Dressing Sarah Livingston Alexander aka Lady Stirling

Portraying historical figures comes with a certain amount of responsibility.  I feel that we owe it to them to represent them as accurately as we possibly can.  This, of course, is much easier in some cases than in others.  There are those figures who leave behind letters, diaries, inventories and portraits which give us a historical record of what they owned and how they looked.  Then there are those who didn't leave behind that kind of evidence.  While I dislike using the word "speculate" when planing the garments a historical figure will wear, sometimes that's all I can do.  So what does one consider when planning to dress someone who leaves behind little or no clues?

First make a list of the following:

• Year you are portraying
• Age of the person
• Location of the historical event
• Background of the historical figure: place of birth and family information
• Ethnic influences
• Social class and wealth
• role the person played in the particular event
• types of textiles/materials available for the place/year/event
• Any other details that might affect the individual's clothing choices

After making your list, look for any primary documentation you can find on your person:  portraits, letters with descriptions, inventories, records of purchases or any other personal records.  If you come up empty, look for similar records from comparable individuals:  those of the same social class living in the same area at the same time.  Look for patterns among similar individuals to see what was commonly worn by a person who was the same age and social class in the same location. Look at ads to see what was sold in that area during that time.  Sometimes this is where we can only speculate but it's helpful to find out as much as you can.

I was tasked with portraying Sarah Livingston Alexander, also known as Lady Stirling, at the Valley Forge encampment which was in 1777-78.  Lady Stirling was approximately 56 years old at the time, making her the oldest of the officers' wives --most of the others being in their 20s.  Sarah Livingston was born in New York to a wealthy family that was politically well connected, one brother being the governor of New Jersey and one signing the DOI.  Her husband, William Alexander, was also from a wealthy New York family.  William, being of Scots decent, journeyed to England to claim his inherited title as Lord Stirling.  The Scottish courts and parliament recognized this title but the English did not.  William returned New York and claimed the title of Lord Stirling.  He was someone who loved to flaunt his wealth and social status, often living well beyond his means.  Not much is written about Lady Stirling but we do know that she had 2 daughters and that she and her younger daughter were clearly patriots but her older daughter had married a loyalist.  As a general's wife, Lady Stirling lived a very different existence than the women who served the army in the encampment.  First of all, she brought 2 servants with her to Valley Forge.  Secondly, she lived in a house as opposed to the encampment. 

The Stirling House at Valley Forge

What would a well to do woman in her 50's have worn?  I found one portrait of Sarah Livingston Alexander which was painted in the 1750s:

Her clothing is very typical of the 1750s.  It is obviously silk and her ruffles, neck handkerchief and cap are a sheer fabric.  I can't determine if the ruffle on her cap is lace or if it is simply a fine organdy or a silk gauze.  Her outfit and accessories are actually fairly simply styled but very elegant.

My first task was to make a new cap.  Lappet caps are always appropriate for older women so I decided to copy the one in the portrait as my connection to Lady Stirling--plus it is a suitable style for the 1770s for a woman of her age and station.  This cap obviously has a smaller band and a bigger ruffle than my linen lappet cap does.  It sits back on the head, almost behind the ears, and it has a blue silk ribbon tie.  I fudged a band shape from the Mill Farm cap pattern--making it 2 inches longer than the pattern piece--and cut it out of Swedish tracing paper.  I matched that band up to a favorite smallish round eared cap that I have and decided to use the same caul piece I used for that cap.  I also cut the ruffle a half inch wider and 4 inches longer than that the pattern indicated.  The cap was cut of the finest, sheerest Swiss organdy I had in my stash. I stitched it all together without the ruffle so I could try it on--then I added the ruffle for a final fit.

It fit the way I liked so I stitched a blue silk ribbon on each side.  I had 1 1/2 inch wide satin ribbon so I took a pleat in each end to make it narrower where it was stitched on.  Cap is finished!

