Holiday Traditions at the Swetland Homestead

My friend Jenn and I spent the weekend of December 7 and 8 cooking in the Summer Kitchen of the Swetland Homestead in Wyoming, PA. The homestead is maintained by the Luzerne County Historical Society. It is believed that the kitchen dates to 1810. On Saturday we wore colonial era clothing (the Swetlands were living on the property during the Revolutionary War), and on Sunday we wore clothing from the Federal (Regency) period. We spent each day cooking, using the open hearth, and making pies, puddings, stews and biscuits using period recipes, all the while talking to visitors about what we were doing, and about life in Wyoming when it was a rural outpost.

This is my Federal (Regency) gown. I used Past Patterns Lewis & Clark Era 1796-1806 (#031) pattern. It's madder wool purchased from Burnley & Trowbridge. The wool is very lightweight and has beautiful drape. It's light enough to wear in the summer too. The pattern is very well done, with excellent instructions. It closes in the center front with drawstrings at the neckline and waist. I did struggle with the back bodice. The pattern is drafted from an original gown, and it has an unusual seaming across the back that I could not get to lie flat and to not gap and pucker in an unflattering way. I had copied all the pattern markings carefully, but as I am not very familiar with dress construction for this period, I just couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. Eventually I cut the whole back off at the shoulder seams and drafted a more conventional back using curved back seams and a slightly scooped neckline. I used Nora Waugh's The Cut of Women's Clothes as a guide. I cartridge pleated the back instead of knife pleating it as per the pattern. I am very pleased with the gown and enjoyed wearing it for the first time this weekend. The chemisette is plain white sheer cotton. I used a Simplicity Pattern (Sense & Sensibility Regency Underthings) for it. One of my Edwardian full slips worked well enough as a petticoat, along with a shorter Victorian wool petticoat. I can wear this dress without a corset.

Filling up our wash tubs. I like my apron. It's just a bunch of rectangles sewn together. It is sewn completely by hand.

Done with cooking for the day! The fire is almost out. My guess is that the fire both days was running about 450 F or hotter. We could barely shovel out coals for the hearth burners and had mild burns on our forearms at the end of each day. Ugh.

My 1770s costume was my first attempt at making clothes for this period. It was challenging, not having extant garments to study, as I do for the Victorian and Edwardian periods. I was struggling with trying to figure out appropriate seam placement, finishes, closures, etc. I used JP Ryan's pattern for my wool jacket. The fit was confusing. I wasn't sure how it was supposed to hang. It seemed like it was cut to hang straight from the shoulders in the front, but a long jacket like this has to curve over  the hips. It buckled in an unflattering way at the waist. I decided to put horizontal darts at the waist, although I doubt this is correct for the period. I was in such a quandary over this! I perused photos of extant garments, and photos of reproductions, but...I still could not figure out what was the right approach. Anyway, the jacket is medium weight brown wool, lined in plain white cotton. Is this correct? I do not know. My skirt is also wool, pleated to a narrow tape waistband. I used the Nora Waugh book again to draft the skirt. It's rather impractical to have a pale colored skirt to work and cook in, but I made the skirt in light blue wool because I thought it a pretty color. My cream wool apron covers a lot of it, so it hasn't gotten too beat up and mucky from cooking in it. My cotton cap was made using Miller's Millinery pattern (#C12B). The neckerchief and my brown buckled shoes came from Burnley & Trowbridge. I bought plain canvas stays from Jas. Townsend. I made lovely brocade stays for this period, but they lace up the back which is a rather impractical arrangement for dressing myself. The Townsend stays lace front and back. Stays for this period flatten the bust, and they don't really pull in the waist. They take some getting used to, after years of wearing longer corsets from the Victorian period that don't suppress the bust and which support the weight of the skirts. I made my chemise from the Regency Underthings pattern in a lightweight linen. My cap, apron, and the neckline of my chemise are handsewn. I used a machine for the rest of the seams.

We have the fire going, and are getting ready to cook! I'm not sure if the sleeves of my chemise are supposed to show below my jacket sleeves...I splashed a bunch of porter on my apron before we even got started!

Recovering an 1860s parasol (continued)

Instead of recovering it with plain black silk, I decided to use a plaid. This beautiful piece of brown, gold, cream and black silk taffeta was purchased from The Dressmaker's Shop. If you haven't shopped at Kimberly Lynch's online store, I highly recommend it. She has lovely fabrics suitable for period pieces, for reasonable prices. The bottom of each top piece for each section was scalloped. I used a pair of vintage scalloping shears to recreate this.

The new cover, all sections stitched together. Once all the sections were stitched, I finished the bottom edge with a narrow rolled hem (machine stitched).

The first step in recovering the parasol is pushing the finial through the center of the cover and drawing the fabric tightly to the little space under the finial. I used buttonhole thread to do this and went around the finial several times before knotting it off. Next, the tip of each section is stretched tightly to meet the tip of each rib. The rib tips are little metal pieces with a hole through which to draw the thread and a bit of the fabric. I worked the cover onto the frame by moving from side to side, in order to keep the cover taught. This is similar to what is done in millinery. When the tips were secured, I stitched the cover to each rib just below its hinge.

