Ruby Wexler

2016

A Day In The Life Of A Colonial Milliner

Ruby Wexler                                                                                           11/15/16       

Humanities B                                                        A Day In The Life Of Eliza Smith

I open my eyes, there is a soft orange glow that tells me the sun has just risen. I sigh, sitting up and swinging my legs off the bed onto the cold wooden floor. I just had the most wonderful dream, I was at a ball everyone was in the most elegant dresses all of different vibrant colors shinning in the bright light. I was in one of silk, a deep midnight blue. Though I am silly that could never happen, I make the dresses not wear them. I must stop dreaming and get to work. I am a milliner not gentry class, and that will not change unless I marry rich. I know that will not happen, I am no good at the social games other girls play to catch men.

“Eliza! What are ya doin up there we need to start work!” Peggy yells from upstairs.

“I’m coming!” I yell back, “stupid petty coats.”

I mutter struggling to step into the skirt. I pull on my stiff dress, it’s pretty but simple. The base color is white with light purple vines and flowers decorating it. The sleeves only come to my elbows in the newest fashion. I twist my long brown hair into a bun at the back of my head and cover it with a bonnet. I tie my apron as I rush down the stairs more tumbling down than running. The shop is dim only with a few candles lit. I see Peggy standing there she looks at me and sighs.

“You’ve put your cap on backwards,” she says with exasperation.

She walks to me and fixes it, then steps back with a satisfied grin. Peggy always looks so wonderful, She stands with perfect posture and always moves with grace. Her skirt drapes perfectly, like a waterfall, barely moving when she steps. I look around the sun has fully risen now and the shop is filled with light, the gold and silver in some of the new ball gowns shimmer and dance with light. There is a party soon and women come flying in for the latest fashions. Parts of unfinished dresses lay on the counter and hang on pegs. Hats and fans sit on shelves that line the walls behind the counter.

A while before dinner a young lady comes in to be fitted for her a new ball gown. Peggy starts to suggest styles while I take out fabrics to show her. Once she finally decides on a light pink silk with white trim, we start draping the fabric, cutting, and sewing. It is a very complicated dress. Unlike tailors, Milliners don’t use patterns. All the clothing we make is fitted perfectly to the customer. There are a lot of us working on the dress and even Anne the apprentice, who is only in her third year, still has much to learn. We have a couple more women come in before dinner, all wanting new dresses for the party. Peggy and I eat together in the back of the shop. Then I decide to take a break and go for a walk. The sun is shining warmly, it’s a perfect April day–  not too hot or cold and no rain. I see James Anderson carrying a roll of fabric into his tailor shop. His cap is askew and one of his shoelaces are untied, one sleeves is unrolled and one is messily scrunched at his elbow.

“Good afternoon Mr. Anderson,” I say, trying not to giggle at his appearance.

“Good afternoon to you too, Miss Smith,” he replies tipping his hat to me, almost dropping it in the process. “You know there is a new shipment of fabrics at the dock.”

I grin, “Oh good, I’ve been waiting for the longest time. And there’s a big party soon, everyone wants new clothes!” I reply.

He smiles “Ah, yes I think I heard about that. I sometimes wish that I could go to those, I mean I do love Taverns… but what would it be like to go to one of those…” He finishes looking wistfully into the distance.

“Yes,” I mutter “well it was nice to see you.”

“And you,” and with that he pushed the roll of fabric through the door and went into his shop. As I walk towards the dock I wonder about James and my dream, could they be related? No, I tell myself, again you’re being silly. I must focus on the fabric. Though it was hard to not to daydream about parties and big fancy houses on the way to the shipping port.

“It’s a good thing we’re about to run out of that blue silk,” I mutter to myself.

Peggy doesn’t like to go the docks and barter for fabric, she’s always too nice and spends all of our money. I have deals with a lot of the people in the fabric business. A big part of my work is bartering and advertising. I must know what the newest fashions are, it’s not all about sewing. One thing that I must do aways is think ahead. A  lot of gossip happens in the shop and if I hear that a ball could be planned I’ll order fabric ahead of time like now.  I know I’m there before I can see it, the smell of salt and unwashed sailors reaches me quickly and is very strong. Resisting the urge to pinch my nose I venture forth into the mass of sailors, sails men, travelers, shoppers and any other person who might be on these docks. A few greet me, but most of them are too busy to notice me. I make my way to the ship that holds the fabric.

