The Victorian Barroom

 Wow, it has been awhile since I put, well, anything here. Since the Pandemic hit, my lovely husband (yep, we got married! I was a Covid Bride) and myself have been trying to be less busy. To slow down and focus more on us.

It's going pretty well :) 

But we have also been trying to focus on our own projects for living history, and key in on some of the periods we are both passionate about. To that end, my wonderful husband came up with the Victorian Barroom. What's that? Well basically we make 19th century drinks, and sometimes we tour some great 19th century historical sites in the process and enjoy a drink with the staff there

You can check it out and follow along on YouTube. If you could hit subscribe, that would really help us out. And if you hit that bell icon, you will be notified when we have new episodes come out (YouTube isn't great about getting what you subscribed to into your feed otherwise) 

1838 Ladies Drawers - Sizing Up from the Workwoman's Guide

This post is about how I sized up some drawers from the 1838 Workwoman's Guide to fit me. If you are unfamiliar with this book, it is a wonderful resource. You can purchase a copy of the Workwoman's Guide here from Amazon Drygoods I sewed these by hand using linen fabric and thread. The Guide includes the following illustration and description

 

These are formed of two separate legs sewed into a band, which is made to button before or behind, at pleasure. For a moderate size, Fig 12 will be a good guide. 

Width of material, 14 Nails (31.5 inches) 

Length of each breadth, 15 nails (33.75) 

Fold each breadth in half its width, letting D be the doubled part, and measure as follows 

Note: A 'nail' is 2.25 inches 

I'm not sure what exactly a 'moderate size' would have been in 1838, but I assumed it was smaller than I am. So I needed to get a little more volume in there.

It is important to note that the Guide is not a tailor's manual, and the patterns are not based on proportions the way many of those are. Most of them are made from straight lines, designed for maximum cutting efficiency based on the width of the fabric. So to size it up, I just worked off the idea of a wider piece of fabric. This meant adjusting 3 points on the pattern, E, S, and Z. All other points remained the same. I also cut the waistband out to my waist measurement. You do want them to sit higher on the waist, rather than on the hips.

  

The measurement C to E is 7 nails (15.75 inches), which is the exact length of the fabric doubled over. To enlarge the pattern, I worked off of this measurement. My understanding is that 36 inches was another common fabric width at the time, so I worked off that. This made the C to E measurement 18 inches, half of 36. Point Z was mentioned as being 1/2 nail (1 1/8 inches) in from E, so that was easy to adjust. In the original pattern there was 2 nails (4.5 inchs) difference in the length from F to S and the length from C to E, so I just made sure that point S was still 4.5 inches back towards the center line from point E.

Since I was actually using 45 inch fabric, this also left enough for the waistband.

One other change I made was in the middle. The author has the two legs overlapping. I have made these before like that, but I prefer them to meet up like this example here from the Met

Original housed in the Met

C 1802-1820 

CI46.77.2_F

I have always made them to be back fastening, which works well. The author does note that they could open in the front though.

 

I also added a little lace on the bottom, like this pair from the Met

Original housed in the Met
1846 'American or European'

1999.216.2

I was also pleased to find this pair, since they are linen. Interestingly, the Workwoman's Guide lists linen as a fabric for men's drawers, but not for the ladies. I know cotton was becoming increasingly dominant in the 19th century, but it gets hotter than blazes around here in the summer, so I made three of these out of some wonderful linen Brian got me for Christmas. 

I HIGHLY recommend making your historical underwear in batches. I know myself, and if I get enough fabric for 3 but just make one, I will stop after that one. I may tell myself I'm doing three in a row, but in all likelihood I won't get there till the first one wears out. And it will wear out faster because it's the only I have got. Plus, for 2-3 day events, you really want fresh undies every day! So I made three linen drawers first, followed quickly by another cotton set. I actually already have a couple of these in cotton, my plan is to use this last pair for demos only. A lot of times when I am doing dressing demos people are really interested in the drawers, and I would like to be able to hand them a set to look at which are not actually, well, my underwear.

Living History Theatre: Rehearsal Techniques

We had a really good rehearsal for the Locust Grove First Person Interpreters on Saturday. Everyone seemed to leave with a greater degree of confidence, so I thought I would talk a little bit about what we did. I've talked a bit about some of these things in some earlier blogs, but this should be a little more in depth of an idea of how this plays out in a rehearsal.

The Gwathmeys practice introducing themselves.

