18cNewEnglandLife
Clothing & Accoutrements

I'm short on... time, money, skill
by Sue Felshin

So what do you do if you don't have enough time, money, and/or skill to spend hours in dusty libraries doing research, fly to museums around the world and examine artifacts, and hand-sew a complete outfit of pure linen and wool?

General Advice
1. Pick Your Battles
If you can't do everything well, concentrate on what is most visible, which is your head (hat and/or cap, glasses, hair, makeup), your torso (coat, smock, jacket, gown, etc.; neckcloth or handkerchief), and obvious accessories (bags, baskets, canteens).
If your budget is limited, spend it on cloth. Shiny shoe buckles and a fancy trimmed hat can't cover up for cheap modern broadcloth. Cotton is authentic to the 18th century, but most modern cotton is horribly inauthentic while most modern linen is quite authentic; it's harder to make a mistake when buying linen. Wool is cheaper than linen, and quite a lot of it is reasonably authentic. A decent wool smock will cover a multitude of ills: carelessly sewn , cheap cotton shirt and breeches, bad buttons, and more. Another nice thing about wool is that it tears, which makes a straight division faster than cutting, and if it's tightly woven enough, you won't have to finish the torn edge, which saves a lot of time. (To tear wool, cut a one-inch slit to start the tear, grab the edges, and rip.)

2. Abandon Vanity
Even though cotton and linen have switched which is more expensive since the 18th century, poor people's clothing is still cheaper to make or buy. Use ties instead of buckles on your shoes and breeches. Use cloth-covered buttons instead of fancy metal, bone, or wood. The world's cheapest button form is a penny, but if you don't have the time or know-how to cover your own button forms, buy the snap-together kind in a cloth store or five-and-ten; they're not perfect, but they'll do. Avoid all lace and trim; you'll save money and you won't have to worry about authenticity.

3. Hide the Bad Stuff
Or draw attention away from it. Use farmer's gaiters to hide modern shoes. If you can't have proper buttons, use snap-together, cloth-covered buttons of the same color as the garment so they're less noticeable. Use dark, dull colors for garmentshat are made from improper cloth or that aren't properly fitted, and use lighter or brighter colors for your better garments. If you're machine-sewing everything, even hems, then match the thread color to the fabric where the stitching will be visible.

4. All or Nothing
If you can't do a proper job on two articles of clothing, do one right and do the other as cheaply or quickly as possible. Then when you find some more time or money, you can replace the bad item and still use the other item. If you do a half-assed job on both, you'll have to replace them both. And as long as you pick your battles wisely, you'll look better with half your clothes right than with your clothes half right.

Quickest, Cheapest Clothing for Battle Road
While we hope that as many people as possible will obtain civilian coats, jackets or gowns and reproduction shoes for the Battle Road event, we understand that this simply isn't possible for everyone. This section tells you the quickest, cheapest way to adapt your existing 18th century gear for the Battle Road event. For men, replace your rifle shirt or cover your sleeveless waistcoat with a smock, put gaiters over modern shoes, tie a neckcloth round the neck, and don a farmer's floppy hat or workman's cloth cap to top it off. Your resulting impression will be of a not-very-well-to-do farmer or laborer, so the rest of your outfit should suit it (leave those silk breeches at home). For women, replace your sleeveless bodice with a plain shortgown or bed gown, change your too-narrow or modern-print petticoat with a wide, plain one, exchange your eyelet apron for plain fabric or a small check or stripe, lower your high-necked shift and fill in with a handkerchief instead, and top it off with a simple plain cap with a front band and shaped back, instead of a "mobcap"; to keep warm, replace that Kinsale cloak with a blanket or a length of thick wool.

Men
Long-sleeved Outer Garment
If all you have is a "hunting shirt" (the caped, fringed thing) or sleeveless waistcoat, you will need to obtain a long-sleeved outer garment which is appropriate to Eastern Massachusetts in April, 1775. Coats of all sorts were more common, but the simplest garment is a smock. This is exactly like an 18th century shirt, but cut larger and of heavier fabric such as medium to heavyweight linen, wool, or cotton [link to fabric resources page]. Make sure it is cut large enough to fit over your regular shirt, and over your waistcoat or jacket if you plan to wear one; add an inch or two to the length of the sleeves, a couple of inches or more to the breadth of the sleeves, and several inches to the breadth of the body; the body should reach to about knee-level. The smock was worn by farmers, wagoner's, and other laborers.

Farmer's Half Gaiters over Modern Shoes
You can hide modern black or brown leather shoes with farmer's half gaiters. Military gaiters were not worn by civilians in that era, unless any were leftover from earlier wars. Farmer's half gaiters are so easy to make that you don't even have to sew. Get some cloth, preferably dark-colored medium to heavy-weight wool, but cotton or linen canvas will do. Cut a rectangle of cloth long enough to reach from the floor to around halfway up your calf, and wide enough to wrap around your leg and overlap two to four inches. Wrap it around your leg with the overlap to the outside of your leg. Don't worry about a tight fit; it's not important for farmer's gaiters. Cut a slit in the cloth over the center of your foot where the fabric hits your foot and bunches up. Now instead of bunching up, your foot will stick up through the slit and the fabric will fall to the sides. Lay a piece of paper over your foot. Trace the edges of the slit and draw a curve connecting the ends of the slit that covers the modern laces on your shoe. You should end up with a sort of a pie-slice shape. You can unwrap the cloth now. Use your tracing to cut a piece of fabric. Sew it into the slit in the main piece, or if you can't sew, use safety pins or even staples; it'll work for a weekend. Make another gaiter for your other leg in the same manner. To fasten the gaiters, add a few buttons and holes (preferably six or eight, but at least three) or two or more pairs of ties (the no-sew way is to use safety pins from the inside), so that the gaiters fasten with the front edge lapped over the back edge.

