Why a Challenge?

Because we all need a little motivation.  Let's face it, we're human and we are all busy people with jobs, families and life commitments.  Most of us use goals as motivational tools. Want to run faster and longer, you enter a road race.  Want to improve your handicap, you sign up for that charity match at the local golf course.  Have a couple of pounds to lose?  Put the date of your high school reunion on the calendar and see what happens.  And there are those of us in the reenactment world who look forward to an upcoming event and use the event to motivate them to make something new or add a new accessory to their impression or finally finish that project that is hanging on the chair.

We all have parts of our kit that need work.  Even things we thought were totally correct at one point turn out not to be with the advent of new research.  Kitting up for living history is not an exact science.  We don't have the same materials available to us, the research is on-going, plus this is a hobby and we need to play within our means and abilities.  However, that does not mean we shouldn't strive to improve the things we can and a small local event or a large national event can be the impetus to make those improvements.

We selected a muster day because it allows for a wide range of interpretive possibilities - from lower class to upper class, military or not.  And a specific date was chosen in order to explore the nuances in clothing of a particular year and locale, as well as to get a more focused look at pre-war Concord.

Some people will embrace this challenge, others will not.  There are those who live for the big powder burner events, while some prefer small town programs, while there are still others who just adore roughing it at an immersion event -- that's what make the world go round.

Those who choose to participate will set a goal for this challenge that is appropriate for them.  And since staying on track is easier with the support and guidance of those with similar goals, everyone will have each other to help keep them motivated.  Research will be shared, ideas exchanged, and we'll each be challenged to move forward.

Coming next: Does that mean I have to make a whole new kit?

What's in the Works?

Dearest Friends,
This week The Hive will be announcing our very first New England Living History Challenge. We are challenging the reenactment community to embark on a ten month journey with us to raise the level of our individual impressions - culminating in an event in August, developed specifically for you to show off your accomplishment.  We'll be creating a muster day in Concord in 1773.

We've established this blog (and are working on another for the guys) so you can follow several people, from a wide range of experience levels, as they take on this challenge. Everyone will have a different way of going at this, some will go over the top, some will make one new garment while making adjustments to existing ones, while many will most likely fall somewhere in between.

We're just putting the finishing touches on a website that will answer all of your questions and fully outline the guidelines of "The Challenge". In addition, we'll have a Facebook page for you to discuss your progress, get help and share your experience with other participants.  Each Sunday Hive, starting in January, will also include a morning session for you to get help with your projects, ask questions and share research.  We'd like to see everyone who signs up to participate enjoy the process and be successful in this endeavor.

So, stay tuned, there is more to come this week!  In the meantime, start thinking about how you might like to look in the summer of 1773.

YH&OS,
Mrs. S.

A brief interlude with the uses of Plantain...

Well, yes, I’ve been “bad” and have not written much beyond my introduction.  Things at my house often seem to get, um, beyond the normal.   What follows is a good example of this.

Things that happened since I’ve attempted this project include preparing for the MMNP Preserving the Harvest Day (will write that one up soon!  Really!), getting ready for an event HM 10^th did at Wayside Inn called Battle of Red Horse Tavern – that one even included some sewing.  I’ll be writing that one up as well.  More typically, this is what goes on:  Saturday night after the MMNP program I get home, change my clothes and notice a funny black spot on my calf.  It itches and burns.  It’s obviously an insect bite but it doesn’t look like a tick bite, which, unfortunately, I’m overly familiar with.  Plus, there’s no tick.  I put some salve on it and a bandage on it.  Overnight it gets larger with a spreading irregular red patch below it. I have a digital microscope to check out the bite with.  I can see two brown fang marks amidst some infection.  I also have a day-long odd feeling headache and really stiff shoulders, which is odd since I didn’t sleep in a bad position or do anything out of the ordinary to make me feel that sore.  It’s a funny kind of stiffness as well.  I have a hunch (I was standing right by an old woodpile at MMNP) and check it out – hunch verified.  I have a brown recluse spider bite.  The headache, sore shoulders and bite appearance match the symptoms described and images on several medical websites. Good thing I was wearing my thick wool socks!   I don't think too much venom got through the wool. 

