Random thoughts on random things
I love making hats. They're really so easy. I'm making tiny girl a tiny-ish hat right now, concurrently with all my other projects. I've attached the crown of a tiny decorative (or large doll?) hat to the outer part of a braided straw place mat. I may have made the brim a bit large, but I also want to keep the sun off as much as possible. I soaked it last night and it's drying into the shape I desire as we speak. I'm going to cover it in some crappy dupioni silk and then give it some fun trimming of some sort.
Speaking of hats, would it be inappropriate for a lower-class woman to have a hat lined with silk underneath only? I see them in prints on country girls, but I don't know if it's fact or artist's license. I found two teal silk valances at Tuesday Morning, so now I have two long, narrow pieces of silk to do something with. I toyed with a small jacket, but I'm afraid there'd be too much piecing going on. I'd like to trim a hat, make a sash, maybe mitts someday, I don't know. I just love teal, though.
I'm still researching pincloths. I hate to be the doubting Thomas, but I'm having a hard time finding images of them that pre-date the late 1780s. I ordered the Kannik's Korner pattern just to read her research, but there's not much there. Old Bailey records and a few paintings dating 1787-1805. As she states, not all pincloths were constructed garments; some were literally just pieces of fabric (look like handkerchiefs to me). I've been searching the internet over for 18th cent. genre painters, but they're few and far between. George Morland painted a bazillion pictures that included children wearing pincloths, but again, too late in the period. I don't know if they were as common as he makes it look, or like Jean Baptiste Greuze he had a closet of clothes he stuck on models. Morland does show some children with pincloths constructed like the directions given in Cutting Apparel for the Poor (1789), but he also shows some with sleeved pincloths (looks like a backwards jam, really) and a couple with what appears to be a checked handkerchief wrapped around either square or on the bias, just under the arms. I'll probably eventually bore everyone to tears with a lengthy blog post about it.
The regimental is also coming along a bit. I've made some massive changes to several parts of the pattern after eyeballing the shapes Henry Cooke uses as seen on the 33rdfoot website. I also compared repeatedly to some of the patterns in Cut of Men's Clothes (thanks for the suggestion, virginiadear). There are still some areas to be adjusted, but DH can go through the drill now without busting anything. It's so annoying how every change to the pattern makes something else not work, though! I have a real Frankenstein of a toile coat now. When I finish it, I'll post some pics so you can laugh.
Speaking of hats, would it be inappropriate for a lower-class woman to have a hat lined with silk underneath only? I see them in prints on country girls, but I don't know if it's fact or artist's license. I found two teal silk valances at Tuesday Morning, so now I have two long, narrow pieces of silk to do something with. I toyed with a small jacket, but I'm afraid there'd be too much piecing going on. I'd like to trim a hat, make a sash, maybe mitts someday, I don't know. I just love teal, though.
I'm still researching pincloths. I hate to be the doubting Thomas, but I'm having a hard time finding images of them that pre-date the late 1780s. I ordered the Kannik's Korner pattern just to read her research, but there's not much there. Old Bailey records and a few paintings dating 1787-1805. As she states, not all pincloths were constructed garments; some were literally just pieces of fabric (look like handkerchiefs to me). I've been searching the internet over for 18th cent. genre painters, but they're few and far between. George Morland painted a bazillion pictures that included children wearing pincloths, but again, too late in the period. I don't know if they were as common as he makes it look, or like Jean Baptiste Greuze he had a closet of clothes he stuck on models. Morland does show some children with pincloths constructed like the directions given in Cutting Apparel for the Poor (1789), but he also shows some with sleeved pincloths (looks like a backwards jam, really) and a couple with what appears to be a checked handkerchief wrapped around either square or on the bias, just under the arms. I'll probably eventually bore everyone to tears with a lengthy blog post about it.
The regimental is also coming along a bit. I've made some massive changes to several parts of the pattern after eyeballing the shapes Henry Cooke uses as seen on the 33rdfoot website. I also compared repeatedly to some of the patterns in Cut of Men's Clothes (thanks for the suggestion, virginiadear). There are still some areas to be adjusted, but DH can go through the drill now without busting anything. It's so annoying how every change to the pattern makes something else not work, though! I have a real Frankenstein of a toile coat now. When I finish it, I'll post some pics so you can laugh.