“Good afternoon Miss Smith,” a gruff voice says from behind me making me jump. I turn to see one of the merchants I often trade with.

“Oh, good afternoon Mr White,” I stutter. “Do you have any good fabric for me today?”

It turns out to be a pretty good deal, I got five rolls of fabric and news about the newest fashions from France! I got the price down to a little less than half of the original. As I walk back to the shop I think about Peggy, she may be good with drama and men but I’m as good maybe even better at business. I know that this isn’t the nicest thought but it helps me get over the fact that I may never marry. And maybe it’s for the better if I’m talented in this I don’t want to have to stop and give everything to a potential husband.

When I get back to the shop Peggy is already fitting another customer, a very rich lady who I tend to think looks like her stays are always too tight and she had just eaten something very sour. Anne is sitting and watching, they don’t need her help yet. As I walk farther into the shop to ask Anne something I see that the lady’s tall wig is crooked. This, her expression, and the odd half-finished dress is so funny that I run into the back room so no one will see me laugh. Anne comes rushing in after me and started to laugh too, we stand there together just giggling and whenever we stop and look at each other we start again. Eventually, when we stop and walk back into the shop the moment has worn off and it isn’t so funny anymore.

That evening we all go a tavern for supper where we have the most delicious meal. We all dance, and clap and have a wonderful time. Somehow I keep ending up dancing with James Anderson, which I don’t mind though I do find a little odd. That night I go over the evening in my head. It was like a holiday: happiness and joy, not one person was left out.

And I think, as I look out of the window a the twinkling stars and deep blue sky, that this night without normal` clothes and my friends and newest friend, James, was better than any fancy party in the world. There isn’t a single thing that I would change that could make it any better.

Name: Olivia Propp

2016

The Big Dress Job

I wake up after my rest from working and I am off to work at the milliner’s shop. When I arrive at the shop I get back to the dress I was working on and start sewing all day.  I live in a small/medium sized house in the town of Williamsburg, and share it with my whole family, and one co-worker from my mother’s tavern. She has been working at the tavern since she was 8, and now she is 12. Her parents have passed away when she was younger, so we have taken her into our family and now she is my closest friend. My parents treat her as family, so she is almost like my sister. There are two bedrooms, and one room for dining. I share a bed with the co-worker from my mother’s tavern. Her name is Alina. My mother and father sleep in the other room. We have a little fire place because the weather is quite chilly now. When the fire is on, it warms up the walls and keeps us warm.

I am a dressmaker and I make dresses at the milliner’s shop. My family is in the middling class, but we are able to afford food and things we need to survive. And I make good money making dresses. My father works at the apothecary shop and my mother works at a tavern with Alina. Although we aren’t wealthy enough to buy wigs, we aren’t looked down on because we wear hats and we tie our hair up. I am able to make clothing for my family, so Alina and my mother wear nice dresses. I have a little training in making clothing for my father, so I make him robes to wear at home.  But he normally gets clothing from the tailor’s shop to wear during the day. I also decorate hats for my family, and I can make the worn out hats look new again by putting flowers, ribbons, and different fabrics on them. All I do at work is sew and sew, but sometimes I chit chat with coworkers while working and it helps to not be so bored. We do have daily customers, and we made good business. The townspeople rely on us to make clothing for them, so we have a lot of customers.

Exciting things don’t really happen at work, but once in awhile a little surprise can come. One day, for example, I was offered a big job to make 15 dresses for a gentry class woman. She offered me a ton of money and I accepted it. Before I got this job I only lived in a one bedroom house with four people. This offer changed my life!

