"As Mad As A ........."

1912

     Any one who strikes out on the path of making a hat could risk going quite mad.  The variety of styles, materials, trim and size is enough to put fear into the strongest costumer.  There are many times in fashion history when not only the garment shapes are hard to see because of the trim but the hats are adorned with so many feathers, flowers, ribbon, lace, netting and hat pins it is hard to see the shape of the hat itself.  
So when it comes to fabricating a 1920's hat the first thing I looked at was the shape.  Hats from this time period usually wider brims in the front than the back and the crowns are very deep.

Straw Hat Silk Trim

     I use straw hats that are already blocked (have a shape) or buy a straw caplet that needs to be blocked.  Either way the hat still needs to be cut into shape.  This takes nerves of steal!!  After so many years of cutting into a hat I don't think very much about it but for the new hatter this could be traumatic.  Hints.....know the shape you want to achieve, take your time, cut away small amounts and above all don't let the hat intimidate you.

Straw Hat Beaded Ribbon Trim

     I like hats with simple shape and trim.  But this means that the hat must be cut, wired and trimmed perfectly.  Wiring is the next step after cutting.  I use heavy covered wire and attach it with a sewing machine on zig zag stitch.  I have lost countless sewing machine needles doing this  but it so much faster that trying to put it on by hand.  To conceal the wire I use a length of bias made from silk, linen, velvet or a piece fabric matching the garment. The fabric that covers the wire I have tried to put on by machine but I find that putting it on by hand looks much better. 

 Blue linen dress with covered embroidered silk buttons.  Natural straw hat trimmed with self bias on the brim and a simple silk embroidered band tied with a bow at the back.
  
    As a rule any ribbons or fabric bows go to the back or to the left hand side.   How a hat is put on matter of personal taste the one thing I do enforce is that the 1920's hats need to be worn low on the wearers head.  The front of the hat should almost touch the eyebrows and the back needs to be pulled down to the nape of the neck.

This hat is worn low on the head with the trim to the left as it should be.  

     When I have at last finished a hat, what makes this costumer go "Mad As A Hatter" is not the mercury, but seeing it worn the wrong way.

     

Fabric

I wrote this in 1994 as part of an interpreter training slide show...........

In our time period at the museum fabrics had names like

           

- dimity

           

- dotted swiss

         

- charmeuse - satin - like silk

            

- gabardine - cotton

- duck

           

- pongee

Which came in colours with 

names like...

            

 - tango

           

- lipstick red

           

- snuff

           

- toreador

... and my favourite - 'mountain mist' ( a colour akin to clover )

            But whatever the name or colour the fabric was given they

could have only been made of cotton, wool, silk or linen.  

       All of these fabrics come from natural fibres. he blending, waving and treatment of these fibres gave the fabrics its look, texture and trade name.

            

 On today's market these fabrics are again becoming increasingly 

popular and therefore are more readily available.  The prices are 

also less expensive than they were just a few years ago.  There is 

one more fabric that we can add to this list and that is rayon.   

Rayon got its trade name in 1924 and is a very useful and 

affordable fabric for woman's costume.

            

 Count Hillare De Chardonnet in 1884 - Chardonnet silk, artificial 

silk or art silk.

           

Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Inspiration

The Deco Rose

 

     

          

 

Things

Things that changed the course of fashion in no particular order.

Coal tar colors.

The sewing machine.

The bycycle

Newspapers

The automobile.

 
World War 1

Artificial silk.

Magazines

Movies

The washing machine

Trams, buses and trains.

The Ballets Russes

King Tuts tomb opening

Paul Poiret

Erte

Photography

Art

..................and so much more!!!

The #123

 
     I would like to get my hands of the person who said "It's not the destination it's the journey " and give them a good shake.  I take public transportation to work.  This morning the #123 pulled up and we all got on in an orderly fashion.  The bus driver got up and left.  He still had ten minutes before we had to leave so I was content to have a seat and read the paper.  The bus driver did not come back at his appointed departure time.  We all waited. Time went by and still no bus driver.  It was odd most people did not seem to notice.  It was only when the second departure time came and went that a mumble started.  But just when things were beginning to  get a little tense on the bus along came someone who started up the bus and we were away.  
I only bring this up because I have been getting the #123 for over 20 years.  It is a long commute to a job I love.  A job that makes the mind numbing commute worth while.   A job that is never dull, keeps the creativity flowing and where I have the freedom to let my imagination take flight.  A job that takes me and gives me a good shake every day.  A job where, okay, both the journey and the destination are wonderful.

