Elizabeth Stewart Clark & Company

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Quick Instructional: A Child’s Sacque Jacket

Following some questions from a Sewing Academy member over on Facebook, I’ve done up a quick project on altering a basic bodice (such as the Sewing Academy–Historic Moments 250 basic bodice) to create a waist or hip-length sacque jacket. In a firmly-woven but light-weight wool, this makes a great extender garment on cooler evenings or for use indoors over a short-sleeved dress. Made with a silk lining, it can be a nice warm piece for wear into the later fall.

You might choose to use silk or fine wool. Open sleeves and shaped coat sleeves are common, or you might see a simple straight sleeve for very working class, utility styles.

These images were found on an image search and I do not know owners for attribution… if you know, please email me and share!

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Making a jacket from a bodice pattern does require some adjustment to the basic bodice pieces, but can be accomplished by any determined sewist! Along the way, you’ll learn to switch from a back closure to front closure, how to lift and enlarge an armscye, and how to create a generous waist edge to rest gently over full skirts. Find the printable PDF here: Child Sacque Jacket

Spring Updates!

Hello all!

Thanks for your patience as we’ve worked through famine (supply delays on books and pattern sheets), frost (150 days with no temps above 20*F) and floods (literally–3″ cheery spring bursting through my basement wall and sinkholes in the front yard!)…

Couple it with persistent email issues, and I’ve been frustrated along with my favorite customers and costumers. (If you’ve not had a response from me, please do use elizabethstewartclark at hotmail as I do want to help!)

I’m working on filling the backorders from supply delays, resending digital orders whose links didn’t automatically reach purchasers, and getting back on track with everything. And I’m happy to report, my ugly masonry fix to the basement is ugly, but holding firm! (and we’ll deal with the city and their sinkholes in May…)

Looking forward to a productive and lighter spring–what’s on your project list?

Pressing Matters

Frere, Pierre Edouard, 1858; The Laundress; Haworth Art Gallery

I’m working on a fun commission and decided to do some tracking to see if I could verify something I’ve thought about, which might prove helpful to anyone else who is plotting some sewing shenanigans.

My theory: if I’m machine sewing, I spend 2-3 minutes pressing for every 1 minute sewing, for a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of pressing to sewing.

Some results, with me sewing and pressing at a comfortable pace, not zipping along at industrial speeds.

  • 70″ petticoats for toddlers: pressing run & fell seams: 15 minutes (3 seams). Machine sewing the run and then fell: 10 minutes (3 seams) 3:1 ratio pressing to sewing
  • 130″ petticoat for teen: pressing run & fell seams: 21 minutes (3 seams). Machine sewing the run and then fell: 15 minutes (3 seams) 3:2 ratio pressing to sewing
  • 70″ petticoat: pressing hem: 6 minutes; machine sewing: 4 minutes  3:2 ratio pressing to sewing
  • 130″ petticoat: pressing hem: 14 minutes; machine sewing: 7 minutes  2:1 ratio pressing to sewing
  • 70″ petticoat: pressing 3 tucks: 14 minutes; machine sewing 3 tucks: 8 minutes 3.5:2 ratio pressing to sewing
  • 130: petticoat: pressing 3 tucks: 40 minutes; machine sewing 3 tucks: 20 minutes  2:1 ratio pressing to sewing

This is exciting! My sense of how I use my time sewing versus pressing was more accurate than not! I find it very interesting that the overall ratio holds up even when looking at the differences in hems and tucks versus seams. I anticipate there will be relatively less pressing to sewing time as I move into bodices and sleeves that don’t use run-and-fell seams, so I’m continuing to track. And of course, the handsewn elements have a very different ratio than machine sewing!

Pressing is an exceptionally useful tool in sewing. With heat and steam, I selectively shrink extra fullness caused by ripping skirt panels to size, restoring the edges of the fabric to very straight grain. I can get a nice crisp initial and final fold on a hem, for accurate, even hems that are easy to stitch. Tucks are simple and straight and evenly spaced because the fabric is smooth and flat and on-grain.  I can work 1/8″ wide run-and-fell seams easily, because they’re pressed well. With good pressing, I can usually sew without the use of straight pins.

When pressing a run-and-fell seam, here’s my process:

  1. Stitch the seam with a 3/8″ allowance
  2. Press the seam as-sewn on both sides
  3. Press the seam flat to one side
  4. Press the seam flat to the other side
  5. Press the seam flat open
  6. Trim the allowance that will be enclosed, by half
  7. Press the overlapping seam to cover the trimmed allowance
  8. Tuck the raw edge of the overlapping seam under
  9. Press firmly to create a nice folded edge, even width.
  10. Stitch the folded edge
  11. Press whole seam flat.

Yes, that’s a detailed TEN steps, and SEVEN are pressing steps.

There is a big visual difference in finish projects that have used good pressing throughout construction, versus those where pressing has been neglected. Good pressing allows you to have even, unpuckered seams, hems, darts, and facings. Your cuffs don’t go on skewed, or your bindings twisted. Hems don’t suddenly have a gathered look in the last 4″, or diagonal folds creased into the lower edge. Seams match up well, and lay flat, with no odd ridges of fabric along the sewn edge.

