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.

The Workwoman's Guide - A gown for infants of the 'lower classes'

"Another Infant's Flannel Gown"

So I am sewing my way through the Workwoman's Guide. As detailed in my last post, I've been making-up some sewing which will be appropriate to send to some of my friends at the Dickens Fair to work on in character.

I had a lot of fun with the caps in my last post, but I wanted to move onto something bigger that people could really show off as part of a gig at Dickens. But I also wanted to keep it pretty simple, so anyone could easily pick it up and work on it. I found the perfect option among the various instructions for making gowns for infants:

"This shape is the one generally used by the lower classes , not only for flannels, but for print gowns and petticoats; and is preferred to others on account of the ease with which it is cut out, and also because there is much less needle-work in the making up: there is, however, some waste, which is an objection. The gown is 13 nails long , but as there should be no seam on the shoulder, the two breadths must be cut in one length of 26 nails, which is 1 yard 10 nails. Double it in two, so as to be 13 nails long, and then fold it in half very evenly down the middle, so as to make the four selvages lie exactly one upon the other, and pin them firmly down to keep the folds in place; then, after measuring three nails from the selvages at the top (see A S), to determine the length of the sleeves, cut out the part S C D, to form the neck of the gown. Observe that the part from S to C is nail deep, which should be nicely rounded off, and from C to D, the bosom is cut straight along...."

This was nice and straightforward. It does not explicitly say how wide the breadth should be, but going off the sketch, the folded over fabric is 7 Nails (3+ 4), so the full breadth  would be 14 Nails (31.5 inches). This was the smallest breadth listed among the other gown variations, and my understanding is that that was a common width of fabric in the period.

This was pretty easy and fun to sketch out. I felt a bit like the mice from Cinderlla with my chalk and pattern book! The only thing that seems a bit odd to me are the sleeves, though I followed the directions clearly. 

To me  they look a bit skinny, especially relative to the body of the gown. To be fair this was designed for poor Victorian infants, who may have been undernourished, certainly compared to modern infants. However were I to make this again I think I would add a half inch to the sleeve measurement and adjust the curve in the arm accordingly. 

Can you count the cats in this picture? 

Next up, construction!

"The gown is next shaped at the side; and to do so properly, put in a pin at S, and fold it in a regular slope down to the bottom of the gown. Measure down the slope from the top, S, the distance of 2 nails, and put in a pin as a guide; cut off from the bottom upwards to T, and rounding it off at the corner, slope along T K for the sleeve, allowing 1 1/2 nail width for the wrist . In making it up, the seams should be joined with a mantua-maker's hem and a band should be sewn on the inside of the front, to be 6 nails in length, and about 1 1/2 nail below the neck. Cut a button-hole in the gown at each end of the band, draw with a bodkin a piece of tape through one hole, and fasten it down at the other extremity of the band; do the same with the other button-hole, so that on pulling the tapes, the gown will be drawn up, and neatly fulled in the front."

I used some 5/8 inch twill tape to create this band on the inside.

I used 1/4 inch twill tape to pull it up, and did the button-holes with a waxed linen thread.

This was quite fun to 'neatly full' in the front, however it left the actual neck large and floppy. There are no instructions whatever here about finishing the neck, but there is a line in the plate which looks like a drawstring casing.

So I turned the neck under to create the casing, and made two more buttonholes in the front for a drawstring. I used more 1/4 twill tape for the string. All the tape you see here came from William Booth, Draper at the Sign of the Unicorn. 

This allows you to draw up the neck to match the middle, so I have to assume it is supposed to happen, it just somehow didn't make it into the actual written directions.

So, having gone through two of these projects now, my big takeaway is that you definitely need to compare the plate and directions, and use your best judgement. 

Now, to get it all packed up and in the mail for the final two weeks of Dickens! 

The Workwoman's Guide- Caps for Poor Infants

For those of you who are not familiar, the Workwoman's Guide was first published in England in 1838 by 'A Lady'. Geared towards Middle Class and wealthy women, the Guide includes sewing and cutting instructions for many different garments, including those which might be worn within their own home. It also lays out clear instructions for making clothes for the poor to wear.

