My Lil Bit Gets Costumed!

I've made a to do list for my 'lil bit' as well! 

Whether I get to them all who knows...

I do have to say that patterns for infants/toddlers (other than animals & flowers) is rather limited. 

That being said this necessitates that my patterns be self made and or from larger adult patterns I've worked with and have been able to scale down.

So to prepare I've been doing a lot of searching on Pinterest and created a board called Children's Historical Garb

And this is My 'Lil Bit's' Costume To Do List:

• Late Victorian jacket (possibly a matching dress)
  
  

  

  I have several options for black trim but they are packed away! I'll provide an update soon! Gotta work out a pattern...

  
  

  
  

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  Augusta Auctions 1810's Regency Dress

  
  

Such cute inspiration dresses! 

I picked up the above 100% Cotton Prints from Walmart for $2 dollars a yard!!! 

$4 bucks for each of her little dresses! 

Can't beat those prices.. 

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As a side point I've also have seen some of the most adorable child's boots ever! 

I don't know if it will be possible to make but these boots are Precious!!

Maybe if I find the leather and a website on shoe making....?

We shall see!

Ta ta till later ....

A 'Lil Red Riding Hood' for 'Lil Bit'

So, after completing a Ladies Jacket and Anglaise Gown for myself I had some yardage left over. 

What to do! 

Make 'lil bit' a outfit!!!! 

So I started searching the MET, Pinterest and one of my Colonial Williamsburg books. 

And I found these pictures...

Embroidered Linen Dress 18th C. Front

Back of Embroidered Linen Dress

 

Glazed Cotton Dress 18th C. 

 After finagling the remaining pieces of fabric I was able to work out the shape needed. 

What pattern did I use??? 

Why my 'Lil Bit', of course!!! When she woke up this morning after hugs, kisses, and some juice to start her day; she gladly obliged to my request to lay down on mommy's fabric. I simply traced her body out making sure to keep her arms straight out. 

From studying and enlarging the pictures researched, several things became apparent; 1) there were no front princess or waist seams, 2) the sleeves were not separate pieces, 3) there were only side seams, a somewhat pleated side and back at the waist area. 

Unfortunately,  I did not have enough fabric to make all the pleats in the skirt so I simplified my dress. I cut the back a tad too wide and made a box pleat at the top neck and ended it about waist length.

I rolled the neck hem and slip stitched it down.
The front and hem are folded twice and slip stitched as well. I wanted to be able to simply un-hem the front or hem to add extra width/length if she needed it.

On the extant dress and the descriptions provided with them, no obvious closures are discussed. Since I do want to be able to let out the gown I don't want anything to permanent and I didn't want to use pins. (Too dangerous for a toddler). So I will probably be adding some type of threaded loops with ribbon to laced down and close it at center front. 

With the dress 90% done I couldn't leave her with out her outerwear!

So I quickly cut a cape out of some red wool remnants.

Again, fabric was limited so the front panels are a little skinny.

The hood is lined with some white taffeta I found in my scrap bin.

The casing for the ribbon ties is bias tape, which has been stitched to the top inside selvage edge and slip stitched down.

I also used bias tape to hem the bottom. 

Here's a picture of 'lil bit' running away cause she didn't want to try on the cape.....

She's quick!! 

Hopefully, I can find some linen in my stash to make a bonnet and a petticoat or chemise to go with the outfit. 

Then we can take a picture of it all together!!

Colonial America for The First Africans

Colonial America

 

Some of my earliest memories in social studies or American history class are about the 13 colonies and the several major Native American Indian tribes located in the areas colonized by the newly arriving European settlers. One of the major and only African American names mentioned is Phillis Wheatley. Born in 1753, Phillis was a young Senegalese girl of 7 or 8 when she was kidnapped and shipped to the colonies; she was eventually sold to the Wheatley family in Boston. Purchased to be a companion or slave to Susanna the wife of John Wheatley, Phillis was given various opportunities that were not offered to many of her counterparts. Phillis apparently suffered from ailments (which kept her mistress Susanna from training her as a house servant) and prompted Susanna to teach Phillis reading, writing, theology, Greek and Latin. 

Phillis eventually published her first and only book of poems and was able to travel to England to promote them. Unfortunately, soon after her return to the colonies both Susanna and John died. Phillis was given her freedom upon John's death in 1778 and eventually married a freed black man. Tragically all three children they would have died in infancy and her husband spent time in prison for debt. Phillis would later take a job as a maid and eventually die herself in 1784 at the seemingly tender age of 31. 

 
Phillis Wheatley Monument in Boston 

Phillis obviously seems to be an exception to the rule (for not only black Americans of the time but also women) but many people do not know that most early Africans transported to the colonies arrived as indentured servants not slaves. In 1619 the first black Africans came to Virginia. With no slave laws in place, they were initially treated as indentured servants, and given the same opportunities for freedom dues as whites. "However, slave laws were soon passed – in Massachusetts in 1641 and Virginia in 1661 –and any small freedoms that might have existed for blacks were taken away. As demands for labor grew, so did the cost of indentured servants. Many landowners also felt threatened by newly freed servants demand for land." Phillis's abduction in 1753 coincided with the turn in ideology and treatment of Africans in the colonies. 

Still, freed blacks did live in the colonies and although they wouldn't have had the gorgeous robe a la francaise or anglaise we adore and see in museums across the world, a short jacket or a  caraco (passed down or of a plain fabric) would have been worn (made of linens or possibly cotton) as cotton production was getting under way in the south. 

Some Examples of Ladies  Jackets:

Pattern Used: J.P. Ryan

A Fine Collection of
Ladies' Jackets
for Undress Wear

This very special J. P. Ryan pattern contains 10 pattern pieces which may be combined to create an entire wardrobe of 18th century jackets.  Four views are given, each for a different time period.    Because all the pattern pieces, i.e. sleeves, cuffs, backs and front, were designed to fit together, you may create additional styles, based on your own personal research.

 

My work in progress: 

I still need to create a hem for the fichu and a cap for my hair. 
Items still on my to-do list.

Which reminds me I need to post my Costume To-Do List for 2014 and possibly The Historical Fortnightly Sew Along Details. 

Till Later.. ta ta!  

Source Material

Phillis Wheatley. [Internet]. 2014. The Biography Channel website. Available from:http://www.biography.com/people/phillis-wheatley-9528784 [Accessed 08 Feb 2014].

www.pbs.org