If I am tasked to list the topmost sewing tools I use to good advantage, I’d say they include: sharp, fine needles with a good eye (I like S Thomas & Sons crewels, #10, for all-purpose handsewing, and I buy them by the multi-pack from Wawak.com); a good thimble that fits well; beeswax; quality all-cotton threads; fresh sewing machine needles changed every 4-6 hours of sewing time; a good basic steam iron with a steam burst function and no auto-shut-off (I don’t like waiting for it to reheat when I’ve just stood up to press again.)

As I’m also a bit of a klutz, I use $20 irons from Waldemart (The Store That Must Not Be Named), currently a Sunbeam model, so I don’t spend too much when I’ve knocked it onto the cement four too many times.

If you need to get some good pressing time in, consider adding petticoats to the history wardrobe trunk, for anyone who wears skirts! You’ll find the free Petticoat Project in the Compendium (scroll down to download the PDF, excerpted from The Dressmaker’s Guide), as well as a tutorial for sewing growth tucks in the blog portion of the site. And as always, let me know how I can help you!

I hope it helps others to gauge their use of sewing time by anticipating their pressing needs. It really will improve your experience and results!

Documentation, Citation, Information: Knowing What You Know!

The Pioneer’s Home on the Western Frontier (1867, published by Currier & Ives; Frances Flora Bond Palmer)

Living history is a different sort of hobby. Whenever we claim an aspect of ‘educating the public,’ we take on a burden of academic support for the things we share: are we sharing historical reality, or fantasy? If we claim to educate, we need to share reality in all its mess and variability. People can get fantasy and fiction anywhere! Accessing history through hands-on, personal connection is a unique thing, worthy of our efforts.

So, let’s talk a little bit about some concepts we can use to enhance and inform our living history. Understanding and using these concepts can help us when interacting with academic historians, as well, which is grand! (Let’s be honest, people who dress up and pretend we live in another era? We’re a little odd in a lot of ways, and that makes academic historians a bit nervous sometimes!)

Research
Asking questions and seeking answers to those questions.

It’s truly no more complex than that: we have questions, and we seek answers, even if they are only partial answers. What did they do, have, think, understand, value, engage with? How did historical experiences fit into the wider context of the world at that time? What did people of that time say about their own experiences?

Research is something anyone who has ever had a question can engage in, and ought to be encouraged in. Our research will not be perfect. We can revisit it as we gain skills, as we become aware of new supporting or conflicting sources, or as our interests shift and deepen. It is ongoing inquiry into a myriad of topics!

Application
Putting research into practice for any reason.

We might replicate objects or ideas to experience them ourselves, or help others experience and interact with them. We might use original practice for a sewing project, or grow historical food varieties in order to taste the flavors for ourselves, or recreate historical musical pedagogy to see if the resulting performance of a historical musical piece is similar to or different from what we’d expect to hear in modern life.

Just like our research practices, our application practices will hopefully be refined, enlarged, honed, and deepened over time. It is fine to start applying what we know now, and adapt our application over time as we know more. Perfection from the start is impossible and unneeded. Progress over time is fantastic.

Documentation
Material that provides information, evidence, or serves as a record; information that supports answers to inquiry. Also, the process of noting and classifying information or objects, such as gathering text or visual references to document that a specific object is typical or atypical for an era.

Why do we think what we think about an item or concept? We can gather supporting evidence for an idea or object from primary sources (see below) to support it as typical or atypical to an era, to support our replication of a portion or segment of historical life, to keep track of what we’ve learned or are learning in our research, or to share more in-depth information with others.

A request for documentation is not an aggressive challenge to your knowledge, authority, or ego.

(Well, some people use it that way, but it’s fine to assume a productive intent, versus a passive-aggressive intent, and sharing positively is a great way to short-circuit the passive-aggressive sorts with kindness.)

Documentation and our understanding of it changes over time, as more sources and informational bits become available. If your inquiry hasn’t brought you any conflicts in years, you’re not asking the right questions! Continual inquiry, being open to the new information, and synthesizing or adapting our understanding to harmonize with new documentation is a normal part of an evolving practice, and it’s great!

If you are earnestly asking for additional documentation from another person, it can be very useful to share information back. “I’ve looked at Ballymore’s sketches and Fortland’s detail study of the Shenanigator, but I’ve not come across a reference to Shenanigators having multiple hum-whipples as a regular thing. When you have a moment, could you point me in a good direction to learn more? Do you recall where you found the hum-whipples information, please?”

A collegial attitude and positive intent can garner excellent results and expand your own inquiry in ways you never expected.

(Documentation of the image used in this post includes multiple dated publications from the era that list the title, artist, and “pop culture” publisher. With all of that on just the one lithograph, it’s pretty securely documented as a period image!)

Provenance
A record of origin and ownership over time, to help place an object or idea in historical context and confirm its place on a timeline. Provenance can be biased through “family lore” or “donor lore”: mistaken information that becomes part of the record over time, via repetition or assertion without documentary support.

Putting an object or concept into historical context is really vital, and it’s also a neat puzzle to try to solve or support. Identifying stylistic elements or construction techniques or technologies that help date or establish the origin story can be highly satisfying, even when that process takes a long time.