It was right before I closed the shop. I was putting the materials away and about to walk out the door when a woman with jewels on her dress and a very nice wig came into our shop. “ What a small shop we have here, oh it is so very chilly.” Soon the lady put herself together, trying not to show how cold she was. I could tell she was a gentry woman, but I thought she was supposed to be able to afford a nice winter coat. But by the way she walked in it didn’t show she had a nice coat on. “Good evening. Do you make dresses?” The lady kept on trying to wrap her scarf around herself because she was so cold. “Yes we do, and we are the best in our town,” I said proudly. She needed 15 new dresses for herself because she said that all her other dresses were worn out. She said she needed them by Friday because she had guests coming over, and she was going to show off her closet to them. The day she asked me if I could wear the dresses was Tuesday night. Normally a completed dress would take a day or two to make, so I would have to make at least five or six each day. There were no breaks and all I could focus on was to finish a dress. While I ate dinner I would sew, the first thing I did when I woke up was sew, on my way to the milliners shop I would think about what I had to do next on the dress, and at the milliner’s shop I would keep on sewing.

That Friday I had almost finished 15 dresses, but I fell asleep half way on my 15th dress. I didn’t get in trouble from the lady, but she didn’t pay me for the last dress. She said to make it the best dress out of all of them because she gave me the time to work on it. It took me two days to complete, but she said it was very good. I ended up getting paid for that dress, and she said it was her new favorite dress!

The lady gave me so much money I was able to buy a new house for my family. This job was worth all the times I stayed up all nights, and how exhausted I was during the day. Now our house is a decent size and I get to sleep in a bed every night. Before the job I got from the lady, our family rotated each night of who got to sleep on the bed. If you didn’t sleep on the bed you would end up sleeping on the floor. I am very thankful to the lady and nowadays she stops by the shop and sometimes gives me big jobs to do, or just asks for one dress. But no matter how many dresses she asks me to make I am still very thankful and sometimes she says I say thank you to her too much.

My role in this town is very important in this town and people rely on us. People need clothing to go outside and inside the house too. I can help my family look well off because I can make clothing for them, even though we are not that wealthy. People judge us by the way we look and what we wear so we have to look the best at all times. If all of us work hard, and earn a lot of money maybe mother and Alina could get a better job. Father and I have a good job and we don’t have any thoughts of switching to work somewhere else. Since our family is in the lower/middling class we are always looking forward to our monthly pays so we can restock on food. Sometimes in the winter we can run out of food, a few days before we get our monthly pay. So we always have to conserve our food because we know that we can run out. We are always hoping for a better life, but we are glad that we at least have a home and jobs to keep us alive and healthy.

Clothing and Its Importance in Colonial America

2016

Ruby Wexler

People are judged all the time, though in Colonial America what others thought of you was very important. Even though all three cultures were very different, judgment based on clothing and general appearance was something they had in common. Although clothing was very important for warmth, it also had a huge impact on people’s social lives. A woman could get a better marriage if she wore fancier clothes. People would command more respect if they were well dressed. Clothes had this impact in all three cultures. These days, clothes are mainly just for protection, coverage, and fashion. But in the Colonial Era it was so much more. People don’t realize just how important clothes really were and still are today. But even to this day, people actually discriminate based on clothes. People still are highly judged on their clothing. However, first impressions aren’t everything. You can’t judge people until you know them. This is one of the problems with colonial society that we still have now.

Clothing in Colonial America

Olivia Propp

2016

In Colonial America a dress had many parts to it and there was a complicated process to putting one on. Wearing one required effort. Women had less freedom than men, and so did the conditions for clothing. It was uncomfortable, and tight, and it showed your ranking. For example: there were three parts to a dress: the skirt, the bum roll, and the stomacher. In addition, there were six different undergarments that women had to wear. “Being fashionable involved more than just wearing the latest clothing. Women had to be dressed properly underneath their gowns too! Colonial women wore several undergarments including a shift, stays, stockings, petticoats, pockets, and hoops,” (The Milliner, pg. 20). What you wore indicated your social class and you could be judged by what you wore. So if a woman wore a less decorative and fancy dress they may have been looked down on. Wealthier women used better fabrics than the lower class women. But most women wore undergarments. A lot of the undergarments were used to make the dress have volume like the hoops and the petticoats. Stays helped women keep a better posture and the shift soaked up all the sweat. The bum roll which was part of the dress also gave the dress volume. The process of getting dressed was to put the undergarments on, then put the pieces of the dress on. Putting a dress on was a very complicated process and took up a lot of time. If you weren’t wealthy and needed to work to earn money, the poor might have had to wear a more simple dress to save time. This would make people look down on you, but would save time. If you were rich and wore fancy dresses it would show that you would have the time to put on a dress, and you wouldn’t be looked down on. Clothing for English children, particularly those in the gentry class, were similarly complex.

