[h-cost] help on a c. 1900 rural woman's dress
My sister is trying to sew something completely outside my area of expertise, but I offered to ask for advice here. She wants an everyday gown for a farm woman to wear (in Piedmont North Carolina, in case that makes a difference). These pages have information she's found useful (though she hasn't bought any patterns. I've been helping her with fittings and we've made up patterns as we went along). What she needs to know now is: where is the opening in the skirt so that you can get it on? And how does the skirt close? If you have any other useful links, images, or construction tips, that would be appreciated, too. http://www.pastpatterns.com/903.html http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/woolskirt.htm thanks! Challe ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] help on a c. 1900 rural woman's dress
Hi Challe, The Past Pattern view you linked to would probably have a continuing button placket in front past the waist to open the waist enough to get it on. The skirt in the other link would probably close in back or on the side, hidden by a pleat. A fold of fabric under the opening would prevent its showing any other clothing layers. The Past Patterns dress is pretty, but might be overdressing for the farm. Have you ever heard of a Mother Hubbard or wrapper? Those are loose styles, buttoned down the front. A belt or an apron forms the properly waisted shape for the garment. Sometimes, back gathers or pleats are sewn in, but the front ones are typically left loose. Great for those who might be gaining weight or pregnant, but then might need to wear the same dress until it wore out, despite weight loss. However, most women did not go without stays: they help the farmer's wife retain an aura of respectablity. :-D Period body shapers are a must for the right look, but you know that! == Marjorie Wilser =:=:=:Three Toad Press:=:=:= Learn to laugh at yourself and you will never lack for amusement. --MW http://3toad.blogspot.com/ On Oct 27, 2011, at 6:13 PM, Challe Hudson wrote: My sister is trying to sew something completely outside my area of expertise, but I offered to ask for advice here. She wants an everyday gown for a farm woman to wear (in Piedmont North Carolina, in case that makes a difference). These pages have information she's found useful (though she hasn't bought any patterns. I've been helping her with fittings and we've made up patterns as we went along). What she needs to know now is: where is the opening in the skirt so that you can get it on? And how does the skirt close? If you have any other useful links, images, or construction tips, that would be appreciated, too. http://www.pastpatterns.com/903.html http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/woolskirt.htm thanks! Challe ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] help on a c. 1900 rural woman's dress
I have a photo of my grandmother, a farmer's wife in c. 1890, Nebraska. Buttons up the center front like the shirtwaist style dresses we are probably all familiar with. Monica -Original Message- From: h-costume-boun...@indra.com [mailto:h-costume-boun...@indra.com] On Behalf Of Kim Baird Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 9:51 PM To: 'Historical Costume' Subject: Re: [h-cost] help on a c. 1900 rural woman's dress Challe-- The Past Patterns dress would be suitable. The skirt closure on the other pattern can be in any seam. Just include a placket and use hooks and eyes. For work-a-day wear, a rural woman would most likely have a wash dress, that is, a cotton dress, whether of one or two pieces, rather than a shirtwaist and skirt. And definitely an apron. Kim -Original Message- From: h-costume-boun...@indra.com [mailto:h-costume-boun...@indra.com] On Behalf Of Challe Hudson Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 8:13 PM To: h-cost...@indra.com Subject: [h-cost] help on a c. 1900 rural woman's dress My sister is trying to sew something completely outside my area of expertise, but I offered to ask for advice here. She wants an everyday gown for a farm woman to wear (in Piedmont North Carolina, in case that makes a difference). These pages have information she's found useful (though she hasn't bought any patterns. I've been helping her with fittings and we've made up patterns as we went along). What she needs to know now is: where is the opening in the skirt so that you can get it on? And how does the skirt close? If you have any other useful links, images, or construction tips, that would be appreciated, too. http://www.pastpatterns.com/903.html http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/woolskirt.htm thanks! Challe ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] help on a c. 1900 rural woman's dress
I have made this pattern up twice. It is a one piece dress. Was very pleased with it. Did fully line the bodice on both. The front opening goes down into the skirt about 8' or so so you step into the dress. I think it has pockets which I moved closer to the front of the skirt. Seems the pocket was in a back section of the skirt which I thought would be very inconvenient. Instead of button holes, I did button loops and ball buttons down the front of each dress. Cactus My sister is trying to sew something completely outside my area of expertise, but I offered to ask for advice here. She wants an everyday gown for a farm woman to wear (in Piedmont North Carolina, in case that makes a difference). These pages have information she's found useful (though she hasn't bought any patterns. I've been helping her with fittings and we've made up patterns as we went along). What she needs to know now is: where is the opening in the skirt so that you can get it on? And how does the skirt close? If you have any other useful links, images, or construction tips, that would be appreciated, too. http://www.pastpatterns.com/903.html http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/woolskirt.htm thanks! Challe ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] help on a c. 1900 rural woman's dress