Annotation
A note of explanation or context added to an object or piece of information

This might be a summary of what you found useful or not useful in a written source, information pointing toward additional referenced sources, or things you want to notice or keep track of for additional inquiry. Annotation is particularly helpful with booklists or text sources. You may not easily remember why you liked or disliked a text source, or what you gained from it, without your personal note. Annotations to physical objects can add measurements, materials, and technique notes, provenance notes, connections with textual documentation (primary or secondary) or visual documentation (other examples from the period). Annotations can be refined and updated over time, as well.

(If I add my own commentary to the image attached to this post, that’s annotating it. I could talk about artistic romanticism, pop culture development, artistic presentations of normative clothing, botany, weapons, household goods… anything I might ascribe to the image can be added in annotation. I’d want to back up any assertions with documentation, sources, and citations for my assertions to be the most valuable to others, of course!)

Citation
A reference to a source; naming a source or author whose information you are using or sharing.

Citations help us sharing information in an organized, thorough way. Being able to say, “Ah, yes, this image in my computer was saved from the MET collection, item 148902, so if you’d like to see more, you can use that item in the MET’s online collection search tool and see everything they have, including much larger images,” helps people do their own inquiry with those sources.

Citation is more than “Found it on Ebay” or “From Pinterest”–unless you have annotations from the ebay listing that add context (such as collection or de-accession notes, measurements, fiber content, etc), or your Pinterest pins have tracked back to the originating sources directly (such as linking to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, versus someone else’s pin of a pin of a pin of a google search that brought up that gorgeous collar in the Boston MFA collection).

(Citing the image above, I can tell you I found the color lithograph version in a google image search on-line, but there is a published black engraved version available to examine in the Library of Congress, linked here. Now you have three ways to find it: by the author, title, and publisher in the caption/annotation, by an image search, and by a link to a public repository.)

Attribution
Acknowledging by name the creator of physical, digital, or intellectual properties.

Citing the authorship of concepts or words you are sharing that did not originate in your own brain is just good scholarship. If I’m sharing a technique I learned from another researcher or creator, it’s fair play to mention them and recommend them as a source. If I’m quoting from another author, I can put that quote in quotes, and identify the originator, and even link readers over to that originator as a source.

Using others’ work without attribution is bad karma, poor scholarship, and an all-around jerk move. So don’t do that. Give credit where credit is due! (And if you’re wanting to share more than a short quote from someone, ask their permission and abide by their yea or nay and any attribution notes they’d like to have attached. Creators have the right to specify how the work of their hands and brains is shared, or if it is shared at all!)

Primary Source
Information created contemporaneous to another source or object. May still be filtered or biased, but it displays historical filters or biases, versus modern.

Sometimes, multiple individuals will examine similar or the same sets of primary sources, and reach very different conclusions regarding what those sources show us. This is pretty normal! We all research with our own set of experience bias, informational bias, context bias, and generational bias, and we may or may not be aware of all the ways those biases can influence our summaries or understanding.

When questioning someone’s summaries of sources, it can be useful to share your own summary first. “This is interesting… when I started looking at Hoobitory practices, I assumed This Thing, but as I found more about Accessory Hoobitory Things, it really shifted my thinking toward That Thing. May I ask what led you to Other Thing Entirely? It sounds like you have found information I’ve not seen yet.” This lets them know you’re open to more information and greater context, and invites sharing freely and safely.

(The artist created the piece prior to its publication in 1867; wide and easy accessible publication information supports it as a primary source, created during my target era, and illustrating something valuable to those of the era–that last bit is a personal annotation, not a primary source.)

Original Practice
Techniques, processes, or habits of a specific time period. We may or may not have all the context we need to explain an original practice–but then, sometimes those in the Original Cast lacked that, too! They may have followed an original practice because “that’s just the way it’s done.”

Not everyone has a goal to replicate original practice.

I think they ought to, but I’m not in charge of everyone else.

It is spectacularly unuseful to browbeat others with our own goals. It is more useful to share what we personally get out of original practices.

For instance, some sewists use modern zig-zag-over-a-cord to gather, or assume that basting drapery tapes to the waist of a skirt will let them “gauge” a skirt. Me freaking out at them for blaspheming original practice is not useful. Me sharing the context of why I use original practice for those two things (hand-gathering allows a much higher ratio of fullness, to hit historical ratios of fullness, without machined bulk; gauging by hand takes repetition to be comfortable, but creates a minimal bulk, maximal boof, giving me the same result as original dresses have) lets them know there are valid reasons to use original practice, and gives them the space to update their own process in their own time, to meet their own goals.

Secondary Source
Information that references or summarizes one or more primary sources. Be aware of bias, and look for good source citations to track back.

Tertiary Source
Information that references or summarizes one or more secondary sources. Be aware of concept dilution or conflation, and look for good source citations to track back.

Experiential Archaeology (object experiences) or Anthropology (social experiences)
Studying something by replicating as far as possible original practices, and experiencing the thing for yourself. It is a not a perfect replication of the historical experience, because we still come with our modern experience bias, physical limitations, restricted context, and other “baggage”, but it holds value because we then have different informational context than we might gain from reading or viewing sources alone, separate from personal experience.