"We"

     Just when you think you have it all figured out along comes a very shy very ample young man.  To say this young man was ample may be an understatement.  When I first saw him I thought (as I often do) thank heavens I don't need to dress him!!!!  But there he was right in front of me asking about suspenders.  He could not find any suspenders that would clip on.  He was wearing his own dress pants.  This was a very good thing.  I had a moment of pause.  Smiled.  The last thing he needed was to see that I was a  rattled.  In a job like mind complete confidence is the key.  He had found a shirt that was small for him and I remembered that I had an eighteen and one half size dress shirt that had just been washed.  I grabbed that from the laundry rack.  "Why don't we try this one I think we might be able to get the top button done up and then you can wear a bow tie" I said with a slight quiver in my voice.  I use the word "we" often not as the royal "we" but as "we" are in this together kind of  "we" !!  "I don't know how to tie a bow tie"  he replied.  "That's alright" I said  " I will help you".  My mind was starting to focus on who he was.  A tall, good looking young man with short black hair. After so many years of dressing people  I have the habit of looking a their shape first and personality later.  But, we still had a suspender problem.  All the ones on the rack need buttons on the pants.  "How about a vest" he said.  This young man was thinking.  I pulled a vest.  He put it on.  We were getting somewhere.  All that was left was a hat.  Fedora, Boater, Panama, Cloth Cap?  We settled on a brown Fedora.  I stood back and looked at him.  I was very satisfied he looked great.  "Have a good day" I said.  He smiled and left.  After all these years it is good to know that "we" can still be challenged.

Adaptation

The way I approach any costume is to find key points of the design.  The part that makes it unique to a character or time period.  In the 1920's women's dresses were made up of a variety of different necklines, sleeve types,      waistlines and hemline.  By taking an existing pattern and changing any one of these key points you achieve an adaptation of the original.  

Gentlemen

Gentlemen start your engines this one is for you!

Menswear

Boring 

Not so much!

During the the eighteenth century men had center stage when it came to fashion.  Then came the French Revolution and anyone in France caught wearing to much silk and lace literally lost their heads.

 

This started a decline in men's fashion from over the top to under the radar.  Only in the late nineteen sixties did that flamboyant  male make a temporary come back.

After the Great War fashion was changing faster than you could say Bug-eyed Betty. The young women could hardly wait to shorten their skirts and bob their hair. For men it was not so much what they wore that changed but when the wore it.  The tennis outfit came off the court  and went out to lunch.      

Special Occasion

For me men's costume is the easy part of my job but seems to be  most difficult to write about.  For the most part they would wear anything I asked them to.  But then I think most of them are afraid of me!  Don't know why?  They don't seem to have such a dramatic size problem.  Or maybe I have just been lucky.  Shirt size is usually the most difficult.  Larger sizes such as 18 and above are often few and far between.  I could go to the Big and Tall shops but that would blow my budget.  So I frequent second hand stores for shirts.  These stores are usually pretty good for men's costume pieces.  Bow ties and hats I order from the U.S. and sweaters are made by a professional knitter.  Overalls haven't changed much and when the collars on their dress shirts wear out we remove them and use them as work shirts.  To make the knickers we just cut a pair of dress pants at the knee and use the leftover fabric for the cuffs and there you have it.

Dominion Day 

Blacksmith or Tinsmith

From left to right, a Boater, Fedora and Straw Panama.

Details such as bow ties, suspenders and hats make  a big difference to the men's costume. 

   

Cloth Caps

School Teacher

In a time when sportswear driven  fashion rules, it is not difficult to set the men apart at the museum. 

To interpret the School House our male teachers wear suits.  This is something most modern day teachers would not do. This gives us a different look just because of where the suit is worn.
For someone who had a hard time writing about men's costume I seemed to have rattled on at length.  Just remember  for men it is not what they wear it is where they wear it!

Obsession

The Housedress

 

 Note;

I wrote the article below for our news letter eleven years ago.

Things have not changed much.  The article illustrates extremely well how "nuts" you can become while trying to costume a living history museum.

 

May 15^th, 2000

The Confession of an Obsessed Costume Coordinator

I have become obsessed with house dresses.  A co-worker said I have OCHDD– obsessive compulsive house dress disorder.  She may be right.

It all began innocently enough with a need for durable, versatile, easy care, yet attractive, dresses.  House dresses are a part of women’s costume that never really caught my interest before.  After all, they were just house dresses.  But, the more I looked into house dresses, the more fascinated I became.  The combinations of colors, prints and designs were intriguing.  They came with square pockets, U and V-shaped pockets, long collars, scalloped collars, peter pan collars and no collars at all.  They were trimmed with bias tape and rick-rack.  I love rick-rack.  The combinations seemed limitless.  I was hooked.  I made one, then another, then another.

I became preoccupied and restless.  I spent sleepless nights tossing and turning designing house dresses in my mind.  Floral house dresses, checked house dresses, house dresses trimmed with self-made bias tape in geometric designs.  I needed help.

