18th Century Clothing Information

[Jim_Ruley]

Bill Clark wrote:

Do you have any experience with 18th century mens clothing?  I have decided to expand my historical eras and am contempleting rev war menswear.

I did a little "Googling" and found this page, which has quite a collection of 18th century links:

http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/Links.htm

I don't know much about the era beyond generalities, but hope that some of them will be useful.  I did find the following wool fabric source for that era:

http://www.najecki.com/repro/Wool.html

I notice they offer (when it's in stock) a wool by "Kochan and Phillips" that's supposed to be loomed to original British Army 1812 specs.  Perhaps they are one of the groups Ian McWherter mentioned in the "Federal frock coat cloth" thread? 

Incidentally the weight is given as 15-16 oz per square yard, which agrees well with the original sample of Civil War trouser kersey in the textile museum previously cited.

Hope this is of interest,

Jim Ruley

[BarbaraSmith]

Join the 18th C Costume group on Yahoo Groups. I can't remember the exact configuration. I have it bookmarked on my 18thC website: www.geocities.com/babettelinks. OOO! RevWarCostume! That's it! I remembered SOMETHING at least....

Go to the area on chat lists or boards or whatever I called it. Sorry, I can't get into my personal website at work. 

ANYWAY, when you find the group, tell Penny, the Moderator, that Barbara Smith from Tacoma sent you, and you'll get the auto stamp of approval. 

Then introduce yourself to the group and ask for the Gentleman Tailor from Williamsburg whose name I've forgotten and tell him that some slack-jawed purple-haired punk chic from Tacoma sent you, and you'll be fine.  He's a great guy, and the name will come to me about 30 minutes after I send this and can't get in to edit it until tomorrow morning, by which time I will have forgotten again.  Dang and blast...

Other great guys on that list - William Booth, of Wm. Booth Draper (I only remember his name because I shop there). And... Oh blast, tons of other great men's 18thC costuming gurus. Sorry... Just go there and tell them Babette says Hi from Tacoma. 

LOL,
Auntie "Alzheimer's" B from Tacoma

[Carolann Schmitt]

Bill -

I highly recommend spending some time with Mark Hutter at Colonial Williamsburg. He's one of the finest craftsmen and does one of the best first person impressions I've ever seen. His work is phenomenal. I believe you're in Delaware? Definitely close enough for some weekend trips to CW.

I also recommend these books published by Colonial Williamsburg:
Baumgarten, Linda and John Watson, with Florine Carr.  Costume Close-up: Clothing Construction and Pattern 1750-1790.  Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1999.
-----.  What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America.  Williamsburg, VA:  The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in association with Yale University Press, New Haven, CT and London, England, 2002.

Carolann

[BarbaraSmith]

I ditto CarolAnn on both books, and several more. Check my bibliography page for ISBN's for ILL etc.: www.geocities.com/babettelinks

Mark's not my tailor buddy from Williamsburg, but he's VERY HIGHLY ESTEEMED in the 18thC community, and I've seen him on TV! 

And I still can't remember my friend's name.... Sigh... I haven't been chatting much on RevWarCostume so it's lucky I remembered the moderator's name... Penny. Her name's Penny. 

LOL,
B.

[billclark]

Thank you!  I actually was look for some where to romp to next weekend!  Though it wont be a reenactment and I wont get to dress in period clothing you can't beat a trip to williamsburg! 

Thanks

Bill

[BarbaraSmith]

Er... You CAN dress in period costume at Williamsburg without a "by your leave". In fact, you can do this anywhere.

I think it shows poor taste myself, to show up to someone's site in costume when you're not an invited participant. But I've been chastised publicly for these sentiments and have knuckled under. 

LOL,
B.

[BarbaraSmith]

JAY HOWLETT!!!

I knew I'd remember someday.... 