So, I get some plantain, which I had talked about to so many people the day before.  I often found myself explaining how plantain, Plantago lanceolata or Plantago major, is not related to the plantain banana-thing you find in the grocery store.  It's a plant that grows pretty close to the ground in compacted soil.  Brought with the English settlers to North America.  Now I get to use plantain in one of the ways it was actually used in the 18^th Century, as a poultice for drawing out infection or venom.  I smashed it up and applied it to the bite, holding it on my 21^st Century Band-Aid.  It worked, and drew most of the poison out but not all.  It reduced the itch and completely got rid of the red area spreading from the venom.  I didn’t end up with any necrosis, but the infection wouldn’t go away, either, even with Bacitracin.    By Friday I was at the doctor’s office where the doc put more Bacitracin on the bite and wanted me to take systemic antibiotics for a bit the size of a pencil eraser that was clearing up.  Um, no.

In the midst of all this I’m making my younger daughter a Boudicca costume for Halloween out of some unusable-for-18^th -Century wool someone gave me, having an almost-fight on the new 18^th Century Life list about women riding horses (more on that one, too), getting ready for the Battle of Red Horse Tavern on the 29 Oct, and making a craft for the local homeschool group Halloween party (ghosts made from circles of white cloth, cotton balls and string.  Very popular.). By this time, snow’s in the forecast so I’m busy making a new kerchief for extra warmth and adding some length to a wool flannel gown I made a wee bit too short in April for Battle Road.   Also, I have to exercise the horse five to six days a week and homeschool the girls.  The horse is highly amused with the 18^th Century kit when she’s seen it, but that’s another story.  Of course, the next thing that happens is the snow storm, no electricity, now this week, several trips to the dentist for a lost filling.  I live in Mendon and the dentist is in Sudbury.   That’s been a fun 4+ hours of driving.

And the spider bite?  It’s much better, especially after I put a paste of green clay and Echinacea purpurea tincture on it to draw out the last of the venom and dry up the infection (Echinacea would be the Native American remedy for venomous bites).  It’s almost gone and barely hurts now.  Most brown recluse bites take four to six weeks to heal, so I’m very pleased with two and a half weeks to three weeks of healing.  It also looks like I’ll have minimal scarring.  I’m hoping it’s back to normal family chaos next week so maybe I can squeeze in a blog post about 18^th Century or reenacting type things!

Cheers,

Deb aka Mrs. Cook

Portrait of the Week - Meet Elizabeth Lewis Goldthwait

Dearest Friends,
Last week you were introduced to Elizabeth Goldthwait, the younger, this week her mother Elizabeth Lewis Goldthwait (1713-1794) is our portrait of the week.  Completed in 1771, this portrait by Copley was billed to the Goldthwaits at 19.2 pounds and 9 pounds for the frame.

Elizabeth, who is 59 years old here, wears a brown silk satin sacque, with very little ornamentation other than sleeve ruffles.  Notice -- no apron.  Her cap is similar to Margaret Manning's -- a heart shaped cap that fastens under her chin - set off by some lovely pearls at her neck.  What is notable in this portrait, is how it appears that Mrs. Goldthwait is wearing two handkerchiefs or is the second a lace mantle?

Here is the portrait of Elizabeth's husband.  The two portraits were painted to complement each other.

Ezekial Goldthwait, by Copley 1771

Elizabeth died in 1794, outliving her husband by 12 years.  Here is her obituary.

A wonderful model for any of our women of "a certain age" who would like to portray a lady of means - and who looks good in brown.

YH&OS,

Mrs. S

Mrs. Hancock’s Baby Stays: Finding Fashion Fabric

As you may remember from my last post, the baby stays need fashion fabric. The wool I had intended to use was a bit too bulky, so I searched my scrap stash (that is, fabrics leftover from previous projects) and I decided to use a scrap of dull green linen because:

a) I have plenty of it.

b) It’s a fairly lightweight fabric so it should work well for the summer.

In a quick scan of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's collections I found this example: 

Women's stays, mid 18th century Accession Number 1903-135
The fashion fabric is a glazed wool that is the same kind of green as my fabric.

And I found this...