Photo courtesy of Fox & Rose Photography

Asking leading questions, giving each other an 'in'. 
When you are doing first person, you usually have topics you have researched really well and want to talk about. But sometimes it might feel awkward to launch into a monologue out of nowhere. Conversely, you probably have questions you are really hoping you won't get, because you haven't been able to research that yet, or you have researched it and cannot find an answer.

We went around our circle and talked about things we want to talk about. Then we ran several scenes were people would practice asking each other leading questions in character to bring out that information.

"I understand you have a new grandbaby!" "Oh, yes, I'm making her some new clothes right now, I am so excited! She has the biggest blue eyes..."etc

Sharron with her letter in rehearsal.

Photo courtesy of Fox & Rose Photography.

 "How is your son? I know he has been traveling"
"Oh, it is so kind of you to ask, I have actually just had a letter from him! Now see here what he has written...."

Mrs. Fitzhugh reads the letter from her son to guests. 

Photo Courtesy of Historic Locust Grove 

"Tell me again about the war papa. Were you really at Yorktown?" 
"Oh, no, I didn't make it to Yorktown, they thought I had done enough by then. But let me tell you about Brandywine, child..."


Audience focus 
What we are doing is part of a museum program, and our primary focus is interacting with the museum guests. From that perspective, it's not enough for us to be comfortable talking to each other in character, we have to  be sure that we are including our guests. So we also practiced running scenes like the one above, where someone else would come in as a guest. We practiced including them in the conversation.

"oh, pardon my manners, madam, here we are going on, let me introduce myself, Colonel Richard Taylor, and this is my lovely daughter Miss Emily Taylor." 

"Where are my manners? Please, allow me to introduce my friends"
Photo courtesy of Historic Locust Grove

"I was just asking papa about his time in the Revolution. Do you know he served with George Washington? Please tell us all about it, Papa."

What you are really doing here is involving your guests in an improv scene. By acknowledging their presence and introducing yourself, you send the signal that they are allowed to talk to you and ask you questions.


It's ok to say 'I don't know'
There are so many things we dont' know about the world we live in, and people living in 1816 didn't know every detail about their world either. When someone asks you a question in character you don't know the answer to, don't let it break you! It is absolutely fine to just not know it in character.

We portray the year 1816. Some of the people we portray were active in the Revolutionary war, others stayed home. Some weren't even alive. When someone asks Ann Croghan detailed questions about the War she says "oh, I don't know, I wasn't alive then! But you should go and ask my father, he was in the War." The man playing her father has spent a lot of time researching William Croghan's involvement in the war and is ready to talk about this.


Comfort and cohesion 
All of this rehearsing allows our cast members to work on their confidence and their comfort with each other. If  you have tried and stumbled in rehearsal, that's fine! The public wasn't there, we all just laugh and move on. That doesn't happen overnight, but we have worked really hard to be sure that our rehearsals are a friendly, safe space where people feel comfortable pushing themselves out of their comfort zones and laughing it out with their friends.

Photo courtesy of Fox & Rose Photography

New Regency Ballgown

I made this ballgown for the Locust Grove Ball in February. 

USA!  USA!
Photo credit Historic Locust Grove 

This was mostly based on this example, sketched out in Costume in Detail 

I actually fished the fabric out of my stash (yay, destashing!). This was a cotton sari I had bought from Regency Revisited eons ago, and totally forgotten about! I really need to go through my fabric tubs more, you find the greatest things!

 

Costume in Detail pages 103-104

The first part of this project involved my amazing fiance helping me make a duct tape dress form. I didn't actually take pictures of this, because I honestly was too afraid it wouldn't work out. In the end, it *mostly* did, and it has been invaluable! Also the whole affair was pretty fun, though I don't know what anyone walking by our dining room windows thought! (Fun fact we live next to a funeral home...) 

We fit the duct-tape form with my regency stays on, so I could drape on the right bustline. I stuffed the inside with pollyfill and plastic trash bags. Having this made a HUGE difference! I was able to drape a mock-up over the perfect bustline (though I have no photos for the same reason). 

When I tried on the mock-up, there did seem to be some distortion around the armsceye. However I was able to solve it pretty easily by just slashing it and redrawing the curve. 

A lot of this project was just taking the time to set the the gathers how I wanted them. It was time consuming, but it was a fun and satisfying process.  I gathered the front and back onto a piece of tape right under the bustline to provide stability. 

I cannot TELL you how much I agonized over the direction the peacocks were going here. Ultimately I decided it was fine, but Brian was pretty entertained to hear my muttering that the 'the damn turkeys are going the wrong way!"