The finished cover, with original beading added.











Ready for summer! This was much easier than I had thought. Now I'm ready to tackle a larger, Edwardian parasol!

Recovering an 1860s parasol

Last summer I purchased an 1860s parasol (I think it dates to the post-American Civil War period); the handle, which is beautifully carved wood is in beautiful condition, but the black silk cover was shredded. I was kind of nervous about being able to recreate the cover. After lots of mental planning, last weekend I started work on it. First, I removed the original silk cover, and picked apart one of the sections. The entire cover had been sewn by hand. Each section was made of two pieces, which were joined before all of the sections were stitched together. The join was covered with a narrow strip of tiny black glass beads. Here is one of the original sections and the paper pattern made from it.

Using the pattern, I recreated the cover in muslin to check the fit. Happily, it fit well! I didn't expect to get it right on the first try, but here it is.

This is the bottom of the handle. There are two little wooden balls that roll around inside the carving!

Scranton Annual Civil War Ball

I'm still trying to get the hang of getting the text around photos, so these are just lumped together this time! These photos are from last weekend's Annual Civil War Ball, hosted by the Lackawanna Historical Society. Lots of our friends were in attendance! I meant to take more pictures, but once we started dancing, I forgot to do it. Clockwise from the top: Bill and me; ball coiffure and headdress; Lucille and me; Lu, Bill, Ed, and Gregg; Kathy and Jan. The event was held at the beautiful Century Club in Scranton. It's a large, yet cozy feeling building, built in 1914 as a Ladies' Club (which it still is). The dance floor is excellent. For intermission, everyone sweeps up the grand central staircase for refreshments in the large parlor on the second floor. It's amazing that our gowns acually look intact; the wind was gale force as we left our house, the rain was driving across the porch, and Lu caught her skirt in the front door as we were dashing to the waiting car! Then we had to climb up the steep front stairs to the club, the wind yanking our shawls and umbrellas as we tried to manage elevating our skirts to make the climb! Bill could not help as he dropped us off in front to let us out and then he went to park the car. We should have done what Jan did and dressed at the club! She has so much sense.

Lu's dress is just smashing on her, it's white bengaline trimmed with black satin pleated ribbon and tiny little yellow flowers that she made. She can pull off pure white with her coloring. My mauve gown was formerly soft white, a color I can wear, but the effect washed me out, so I plunked the whole thing in the tub (it's a thin striped lightweight silk) and hoped for the best! Amazingly, it turned out ok, and I like the color. I re-trimmed it about three times before I was satisfied. The lace on the bodice is taken from an early 1870s overskirt that I had acquired (the rest of the gown was missing). The garland is inspired by one worn by Mary Todd Lincoln in one of those famous photos of her in ball dress.

I think I look a little tired! I was! We had 21 of the ball-goers over for breakfast the next morning, and I had spent two weeks Spring cleaning the house like a maniac. Well, at least it's all done now, except for the windows. Now we are done with balls for the season, and I'll be doing a few reenactments in the next couple of months with my group, The Union Patriotic League.

1860s shoes

These little shoes were recently acquired by my county historical society. Robert Land has introduced this style in his collection of reproductions. He says they are quite rare for the period, and calls them "walking shoes." So, I was quite amazed to see a pair show up at LHS (Lackawanna Historical Society). This pair is in great shape, despite their age and evidence that they received a considerable amount of wear. The toes are beige leather, and the rest of the shoe is a black and cream checked silk fabric, with silk shoelaces. The soles are thin leather. They are very tiny, probably a modern size 5, maybe even a 4.5. I would imagine that the use of silk fabric made them suitable for indoor use only. Land's reproductions are two-tone all leather, so they can be worn out of doors.

More on Gettysburg Remembrance Day weekend 2010

This year we decided to go for a walk on the battlefield before the luminary ceremony in the National Cemetery. There is something so otherworldly in the photo of Lucille and Meg walking along, isn't there? It's my favorite picture of the weekend.

Lu and I both have experienced a lot of energy near the Copse of Trees. So much blood was shed, such violence!

Remembrance Day weekend in Gettysburg 2010

We were so fortunate to have such beautiful warm weather for November in Pennsylvania! We were wearing heavy wool cloaks, but a shawl would have been just fine this year. I'm not complaining! Meg and I are waiting for our friends from the UPL to arrive at Evergreen Cemetery to put a wreath in front of the monument for Elizabeth Thorn, who, while six months pregnant, helped dig graves to bury the fallen soldiers. Incredible!

My dress is purple wool, no trim yet! I wanted to see what I could buy in Gettysburg. Abraham's Lady had some nice soutache and I bought a bunch of it to add when I have time. It's purple too. The dress has pressed dull glass buttons on the bodice, and I can take them off if I decide to forgo the 2nd mourning impression and wear the dress with, say, my brown silk bonnet and brown wool cloak. I made a drawn bonnet in 2nd mourning colors and now have two dresses to go with it, the black wool mentioned in an earlier post, and now the purple. Meggie chose a Blackwatch wool plaid for her dress, and to use her term, I think it's just "dishy!"