Child's stays, c.1770-1790 Accession Number  1988-15-1
The fashion fabric is a gold coarse, plain weave linen. 

If you consider that the green lady's stays are the same color as my fabric, and the child's stays are the same type of fabric that I have on hand, it would seem sufficient to use my dull green linen, right?

So I did.

I covered the outer part of the stays...

I had to piece the fabric together at the bottom front since the fabric was a little too short.

I whip stitched the fabric to the lining.

And whip stitched each panel together. 

And I thought that they were almost complete, that I just needed to make the eyelets. 

However, Mrs. Peabody recently blogged in her post TextileThoughts about ceasing to use linen colors that are not documented, such as green.

This is a bummer because:

a)      I had thought that the project was nearly complete.

b)      I made a petticoat with this linen that I'll have to retire. And I used a scrap to line my absolutely favorite accessory, my needlework bag, which will have to take apart and redo. : (

Sew. Does it seem too much of a stretch to use green linen for baby stays? Or should I snip it off and start over? 

Sleeve Ruffles

On Mrs. P.'s recent journey to study all things 18th century, she spent many hours in many places looking at many things, but also chose to focus and ask to examine certain things.  One of which was sleeve ruffles.

Those necessary and yet so often overlooked accessories that can often make or break an entire impression.  I saw a large number and variety of ruffles.  Plain, laced, dresden work, simple and fancy whitework of all sorts and one pair that had a lovely array of eyelets worked around the edges!  Fabrics were muslin, linen, dimity and net, and yes, I said net.  (the net pair will probably be the first that I will try to reproduce).  Loved, Loved Loved!

Antique Textiles

This example from Antiques Textiles is very similar to those plain muslin ruffles that I examined.  The construction is as I have always thought and use today when I make sleeve ruffles, the fabric is gathered with whip gathers, and attached to the linen tape.  That was the universal way of attaching the fabric to the tape regardless of the style of the ruffle.  Not up for discussion, incontrovertible evidence of a sewing stitch not previously thought to be used in the 18th century.   Whip gathers allow the fabric to actually be hinged to the tape, which lets the fabric flair out and stand proud of the tape.  It is always nice to be validated, but it is more important is to find documented evidence of a useful technique.

The Return of Mrs. Peabody

My Dear Friends and Correspondents,

It is wonderful to return home to Massachusetts after my absence over the sea.  While the voyage is always a trial, the metropolis of London has much to offer to improve one's knowledge and expand the mind.

It is so nice to read the posts of Mrs. S. so illuminating and Miss K. who is full of good questions.  I am happy to report on several items of interest to us all.

First I have found no general difference in the methods used by us here in Concord to those in England of making gowns and other items.  If one were to place a garment made in Boston next to one made in London or Leeds, you would be hard pressed to choose which was which.

In dressmaking the usual conventions were seen; shoulder straps, white linen linings, cuffs and sleeve flounces similar in all respects.  Hems and seams the same, all methods known and used by us here, were also used in the height of fashion there!

One of the highlights of my journey was an examination of this gown.

Leeds Costume Collection

This gown is in reality a deep shade of raspberry and not the scarlet shown in the image.  A rare example of a highly decorated damask gown. In almost all instances, damasks are usually undress gowns and as such not lavished with passementerie.  There is a damask gown at the MFA (and one at the MET) that does have some trim as well, but by and large they are not often found with this extent of trimming.   There is no doubt in my mind that not only was the trim purchased at the same time as the gown but was also dyed to match the fabric, probably by the same silk dyer.  The color of the trim is exactly the same as the gown, not a bit of a shade off color -exact- and the abundance of such is lavish to a degree of lavishness not to be believed. This gown was made to be worn over hoops, thus displaying the gown to full advantage.

So that brings Mrs. P to her own personal goal setting for the upcoming winter, I am determined to divine in detail many of the trims made with silk.  Simple flies are not a challenge, but the other elements that are usually so combined with them really will be more complex to duplicate.   One has to have goals to endure the long, and cold winter ahead.

The first and most important hurdle will be to find the right fabric, since the trim is always secondary to the fabric.  Oh, wait.  I may have some in storage.  Will have to check my trunks for a suitable length as I have laid aside many for future use.

Mrs. Peabody