"Charlstown is laid in ashes. The Battle began upon our intrenchments upon Bunkers Hill . . ."

The Death of General Warren at the Battle by John Trumbull

"Dearest Friend

The Day; perhaps the decisive Day is come on which the fate of America depends. My bursting Heart must find vent at my pen. I have just heard that our dear Friend Dr. Warren is no more but fell gloriously fighting for his Country -- saying better to die honourably in the field than ignominiously hang upon the Gallows. Great is our Loss. He has distinguished himself in every engagement, by his courage and fortitude, by animating the Soldiers and leading them on by his own example. A particuliar account of these dreadful, but I hope Glorious Days will be transmitted you, no doubt in the exactest manner.

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Trust in him at all times, ye people pour out your hearts before him. God is a refuge for us. -- Charlstown is laid in ashes. The Battle began upon our intrenchments upon Bunkers Hill, a Saturday morning about 3 o clock and has not ceased yet and tis now  [illegible]  3 o'clock Sabbeth afternoon.

Tis expected they will come out over the Neck to night, and a dreadful Battle must ensue. Almighty God cover the heads of our Country men, and be a shield to our Dear Friends. How [many have] fallen we know not -- the constant roar of the cannon is so  [illegible]  [distressing] that we can not Eat, Drink or Sleep. May we be supported and sustaind in the dreadful conflict. I shall tarry here till tis thought unsafe by my Friends, and then I have secured myself a retreat at your Brothers who has kindly offerd me part of his house. I cannot compose myself to write any further at present. I will add more as I hear further. . ."

(from a letter by Abigail Adams to John, June 18, 1775)

The 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill was held this past weekend at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester. I've always been interested in this event since my 4th gr grandfather fought in this battle.  I think many of us were curious as to how it would go not being in the original location but there simply is no room in Charlestown for such an event.  The park was perfect--on the water and with a large hill.  The planning was very impressive in terms of the faithful adherence to the tactical details and the different stages of the battle.  Of course there was no one left in Charlestown at the time and so many had left Boston.  A representation of civilians was planned and much of our interpretation was in talking about how our lives had changed between the events of April 1775 and this event.

I chose to portray Mrs. Mecom, milliner from Boston. 

I couldn't find much information about Mrs. Mecom other than this ad so I chose to represent her as a woman sympathetic to the cause of independence who would have chosen to leave Boston during the siege.   As such, Mrs. Mecom grabbed what she could carry from her shop in hopes of being able to make some money to support herself.   As is always the case, I needed to come up with some pieces of material culture so I made a milliner's trunk from a polka dotted pasteboard trunk I picked up on clearance at Michaels.  

Here is the finished trunk:

I used hand block printed Italian paper that was like the ones used in the 18th century to cover the box.  It had rope handles on the sides that I removed.  I added the brass handle on top.  It was added last with a thin wood strip on the inside of the lid for support.

The inside of the trunk was lined with pages from the Maryland Gazette printed on laid linen paper.  I chose the Oct. 10, 1765 edition as it was about the Stamp Act and it had a deaths head stamp which I like.

I like how it turned out.  The clasp isn't very secure and I suspect I may need to replace that.  I just have to figure out how to pry this one off because it is riveted on instead of screwed.

I also made a sign which I've been meaning to do for years.  I've operated under "The Sign of the Yellow Cat" for decades and use that when I portray various needle trades such as milliner, mantua maker or stay maker so I made a sign.

Last up, I wanted to make a summer linen gown that could be dressed up.  I have a great lower sort gown but I felt that a plain lightweight linen gown with a fine stripe and white ground would be perfect for the hot summer.  Such a gown can be worn with plain accessories for lower/middln' sorts and finer accessories for upper middlin'.

This gown is made from my folded robing English gown that I drafted some years ago.  I much prefer this style to one with loose robing strips.  It's extremely plain.  I found this gown to be incredibly comfortable.  It's about handkerchief linen weight.

Here are some photos from the event:

Millinery display

Visiting with friends

Working on a calash

On the run

I know I'll get a lot of use out of both projects.  The gown will be worn all summer as it's extremely comfortable.

2023 Historic/Vintage clothing year in review

Time to take stock in what I accomplished project wise.  I feel like there should be more but this is it (so far).

1.  Bonnet for a sample for my bonnet workshop.

2.  Another bonnet for a workshop sample.

3.  And a third bonnet sample!

4.  This bonnet was used to show construction during the workshop and made for the next outfit

5. Late 1770s French silk short sack and petticoat.  Details on this project here.

5.  Hat sample for class.

6. Another hat sample for class.

7.  Late 70s/early 80s French short sack and petticoat.  Details on this project here

8. 1950s/early 60s Barbie inspired dress.  Pattern for bodice and skirt from Gertie's Patreon.