Not sure what his trade is at Williamsburg, but he's an experienced 18thC tailor, hatter, and shoemaker. He makes shoes for his growing kids. Over and over and over.... Completely obsessive nut job. You'll like him.  Do email before you go. Would be so worth it if you could meet him live. I'd like to meet him live.  I have way too many cyber-only pals. 

Go out on RevWarCostume and tell him I called him an Obsessive Nut Job and I guarantee he'll agree.  He'll probably send me PM's complaining, but I like that sort of thing. 

LOL,
Barbara in Tacoma

PS - Looks like his trade is in the saddlery side of things:
http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/Spring04/saddler.cfm

Trust me, he's very knowledgeable about EVERYTHING 18thC.  And, god bless him, he SHARES his knowledge most willingly and with a light heart and open hand. Can't ever fault a man for that!

[Jim_Ruley]

Hi Barbara,

Do you by any chance know Rick Haven?  He's the fellow who reprinted the 1901 "Tailor's Guide" that I have a copy of, and I understand he used to do tailoring at Williamsburg.  I'm wondering if he's still around and the book is still available for purchase.

Thanks,

Jim R.

[BarbaraSmith]

Ask Jay. I'm about as far removed from Williamsburg as you can get (Tacoma, WA, just south of Seattle). 

Name sounds familiar, but not in this context. I know an artist named Rick Haven lives here in town. 

Yahoo Groups - RevWarCostume. Hie thee! Hie thee! 

LOL,
B.

[Anna G.]

Speaking of 18th century clothing, I found a couple of links from the Williamsburg site.

Basic overview of 18th century clothing:
http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/history/clothing/intro/index.cfm

Really awesome interactive game, in which you dress a variety of people from different social standing and it's real people and real clothes, not dolls
http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/History/teaching/Dayseries/webactivities/dress/dress.htm

Hope this helps!
-Anna

[atlantashannon]

Anna, thanks so much for the links!!  My siblings and I had a blast this evening playing the 'games' and such. Thanks!!

[billclark]

I am not going to lie I did complete all of the social classes   but on a more serious note I have been doing a bit of reading in the past few days and I have decided to portray the son of a sucessful merchant, at least that is the socio-economic class i am going for.  There are a few mainstream patterns but I am going to talk to some of the contacts suggested above before I go any further.

Thanks,

Bill

[Chessa_Swing]

I have to stay out of here... My parents said I wasn't allowed to do more than one time period at a time while I was living with them.  I've been told I need to marry a really rich man to support my habit 

[bevinmacrae]

I've been trying to drag Chris into Rev War stuff, since that's what I did before he introduced me to the ACW, but he claims it's too expensive! Then I point out that if he stays civilian, it's less expensive, but my words fall on deaf ears. I guess I'll just have to go alone. There's so many great Rev War things up here in NY that it would be a shame to miss them.
~bevin

[BarbaraSmith]

Bevin, think long and hard about marrying a man who won't do another time period with you.  What's next? He won't dance? He won't take out the garbage? He'll watch football on TV all weekend? 

Personally, I think Rev War is a very cool time period. I feel much more Georgian than I do Victorian. I'm quite shocking as a Victorian.  But I also don't like doing "faux" history so I don't like to do 18thC here where there IS NO HISTORY before the Europeans got here in the 19thC (do read the heavy sarcasm in my voice).

Bevin dear, you HAVE to do 18thC, so that when I fly out to New York for Fort Ticonderoga or Fort Niagara, I have a friend who will pick me up at the airport and drive me to the event! 

LOL,
Barbara in Tacoma

[Anna G.]

Anna, thanks so much for the links!!  My siblings and I had a blast this evening playing the 'games' and such. Thanks!!

You're absolutely welcome! I used to spend hours playing this clothing game, especially since Rev War and 18th century was how I originally got into historic clothing, but as there are a lack of 18th century sites in Washington, I quickly turned to 19th century. However, I would love to sew some 18th century dresses, as well as clothing from other eras someday!

-Anna

[Anna G.]

Also, I absolutely love the avatar in your signature, Atlanta! Did you make it yourself?

-Anna