done very quickly. Anyone with determination and willingness can learn to sew well enough to make good, serviceable, accurate historic clothing for themselves and their household.
And I do mean it: anyone. I’ve had people who were legally blind in my workshops. If they can do it, you can. I promise.
With running stitch by hand, you can do seams, install piping, create waistbands, and prep gathering and gauging. You can put up a hem, add hem tape, and baste on collars. Add a whip stitch and you can set skirts of all kinds, add a seam “finish” to your cut edges, attach hooks and eyes, and finish off piping seam allowances for a very tidy inside look.
Yes, there are a lot of pieces to a woman’s wardrobe. You’ll find most of them covered in The Dressmaker’s Guide. And quite a few elements are available as free patterns in the Compendium, excerpted from The Dressmaker’s Guide. We’re excited to get to add to that stack over the winter, too, with some great new sunbonnet styles from private collections and museums (it’s so cool when we ask to share something, and the owners say Yes, do!)
Aside from the undergarments, aprons, shawls, and headwear found here on the Sewing Academy, there are some great bits of documented usefulness around the internet. Need garters, for instance?
If you’re not feeling confident now, take some workshops from The Sewing Academy (click the tab up yonder), or the Genteel Arts Academy; both instructors are portable. Check your local area for workshops through historic sites, or ask them to sponsor a series. Get involved with a group that does sewing days, and has members willing to mentor you in highly-accurate practices.
I’m Not Keen on Full DIY. I Need Help!
That’s fine, too, and totally historically accurate! Most skilled historic dressmakers, for instance, will let you hire them to do just a bodice fitting, or do the bodice construction for you while you to the skirts, or just do the sleeves for you because you hate drafting and setting them.
Many excellent historic milliners will provide you with a totally finished and trimmed bonnet, a ready-to-trim bonnet, a partially finished bonnet, or just a bonnet kit and supplies. You have options.
Using a professional for just part of the work is very normal for most skilled makers, and it can be a very budget-friendly way to go for you, too.
But I Want Spendy Gorgeousness. Can’t They Just Charge Me Less?
Well, no. That’s a great way for the professional to burn out or go bankrupt. If you’d like their spendy gorgeousness, save up. It’s okay to wait on a splurge. Longing and anticipation are two very valid mid-century activities. Once you have a basic wardrobe with undergarments, skirt support, a corset, and a dress, you really don’t need 40 more dresses. Take your time, and research and save to add perhaps one piece a year, or every other year, as things wear out. Just like they did in the period. Odd, how that works out so nicely!
But Shouldn’t They Be Charging Less, Really? I Mean, It’s For Education (And Stuff)!
Well, no. They probably ought to be charging more, given the hundreds of hours of effort behind every project they take on. Charging adequate prices on skilled labor means they get to do things like putting money in savings so they can retire someday, or take a family vacation, or even take the odd sick-day. Those are not high-falutin’, snobby goals. Promise.
Summing Up
You’ve hear the old adage: Fast, Good, or Cheap: Pick Two.
It applies to historic wardrobes as well.
You can have Fast and Cheap, but it’s not going to be Good, and then you’ve wasted everything that went into it.
You can have Fast(ish) and Good, but it’s not going to be Cheap, because you’ll be paying fair skilled-labor rates to a professional, and if they’re sensible, they’re going to charge you extra for the Fast part. This stuff takes time, whether it’s a $3/yard cotton print dress or a silk ballgown.
You can definitely have Good and Cheap, but you’ll need to invest time in your own basic sewing skills, and work at it in tiny increments, making time for it in your schedule. It is 100% do-able, though it may take awhile! Clothing does not have to be perfectly stitched in order to be perfectly historically-accurate and very serviceable. (You can also buy used good items from others, and remodel them… that’s another mid-century norm we can use to our advantage, and it’s a whole ‘nother set of postings.)
Nearly 1700 words is straining the limits of tasteful blogging, so I’ll wrap up with this:
Doing it well is worth the effort (yours) and money (yours and that paid to select makers). Don’t denigrate it. Or, if you feel like denigrating it, just hush for awhile. Other people are working hard to do a good job, and it’s rude to bother them.
If anyone would like to add comments, please do link up your very favorite, very accurate resources for either a skilled historic maker, or a great DIY option!
The Authentic Civilian Manifesto
Or, How To Be Awesome, In 17 Simple Steps.
