Re: OT: historical clothing

My friend works as a, er, I don't know what you call it....it's the > person
> who is in a room in a historic building, dressed in period costume, > and > tells you all about it when you visit. Anyhoo, she has asked > permission to > work on a quilt while in the building. Everything has to be period. > The > costumer suggested she work on a quilted skirt, which she could then > wear as > part of her costume. > > Friend has to research the pattern and present a proposal to the > costume > committee. Any ideas on where to find this type of pattern? > > TIA > L > > -- > L. P. Skeen, Summerfield NC > Get your 2006 Clay Lover's Calendar at >
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Hello, I believe that the pattern company called "folkwear" has the authenic quilted skirt pattern you are looking for. This pattern also includes ideas and patterns for the designs of quilting. These skirts/petticoats were worn in different centuries for warmth. They were worn on top or underneath.. It is truly a great skirt. I made it many years ago. Good luck.

The Folkwear pattern you are probably looking for can be found here.

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I used to sew reproduction clothing for museums and found, also, that doing research in Godey's Lady's Book had invaluable information. I made several dresses from the actual patterns published in this book. I did use some "modern technology" when copying the patterns. My good friend was an architect and we spent a few Sunday afternoons at his office using his Xerox drafting machine adjusting measurements to copy the pattern to fit me (I used to also work as a tour guide in period dress

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or the mannequin on which the dress would be displayed. There is an online version of this magazine showing many of the period fashions with detailed descriptions.

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When I was using it for research we didn't have the convenience of internet access and I used the library research department. There are perks to living in a large city with a great library. I was fortunate enough to have the Seattle Public Library at my disposable. That was an experience in it's self since I got to go into the archive room and actually look, wearing cotton gloves and under close supervision, through original magazines. Fashion aside, this was a fascinating experience. If you have a large library near by I would highly recommend doing this if at all possible. The magazine had all kinds of information on housekeeping, cooking, entertaining, health care, home decorating, child rearing, deportment, etc. The curator of this section and I became quite good friends during this time and she became as fascinated as I and we spent hours together reading the articles. All in all it was pretty amazing.

Many of the patterns that Folkwear has are very good copies from Godey's and they are multi-sized within each pattern which makes them pretty easy to use for "real people" of the 20th and 21st century.

Val