An 1860's Bonnet: Part 1

A verrry long time ago I started tearing apart a straw bonnet that didn't have the right shape, got frustrated, and didn't think about bonnets again until the beginning of this year. While gearing up for Gettysburg, I simply needed a bonnet. I've never really made a bonnet before but of course I decided to make my first a hard one.

I got bit by the drawn-bonnet-bug after seeing a grad student/friend of mine make an absolutely lovely reproduction of a bonnet she found tucked away in the hat boxes at the theater department. Her reproduction was stunning. She used a silver shot taffeta and wire frame.

From seeing her process, I became really intrigued with making one, but first I had to see whether or not a drawn bonnet would be appropriate for the American Civil War years (1860-1865). In my research (and people, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) it seems that the drawn bonnet style was definitely more popular before the 1860s, and isn't as widespread up through 1865. That was kind of a bummer, but I dug a little deeper. I searched through fashion plates, seeing one occasionally, and would randomly come across a cute bonnet from museum sites only to find out that it's a child's bonnet or some other such nonsense.

Look how precious! But it's a child's bonnet :(

A little bit about Civil War Era Bonnets:  Bonnet styles progress like any other type of fashion, some years they're in, some years they're out, some years they're round, some years they're not. Specifically, from 1860-65 the "spoon bonnet" became popular. The "spoon" refers to the profile view of the bonnet looking like a spoon, having a gentle curved and slightly pronounced brim at the top; and from the front view it has an egg like shape, much like a spoon. Also, during these years, the caul of the bonnet was somewhat shallow and had a pretty steep grade from brim to crown. 

After having so much trouble finding an okay bonnet with the correct shape and being a drawn bonnet (that I like and want to reproduce) I was forced to use Pinterest. LE GASP! Now, I will say this with a disclaimer:
PINTEREST IS NOT A FULLPROOF SEARCH TOOL AND NOT EVERYTHING ON PINTEREST IS WHAT IT SAYS IT IS. ANYTHING YOU SEE ON PINTEREST COULD BE A FRAUD AND IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO RESEARCH SAID PHOTO TO VERIFY IT'S AUTHENTICITY.
So, in essence, everything on Pinterest must be taken with a grain of salt. Pinterest can be a great search tool as there are so many photos linked with great websites. Unfortunately it is not always the case. I encourage any person who finds an intriguing photo from Pinterest to find out its original source and give said source due credit. End Rant.

*swoon*

The bonnet I found is from Time Traveler's Antiques. It is a drawn bonnet, which isn't altogether shocking, but the shape of it is definitely of the 1860s. You can see in the photo how high the top of the brim is, it is not round like most of the drawn bonnets from the 1850s, definitely spoon shaped. Now, the caul of the bonnet doesn't have a very steep grade, but the trimmings are concentrated at the top of the head, which also point to the 1860s.

So, this is the bonnet I am to recreate, just with a different color scheme. The next post shall be about the construction!

Photo Friday

This particular picture is pretty awesome. The woman in the photo is Flora Stewart, and lore is she was a house slave in New England during the American Revolution. She died in 1868.

There's some more information on her at Nutfield Geneaology. It seems that her age is often disputed, and town records have been the subject of questioning in regards to her date of birth.

Regardless of if her age at death was 120 years old or whatever, it's still amazing to think that this woman possibly saw two world changing wars. She saw herself freed and surely witnessed the beginnings of the abolition of slavery. She also lived a huge range of fashions and styles. It's mind boggling to think someone can live so long.

Anywho, I thought this was a really cool picture and thought I'd share. Have a great weekend!

Lectures, lectures, lectures!

For the past year, I've been getting into giving presentations at various organizations and I've just scheduled two more! The next one coming up is going to be taking place next week!

For this presentation, I will be dressed in my grey dress, hopefully the new bodice, and will be speaking about Women's and Children's popular fashions from 1860-1865. We will be covering popular fashions of the time period, how to date Civil War era photos, and the dressing process that goes into achieving a fashionable silhouette with my lovely model, Kitri.