I had started a blue chintz sacque back day gown, hoping for Lady Stirling to wear that--knowing that often ladies of a certain age sometimes cling to their favorite fashions from a few years prior.  I simply couldn't get it done in time without making compromises I didn't want to make so I went to plan B. I have a 1770s silk day gown;  I have a 1760s chintz gown that is very middlin' and I have a mid 1770's gown that is a higher class chintz.  This particular fabric dates back to the early part of the century so I figured that could be a talking point--remaking an earlier gown into a more stylish one, a common practice of the time--particularly during war time.  I decided to make plain, sheer accessories--double sleeve flounces, an apron and a half handkerchief--to wear with the chintz gown.  Fortunately I had a couple of yards of super sheer voile from Renaissance Fabrics.  I thought the sheer apron wouldn't detract from the print of the gown.  I also added a simple string of garnet beads and smaller garnet and seed pearl earrings.

Lady Stirling's function at this event was to serve a proper tea to visiting dignitaries.

(photo by Betsy Jordan)

(photo by Betsy Jordan)

I was pleased with the way these new accessories completed the look I had chosen for Lady Stirling.  I've never been a fan of lappet caps but I really like this one as it fits the way I wanted it to fit.  I'm finding it interesting to consider the challenges of dressing "women of a certain age" and I'm starting to embrace it.  Next year Lady Stirling will have a chintz sacque day gown.  

1770 Middlin' Gown of Irish Stuff

I had the pleasure of participating in an 18th century immersion weekend this past weekend at Historic London Town.  The weekend was meant to show life at London Town in the year 1770.  The centerpiece of  London Town is the William Brown House which was a tavern in the 18th century.  Rooms in the tavern were used for some participants to sleep in and the main room was used to conduct ciphering classes and a needlework school.  There was a 2nd room in which tavern games were set up for the travelers.  Two indentured servants were at the tavern, keeping house and serving meals.  There are also 2 small wooden structures that were used.  The larger of the two, the carpenter's shop, was used for a fairly large group of tailors.  There is a 2nd room in the carpenter's shop that was used for an 18th century dance session, since one of the tailor's was also a fiddler.  The Lord Mayor's Tenement is a small wood house with open windows and a brick hearth.  There is a bed chamber off of the main room with the hearth.  Meals were cooked over the hearth.  Several of us were set up in the bed chamber sewing.  I portrayed Elizabeth Ferguson, an actual London Town resident.  Elizabeth was the wife of Alexander Ferguson who owned a booming tailor business from 1740 until his death in 1770.  The Fergusons also owned an ordinary in the town.  

Here is an ad from a 1767 Maryland Gazette for Alexander Ferguson's Tailor shop.  He is advertising that he has added a stay-making business.  While stays were worn by women, it was men who typically were stay-makers.  Stay making involved more than just sewing--bones for the stays had to be made from whalebone, wood or reed which was quite labor intensive.

Alexander Ferguson died in 1770.  His wife, Elizabeth, continued the stay-making business and she continued to run the ordinary.  Her son Andrew ran the tailoring business.

There seem to be no portraits of Elizabeth Ferguson so I had to use what information I could find to come up with an impression for her.  Her husband's inventory was quite extensive, showing that they were pretty well off.  They owned 6 properties.  Mr. Ferguson had a lot of fine fabric as part of his tailor business.  The Fergusons were older--at least in their 50's--and they were Scottish immigrants.  I picture them being practical, hard working people.  While Elizabeth could probably afford some finery--as a working woman, I picture her dressed in a simple wool gown made of a finer quality fabric.  I had 2 yards of this brown wool/silk Irish "stuff" (worsted) that I had bought to line a bedgown.  I pulled it out and decided it was just too nice to use for lining so I bought 2 more yards to make a basic stomacher gown.  I also bought the bright indigo worsted for a petticoat.

I went about making my usual stomacher gown pattern, making a reversible stomacher--one side being plain and one side having 3 horizontal strips.   I also made a 1760's cuff to give this gown an earlier style.

I wore the gown with a plain linsey woolsey neck handkerchief, a simple lappet cap and a finer linen apron accented with my pinball and watch.  This seemed to be fine enough, yet practical enough for someone like Elizabeth Ferguson to wear while working.

For Sunday church, I switched out the stomacher and dressed the gown up with tambour work accessories (apron and neck handkerchief), a round eared cap, and a nicer 2 inch wide silk ribbon on my cap and gown front.

I was really happy with this gown.  I like having a simple gown that is made out of really fine fabric.  The hand stitching shows up nicely on the pleats in back and it just gives a nice tailored look--fitting for an older woman, a tailor's widow.