Many, many moons ago, a wonderful historic researcher and living history enthusiast named Mrs Susan Lyons Hughes wrote this simple point-by-point description of a very useful attitude for any living history enthusiast. It is shared here, word for word, with her permission. Upon reading it through again, I am struck by the applicability of it now–no need for updates, even a decade-and-a-half later! The attitude described in this list works beautifully for any living history enthusiast. Substitute your favorite region or era for “Civil War,” as needed.
As November is a month for thanksgiving, let’s give thanks for:
THE AUTHENTIC CIVILIAN’S MANIFESTO
© Susan Lyons Hughes
1. I am committed to developing and practicing the most historically accurate portrayal of a civilian during the American Civil War now possible, independent of my husband/spouse/significant other.
2. The only limitations I place upon the accuracy of my impression are due to a prudent concern for maintaining modern standards of health and safety, and those limitations naturally enforced by lack of information resulting from the passage of time since the Civil War.
3. I obtain the most historically accurate clothing, equipment, and other relevant items available to me. I insist upon the use of proper materials and construction techniques in all reproduction items. I handle my finances in a manner that will prevent financial considerations from limiting the accuracy of my impression.
4. I recognize that many vital aspects of Civil War civilian life – terror and wounds on a battlefield near my home, the sights of death on the battlefield or in the hospital, diseases, and much else – cannot be re-created effectively in a living history context. I do not see this failing as an excuse to be lax about other aspects of my impression, but as a challenge to insure that all I can portray is presented as accurately as possible.
5. My impression is based upon serious research into and careful analysis of reliable sources of information about the experiences of civilians during the mid-19th Century. I recognize the need to employ the historian’s skills, including the ability to evaluate possible sources of information. I place considerable reliance upon documented research conducted by others, but I do not base my impression upon the claims of those who manufacture goods for the reenacting market, reenacting traditions and customs, superficial or outdated publications, entertainment media, or other suspect sources.
6. I am prepared to change my impression to incorporate improvements dictated by new historical information as it becomes available to me. I recognize that our understanding of the details of history changes over time. I welcome constructive discussion of such matters, and I share information freely.
7. I portray the Civil War civilian as my knowledge of history leads me to believe is accurate for a particular scenario. This may include altering my impression, depending upon the event scenario, and I am willing to do the research to create an impression that is accurate for the time and place being portrayed. My impression may reflect regional variations in clothing and equipment and changes over time during the war. I can vary my personal impression to suit differing locations and dates of depicted events.
8. I recognize that for the vast majority of civilians during the Civil War, the impact of the war was felt “at home,” and that to re-create civilian life accurately, opportunities for civilian activities at traditional battle reenactments will often be limited. I am committed to developing living history opportunities at venues besides traditional battle reenactments in order to more accurately portray the lives of civilians. This does not mean that I cannot or will not attend battle reenactments, but that I will not try to impose an inaccurate civilian presence at a military scenario when it is not appropriate.
9. I recognize that a successful impression cannot be superficial. My objective is not to conceal modern items but to re-create a historic time and place in detail. Therefore, my impression is as accurate and complete as I can make it on every level – including all of my clothing and the contents of my pockets, carpetbags, &c. Further, I am familiar with the material culture of the mid-19th United States in general, and not just with objects related directly to the military, or to objects related to civilians who may have been associated with the military.
10. While portraying a Civil War civilian I eat food that simulates as closely as possible the food available to the people in the situation being depicted, which includes food which might have been in season as well as available in the region. However, I do not endanger my health by consuming food known to be dangerous. I dispose of human waste in a safe manner.
11. In pursuit of the complete Civil War civilian experience, I am willing to take part in accurately staged scenarios that accurately reflect activities of the period. I learn as much as I can about the details of these activities so that I can portray them realistically. If called upon to do so, I am willing to continue the living history experience around the clock during events.
12. I am committed to learning about antebellum and wartime civilian life to better understand the historical context of the mid-19th century, and to engage in realistic interaction with serious military reenactors that are appropriate to the time and place. I will not live in the military camps, and I will enter the military camps only with an escort, and only with a period-appropriate reason for doing so. I will base my interaction with military reenactors upon historic research appropriate to the scenario time and place being depicted.
13. I employ first-person living history techniques whenever appropriate. I take great care to avoid behavior, language, and comments that might disrupt accurate living history activities. I strive to attain a mental attitude appropriate to the person I portray when in character.