If you're in the area, I hope to see you there!

Civil War Day 2010

Every year my 8th Grade teacher hosts a Civil War day for her students and I have been part of the festivities for the last 4 years. I normally teach on what life was like for those at home during the 1860's while some reenacting friends/classmates of mine teach on the battlefront aspect.We've had the local newspapers interview us before, but this year I finally got some pictures of us in action!

Matt and Dylan

Matt and Dylan talking to the students about loading the gun

The "Reenactment"

The "Charge"

 My portion starts out with some facts about how people lived and whatnot, then I got to the fun part, which was dressing the girls up in the outfits. I dressed the volunteer with all the layers and let them wear the skirt I made a while back. They seemed to really enjoy it.

There's a petticoat after this, but is no picture of it   D:

The Whole Get-up

It's a really fun thing to do, and I hope to do it for many years to come. I just need to get more hoops, skirts and corsets so I can have an army of 1860's gals. YAY

Finished Grey Dress

This is my finished "Nun Dress", as my brother calls it. I don't think it cost me more than $12, which is quite an accomplishment I think. :)



I made the collar and undersleeves from a cheesecloth of all things! I got them both done in about 2 hours. I'm excited to start making new bodices for this dress, I think that it will be a very nice and practical dress for whatever I may need it for :D

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Here it is without the under sleeves:


And here's me with my mommy!

Summer Sewing Continued

The Progress of my Civil War dress....




The Dress:
This dress is supposed to be late 1850's-early 1860's looking. The fabric is a very sheer and breathable cotton that I purchased for $.75 a yard at Wal-Mart. It's a very pretty grey that you can see different shades in the threading. It's worn over a self-rigged 4 bone hoop bought from ebay.com. (i'll have another post about rigging one of these hoops later). The bodice has front closure of hooks&eyes and will be fastened to the skirt with hooks&eyes attached on the waistband. I've not decided yet whether I'm gonna add trim to it yet or not?

This dress is not to be an "authentic reproduction", of which period techniques are the only that are used. I am just after "the look" using what I have to make it. I've based my dress off of tons of pics I've snagged on the internet. So far this dress has only cost me about $8 in materials (hooks and eyes, fabric, thread, bias tape, etc) and around a week of time.





Bodice:
So, since drafting my pattern I've managed to put together the bodice (well for the most part). It's proven very interesting. My original pattern I made was for only one dart on each side of the bodice. BUT... after looking over many pics I've snagged over the internet, I noticed that I only have a picture of 1 dress that has that type of construction. All of the pictures I have looked at have 2 or more darts per side. So that had to be changed



I've never drafted a pattern, or even made a dress before. Soooooo, this is quite an adventure. My first problem I ran into, was my form is slightly smaller than I really am. >:{ (disgruntled face)... So, it looks great on the clone, but is quite snug when I put it on. Another one, is although I cut the pieces out with over an inch of seam allowance, it's miraculously just barely fitting together with the rest of the pieces. AHH! At the moment I'm trying to make it all fit together without having to make another bodice altogether by adding an extra inch to the middle front seam. I think it will work. But I'll keep you posted.


Skirt:
The skirt I did not draft myself, I modified a discontinued Butterick pattern (no. 6694)that was dradfully inaccurate. I added 4 inches to pieces 17 and 19. After I had sewn all the pieces together I added a number of pleats to make it much more accurate. I have one box pleat in the back to try to create a bustle effect with directional pleats leading to the front. I've yet to hem it, but I plan to use iron-on hem tape, so no seams will be seen. I reinforced the waistband with a random piece of 1-inch thick bias tape. The waistband is going to have a hook&eye closure and opening disguised by a pleat.