Neck cloth
Take a piece of lightweight cloth; plain, striped, or in a small check; 30 inches to a yard long and a few inches wide. Wrap it around your neck, with your shirt or smock collar folded back down over it if the collar is wide enough. Wrap it as many times as you please and tuck the ends front or back or knot them in front in any fashion you please.

Hat/cap
A civilian hat is the quickest to make: just buy a felt hat form (18th century style, not Civil War or other; get it from an 18C. merchant for reenactors) and trim off the stretch marks along the edge of the brim.
A workman's cap is the cheapest to make: Take medium weight cloth and cut four eye-shaped pieces. Each should be wide enough at the middle to go a quarter of the way around your head (plus a 1/2 inch seam allowance at each side). Each should be long enough to go from wherever you want the edge of the cap to the top of your head, plus one inch for the brim, plus twice that whole amount so you have both inside and lining. If you have a baseball cap, you can use that as a guide, but a workmans's cap should sit a little looser on your head -- it should sit a little lower and stick up a little higher -- so the pieces should be a bit longer. Sew them together into a football shape, leaving one seam open for a couple of inches. Turn the cap right side out through the gap and sew the gap closed. Make one end of the "football" into the lining by pushing that end up into the other. Fold up an inch of the edge for a brim and stick it on your head. The simplest way to find out how to curve the pieces is to cut rectangles at first, pin them together, stick them on your head, move the pins in until you like the fit, and then cut a little outside of the pins (for the seam allowance).

Women
Long-sleeved Outer Garment
Shortgown
A shortgown is just a T-shirt shape, cut wide enough to fit easily, and with sleeves that come a little past the elbow. Use a plain (unpatterned) fabric so you don't have to worry about whether the pattern is authentic. Cut a very slight scoop at the back neck and a deep scoop at the front. Split the front down the center. Sew the shoulder seams and underarm/side seams -- if you like, you can insert gussets at the hips for extra fullness. If you use tightly-woven wool, you won't have to finish any of the edges; otherwise hem them all with narrow hems. To close the shortgown, overlap and pin it. Safety pins of all types and sizes are inauthentic, as are Celtic penannular brooches, so either use straight pins or thorns, or pin your safety pins from the inside so they don't show much. There are other ways to close a shortgown, but they are more complicated. [&&& Insert link to pattern here.]

Bedgown
A bed gown is made all of rectangles, so it's easy to cut. It's unfitted, so you don't have to be too careful about how you measure; just err on the large size. Use tightly woven wool, for warmth, and you won't have to finish the hems. Or use any plain (unpatterned) wool or linen or cotton (but not cotton broadcloth). [&&& Insert link to pattern here.] Hold it closed with an apron

Apron
The simplest apron is a rectangle with a casing at the top. Lightweight wool in a dark color is very authentic -- wool is the most fire-resistant natural fiber, and dark colors don't show dirt. Linen and cotton are also authentic. Use a plain (unpatterned) fabric so you don't have to worry about what patterns are authentic. Narrow stripes and small, regular, two-color checks are also safe. Don't use eyelet, which is a 19th century invention, and avoid cotton broadcloth, which somehow never looks quite right. For the tape to run through the casing, use plain cotton tape (or linen if you can get it) and make it long enough to cross in back, come around again, and tie in front; that was the most common way to tie an apron. Look for cotton tape in the cording section of your local cloth store; not all have it but many do. Several 18th Century merchants carry cotton, linen, and wool tapes.

Petticoat
Make sure your top petticoat looks good and you won't have to worry about what's underneath it. If your fabric is fifty-four to sixty inches wide, then cut two lengths, one for the front and one for the back, and that will give you the proper fullness. Use any plain (unpatterned) linen, wool, or cotton (but not cotton broadcloth). Narrow hem the bottom. Wear a second petticoat under it, for fullness. If you haven't got a second petticoat, wear a modern skirt or two.

Hankerchief
Your shift should be cut low in front, and so should your bodice (except some bed gowns, riding habits, and jackets). To keep warm, and for modesty (if desired), fill in with a kerchief. Use a triangle of fabric, or a square folded into a triangle. For extra warmth, use wool; if you're allergic, consider layering a wool kerchief over linen or cotton. Use plain (unpatterned) fabric or a narrow check or small, regular, two-color check, to avoid authenticity issues; plain white was the most common fabric then.

Cap
The easiest cap has a front band that reaches from under one ear, over the top of the head, down to the bottom of the other ear. The rear piece is straight along the bottom and arched along the top. Make a casing along the bottom and run tape through it, and gather the top to the front band. Use plain white linen or cotton (not eyelet). Optionally, you can add a ruffle along the front (and bottoms if you like) of the front band. Use just one layer of fabric for all the pieces and either narrow hem them as needed or cut them along the selvedge edge of the fabric (if it has a good selvedge).

Shoes
If you can't get reproduction shoes, find black leather or suede modern lace-up ones and wear a petticoat that reaches all the way down to your ankles. For a little more authenticity, replace the modern shoelaces with black cotton or linen tape and only lace through two sets of holes. Black "granny boots" are also a fair compromise.

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