9.  Another 1950s inspired outfit:  Picnic top and skirt from Gertie's Patreon

9. 1770s common linen work gown and petticoat.

10.  Upgrade--1780s silk ruffled petticoat for my Indienne Italian gown.  This dresses it up quite a bit over the ruffled linen petticoat that was made for it originally.

11.  Another 1950s inspired set.  Barbara bodice and Brooklyn jacket from Gertie's Patreon.  Vintage buttons and buckle.  Printed linen.

12.  1770s Chintz bedgown with checked linen sleeve lining.  Using remnants!

13.  Mid/late 1770s silk Sack inspired by the portrait of Ralph and Alice Izard by J.S. Copley.

14. Checked silk organza half handkerchief.

I started a black sack at the same time as the one above.  It's possible that I may finish it next week but I'm not gonna sweat it. I do need to get it done before starting something new however.  Now to plan next year's projects.  It's always fun to go back and see if I stuck to my original plan.  Usually I don't.  LOL

"Bonnets of all sorts very neat"

 The title of this post comes from an ad in the Pennsylvania Chronicle, July 3, 1769.  I've decided that I needed a few bonnets.  I have 2, one of which I made from a pattern.  This particular bonnet seems to be the style everyone makes with a half circular brim.   You can see it in the photo below.  This bonnet is made from green ribbed changeable taffeta.  It's the most common style and the most popular bonnet pattern is this style which is probably why everyone seems to have this style.

My other bonnet is one that I purchased from Kitty Calash.  This is an oversized bonnet--white silk taffeta with the brim lined in red silk.  I really love this one

I turned to Sue Felshin's Bonnet research.   If you haven't looked at Sue's research before, you really should.  She has comprehensive pages on Bonnets, short cloaks, caps, 18th century lace--just to name a few.

Bonnets have 2 parts:  a soft crown, or caul and a stiff brim.  There are a number of brim shapes frequently seen in period images.  Here are a few that I've been looking at:

Heyday! Is this my Daughter Anne! 1773

The pretty mantua maker 1772

Miss Tipapin Going for All Nine 1779

Edward Penny and a Sick Soldier 1765

Pot Fair Cambridge 1777

An Old Macaroni Miss-Led 1772

The Rival Milliners 1772

A Lady in Waiting--no date but looks to be around 1780.

The following 3 details are what I'm looking at copying:

Brim that wraps around face (without the creases in front) and a smallish caul.

Medium sized brim that has a curved bite out of the seam edge.  This takes away that visor look that my green bonnet has.  Medium caul.

Smaller brim with taller caul for late 70s tall hair.  I also like the one in the Miss Tipapin image above.

Colors:

I looked at a number of ads, a few of which I've included here.  Black and white were the colors most commonly listed.  There were also references to "bonnets of all colors."  I found crimson listed as a color in a number of ads and pink and blue listed in a few.   I wanted to make a crimson bonnet to wear with my block print 60s gown and a black bonnet for the late 70s so I chose brown as the third color since I had a nice remnant of some brown taffeta.

Boston Gazette May 1767

Boston Newsletter Nov. 1765

Boston Newsletter July 1770

Connecticut Courant May 1769

Providence Gazette May 1768

Royal Gazette May 1778

Step 1:  Draft the brims

I used extra heavy craft weight Pellon to draft my brims.  I like this material because I can hold it in place on my head and it has enough body to not flop!

I started with my small brims.  I cut a half circle like the brim on my green bonnet and then started reshaping it by cutting away at the straight edge--making it curved--and making the brims narrower or longer or both.  Basically I played around with the shapes until they looked like I wanted.  

The other brim is almost shaped like a Regency/Victorian brim.  I had a straw bonnet blank I had made from a thrifted straw hat that had the kind of brim I was looking at so I draped my pellon over this brim and cut it a bit wider.

You can see the comparison of the straw bonnet with the finished brim:

Here are my finished brim patterns, not including seam allowance.

Step 2:  Construct the brims

18th century brims were typically stiffened with buckram, chip, or pasteboard.  I've seen period ads selling pasteboard for bonnet brims.  I chose not to use pasteboard because storage can be an issue.  If the pasteboard gets creased then you cannot fix it. I went with double layer millinery buckram.  This stuff is extremely stiff and if it gets creased, it can be ironed or steamed back into shape.  Whenever I use this material, I stitch millinery wire along the edge of the buckram.  After the brim buckram was prepared, I placed it on the silk and traced around it with chalk.  Two pieces of the silk was then cut out with a 1/2 - 5/8 inch seam allowance.