Once the bodice was done, I just had to place the skirt, which was pretty easy.

I tried to keep the front smooth, but keep pleats on the back and sides. The original  had them mostly towards the back, but I like to add some on the sides as well so everything flows well over my hips. 

After I had pinned everything in place, I topstitched it. I was able to mostly hide the stitching, but there is also a line of stitching showing on the sketch in CID, do don't worry too much about. Topstitching is totally period. 

 

You can kind of see the stitching for the drawstring channel under the bust, but from the sketch in CID it looks like it is like that on the original. 

I ran into some issues because the ribbon I used for the drawstring was not long enough, and ended up popping back into the channel as I put the dress on. I was able to fish it out, but I really should have known  better. 

I finished this dress about an hour before I left for the ball, so I pretty much realized there would be some issues putting it on the first time and went in prepared. Luckily my friend Tom Tumbusch was there to help me get dressed, and he is AWESOME.

One other thing I realized far too late in this process was that I should have traced a line showing where my stays sit on the dressform. As it was I may have made the dip in the back a *little* too low. Luckily  Tom was able to help tuck everything down and pin it in place. I think I can alter it pretty easily before I wear it again, but I also need to just trace the darn stay lines on this thing.

Takeaways: 

Making a duct tape bodice over your stays is great, BUT

• You will still need to do a mock-up!
• Draw a line showing where your stays are on the the dressform.
• Longer drawstrings are better than not long enough! 

With the ladies of the Indiana Historical Costuming Society. This was a really fun night.
Photo credit Historic Locust Grove.

Dressing Miss Ann Croghan

This post is about a dress which I draped and consulted on for one of the girls in our First Person Interpreters program at Historic Locust Grove. I hope this post will give  you an idea of how we use historical sources to create historically accurate, and ideally, character-driven clothing, to educate museum visitors on the year 1816.

Heather is 16 years old (I am posting this with permission from her and her mother), and she portrays Ann Croghan, daughter of William and Lucy Croghan who owned Locust Grove. Ann was born in 1797 and was 19 years old in 1816. Heather, who is legally, contractually, not allowed to leave the city of Louisville before her 25th birthday**, will hopefully portray Ann for some time to come.

This is a portrait which was painted of Ann after her 1822 marriage to Thomas Sidney Jesup. She is a brunette, wearing the color red.

Ann Croghan, from the Locust Grove collection,
 (portrait photographed by Heather Rene)

We didn't ask her to do this, but Heather actually started dying her hair, which is naturally dark blond, brown for this part. Talk about dedication! Her mother made her some false curls based on my post here, and modified this method of styling Heather's hair.


I found the fabric for this dress on Fashion Fabrics Club, before Heather joined the cast. It reminded me of the fabric this dress from the DAR Fashionable Tyrant exhibit was made from. Since we ask that all fabric for this program be approved, I will often pick up approveable fabric when I find a good deal, and pass it on at cost to the ladies in the program.

1810-1815 (Private Collection)

I draped the bodice for the dress on Heather and drew up instructions for the skirt. We chose a front opening dress so she would have an easier time getting dressed.

Heather's grandmother Patsy actually did all of the construction on the garment with my instructions and consultation. She was a real champ about learning historic clothing construction techniques! 

Apparently Patsy has come to really enjoy doing tucks :-) 

Heather stuck with the red theme for her evening gown, which was made from some lovely red silk from 96 District Fabrics. I also draped the bodice for this on her, and helped fit all the tucks on the fashion fabric.  Patsy handled all the major construction.

Here she is in action with her 'sister', Eliza Croghan. 

I may be biased, but I think they look pretty darn great!

**If you can't tell that was a joke, I weep for our species.

Using Social Media to Create Cohesion Before a Living History Event

This post will focus on how to use social media, and other digital media, to create cohesion between groups and individual participants before one-weekend living history events. I will also be talking about how we can reach out to the public to help them feel comfortable engaging when they walk through the gate. These strategies should apply whether you are working in a first-person or third-person environment. 

The Problem
There are some living history events and groups which are able to meet regularly to rehearse. Events which run for several weekends in a row, such as The Great Dickens Christmas Fair, will rehearse for several weeks leading up to the run. This creates group cohesion and helps to keep everyone lined up with the goals of the event or site.

But what do you do when everyone involved can't get together ahead of time? Many living history events are only one weekend. They typically consist of several independent groups and individuals which come together for the weekend, and then go their separate ways. These folks may live several hours apart, making any kind of physical group rehearsal impossible.

