Threaded Bliss

Fitted-back English Gown in Pink Worsted,

1775-1785

Colonial Williamsburg, June 2013.

Because Battle Road takes place so early in the New England spring, it’s typically pretty chilly standing outside all weekend long, especially since we don’t have the luxury of our own campfire to huddle around to keep warm.  I decided a wool gown was thus in order for the event, and I finished this one just in the nick of time the evening before.   The number of visitors over the weekend, however, prevented me getting more than one photo of the gown during Battle Road itself, so its Threaded Bliss post had to wait until the gown’s second wearing, which happened in weather that fell at the complete opposite of the temperature spectrum – Under the Redcoat this past weekend!

Colonial Williamsburg, June 2013.

The pattern: The bodice and sleeves were draped on me by Ashley at the gown workshop last November.  I worked the back pleats to reflect the narrower, more curved shape popular from the late 1770s into the very early 1780s.

Colonial Williamsburg, June 2013.

 

Construction details: The construction details of this gown are identical to those shared in multiple earlier fitted-back “English” gown posts, but since it’s been a while since the last one, I’ll just do a quick outline again. As always, it was created using period techniques and is entirely hand-sewn. The first step was to shape the back "en fourreau" pleats and stitch them down to the back lining piece to form the gown’s back panel.

Detail of the back pleats.

Innards of the gown's top half.  The armscyes are not finished and the top of the
pleated skirt panels are not enclosed in the lining, features which were
quite common to 18th-century gowns.

Because I didn’t have Ashley at home to drape a brand new bodice and sleeves specifically for this gown, I used the pieces she draped at the workshop as my “pattern” for the rest of the top portion (the workshop gown is still waiting for a Threaded Bliss post of its own, so stay tuned for that!). The finished bodice fronts were then fitted to the back and top-stitched down. After the sleeves were set into place, the shoulder straps were cut, arranged, and top-stitched to cover the raw caps of the sleeves.

Detail of the back, with the shoulder strap meeting the back panel pleats.

The gown’s skirts were pleated up next with ¼” pleats and a set of cuffs added, both details in keeping with the specifics of the years for which I was aiming. I also added a set of cotton twill tape ties to drape up the skirts to keep them away from the muddy paths and fields of Battle Road.

Cuffs with detachable linen sleeve ruffles sewn in.

The fabric: A “tropical” weight worsted wool in a lovely rosy pink color, lined in a medium-weight ivory linen. From damp, chilly temperatures in the lower 50s to hot-and-humid 95 degrees, this gown has proven itself quite comfortably versatile, and I really, really like it!

Colonial Williamsburg, June 2013.

Finishing the look: The gown is worn over a linen shift, fully-boned stays, and a linen underpetticoat, and is paired with a matching petticoat.  Window-pane checked white linen lawn ruffles, very narrowly hemmed, embellish the ends of the cuffed sleeves.  The ruffles are sewn to a cotton tape band and then simply whipped roughly into the lining of the sleeve so that they can be easily removed to be worn with another gown or to be laundered.

Detail of the detachable linen lawn sleeve ruffles.

A printed cotton neck handkerchief (from Burnley and Trowbridge) fills in the low, wide neckline of the gown. I made a tucker of the same window-pane checked linen as the ruffles, but elected to wear the kerchief at both Battle Road and UTR (the first because of the cold, the second because of the sun), so I don't yet have pictures of it with this gown. I also have a matching apron to complete the "suit," so when I wear them all together, I'll be sure to do an updated post!

The apron worn with the gown in the pictures here is a striped cotton gauze with a teeny rolled hem that took forever because of the loose weave of the fabric. In the end, though, it was worth the time and frustration because I like how the very sheer stripes show up against the solid pink background of the petticoat.

Striped cotton gauze apron.

Completing the ensemble is a new hat trimmed with blue/green changeable silk taffeta.  The taffeta forms poofs around the crown, with a big, wide bow set to one side. The underside is lined in the same taffeta and the edges of the brim finished with a narrow strip of it.  Lining hats that were trimmed but not covered on top was quite popular in the late 1770s and 1780s (as was lining in a contrasting color to a covered top, as seen in one of our inspirations in this earlier post). The inspiration for my hat came from the hat on the left in this John Collett print from 1778 entitled "The Manchester Hero, or Arts Yield to Arms."

"The Manchester Hero, or Arts Yield to Arms," 1778

(mezzotint print after John Collett).

Image linked from the British Museum.

My version of the hat, with the underside lined with the same
blue/green silk with which the top of the hat is trimmed.

Colonial Williamsburg, June 2013.

I decided to add a bit of embellishment by doing poofs around the crown instead of just the plain wrap-around ribbon, poofs being quite common during the same period, and much more interesting to the eye!

Poofs of silk taffeta surround the crown, while a narrow strip finishes the edge of the brim.

Additional photos can be found in this project's flickr set.

Battle Road 2013

April 19th marks the 238th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which is commemorated annually with the Battle Road reenactment weekend.  Though our unit as a whole has taken an active part in this event for several years, this was the first time I was able to attend.  I unfortunately could only be there for the first day of the three-day weekend, but it was nonetheless a very special experience and one that I look forward to repeating next year, hopefully with more time to spend in the area in order to take in the full experience of all the event has to offer.