My parents used to go to rural PA estate auctions a lot. I have a fair number of farm women's clothes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some from families my parents knew. Most of the jackets and coats, and some of the underclothes, look commercially made. Most of the other clothes look homemade. A possibly disproportionately surviving number of dresses and light jackets are black silk but not mourning, probably go-to-church best. Day dresses run to two-piece calico shirtwaists. Note, I have very few, I think because people usually wore them out instead of storing them away. Farm women also wore the lingerie dresses popular at the time. These were standard for high school graduation dresses, and for good summer dresses. Farm women wore lingerie blouses as well. Many of these look homemade, and the lace tends to be inexpensive, sturdy purchased lace or hand crocheted. The decoration is not usually super elaborate. Petticoats for wear with silk dresses tended to be commercially made and black silk (but I do have a striped brown taffeta petticoat) . The others tend to be white cotton broadcloth (or some similar weight of cotton). Most of the other underclothes are white cotton broadcloth. Homemade underclothes with sturdy hand-crocheted trimmings were popular, but machine eyelet and inexpensive machine lace were also used. Underclothing tends to appear a lot at auctions not because people usually attached sentimental value to it, but because they owned a lot of it in comparison to other categories of clothing. I never saw any mourning clothes, and this was over a period of years. Nor any stored-away dresses that seemed to be wedding dresses (though lingerie dresses were sometimes used as rather low-budget summer wedding dresses). Stockings: Sturdy black silk (some hand knitted), hand-knitted linen, or white cotton knit fabric. Often rather extensively darned. I don't have many woolens; my parents bought some but most turned out to be moth infested. This is from a slightly earlier period, but I have some circa 1895 clothes that belonged to two farm women my parents knew when they were old ladies, but the clothes belonged to them when they were teenagers. This was one of the most prosperous farming families in the area at the time. The clothes look purchased and quite stylish, including a heavily beaded black silk velvet jacket with enormous sleeves. And this is also from different periods, but my father once bought me several generations of clothes (1850s to 1920s) from the estate of a prosperous farming family that had owned a very elegant farmhouse. A great deal of what they had stored was underclothing and much was quite fancy, including some very high-end-type lingerie with lots of skilled hand embroidery, from the mid-1910s. So I'd say it's a question of not only whether the family farmed, and how rural the location was, but how much money they made. A good source for finding out what purchased clothing farm women often wore, and what fabrics and trimmings they sewed with, is a Sears or similar catalog of the period. I will digress: Has anyone seen the undecorated, bullet-proof, heavy linen European chemises that appear surprisingly often on eBay? The ones that are pretty much in the style of the early 19th century, even though some sellers swear they were made much later (like, the 1920s) and I bet they were? And after all this time and that many washings, they're still really stiff? They may be European, and people tend to think they are clothes from farming families, but I really doubt it. Americans weren't wearing them, as far as I can tell. My theory is that they were worn in institutions: convents, public hospitals, insane asylums, or the like, where a lot of similar clothing was worn by regulation, and sturdiness was considered more important than comfort, fashion, or appearance. Fran Lavolta Press Books on historic clothing www.lavoltapress.com www.facebook.com/LavoltaPress On 10/27/2011 6:13 PM, Challe Hudson wrote: My sister is trying to sew something completely outside my area of expertise, but I offered to ask for advice here. She wants an everyday gown for a farm woman to wear (in Piedmont North Carolina, in case that makes a difference). These pages have information she's found useful (though she hasn't bought any patterns. I've been helping her with fittings and we've made up patterns as we went along). What she needs to know now is: where is the opening in the skirt so that you can get it on? And how does the skirt close? If you have any other useful links, images, or construction tips, that would be appreciated, too. http://www.pastpatterns.com/903.html http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/woolskirt.htm thanks! Challe ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