When we experience things first hand, even if the period setting is compromised by some modern intrusions (power lines, indoor flush toilets, electrical outlets), we have a better angle on what the Original Cast may have experienced, and can share our experience with others going forward. We can speak more confidently and describe experiences in richer detail when operating in any interpretive voice and any interpretive setting.

Knowing What You Know
How you keep track of what you know and what you’re exploring is entirely up to you. Notebooks, binders, a physical card file, book lists (annotated book lists are awesome), digital files, databases and spreadsheets, digital pin-boards (with attributions!), online collection trackers like Zotero, programs like Evernote, personal collections with notes attached… use what works best for you. What matters is that you can add your notes and re-find your information as easily as possible, and if it’s digital, that you keep backups in case of data loss.

It can be useful to review your research resources now and then, and refresh your summarized information as needed. This keeps things updated, and keeps you asking questions and questioning your application.

Sharing What You Know
No one is obligated to turn over every speck of information they’ve ever amassed for every topic they’ve ever considered, let alone turning it over for free. In a field (living history) where sharing information is pretty key to raising the threshold and getting the best results, it’s lovely to have access to free resources and free sharing.

Personally, this whole site exists because I like sharing useful things with people, and feel it’s about the only way I can “pay it forward” from the mentors who’ve helped and guided me for so many years. I’ve taken cues from those mentors, and I choose what to share and how to share it–many things entirely free, and other things at a reasonable cost that allows me to continue to research and bring more information (free and paid) to more people.

You, too, get to decide how and what you will share. If there are things you are not willing to or cannot share without contravening someone else’s permissions, it comes off better to keep silent in a discussion, versus making vague references to sources you cannot or will not disclose. If you’re able to share, consider having a small stack of sources in public access spaces that you can link to, so others can add to their own knowledge without you retyping a master’s dissertation each time. The more documentation, provenance, attribution, and primary source support you can share for your assertions, the more valuable your information and opinions become.

Happy Researching!

 

Digital Downloads Now Available

After quite a bit of agony deep-diving into the programming on the site, we’ve fixed the secure shopping cart for digital downloads in the doll section!

You can now get instant delivery of the Little Cloth Girl pattern, the Doll’s Dressmaker, or the Shapely China Doll pattern (which also includes dress-form instructions, so you can create a miniature wardrobe without needing a china doll in hand!)

With the digital downloads, you’ll be able to purchase instantly, save the files to your chosen device, view with any PDF reader, and print fresh templates or instruction pages whenever you need them. And if you lose your device contents? We can resend the links for a new copy for you.

Next up: Great Auntie Maude’s Favorite Cloth Doll in digital-download purchase format, and then, on to making the children’s patterns available for digital purchase and at-home printing!

Click through to get your digital download copy of the current doll resources!

Setting Goals for 2022

Oh, Look! I do have an actual face! And a Long Pointy Nose! Me at the Kirkpatrick Cabin at the history site where I volunteer, just before our Old Fashioned Christmas at the Park events at the end of November and early December. SO MUCH FUN!

It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster the last while, hasn’t it?

2022 is here, and I’d love to encourage you each to make a list of some personal historical goals for the year, plus a plan to meet that goal!

What will you read to increase your understanding of the world of the mid-19th century? Will it be novels, new, science, politics?

Will you find out where your own relatives were during the mid-century, and what they were up to? Were they settled in, or settling new regions? What work did they do?

Will you be investigating your town, county, or region’s history to bring new facets to long-enjoyed topics?

What wardrobe maintenance do you need? Does everything fit? Is it in good order?

Will you add accessories, or refresh your undergarment inventory, or finally make a few nice collars (I’m teaching a workshop on just that for Corsets & Cravats in the summer, and will have the workbook available for independent purchase after, as well!)? Is it time to refit your favorite dress, reset some petticoat waists, or upgrade your shoes and stockings?

Will you be mastering one or two nice period hairstyles that give you Just The Right Look?

Will you investigate and add to your housewares and home goods, to fill out the visuals in any display or impression?

What new skills will you add to assist you this year? Will you learn some hymns or popular songs? Will you learn to dance, or play an instrument?

Will you host or organize some small, focused, historical activities that could grow into events in coming years? Will you upgrade your interpretive efforts at public events or historic sites? Will you strengthen a relationship with your local historical sites, museums, and community?

I have my own list:

  • New corset to suit my figure realities
  • Remake a favorite dress to remove damage from leather dye (oh, tragedy! I admit I was gutted about that!)
  • Make a few nice new collars and some 1840s and 1850s daycaps (the collar I’m wearing is a favorite, and I need more!)
  • undergarment inventory updates (seriously tragic situation with a dismal lack of decent chemises and drawers)
  • Dressing offspring and grand-offspring
  • Doing more public interpretive work at the little historical site where we volunteer
  • Helping with an immersion event in Washington State
  • Teaching (zoom and in person!)
  • Releasing some exciting new things here on the website! (Yes, older boy stuff. FINALLY. I know. It’s been coming forever. And you still have to wait. But I’m getting CLOSE. And some new Compendium things. And more things for infants and girls for the 1840s & 1850s… I am stinking busy!!)