14. I do not “hide my candle under a bushel.” I take advantage of situations that allow me to share my knowledge of the realities of Civil War civilian life with fellow living history enthusiasts and with the public. I participate in living history activities, especially at smaller events, and in educational programs.
15. I see “mainstream” reenactors as potential converts to living history at higher levels of historical accuracy, and I avoid conflict with them. I conduct my relations with them in a manner consistent with the behavior expected from mid-19th century gentlemen and ladies. However, I do maintain my own high standards of excellence for portraying Civil War civilian life.
16. I limit my discussion of and participation in politics at events to that appropriate to the event historical scenario. I leave my views on current events and modern-day reenacting politics at home.
17. The greatest pleasure I derive from Civil War living history comes from the knowledge that I am re-creating the experiences of the civilians who lived during the Civil War with the greatest fidelity to history I can manage.
Thank you, Mrs Hughes! This document has been an inspiration and a guide for many years, and I hope it will continue to guide others for decades to come!
Pluperfect Pockets
In Making It Work, I mentioned pockets, properly constructed, as a fantastic period option for carrying all the small bits we often need through the day. Rather than leave you entirely hanging as to how a properly constructed dress pocket might work, let’s add that, shall we?
Quite a few dresses across all levels of the fashionable continuum employ a pocket, set into the side seam of the skirts (most find this comfortable on the dominant hand’s side of the body), and supported by a pocket stay.
A pocket stay is simply a band, tape, or other such arrangement, firmly stitched to the edge of the pocket bag furthest from the hand opening, and then tacked to the inside of the dress waist (in this image, it’s the vertical strap bridging pocket and band.)
The stay is the exact length needed to hold the pocket level and flat. It really does make things stay: you can load the pocket without fear of the side seam dragging, or putting undue strain on the seams that join pocket to skirt seam, because the stay takes up strain and keeps the pocket bag from falling down.
A pocket stay, combined with a rounded pocket shape, makes it easier to find things inside your dress pocket, too, as small things (or even larger things) cannot get lost in the pointy parts of a squared pocket bag.
You don’t need a published pattern to add a pocket to your dress. Check back soon for a new Compendium article (free to download and share!) with step-by-step instructions to help you draw and sew a pocket (plus stay!) into any dress in your wardrobe.
In the meantime: if you already have a dress pocket, but it’s been sagging or threatening to let go under the strain of the things you stash inside, add a stay! Support your pocket, and it will serve you well.
Curious About Color?
The mid-19th century is a time of tremendous color… in everything except most photographic information. By the 1860s, photography had developed to the point that it was no longer just for artists and people with the cash to splash on a newfangled fancy thing; the ability to fix images on paper, glass, or metal led to an explosion in commercially-available photography for the everyday household.
So, we’re blessed with quite a lot of photographic documentation of the era we love!
But, we’re also working with images that are more often grey-toned than colored, and that can lead to a lot of speculation about what colors the Original Cast were actually wearing. One big flaw is to examine period images taken with wet-plate technology (find a discussion of the processes here, and you’ll see why modern historic photographers are not charging enough for ferros, dags, and ambros!) and “read” them according to a modern black-and-white-film gray-scale of tones. Because modern black-and-white film is not nearly so blue-sensitive as period photography technology, the “read” is wrong; we are not used to the grayscale a historic person would expect to see in photographs.
Years and years ago, I met a really neat woman named Kathleen Lowe, who took a short series of images with both modern and historic processes. I do have her permission, granted all those years ago, to share these images for educational use, so I’m happy to do it, with this caveat: if you want to share them, link back to this article rather than re-hosting or re-publishing her images, so the her permissions and her copyrights are maintained. Court good cosmic karma, and click through for the images. Continue reading
Making It Work
Too often, we run into living history challenges and think we have to make-do or justify our solutions. Let me take a moment of your day and share a quick process to simplify decision-making, and get a great historically-accurate result every time.
(And if you want another run at this same topic, please visit the Compendium or click here for our free article about the The Progressive Questions!)
Here’s the pattern:
- What did the Original Cast, the people who lived our favorite time period, actually do and use?
- Can I replicate or do that exactly?
- If not, what other things did the Original Cast actually do and use?
- Which of these historic options fits best with my modern impression, budget, time, and preferences?
Let’s put them into use for a few questions (and I’m going to pick different questions than in the Compendium article.)
I will be sleeping at a history event. Can I use my air mattress?