The long walk along Battle Road, past the Captain William Smith House,
to reach the morning's battle site.

Saturday morning dawned wet, dark, dreary, and cold, which meant three petticoats, mitts, and long cloaks all around!  We arrived at Minute Man National Park just after 7:30am in time for registration and to get accustomed to the lay of the land before the troops would be called to assemble for the first public event of the weekend. 

"Local" militia assembling.

We ladies spent our time before public hours chatting and meeting new friends from other groups, all the while desperately trying to keep our damp feet warm (there are only so many layers of stockings you can fit in period footwear!).  Hartwell Tavern was a-buzz with the ladies of The Hive setting up their sewing, quilting, spinning, and cooking demonstrations for the day, and we found some brief warm respite inside before heading out to find a spot to watch our men-at-arms in action at the first tactical demonstration of the day.

Hartwell Tavern, quiet in the early morning before being inundated with hundreds of visitors.

B warming up near the hearth in Hartwell Tavern.

Militiamen congregating in the yard of the tavern.

The weekend officially opened on Battle Road itself, where the "local" militia clashed with British Regulars between Hartwell Tavern and the "Bloody Angle," on the very same ground where gunshots first rang out 238 years ago.

The militia marching down Battle Road...

...hiding amongst the trees in preparation for a confrontation

with the approaching Crown forces.

Although I've seen countless battle reenactments and tactical demonstrations over the years, I have to admit that there was something eerie about this particular experience.  Knowing it took place on that very same ground, almost to the day, and then seeing and hearing the seemingly endless stream of redcoats marching up the road towards us, horses' hooves quite literally thundering, the solidarity of the troops' numbers and even their physical statures overwhelming and threatening - it was all prodigiously impressive and yes, even scary.  It was so easy - much easier than it usually is - to imagine how our colonial ancestors must have felt, bravely staring into those faces, ready to fight for what they believed in.

The British are coming!

 

 The colonial militia begins to push the Redcoats back.

Militia men assembling for a final parade at the end of the battle,
with cheers and applause from the spectators watching.

After enjoying lunch out with another unit, we all headed into Lexington for Tower Park, the second battle demonstration of the day.  The crowds lining the closed-off streets of the town were multiple people deep, everyone peeping over the heads of those in front of them, and children perched atop the long stone wall enclosing the battle site to try to get the best view possible.  With some time to spare before the demonstration began, and our gents engaged in pre-battle drilling and preparations, we ladies headed up the street a bit to explore Munroe Tavern.

Munroe Tavern in Lexington, occupied once again by Crown forces.

Munroe Tavern, built in 1735, was overtaken by British forces on April 19th, 1775, and occupied as a field hospital and the headquarters of Brigadier General Earl Percy for a couple of hours on that fateful day.  From 1770 to 1827, William Munroe served as the tavern's owner and proprietor; on April 19th, he responded to the call to arms, serving with Captain John Parker as orderly sergeant.  When his wife, Anna, heard the gunfire and saw the British troops approaching her home, she took her children and fled into the woods behind the house.  When she returned home, she found her front dining room strewn with bloody bandages and the remains of hastily eaten meals.

While the house is largely interpreted as it looked under Percy's occupation, with the goal of recounting the British experience during the Battles of Lexington and Concord, it also saw another significant piece of history that is commemorated in an upstairs chamber.  George Washington toured the Lexington battle sites in 1789 and stopped to dine at Munroe Tavern.  The chair in which he sat, the table at which he dined, the set of dishes and cutlery he used, and even the metal bar to which he tied his horse, were all preserved by the Munroe family and passed down through the generations.  Munroe family descendants owned the property and its family heirlooms until the middle part of the twentieth century, when they gifted it all to the town.  In 2010, a major restoration restored the tavern to its 1775 appearance, and it now stands as a unique representation of "the other side" of Lexington's dramatic Revolutionary War story.

For dinner that evening, we all gathered together to enjoy each other's company and some tasty traditional New England fare in true 18th-century style at Concord's famed historic Colonial Inn.  Our evening ended with plans for about half of us to meet up in the morning to explore some of the many local historical sites and museums.  A full account of those adventures will be offered in the next post, so stay tuned for more!

And since no reenactment event is complete without an account of its wardrobe...!  I had finished a new gown of pink worsted in the hotel on Friday night, and wore it Saturday paired with a new kerchief.  Unfortunately, the incredibly damp and chilly weather meant that my new outfit stayed well-concealed inside the warmth of my cloak the entire day long, so I only have one picture - with cloak shed momentarily just for this purpose! - to show for it!  So consider this a teaser, and the next time I wear this gown, I'll be sure to give it the proper Threaded Bliss treatment with additional photos and details!

A sneak peak at my new pink worsted gown!

While you await the tale of our Sunday museum-hopping in the next post, a prodigious amount of additional photos from Saturday morning's Battle Road event can be found on our flickr photostream.