Stay tuned, and let me know how I can help you meet your own goals!

Heading Toward Autumn

… Even though it’s still in the 90s here in the Rocky Mountains, I’m determined that we’re nearly to Autumn, my favorite season of the year!

There is still time to get in on the August 28 Zoom workshop, Playing Dress-up. You can request your seat by clicking through the digital workshop page. Everyone who registers will get the live session, a PDF resource packet, and a replay link after the session.

We’ll have new options in September, and I’m teaching on-line workshops for a few other organizations later this fall, as well.

I’ve been shifting some projects around; I know folks are needing some good options for older boys, and outerwear for children, so keep an eye out here for some cool additions you can purchase for digital download, as well as some updates to the Compendium. I’ve been patterning the sweetest infant dress as well, and am looking forward to releasing that this fall. I’m also ramping up to some video tutorials (I KNOW. Growth and change are possible, even for the exceedingly vain!) on mid-century sewing techniques you’ll appreciate having in your bag of tricks.

In short: WHOO. BUSY DAYS. Keep your eye out here, and on Facebook, to see what’s up!

August Zoom Workshops with The Sewing Academy

We have some fresh topics and dates for August, as well as replay options for those who missed sessions earlier this year! Click through to see everything, and sign up for the workshops that suit your needs. (Please remember, each workshop registration spot is for an individual participant.)

If you have a scheduling conflict, no worries! Each session is recorded and a link sent out for post-session viewing, so you won’t miss a thing.

Click Through to register today! We have limited spots for each session. Registrations will switch from Livestream to Replay option 24 hours before each session begins.

Simply submit the contact form, and you’ll receive an email link to a customized, secure e-invoice through PayPal that you can complete with your PayPal account or any debit/credit card you prefer!

July 2021 Zoom Workshops Now Open

I’m delighted to finally schedule and open a set of workshops… click through and reserve your seat in one, two, three, or all four, and join me live, or with the post-presentation viewing link! Dressing children, exploring the used clothing trades and domestic living arrangements, and the expansion of the publishing world in the mid-century… this is some fun stuff to add rich context to your living history exploits!

CLICK THROUGH FOR DETAILS AND REGISTRATION

Creating a Citizen Space: Writing Guidelines

Having a written guideline for a group, site, or event eliminates a whole host of problems right off the top, by clarifying expectations, and setting out a reasonable baseline for all to meet.

However, it’s also very easy to get bulky, bloated, or overly negative with those guidelines, and that’s when we start to do a few different things:

1: Lose people to the sheer bulk of the demands

2: Lose people to feeling overwhelmed at the negative language

3: See people getting creative about loopholes to let them stick with the stagnant “I’ve got X”, versus challenging themselves to acquire targeted upgrades in material possessions and internal knowledge.

So here’s a short set of guidelines on how to write a set of guidelines!

Keep It Positive

Skip the laundry list of all the bad stuff you’ve seen in the past. Instead, give a short list of what you do want to see, including useful resources to meet that baseline.

For example:

Our women’s roles are largely working class, and call for hardworking textiles, minimal trim (if any), and very functional systems. Women will need white cotton chemise, drawers, and petticoats; a neutral all-cotton corset; a print-approved cotton one-piece dress, or lightweight wool dress; sunbonnet (for outdoor work) and accessories. Here is a list of pre-approved pattern resources; please contact Mrs Fiberson for pre-approval of your textiles prior to any purchases, and for a current list of footwear resources. We hold sewing group days on the third Wednesday of each month, in the site classroom.

This short, positive paragraph is a lot less daunting than a full page of YOU MAY NOT edicts.

Keep It Succinct: 5W, 1H

If you can’t lay out the goal of the guide by filling in the blanks here, you’ve not thought about and refined it enough. Keep working until you can be really brief, answering the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How (not necessarily in that order).

Here at [Where: Insert Site/Event Name] we focus on sharing [Who: Insert Role Overview] for [When: Insert Date Range] in [Where: Insert Historical Place].

[What & Why:] We use accurate clothing as a tool to convey a sense of time travel and historic context for our visitors.

[How:] Use this guide as a base for your wardrobe, and plan to work closely with [How: Insert Staff Mentor Contact].

If you can’t get your goal into these three sentences yet, keep refining until you can.

As an example, my girls and I volunteer at a local historical park. Writing guidelines for clothing at our site, I’d have this as our goal statement and introduction:

Here at North Bingham County Historical Park, we focus on sharing regional history from 1820 through 1940, with a special emphasis on the mid-19th century in Oregon Country, Old Oregon Territory, and Idaho Territory.

You may wear modern clothing with site insignia, or historical clothing. Those who desire to wear historical clothing use it as a tool to convey a sense of time travel and historic context for our visitors.

This guide will get you started with appropriate historical roles and clothing choices; you’ll be paired with a staff mentor to help you complete your wardrobe.

Short, sweet, positive.

