Accessories, Part II

The second part of my posts on accessories covers those I made myself! There aren't quite as many of these, but they are no less important to the ensemble.

Cap

Cap, modeled here by my lovely mannequin

I think that the cap was the part of the ensemble that gave me the most flashbacks to my junior high costuming misadventures. I will forever be scarred by Butterick's costume version of a mob cap--a big, fat floppy circle of cotton with elastic running through it, more akin to a shower cap than the elegant caps you see in portraits of the era.

You know, this one.

I would have avoided a cap if I could, but they were an important part of a woman's attire, one purpose of which was to help keep the hair clean and protected from the dirt and dust of the day. The various historical costuming accounts on Instagram were a huge help in allowing me to visualize what a proper 18th century cap should and would look like, and after much deliberation, I decided to use the "Bess" cap from Virgil's Fine Goods. I highly recommend the pattern. The assembly of printed pages into pattern pieces was easy, and while the creation of the cap itself was a bit complex for a newcomer to the world of 18th century costuming, the illustrated instructions and stitch guide made it a pleasant learning experience. 

Truly delicate work!

Making the cap was the most time-consuming part of my ensemble to that point. Because of  wrist issues, which I've alluded to in other posts, I have to do most of my sewing on a machine. The construction of an 18th century cap in very fiddly organza just does not allow for the use of a machine, however. I didn't end up with a perfect finished product, but I'm pleased with my first try. I trimmed it with a simple brown satin ribbon, pulled from my stash of trimmings. 

Apron

Once you make a petticoat, you realized that an apron is really the same thing, just smaller and single-sided. With that in mind, the intimidation factor for making an apron was practically zero. I didn't consult a pattern here, although I will note I had seen sketches and images in the various patterns and books I had been consulting, so I wasn't going totally off-script. 

Using a yarn-dyed linen plaid in apple green and cream from Needle & Thread, I measured length, then using my machine, hemmed three sides and gathered the fourth. I sewed on the waist tape by hand. I did find that my waist tape wanted to flip up, due to the weight of the apron fabric. Because I wanted a hidden look, I took small tack stitches across the bottom of the waist tape, just catching the fabric gathers, as seen below.