But the only help I got was in the form of encouragement from the Thursday sewing team of Jo, Joan, Rheta, Doreen and Les Lee to make more house dresses.  Not only did they encourage me, but they also set to work seaming each dress to perfection without so much as a flinch.  Where were the looks of complete puzzlement when I presented them with a new design?  The heated discussions over my choice of fabric prints and colors?  The grumbling had stopped.  The raised eyebrows had dropped into looks of intense concentration at the task at hand.

Then it came.  The pocket incident.  A full blown bust up over pockets on a periwinkle blue house dress.  This was more like it.  But, to my disappointment, even this confrontation was short lived and work was promptly resumed.  The pockets were placed dutifully and rightfully where I had wanted them.  It was unnerving!

The costume training this spring featured a fashion show.  Along with Tom as black smith, Glen as printer and Dianne as Glen’s blushing bride, I included two house dresses beautifully modeled by Lois and Marilyn.  This was ground breaking stuff–a fashion show featuring house dresses. 

Then the museum opened for the season.  I put out a few house dresses for the women to look at comforting myself with the thought that no one would like these odd little dresses.  But no, everyone liked them.  They wanted more and more house dresses.  I sat down and figured out how many dress I would need to fill the demand.  With over 90 female volunteers and staff interpreters in approximately 45 different sizes the numbers became staggering.  I hurried out and purchased more fabric, a lot more fabric.  I made more house dresses all the time telling myself just one more house dress and then I’ll stop.  Not so.  The more I made, the more I wanted to make.

Then it struck me.  The cure for this disorder was simple.  The money in the costume budget would soon run out.  This was the answer no more money, no more fabric, no more house dresses.  But at the thought of going through house dress withdrawal, my heart began to pound and I broke out in a cold sweat.  When the time comes and I am out of money and out of fabric, I hope I can be strong enough to overcome my obsession.  But, then again, all I need is 3.5 meters of 100% pretty printed cotton to make just one more house dress.  I have heard of people selling their souls for less.

Body Shapes

I know this
will come
as a shock
to many, but people 
come in different sizes!!!

This may not be a problem for you.  You only have yourself to think about.
And, hopefully you know your size and shape.  This is one HUGE problem for me as I need to fit 45 different sizes in women's costume.  I gave up thinking to much about it years ago as the collection of 1920's costume grew.  It can be a terrifying thought to start a costume wardrobe this
big.  It is like putting on a stage play seven days a week with different actors each day.  Impossible you say!  Almost, but the problem needs to be approached one costume at a time.  I was lucky our time period was the first half of the 1920's.
The styles for women had very little shape.  Almost straight up and down and loose fitting.  This meant that one size may fit two or three women.  At first the female historical interpreters had one dress to wear that only fit them.  As time went by and I worked until my little fingers bled, we had the beginning of a pool of costumes for women.  Costumes for summer and winter were needed. I had an amazing group of volunteers who also worked long and hard.  They had a habit of calling my work shop "the sweat shop"!  Think about it we needed
Dresses
Sweaters
Aprons
Blouses
Skirts
Coats
Walking Suits
and
Accessories
The accessories will need to wait for another time
as Hats alone will take one days writing. The costume collection has taken fifteen years to get to the point it is now and there is a lot more work to be done. So when you look at that sweet little dress and wonder "what size will I need" think of me and be happy you only come in one size!
 

Songs and Stockings

 

 http://youtu.be/yxHXdAe10Yc

I could not resist!!

That Word

Alright I brought the word up and now it is just hanging there waiting for someone to come along and explain what it means!  The definition is a bit of a mystery.  It may have been Mr. Held Jr. that thought it up but I think a more sensible reason is as follows.

Young women of Collage age wore rather large rubber galoshes with metal buckles.  It seems to have been the fad to wear these boots with the buckles undone and , yes, you have it, the buckles flapped when  they walked!!

                                               Flappers

Hard Act To Follow

Yesterday and today I posted  illustrations by John Held Jr.  Don't know who he is?  Well I can tell you one thing he is a hard act to follow.  It is said that he shaped a generation.  A generation that had gone though WW1 and returned not to settle down
but to play.  His illustrations often would show young women with painted lips, rosy cheeks and her stockings rolled down past their knees.  I still don't really know why they rolled down their stockings.  I will need to find out one day.  Held Jr. is said to have named these young women "Flappers"  a word that makes me see red.   The minute anyone hears this word the only image that springs to mind is that of a illustration of Mr. Held Jr.  No wonder visitors to our Museum are confused.   If people just stopped to think for a minute why would any one  churn butter in a silk dress and rolled down stockings ?  Do you know what butter will do to a silk dress given the chance.  So there our interpreters stand, heads held high churning butter in their cotton house dresses and hoping very hard that no one asks them "where are the flappers"?