If your group meets regularly to rehearse, drill, etc., you may have excellent internal cohesion, but you may still face challenges interacting with other groups for the weekend. It can be too easy to remain in an insular group with the people you know all weekend, instead of cross-pollinating with other participants.

"Who the heck are those people over there? Do they bite? Am I allowed to go talk to them? I better just stay over here where it's safe...."

Sometimes this can even be a matter of fear, or intimidation- we think 'Oh, So- and -So is so cool, they couldn't want to talk to me!", etc.  Of course this is usually not true, but it is still a perfectly understandable reaction around people you may not know very well yet.


So, What to do?
This is where our modern communications tools, including social media, can be extremely helpful. Facebook, for all its many troubles, is a good meeting ground for reenactors and living historians. You tend to find active groups with lots of people there. Instagram could be a good place to start too, to get the word out about what you are doing and how others can come interact with you, though it may not foster the same kind of interactive discussion.

I was actually inspired to write this post by watching my friends in the Guild of St. George, Inc., prepare for the San Jose Renaissance Faire. The theme for the event is fairies, and the Guild has chosen a scenario to support this where they are putting on a court masque based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I know this from 2,300 miles away, because I've seen Rydell posting this EVERYWHERE the last few days. As Guildmaster, he's been using social media to explain what his group is doing, and invite folks from other groups to come and interact with them. This way St. George is supporting the theme of the event, and encouraging interaction between participants, to create a better immersive experience for attendees.

Members of other guilds came to perform for the Queen.
Photo by Angelica Roque

Readers of this blog may have also noticed several posts leading up to the Jane Austen Festival.  At the event, I was running an environmental area where festival goers were invited to come, sit, and enjoy some Regency-era hospitality. However, this is not the only such area at the event. Carol Jarboe also runs a wonderful salon as Caroline, Lady Linnington. My goal was to add something to the event which complimented what she was doing, but did not copy it. I think of us as the Longbourn to her Rosings.

So I reached out to Carol on Facebook, and we talked about what she was doing, and how I could be sure to add something different. It turns out that Lady Caroline does not enjoy games of cards in her parlour, so cards became a major feature in our area. By coordinating this way, Carol and I made sure that we weren't stepping on each other's toes, and that festival goers would have a broader immersive experience by visiting each of us.

Lady Linnington would prefer that her guests attention be focused on her, not whatever ace they may be holding.
Photo by Jen Jarboe

It is very easy for us to forget how overwhelming it can be for people to walk through the gate and into our world. Members of the public who come visit may not know how to approach living history performers. Remember, these good souls are the ones who keep the playground alive by showing up!

In the particular case of the Jane Austen Festival, there is less of a divide between "public" and "participants" than at many other events. The festival has a particularly active following on social media, including a very large Facebook group. This made it possible to reach out directly to attendees prior to the event by putting my blog posts up in the group. I was able to use this to invite festival goers to come and interact with us, and tell them how to do so. I even included a link to a Whist tutorial, and was extremely gratified when a few ladies showed up having practiced!

Some delightful, well-mannered company, at a game of whist. 

Photo by Janet Abell

However, it is rare for event goers to be conveniently herded into a Facebook group heading into an event like that. More of the time, I have found that Facebook events can be very good for recruiting and coordinating participants, but they are not ideal for promoting the event to the public. The event planners themselves may wish to incorporate what you are doing into their promotion, which is why it's important for group leaders and event coordinators to stay in close contact. 

In the old days, where event advertising was limited to costly print media, it could be hard do much about this. However in this brave new world of nearly limitless, often free, media leading up to an event, we can get really specific telling people what they are able to do, and how they can go about making it happen.  The organizing body may wish to share blog posts you have written. Or they may prefer to put up easier-to-digest graphics with quick blurbs, telling visitors how they can interact with you, "You may present yourself to the Queen!" or "Lady Caroline would love you to introduce yourself!", or "Don't forget to check the schedule to see where and when to sign your kids up for militia drill!"  If possible, it is also a good idea to include specific times and places to direct visitors to.

Kids militia drill, being lead by a visiting reenactor at Locust Grove's 18th Century Market Fair. Photo courtesy of Historic Locust Grove.

I always want to support the theme and goals of any living history event, while creating an immersive environment for our guests.  All of these things are possible when we take the time and initiative to reach out and communicate with each other and with the hardworking folks who organize and produce these events.