Keep It Focused

Many times, we need to share specific information with specific groups. If there is generally applicable information, put it in general notes (which should not be more than one page, combined with the intro above!) One additional page for a specific role, including any very specific clothing resources applicable to that role, should suffice. If you can’t get it down to less than one page at normal type faces, keep refining and focusing!

Keep It Positive (Yes, Really.)

People are much more encouraged, and less likely to be overwhelmed, when you give them the Shoulds, versus the Shouldn’ts. There’s always a way to address oddball Shouldn’ts individually, if they arise.

Sample Inclusions for a Guide

  • Intro and Goal: one-half page
  • Detailed Historical Context: one-half to one page maximum, including group mentor contacts
  • General Clothing/Role Notes: one page maximum including general recommended resources list
  • Men’s Clothing Summary: one page including recommended resource list
  • Women’s Clothing Summary: one page including recommended resource list
  • Children’s Clothing Summary: one page including recommended resource list
  • Specialized Roles Notes: no more than one page per specialized role
  • Applicable Reading Lists for various roles: one to two pages

Overall, a guide could be as short as 6 pages and contain everything needful for a newbie to get going, or an oldbie to upgrade their items and knowledge.

Getting Specific

When it comes to discussing specific garments, follow the same process:

Item: Generally accepted textiles and features; reiteration of textiles approvals; approved pattern list (only list good ones). Any notes on limitations or specific needs for a specific garment–will this be useful at all interpretive stations, or for specific stations?

Example:

Petticoats: 1 or 2, full-gathered (140″ to 170″ circumference) white cotton petticoats, fitted waistband, hemmed to about the ankle. Good cotton is currently found at FabricUniverse and BigMart; plan 4.5 to 5 yards per petticoat. Free project sheet available in the Compendium at thesewingacademy.com. Your petticoats can be used for every interpretive station.

If you’re a multi-era event or site, it’s easy to add a short bullet list of how the specific garment morphs over time, such as specifying any significant changes in petticoat circumference, or whether or not hoops are typical for a particular role/station.

Streamline

As often as possible, streamline your information. Evaluate your materials periodically, to make sure you’ve got it refined and focused, and don’t need to add resources or shift recommendations (not all vendors maintain appropriate standards over time, and new vendors may emerge that meet your needs better, for instance.)

Is information too wordy? Can you create an online set of visual references (such as a Pinterest board), or point people to your site’s reference library? Are you recommending patterns with good instructions, and thus don’t need to reiterate techniques or illustrations in your standards packet? Have you fallen into a pit of “No No No”? Do you need to rewrite for a positive, accuracy-focused feeling?

It’s worthwhile to do the effort. When staff and volunteers are confident their clothing meets a high standard for historical accuracy, specific to the event or site interpretive focus, they can relax into the educational concepts and connections, as their clothing becomes a visual tool they don’t have to think about.

If you are needing to reform or upgrade existing staff/volunteer gear, it’s easiest to follow a streamlined, positive process there, too.

  1. Make sure you have support from the Powers That Be; without admin and budget support, making positive changes is nearly impossible.
  2. Make sure you have the positive base guidelines well-thought out, written, and shareable.
  3. Make sure there is a valid two-option system: Volunteers may do all interpretive demonstrations in modern clothing with This Type Of Site Logo/Insignia to mark them as staff; OR, if volunteers wish to dress historically, this is the base guideline to do that. Both should be encouraged. Having the dual system gives ultimate flexibility and inclusion while maintaining high accuracy standards.
  4. Work in individual mentoring sessions to get a list of needed upgrades. Taking the attitude of “your skills and knowledge are valuable, and we want to invest in upgrades to get your gear to the level of awesome you deserve,” tends to take any fuss out of the process… and they also have the option to go Full Modern, without any issues at all, if the process of accurate historical upgrades takes a bit, or they don’t want to wear the historical system after all. Create a list of priorities, in order of functional and visual impact, so there’s a clear path of progress.

I’ll upload some samples from history-heavy events that I’ve helped with as distance mentor for clothing (in the next few weeks, as we’re in our busiest season here!) One of my favorite stories about accuracy guidelines comes out of a discussion forum where people spent a lot of time bashing “hardcores” who set “unattainable standards” that were “exclusionary and classist”. I offered to share some common-sense guidelines… and when those were published, they were met with exclamations of “Finally, sensible stuff! Anyone can do this!” and “At last–something newbies and working class people can actually do without breaking the bank. This is really accessible, thanks!”… and then I shared that those were the guidelines I wrote for Awesome Hardcore History Heavy Citizen Event, actually–and yep, they were entirely accessible to all who wanted to have great clothing and then get on with the fun of sharing history with people.

Standards are a good thing. Well-done standards are positive, supportive, accessible, and encouraging!

Does Living History Matter?

A young friend sent me a message recently, posing a question they have been exploring, interested in my take on it.

Since I’m very rarely without an opinion on things, I was delighted to answer.

And maybe you’d like to hear my opinion on it, too. Grab a warm beverage… this is not short.

Is what I do (living history and living history education via interpretive design and material/internal culture recreation) important to the world? And, what do I get out of it, personally? Does living history matter?