I have long been wanting to get my hands dirty, so to speak, and recreate some of these garments. I finally found my excuse as the time rolls around once again for the Great Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco. Dickens is a wonderful Victorian Christmas extravaganza, where visitors will meet characters from Charles Dickens novels as well as historical characters such as Queen Victoria and Dickens himself.

Queen Victoria and her ladies 

These include ladies of quality, as well as many of what the Victorians called the 'deserving' (and 'undeserving') poor.  The perfect people to be creating and receiving some of these garments! And since I cannot attend myself this year,  I decided to put some projects together to send out to some of my friends there to work on in character.

The Guide is organized by chapter with accompanying image plates. Each chapter is broken up by garment type, and then into variations on that type. These are clearly delineated based on whether they are for wealthy or the poor. There is a whole section in Chapter three on making caps for infants and young children, which including several variations based on age of the child and income level.
For my first project, I chose to make caps for poor infants, from Plate 2 Fig 12 & 13. The description is as follows

"This is much used by the poor, and is easily made and as easily washed. Take of the material a piece 6 nails down the selvage, and 3 1/2 nails wide. Double it, letting D be the double part. Sew up the back from A to C, leaving a hole or button-hole at the top, C; make a runner all round the front and behind, at half a nail's distance from edge, which is hemmed with a very narrow hem to form a frill: also, lay in a runner from E to F: next, sew a bobbin at B, letting one end of the string hang outside, and the other, being pulled through the seam, remains inside the cap. The end is carried up and brought out through the hole at C.....when worn the tapes, at being tied together at B, draw the cap up into shape, and if neatly arranged and pulled out with the fingers, it looks very neat and pretty....some put a loop of bobbin inside at B, which, on being brought out through C, fastens to a button at B, on the outside."

According to the Guide, a 'nail' is 2 1/4 inches, so 6 nails by 3 1/2 nails is 13.5 inches by just under 8 inches.

The illustrations on the accompanying plate look as follows

There were a few things that confused me with these instructions. First of all, how to make the runner? Also, the illustration clearly has a strap (which, interestingly, is placed differently in Figure 13 than it is in Figure 12), yet the instructions include no mention of such a strap.

I made a couple of prototypes just folding the fabric and stitching in a channel, but I wasn't satisfied with the shape it gave.

But then I looked back at some of the earlier sections in the chapter. An earlier set of instructions for

"Child's Flannel Cap" contained the following instructions

"Two runners, or string cases.... are then made by hemming neatly two bits of soft tape or sarsenet inside....."

Here then was the solution! It appears that this Lady did not feel the need to repeat anything which would work generally for all variations within the same garment group. Having already defined how to make a runner for a cap once, why take up more space doing so again?

I used tape for the runners on my next attempt and was quite pleased with the results.

Next was the chin-strap issue. Another cap variation , for a "Foundling Cap", contained the following instructions

"A chin-stay is three nails long, ** and half a nail wide.....The chin-stay should be neatly sewn up the whole length, with a small button-hole at one end; they are generally sewn on at the left corner of the cap, and the button on the right." 

 This pattern also included the following option

"Some persons prefer having two buttons sewn on the cap, one at each ear, and the stay made with two button-holes, so as to be easily changed and washed, without changing the cap also, as babies are apt to wet them, which makes them hard and rough to the chin."

I have got enough experience with infants to see the wisdom in this. And anyway, when it comes to Victorian baby clothes, the more button-holes and buttons the more fun! So on this cap I added the double button holes.

  

Getting good shots of this without an actual Victorian infant to put it on was somewhat challenging.

Brian also gave me some lovely vintage ceramic buttons to add a nice little touch.

I'm quite pleased with this cap. However I will say that as cute as I think it is, the runner does not create nearly the amount of ruffle shown in the illustration in the plate. Having gone through several variations on how to do this, I feel confident saying that it's just going to- which is fine. I just need to keep in mind for future projects that the plate is a rough guide, may romanticize the finished product a bit.


So, big takeaways from my first foray into the Workwoman's Guide

• Read the whole section for the type of garment, not just the variation you are making
• It may not look exactly like the plate (and that's ok). 

I will be packing several finished caps up this week along with cut out pieces to work on new ones. I hope to make some more garments to send out as well before the run is over. Hopefully we will see some pictures of them in action soon!