The seam allowance was folded over the outer curved edge of the buckram.  The other piece of silk had the seam allowance turned under.  It was placed on the wrong side of the brim and pinned in place. The brims are ready for stitching.

The brim facing was stitched in place using an appliqué stitch.

The inner seam allowance was basted together.  Finished brims:

Step 3:  Draft the cauls

This is when I referred to the cap patterns that I drafted.  The crimson bonnet is to have a smallish caul with an even pouf so I thought I'd start out with a circle that has one flat edge for the draw string.  I cut that shape out of pattern tracing cloth, gathered the edge on the machine and pinned it to the brim.  It wasn't right so I made it taller and repeated the gathering and pinning process.  Brim #3 looks the way I want it to look (lower right).  I ripped out the gathering stitches and kept the third pattern.  I also cut another one that was 2 inches taller.  You can see the evolution of that caul here:

The brim for the black bonnet is to be tall for late 70s hair so I started with the caul I used for a late 70s cap and made it 2 inches wider and taller. I gathered and pinned it to the black brim and it was just right. You can see the two cauls here (folded in half):

Step 4:  Construct the cauls

The caul for the brown bonnet was cut an inch shorter and narrower than the caul on the left in the pic above.  Here are the finished brims with their corresponding caul.  The black caul is underlined with cotton netting to give it a little support.  The bottom hems on the cauls are folded up twice and pressed.  I'll unfold one fold and make an eyelet in the center back of each.

Step 5: Attach cauls to brims

Typically the curved edge of the caul is gathered to fit the brim.  The desired finished shape of the bonnet will determine how the gathers are distributed.  The desired shape of the red bonnet is round which will require the gathers to be evenly distributed.  First I stitched running stitches round the curved edge and pull the gathers up tight, making sure they lay parallel as if making stroked gathers.  

The gathered edge was pinned to the brim.  I stitched it in place with a backstitch, making sure the stitches were snug up against the edge of the buckram/pasteboard.

Binding the seam isn't necessary but I prefer to do so.  I cut my binding on the crossgrain to conserve fabric--something they would've done in the 18th century.  I cut a strip the length of the seam plus 1 or 2 inches and 2 inches wide.  I pressed the strip in half lengthwise then folded the raw edges in to meet in the middle to make a finished binding of 1/2 inch wide.  I trimmed the bonnet seam allowance a bit then pinned the binding in place.  You can choose to either whip stitch each side of the binding in place or simply use a running stitch through all the layers which is what I did since the binding isn't seen.

I chose to pleat the brim of the brown bonnet.  I started with a 1 inch (approx.) wide box pleat in the center and made knife pleats radiating away from it.  I don't measure pleats.  The first 6 pleats on each side were deeper to concentrate more fullness to the front even though the pleats look even all the way around.

You can see how the pleats look.  The seam was then bound as above.

The black bonnet was gathered and the gathering was concentrated in the front to make the bonnet more tall than wide.

Step 6:  Trim bonnets

I've seen images of bonnets trimmed with self fabric as well as contrasting ribbon.  I went with contrasting ribbon for these.  I used double face silk satin ribbon on the red and brown bonnets.  I used narrow ribbon  on the red bonnet and made a large bow with wider ribbon which I stitched to the side of the bonnet.

The brown bonnet is trimmed with 2 inch wide silk satin ribbon in puffs.

The black bonnet is trimmed like that in these two images:  The Pretty Mantua Maker and An Old Macaroni Miss-Led:

 

This bonnet needed a bit of support to make it stand up so I cut a piece of medium weight buckram the length of the brim and about three inches tall in the center, angling it to 1 inch tall at the ends.  I stitched it inside the bonnet along the seam.

I made ribbon loops along the front at the seam and added two pieces of ribbon to hang on one side.   I cut a strip of black taffeta 2 1/2 inches wide, pinked the edges with scalloping sheers to make the width 1 1/2 inches wide then painted the wrong side of the scalloped edge with fray check using a small artist's brush. The trim was then box pleated around the brim edge and prick stitched in place.

Here are the finished bonnets as worn.  My hair isn't proper so I did the best I could!

I'm really pleased with all of them!  I've drafted the patterns and will use them in a future workshop.  It's nice to have a variety of bonnets that work for different decades and social classes!