What are the mechanics of their ability to collapse?
I have never seen one personally except in a museum under clothing.
--------------------------------------------------
From: "R Lloyd Mitchell" <rmitch...@staff.washjeff.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 6:21 AM
To: "Historical Costume" <h-cost...@indra.com>
Subject: Re: [h-cost] Query RE: early Civil War women's dress
One thing about period hoops is that they fold gracefully when you sit; no
pop-up or sticking out.? I have my great-grandmother's set and people have
been amazed at how flexible they actually are. The shape is elipticle and
length about 36" from the waist.
kathleen
-----Original Message-----
From: "Lisa A Ashton" <lis...@juno.com>
Sent 6/7/2010 6:17:24 PM
To: h-cost...@indra.com
Subject: Re: [h-cost] Query RE: early Civil War women's dressYes, it all
helps a lot. Since I am not re-enacting, but doing a very
short stage presentation in which I have to sit in a rocking chair for
most of the presentation, , I may make hoops, but not wear them on stage.
I am still looking into the aprons--the photo I have is also from the
western territories, which shows an elderly woman wearing a printed apron
that doesn't match the dress top (she is seated). I may go with the
skirt pocket too, I really want that. And I may go ahead and make the
cotton dress, and look for a lightweight printed wool (I have a lovely
light pearl grey lightweight fine wool, but I really want a print for
this). A center front closure is dandy--the pattern (from Patterns of
Time) says a back closure. I knew that wasn't right.
If you think of anything else, or see a photo, pls add any comments. You
guys are so brilliant about this, it helps so much, even if it just
steers toward the right sources.
Yours in costumign, li saA
On Mon, 7 Jun 2010 14:12:02 -0700 (PDT) Sunshine Buchler
<sunny_buch...@sbcglobal.net> writes:
Hello!
> This time I am trying to re-create a historical character. I
chose a
>> bodice with bishop sleeves and a very full skirt. Lots of
petticoats. An apron.
If the date you?re going for is 1861, and you?re looking to
portray an upper middle class young-to-middle-aged woman, then hoops
are really the way to go. It would probably be worth your time to
look at _Who Wore What?: Women?s Wear 1861-1865_ by Juanita
Leisch.
> The fabric is a 100% cotton that is a medium size print in a base
of
>> navy/indigo blue,with small white circles surrounded by smaller
green
>> crescents and tiny white dots in a a diagonal pattern.
I choose cotton for my civil war day dress as well, but it?s worth
noting that cotton would be much more likely to be made into a
wrapper or a work-dress then an everyday-dress in New England. Wool
was the most common fabric for day dresses; there were lots and lots
of wool print fabrics available then.
> 1. Were side front closures the most common? and was it
usually the left
>> or the right side?
Actually side front closures were quite uncommon. Center front
closures were ubiquitous for day wear.
> 2. What about pockets? I cannot find any references or
photos that
>> show skirts had pockets--were they still using a little pouch
tied at
>> the waist under the dress? Is it reasonable to design a watch
pocket in
>> the skirt?
My extant 1860s silk day dress has a pocket on the right side only.
It?s similar in construction to modern pockets, but the pocket bag
is quite large, and more closely resembles a tear drop shape then
the rectangular or rounded shape of today?s pockets.
A watch pocket at the waist is occasionally seen in period
photographs. It would?ve been a very small pocket along the
waistband, just big enough for the watch.
> 3. What kind of hose would they usually wear? Above or below
the knee?
>> (and I"m referring to daily wear, not formal) and how was it
held
>> on?--would she have worn silk or cotton (even though cotton, by
that
>> time, may well have been becoming harder to obtain). Can you
suggest a
>> reference for making the garters?
I haven?t looked into 1860-65 stockings in particular; I?ve
focused on the 1865-75 period. In 1873 E. Feydeau claims that the
garter was worn above the knee, ?A woman who commits the crime of
wearing her stockings below the knee does not deserve to live?
Sales catalogues talk about elastic garters, but I haven?t found
very many pictures of them. There are patterns for period patterns
for knitted ones - Katherine Caron-Greig made a lovely one:
http://koshka-the-cat.livejournal.com/662530.html#cutid1
> 4. I have some references that women (of working classes at
least) would
>> have had aprons that might be made from previously worn-out
dresses or
>> skirts. For an upper-middle-class lady, who probably took care
of her
>> own children and house to a large extent (her husband was off at
war) ,
>> would that be the case, or would she have worn a
>> newer apron (i.e. white or a solid color; cotton or linen)?
Were all
>> aprons the "pinner" aprons? That's what I can find--either
those or just
>> the skirt aprons that tied in back. Safety pins were invented
in about
>> 1849, were they using those for aprons?
I don?t know anything about aprons. _Calico Chronicle_ by Betty J.
Mills talks about re-using dresses as aprons on the Texas frontier.
However, I?m not sure how much of that focus on re-use applies to
upper middle class society in New England.
> 5. I am not planning to wear hoops, although most of the photos
of the
>> Time time seem to imply them, i.e. full, wide skirts. Once the
war was
>> Really underway, and there was starting to be some early
financial
>> hardships--were the hoops scrapped in favor of petticoats?
Nope, hoops were worn throughout the war, especially among the upper
middle classes. Think of it this way ? lots of petticoats were
expensive ? fabric being relatively expensive. Hoops were also
hailed as a great increase in women?s freedom of movement.
Hope that helps!
-sunny
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