1: What did the Original Cast do? Well, mostly they slept in beds, with a variety of mattress options.
2: Can I do that? Yes, it’s possible to build or buy a repro bed frame, add slats or rope tension, make a period mattress, and period bedding. I’ll be quite comfortable and cozy, too.
But what if that set-up is beyond my budget, or doesn’t work for my time-frame before the event, or I lack a way to haul all that gear to and from, or the physical wherewithal to do the set-up and take-down on my own? What if I’m going to be in a tent?
That’s when we head for Question 3: What other options did the Original Cast use?
Well, in westward migration settings, most people either slept on pallets and mattresses inside the wagon, or in bedrolls on the ground under the wagon or in a tent put up for the night. There are also plans for portable cots in period publications like The Prairie Traveler (discussion of furniture starts on page 114. You’re welcome.), so I could make a more budget-scaled and transport-friendly bed that is still well within period norms.
I could skip a bed frame, and lay a pallet on a floorcloth inside or outside a tent, or in a historic building, and sleep there. I could use a simple bed-roll of period-styled quilts (with wool under me to cushion and insulate.) I could also do what many displaced and away from home people did, and rent a room for the night at a nearby boarding house or hotel, and skip hauling bedding entirely.
And if I want to use an air mattress? Well, they had ’em. And I can, too, if I’m willing to construct one of real rubber in a period style and inflate it by means of a small bellows or my own lungs. Of all the options open to replicate the era, using an accurate air mattress is more challenging than all the others.
With any of these options, I still need to stick to period materials, techniques, and styles for bedding, wood, fasteners, etc; but I could also safely leave every speck of my sleeping arrangements open to public view, and be confident the spectators are seeing something historic, not make-do.
All that remains is to carefully examine the period-appropriate options I have (with this one question, I’m counting a minimum of nine valid period options I could choose to replicate).
Let’s do another. I think I need a purse for my bits of junk. What should I use?
1: What did They use? A quick survey of extant dresses shows something handy: pockets. Pockets quite deep and capacious, stitched right into the seam of the skirt (usually on the dominant hand side), with a “pocket stay” to support the outer reaches of the pocket bag. Properly made (with rounded corners to prevent things going lost in the points), a pocket in a dress can hold everything the modern woman thinks she needs (and more than most modern purses of moderate scale.)
2: Can I do that? Oh, yes! It’s a free or nearly-free retro-fit to existing dresses, and costs only pennies to add to new dresses, too. It’s such a great solution, in fact, that I’m going to recommend stopping there for any normal day-to-day detritus like keys, medications, handkerchiefs, lozenges, small candies to soothe or bribe little children, a tiny notebook and pencil for random jottings… not to mention modern but sometimes-felt-vital things like phones. A pocket sewn into a dress is more convenient than hauling a purse, and it’s a perfectly period solution. We can actually stop right here, and meet a need for 99% of our sistren.
I certainly could continue on through the four-step process. There are some great articles to do with cases and arrangements for travel, for instance, from Anna Worden Bauersmith. I could look at classes from Genteel Arts Academy in making my own travel bag. I could read up on other options from Virginia Mescher, regarding baskets or a host of other topics that inform what I might keep in pockets, bags, or boxes. All of that learning, and more, will only add context to my choices and expand my options.
Or, since I’ve found a great period solution that works easily and widely, I can stop right here, feeling secure that by starting with What They Did, my final choice of What I’ll Do fits well within the period norms for my own modern living history situation. It’s a great place to rest for a moment.
So I shall.
Looking West, Jumping Off
1907 Map by Ezra Meeker, early “opener” of the Oregon territory. The map shows turn-of-the-century geographic names.
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If your education was like most, your history book handled the Civil War, western migration, and the Gold Rush in three separate sections. For many people, this causes a distinct disconnect, and it may take years to realize that all of these major events in American history happened during the same era! While battles raged back east, individuals and households continued to emigrate, prospect, and settle the west. For modern living history enthusiasts, understand the vast pull of the West is a great addition to mid-century context, and can even enter into specific interpretive presentations.