Me with two of my favorite Dress-Up friends, perpetrating shenanigans in the Chaperone’s Corner.

Why is what I do important to the world? That is an excellent question, and I’d counter with another one: does it matter if it does or does not matter to the world? I mean, I’m not curing cancer. In the grand scheme of human survival, what I do in living history could entirely be described as superfluous.

I play dress-up and tell stories.
I do it because I think telling stories is vital to the survival of the human soul, and dressing up is one of the tools I use to bring those stories to life in a different way, using different neural pathways for myself and my audience, than more typical cultural and knowledge transmission avenues.
I’ve always been drawn to stories told visually, verbally, musically, physically. Art, literature, dance, music, story-telling, poetry: those are my groove. I find poetry in science, art in geology… I’m what you’d call an omnivorous learner, an auto-didact with aspirations of the polymath state. Curiosity drives me, pretty much always. I’m never bored.
 

Me, the lanky blonde one in the middle, with a group of lovely weirdos after our wrap-up dig presentation.

When I was 12, I was part of a GATE program (Gifted and Talented Education–we were weirdo guinea pigs for scientists of average intelligence in the mid-1980s. It was… well, we were experimental, and I survived it. Mostly intact.) One of our opportunities was to go on field archaeology digs under the supervision of a really phenomenal archaeologist from Eastern Oregon State University, Dr Jaehnig. Little bitty German/Austrian fellow, with a tall Swedish wife/field tech. I was the youngest of all the students by a full year by virtue of starting school early (which fact doesn’t really matter to the story, but does inform how shy and generally scared I was at the time).

 
One day on the dig, someone found a stone pestle in their pit. Dr J helped them record the find, then brought us all together and had us pass it hand to hand, feeling the balance of it, weight of it, etc. Plenty of teenage gripes ensued: how miserable to use a stone tool, what a lot of work it would be, the lumps were wrong, etc. We were bright kids, but still teenagers, after all.
 
Then it came to me.
 
I held it in my hand, and the grooves worn into the stone fit my fingers perfectly. The balance was just right–effortless to move in a circle, no extra weight anywhere. I gave it a few turns and said, “Oh, yeah, I could use this!”
 
Dr J shouted, “STOP.”
 
I froze.
 
Dr J said, “COME HERE.”
 
I did so, right up in front of the group.
He took the pestle from me and said, “Put up your hand, please.”
 
I did, stretching it up above my head.
 
He got very solemn and stern. He took my wrist and moved my arm to display my open palm across the semi-circle of kids.
 
“800 years ago, in this village, lived a woman with THESE bones, and THIS flesh.”
 
My bones.
 
My flesh.
 
Similar enough to a woman I would never meet that we could trade tools with ease, and share work seamlessly.
 
My bones, my flesh–we had walked the earth before. This was proof, in my hand and in my hands.
 
The time stream collapsed, for a breathtaking moment that still bring tears and joy to me.
 
I went home an entirely different person than I arrived on the site that morning.
 
AND THAT MATTERS.
 

Me, right in the middle of a literal time stream… (image by CC Davis)

When I engage in living history, I’m doing so having put in the work to set environments and experiences that increase the chances another human being will have that moment: when the timestream collapses, and they are THERE. They are history. They have a human connection with someone they have never seen. They share emotions, and physicality, and dreams, and experiences, and flavors, and scents with people from an era far before their own. They recognize the past as Full of People… people who become THEIRS, their family. Forever. And it changes them.

 
That human connection to the stories of the past unites us into one shared family history–the family of man, the history of our world, with all its warts and joyful moments combined. When we can see ourselves in the stories of the past, really connect to them and understand them in a visceral way, we are more able to then connect to the modern people around us, to inhabit others’ stories in compassionate and profound ways.
 
Every single living history interaction, even the unspoken ones, has the potential to spark something in another human soul, and they go home a different person than they arrived. Forever.
 
Humans are made to connect. We crave it. Without it, we wither and grow cruel and lose our spark. We are made to share stories. We are made to create. Finding connections to our shared human past lets us tap into deep memory, and all the multitude of human pursuits.
 
The history site where we volunteer, and where I help design the interpretive experiences, has a theme of “Historic Roots, Modern Fruit”–because we’re not about history static and disconnected: we’re focused on how connecting to our historic roots can help us yield beautiful and nourishing fruit in modern life.
 
When I teach others how to research and recreate material culture from the past, or how to evaluate and experience internal/societal culture for themselves to share with others, I’m really trying to show them how to hold a stone pestle in their hands, and feel the echoes of their historic family in their bones, and in their flesh. I want them to have those moments, because I know what they mean to me, and how they change me for the better.
 
What I do, when measured by monetary rulers or political power brokers, is absolutely nothing of importance, or even worth.
 
But I don’t work by their measurements or value structure.
 
I’m working for the 12yo kid with a stone pestle in her hands, with tears in her eyes and goosepimples over her whole body, recognizing that her flesh and bones have inhabited this world eight centuries before she came to it.
 
I’m working for the 11yo emigrant kid who doesn’t yet speak English, but lights up when the translator shares my stories with him, and he sees that we are all emigrants, and he has an important place in our shared family story.
 