*My review of the pattern*
Great for someone as tall as I am (5'2''), but anyone who is taller than that would have to add more length to it, and anyone who's waist is more than 24 inches will have to add more than just 4 inches to pieces 17 and 19, if the same amount of pleats are desired. All in all, the pattern worked well with what I was doing with it. :)

The overall look of this dress is pretty good. It looks like it could definitely be in a picture... and that's what I'm going for. If you have a suggestion or comment I'm happy to hear it! ex) sleeves, trims, other style bodices etc

SUGGEST AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Summer Sewing part 1

I don't have a job this summer, so I'm going to fill it with projects! YAY! Some of these include,

1)Make a clone of myself
2) Make a Day Dress for my mother
3) Make at least one apron
4) Put together some undersleeves

Last night my mom and I started on the clone. It took a good 2 hours to wrap me up and cut me out of it. Then afterwords it needed to be closed up and stuffed. My, Oh, My. It was quite an ordeal, and to boot... I looked like a Protocol Droid (C-3PO). but The end result is quite amazing. I HIGHLY recommend doing this for yourself. It only took me a roll of duct tape, some old newspapers, and a friend to help me. The benefits of this are endless too! You can make stuff for yourself and fit it how you want it, without being awkward trying to pin things on yourself... You can hand this clone to a friend who's making you something if you don't want to go thru the trouble of fittings... You can put your costumes on it for the heck of it... I tell you, it's endless... and AWESOME.




So today, I made use of my new self... I put on some 1860's bodices on it and drafted a pattern for a new bodice. I kind of wanted to just go with it and do an experiment... so this is what I did....

I NEEDED:
1 Clone
Bodice (optional, but be cautious if without. you better have an insane knowledge of 1860's clothing if you decided to go without)
Common Sense (mandatory)
Plastic bag(s)
Sharpie
Sewing Pins
Scissors



I cut the plastic bag below handle to the bottom. Cut the fusing of the corners and pull apart to reveal a perfect new corner! If you do this to the other side and you have a nice big piece to work with.
 Then, Take the bag and place it over the clone where the bodice piece would seem to go.

I pretty much just draped my pattern with the plastic bag. I'm sure others have found this way of doing it, but it was a revelation to me! I was quite proud of myself :)










That's as much as I've done so far. Tomorrow I shall cut the pieces out of my new grey fabric and hopefully get most the pieces together.

Check List Revisted

In an earlier entry, posted around the holidays of 2008, I had given a list of accomplishments to pursue for that long Winter Break that OU so graciously gives. I promised to post with my progress, and have yet to do so until now. Here goes...

1) make 2 chemises.... CHECK!

2) make 2 Pairs of drawers... FAILED (not even attempted)

3) Rig previously bought Skirt from ebay....CHECK! it looks rather nice now.

4) Learn to crochet.... CHECK! I have found a very enjoyable past time and I am now

attempting to make an "Imperial Symbol Scarf"... this is a Star Wars thing. and I'm uber excited to finish it!

5) make 2 under-petticoats..... semi-CHECK! the chemises I made are long enough to serve as under-petticoats.... go me!

the picture is what my living room looked like with a rather odd looking rig. It's a lampshade, with a hoopskirt and petticoat on top of it... this made it easier to add and pin the ruffles.

his is the original skirt I bought from ebay... it's very basic and boring and wasn't long enough for my hoop. My solution to this problem: Add a ruffle to the bottom. this gave it the proper length for my hoop and made it look a little more accurate to days of the Civil War.

This is the *almost* finished skirt. ^^^^^^It has a draw string waist which I intend to remedy a wee bit. This skirt is to be used for presentations to 8th Graders at my old Middle School. I come in during the Spring and give a presentation on Women's Life during the time of the Civil War. This skirt is going to be used for girls to try on so they can experience things a little better :) I am going to keep the drawstring waist but I intend to disguise it by some strategic pleating and seams that will also make it usable for any reenactments my mother and I should go to. (The sash in the photo is not a real sash, but a piece of scrap black fabric. I just needed something to "complete the picture".lol.)

Some time later I will add a more complete "Civil War Reenacting on a Tight Budget". This will show the hoop, bustle pad and chemise(s) That I made work. TOODLES!