I'd like to preface this by saying that this outfit is all Andrew's fault. :) Last year Chris and I went to a dinner at Sturbridge and had so much fun that we knew we wanted to do it again. We convinced Andrew and Gentry to join us the next year and they agreed. (We also convinced our friends to do a dinner, so we are going to a private dinner next month.) Back in the spring or early summer Andrew announced that he was going to make an outfit for himself and Gentry (turns out she didn't get one after all) and that I should do the same for myself and Chris. I knew I wasn't going to make one for Chris as men's attire doesn't really interest me that much, but I was up for making myself a costume. I ordered some linen and then looked at the box for about 5 or 6 months before finally starting. Below is a breakdown of all of the pieces of my costume, some with pictures, some without. At some point I would like to get decent pictures of all the various pieces, but who knows when that will happen.
As I mentioned, this was originally made for the dinners at OSV but we did also just have a regular visit where Andrew and I dressed up, and I imagine I may dress up at some other points in the future as well.
Shift: This was the first part of the costume that I made. I figured I should start with the layer closest to the skin and work out. I started it back in November, I think, got frustrated with it, and then finally got around to finishing it (in about a day) in early January. In my defense, I did have a couple of Christmas knitting projects that took precedence. I used directions from The Workwoman's Guide which proved to be rather challenging for me. I guess I'm used to more clear cut tutorials.
Stays: Before starting I made the decision to make a trial/practice set of stays, with the knowledge that I may not get to the "real" stays in time for the dinner. I used fabric that I had on hand, so it's completely unauthentic, but really all it cost me was a couple bucks for the cording (yarn) and time. Lots of time. When I make my second set of stays I'll definitely make some changes so that they fit better, lowering the waist and maybe doing something with the straps/neckline since even with it laced well it still seems very loose.
Pockets: These were pretty basic. Just some white linen. I did refer to The Workwoman's Guide again for this. Maybe not perfect, but no one will see them and they should work fine.
Corded Petticoat: I can't even begin to imagine how long this would take someone sewing by hand! Mine certainly has a lot more cording than some examples, but I like the rigidity that it provides. It has 35 rows of cording in the bottom section, 20 rows in the middle section, and about 12 in the top section. I also put a tuck between the bottom and middle sections to make it a smidge shorter. After this was done it got starched to make it hold its shape even more. Yes, it will pretty much stand up on its own.
Bustle: It looks so pretty in this picture! This was another quick project using The Workwoman's Guide. There was one step that I'm not quite sure if I did it correctly, but I'm not sure how else to have done it. In this picture it had received a couple of coats of spray starch. I later gave it a much heavier starching. This made it much harder to gather up on the waist band, but does give it more body.
Second Petticoat: This was really simple. Just a plain circle gathered onto a waistband. Like the corded petticoat it also got a tuck to make it a smidge shorter. And it got starched as well, but not as heavily as the bustle or the corded petticoat.
Dress: This was a bit of a pain. I ended up changing the neckline which then presented some other issues. It's still a bit loose in the bodice so I may go back and fix that. Of course this means lots of ripping out of seams, especially since I added piping at the top and bottom.
Sleeve plumpers: The sleeves of the dress don't stay that big on their own! Historically plumpers would have been attached to your stays, but if I do that my plumpers don't fit into the arm holes of the dress. So my method is to insert the plumper into the sleeve, then my arm, and then creatively tie the plumper to the strap of my stays.
Shoes: These didn't arrive as I imagined, but since they took about 6 weeks to get to me from when I ordered them and it was only a little over a week before the dinner, I made the most of them. I did later contact the company and they did give me a 20% discount. If I hadn't already worn them I could have returned them for a full refund. But due to the timing, I wouldn't have had shoes to wear.
Bonnet: I think the bonnet is perhaps my favorite part of the costume, and I only wear it for a short time- from when I arrive at the Village until I get to the building where the dinner is held and then back again. So maybe 10-15 minutes total? And that includes time in the Visitors Center waiting for everyone to arrive.
The bonnet starts off with a buckram frame. It's three pieces of buckram with wire at the top, the edge of the brim, and where the brim meets the crown. Buckram is very stiff on its own and then the wire helps it keep its shape.
I then covered the buckram frame with fabric- silk on the outside and a cotton lining inside. The cotton was a bit too sheer at first, so I had to do two layers. It was a little tricky figuring out which pieces of fabric to sew when so that seems would be mostly hidden. Then when it was all done I sewed down some flowers and feathers.
Tyre: I would have just called it an apron, but one of the interpreters told me that it's called a tyre. I took measurements and traced the curves of one of the tyres at the village. It looks a little funky when my petticoats are as big as they are, but it laid much better before they were starched.
Cloak: I made this in high school. I would have liked to alter it a bit but I didn't have time. Maybe for the second dinner? The other problem with it is that it just looks silly when I'm wearing my sleeve plumpers. Oh well. Luckily, like my bonnet, it's only being worn for a short time.
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