1830s Womenswear from the Inside Out

I was very inspired recently by an exhibit at Old Sturbridge Village called "Needle and Thread: The Art and Skill of Clothing an Early 19th Century Family. The exhibit shows a sampling of some of the clothing artifacts from the museum's collection, rotating seasonally in order to preserve the items but also to showcase more of the items in the collection than can be displayed at any one time. Items shown ranged from adult to children's, undergarments to outerwear. Other items on display included sewing tools, laundry supplies, and accessories.

The textiles displays at Old Sturbridge Village have always been my favorites (well, tied with the livestock, I suppose), and in fact inspired a lot of my research into 18th and 19th century housekeeping and women's work. After seeing the exhibits this time, I thought to myself, "I've made Victorian clothing, Norse and Anglo Saxon clothing, and more. Why the heck haven't I made anything from the 1830s?" Answer: I have no idea. It's one of my favorite time periods to research, because so much was changing in women's worlds. New technology, new employment opportunities, which also meant the loss of some other opportunities, and other things were changing the roles of women. Not only that, but working at Old Sturbridge Village has always been a bit of a dream of mine because I love that time period.

Well, dear reader, it's about time I did this. So here is my big sewing project for this year: Create a complete 1830s ensemble from shift to shawl. For guidance, I have two books, the guidebook to the Needle and Thread exhibit at the Village, and The Workwoman's Guide, by a Lady: A Guide to 19th Century Decorative Arts, Fashion, and Practical Crafts. This is a facsimile of the original 1838 edition, a copy of which is also at Old Sturbridge Village. This is a comprehensive guide to all kinds of sewing, from clothing to household goods, and it has instructions and diagrams for you to draft your own patterns.

I will be starting with the shift, or chemise, the standard undergarment of a woman at that time. This garment resembles the Norse shift I've made before, so construction should be fairly straightforward.

For each piece in this project, I will provide research notes into my fabric choices and the historical backgrounds for my choices. I will also provide pictures of the process and will have other articles about the history of textiles and sewing of the early 19th century. I'm very excited to begin this process!

To give you an idea of what my Patreon members can expect vs. the public:

The posts documenting my project process will be available first to members, then to the public later. There will be exclusive behind the scenes posts that will only be for subscribers. Likewise, there will be articles posted about the history of textiles and sewing, but the more academic versions of these articles, including citations and a bibliography, will be only available to subscribers. Money that I get from Patreon for the remainder of the year will go back into this project, so the more subscribers I can get, the better! If you know anyone who might be interested in this, please share this with them.

Let's get started!