Homemade Colonial Costumes
Making a colonial costume requires a you to understand a little bit about society and status in the 1700s. The clothing that a person wore reflected who they were and what position they held. Unlike many of today's unisex outfits, men and women had distinctly different styles of dress. And at a glance, you could tell exactly whether that person was a member of high society, belonged to the middle class, or was a commoner. To begin making your costume, you first have to decide your status.
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Gentries
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To dress as a man considered a gentry, wear a long coat, vest, silk breeches, blousy shirt, knee-high stockings, neckwear such as a cravat or kerchief, leather shoes and a tricorn hat. You might want to carry a walking stick. An upper-class woman should wear many layers of fine clothing, beginning with a corset, several silk petticoats and a hoop skirt under a formal, long-sleeved, multilayered silk dress. Her silk hat should match her dress, and she should wear flat shoes.
Putting together a colonial costume for a gentry from items you have in your closet is difficult if not impossible. To make this kind of costume, you should purchase a pattern and sew it according to the instructions. Consider Simplicity pattern number 3637 for a woman's costume, and Sewing Central's RCH712 for a man's outfit.
Merchants
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A male merchant dressed similarly to a gentry, so for purposes of costuming, you could make the same man's costume for a gentry or a merchant. A woman married to a merchant should dress much less formally, however. Her dress could be similar in style to a gentry's, but should be made from cotton rather than silk. She should wear several petticoats, but not a hoop skirt. The Simplicity pattern for a gentry woman could be used to make the middle-class woman's dress by omitting the hoop, using cotton rather than silk, and leaving off a few embellishments.
Commoners
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Members of the lower class performed manual labor, so your dress has to be functional. A man's breeches and vests should be wool or a coarse linen. He also should wear knee socks and flat, leather shoes. Rather than a tricorn hat, sport a straw hat. A farmer of the time would have needed that to keep the sun out of his eyes while working in the field. A commoner's wife should wear one petticoat and a cotton skirt or dress covered by a full-length cotton apron. Her headwear should be a straw bonnet or a cotton cap tied under the chin.
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