I’m working for the kid whose eyes light up when we talk about what choices we make when we start a new life in a new place, or why some choices are harder than others, or how sometimes, things don’t work out the way we planned… and this is how our family in the past handled that, and survived it, and we can, too.
 
I’m working for the mom whose heart leaps to see her child engaging with someone outside of mandatory therapists, because we arrange things for safe sensory exploration in a living history setting, and they can create their own unique connection to the past.
 
I’m working for the grandparents who don’t quite know how to share their history with their family, or a sense that no one cares about their story, or that they didn’t really do anything important in their life–but go home with all sorts of tools to help make those connections more easily, and a sense of re-evaluating their own life experiences as worth something.
 
I’m working to connect generations who have never met–because the past is not really past! We are downstream–we are ripples, we are waterfalls, we are diverging streams and merging whitewater cataracts, we are endless waves on unseen shores–but we are all the same waters, and the more we FEEL that reality, the better we can build the world for everyone.
 
So: yep, I get a wee bitty something from living history. It’s been my gig for  35 years so far. Three quarters of my life so far.
 
I do it because I feel the connections are that important. I think other people should do it, too. We need connection.
 
In the end, I do think it’s important to the world, even if the world doesn’t know it.
 
But in the very very end, whether or not the world thinks it is objectively important doesn’t actually matter at all.
Because it matters to that 12yo girl standing, filthy, in the middle of an archaeological dig site, her hand in the air and the waves of history crashing through her soul.

Zoom Codes Heading Out Tonight–Mar 8

Thanks to all who have registered! We’re going to have a great time Saturday morning. I’ll be sending out Zoom codes tonight, so check your inbox in the morning!

(There’ve been enough requests that we’ll repeat this session on a weekday evening soon, as well as adding a few more fun sessions!)

Zoom Workshop with Elizabeth Stewart Clark

Hi friends! Saturday 13 March, I’ll be doing a Zoom live workshop on clothing for interpretive goals. Whether you’re a museum professional, a volunteer at a historic house, or a living history hobbyist, this will be a fun session to get you thinking on all the ways you can use your clothing options as tools to share your story.

Registration is live now! Click through to learn more!

In Praise of Tidying Up

It will likely shock a goodly portion of the readership to learn that I do not, in fact, have a sewing room or studio, and haven’t had for about 15 years. I have a storage area for all of my supplies, and I work portably around our home according to my space needs and the needs of the family (we homeschool this way as well).

(We do have plots in perpetration mode for finishing out the back half of the garage as a studio for me, but that’s a 2021-22 thing.)

My storage spaces were spread out through our “Dungeon”–a partial basement area of our cottage–and that arrangement was making me more and more annoyed daily for the last few months. That sparked, as it is wont to do, Liz Tidy-Up Mode, in which I spent one afternoon and regrouped everything I own, pulling items for donation, sorting tools and supplies into coherent categories, condensing storage, and taking stock in advance of a fresh start for a new year.

If something with extra legs bites me, it’s my own fault. Good gravy, chaos.

Chaos Understair: Can’t find anything without 30 minutes of restacking and peering and generalized Unpleasant Mutterings.

Stuff spread across the whole basement and house.

All my own doing, but with some assorted help from other family members who need to borrow bits now and then.

Fabrics all amok and askew.

Personal wardrobe mixed with family wardrobe.

Accessories strewn flagrantly.

Current and outgrown family wardrobe tossed thither and yon.

 

 

Note Water Tumbler: Hydration is Important!

Understair After:

Three bins of family wardrobe, outgrown items removed.

One bin of items for the history site; one bin of works in progress.

One of cotton prints; two of wools, plus a few silks; one of doll cuts; three of doll bits and bodies.

Room for two machines. Nothing on the floor. Two layers deep, but not three.

Three bins of fabric culled for donation. Supplies and tools all sorted and untangled.

And, shocker: CREATIVITY RESTORED.

 

 

It’s not a given that creatives dwell in chaos. A great many of us thrive when we have tidy, organized spaces to work with (if not IN, in my case… being portable as I am.)

As we round out the year, are you feeling overwhelmed by your supplies or stash? May I encourage you to consider a good de-stash and tidy up?

1: Gather your hoard from all corners of your dwelling.

2: Sort according to type and use.

3: Consider what you want to carry forward with you; release the rest with gratitude and blessing.

4: Sort it out and see if you need to update your storage options; I freed up a half-dozen storage bins and put it all back into fewer containers, without crammage, and was joyful.

5: Keep a list handy for the creative ideas that will inevitably smack your brain pan in the middle of all of this.

6: Rejoice in the wrapping up of projects, the start of new, and all the possibilities that exist in this wonderful world!

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About The Sewing Academy
With a focus on the 1840-1865 era, The Sewing Academy is your home on the (internet) range for resources to help you meet your living history goals!

Elizabeth Stewart Clark has been absorbed by the mid-19th century for over 20 years. She makes her home in the Rocky Mountains with her husband, four children (from wee to not-so-wee), far too many musical instruments, and five amusing hens.

Email Elizabeth Or call 208-523-3673 (10am to 8pm Mountain time zone, Monday through Saturday)
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