Beginning with white missionary settlement in the 1830s, the western territories that would become the states of Oregon, Washington, California, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, and Idaho captured the imagination and hopefulness of a young nation eager to spread out and find new horizons. Land grant programs beginning in 1843 allowed any adult citizen to claim western acreage, provided he lived on and improved the property (called “proving” a claim) for several years; married men were able to claim double acreage. Starting in 1854, acreage could be either “proved” or purchased outright. The Homestead Act of 1862 again granted free claims of up to 320 acres with five years “proving”, or paid claims with six months residency, and $1.25 per acre. With farmland growing more expensive in the northern states, and increasingly tapped out or battle-wearing in the south, “free” land in the west grew more and more attractive. Continue reading
Is It Really Important?
How important is historical accuracy in an interpretive plan?
Pardon me a moment while I hop up on this handy stump and share a few thoughts…
Patrons to any historic site (and extrapolating, to any history-focused event) have the very reasonable expectation that the site is “doing it right”–in other words, that the site is presenting them with historically-consistent information all the way through, from plants in the flower beds, to items in the gift shops, to household furnishings, to the details of material culture in clothing and accessories, and definitely including the information presented through entertainment.
Therefore, it is vital that any on-site entertainment be continually looking for ways to upgrade the historical content, becoming “edu-tainment”–something that patrons can enjoy, and also walk away having learned things that accurately reflect the historic record. The good news is, small changes can be free (or very nearly so), and change can happen over time.
Historic clothing plays a tremendous role in all of this. It’s a primary visual component of any historic interpretation, and deserves weighty consideration. The Original Cast did every single activity we might interpret while wearing a full complement of accurate clothing; there is no reason we should endeavor to do less. More after the jump… Continue reading
Immersion Events and Really Small People
The fast-approaching event season presents families with many options for living history activities. You might find yourself contemplating local “smorgasbord” events, historic house events, civic commemorations, semi-immersion events, or even full-immersion events designed to be functional laboratories for living history enthusiasts. Immersion events post some unique challenges to families with infants or very small children. With planning and determination, it is possible to combine immersion and infancy, without accuracy compromises. Continue reading
Stretch Your Living History Budget
If your household is like ours, you must organize your living history activities around a very real—and finite—modern budget. Keep a few things in mind to maximize your time and money.
Plan First, Spend Last
It’s exciting to get involved in the hobby! Without a plan, you could make some costly purchases that don’t serve you well. Research and plan first, so you can purchase or make the most useful items for your typical impressions the first time around. You’ll save money and time in the long run. If you only attend events with working class scenarios, an upper class wardrobe will be a waste of money, but an investment in clothing and books related to working class people will be well spent.
Think Critically
Not every willing resource is a good resource! It’s important to question the “status quo” and find out for yourself about the people and practices of the mid-nineteenth century. Consult multiple sources; see where they agree and where they disagree. Practice good research and documentation habits. Get in the habit of asking merchants and vendors for background information on their items, to ensure that the products really do meet your unique persona needs.
Do It Yourself
If you’re willing to gain a few basic skills, you can provide many things at a low cost, from home. For instance, learn a basic running stitch by hand and a straight stitch by machine, and you can construct the majority of a family’s undergarments at home, for the cost of inexpensive white cotton fabric and a few spools of thread. By making male shirts and drawers, and female chemises, drawers, and petticoats, you can focus your dollars on professional help with outer clothing—or, use the undergarments as practice for your trousers, vests, coats, and dresses. Sewing, knitting, woodworking, and other “do it yourself” skills, used with good historic patterns, can save you a tremendous amount of money.
Utilize Local Resources
No budget could purchase every book that would be helpful for learning about the nineteenth century. Get familiar with your local library; ask the librarians to help you search the collection for helpful volumes. As you come across book titles not in the local collection, ask for help with inter-library loan. It’s a no- to low-cost way to borrow books from other libraries on a lending network, to preview nearly any book, in or out of print, before deciding if it’s one you need to buy.
Maximize Your Wardrobe
How many sets of outer clothing do you own? How many sets of undergarments? In period wardrobe lists, undergarments outnumber dresses and suits; recreate that ratio, and you’ll recreate a functional historic wardrobe that works just as perfectly today. Invest the time and funds to make three to four sets of undergarments and accessory items (aprons, collars, cuffs, neckerchiefs), and you’ll be able to attend a three to four day event with only one set of outer clothing.
Keep it Simple
Don’t try to do everything right away. It’s just not possible! Set reasonable goals for acquiring material goods, upgrading your research, and incorporating new information into your impression. Make continual steps forward as your plan allows. If you start with the basics of what you need for your most common scenarios and situations, you’ll create a solid base, and expand from there. It’s effective for every budget!