Clothing in the Colonial Era

Annabelle H.

2015

There were many things that were deeply impacted by clothing in the Colonial Era such as, classes and cultures. There were many different styles of clothing, and many materials that were shown in separate cultures. Milliners and tailors would get a lot of business because of how popular and important their clothing was to their society. The African slaves didn’t have many clothing rights because of how they were treated and looked at. The Native Americans didn’t have much knowledge for clothing or materials. Religious beliefs were also shown with clothing because of superstitions. Women wanted to show perfection, and status. While men wanted to show strength, and class.  But there were also many people who couldn’t afford fancy things, or weren’t allowed to even own nice things. There were many different fabrics and tools for making clothing. Dyes, and spinning wheels were important to use for the process of making clothing. Each process for the separate cultures was different when getting clothing. Classes and social rankings were shown by the style and fashion of clothing a person wore. Clothing was very important and has always had different styles, and clothing plays an important role in the survival each society.        

Cate W.
2015

Clothing in Colonial America

In the colonial era, clothing was extremely relevant. Clothing helped show who was important. The Europeans, Natives and Africans all used different resources to assemble their clothing. Many of them had different traditions when it came to clothing. Their clothing traditions and styles weren’t completely different. In fact, one thing that they had in common was that they all wanted their apparel to be strong and solid. Clothing had a big impact on society. Everyone wanted the most delightful clothing they could possibly get. Many people couldn’t get nice clothing because they didn’t have enough money or they didn’t have many rights. Without clothing, people wouldn’t be able to define each other’s classes. Many people needed the lower class, middling class and gentry class because it helped show who was wealthy and who wasn’t. Without certain types of clothing, classes wouldn’t be the same, but are classes really a good thing? Do they help our world become a better society? If we didn’t have classes perhaps we would all live like the Natives. The Natives didn’t have classes. People in their society were very similar to each other. They ate, dressed and lived in a similar way. Would we end up like the Natives if we all dressed the same way. Would our society be more equal instead of hierarchical?

Ruby Wexler

2016

Title of Notecard: Fashion Shows Identity

Source: Hall, Jill M. ““Clothing and Fashion in the 17th Century.”.” Facts On File , 2014, online.infobase.com/hrc/search/details/358077?q=colonial clothing.

Quote:

“The details of appearance conveyed identity. Contemporaries recognized a person of wealth and privilege by his or her fine clothes, rich ornaments, and elegant bearing, and responded with an appropriate level of deference. Clothing also represented actual value. A person’s wardrobe represented a significant investment. Clothes were worn, repaired, remade, handed down, and sometimes sold or pawned for cash.

European writers revealed their discomfort with the relative undress of Native people, describing them as “naked” even while enumerating their garments (breechcloths, leggings, moccasins, mantles, and so on). Colonial narratives record gifts to the Native leaders, gifts that usually included at least some items of European clothing. A key element of many colonial ventures was to “civilize” American Indians, and an essential part of European civilization was proper—that is, European—clothing. In this instance clothing served both as a gift of value, costly and—in the colonial context—rare, and a gift of identity, which would bring the Native leader and eventually the community closer to the European ideal of appearance.

Native peoples adapted European cloth and clothing, incorporating them into their dress. They used thick “duffel” cloth for cloaks or mantles that had traditionally been made of furs. But as the growing colonial population eroded the traditional Native ways of life, Native peoples were increasingly pushed to adopt European ways, especially European clothing.”

Paraphrase:

• A person’s wealth was distinguished by their clothing and decoration.
• One’s clothing was one of the main things that they spent their money on.
• Clothes were used, sold, given to younger relatives and reused.
• The Natives were first viewed to be naked because they wore little clothing.
• The English gave gifts to the Natives lots of the gifts had English clothing in them.
• Some of the European settlers wanted to “civilize” of the Natives, one of they ways they tried to make them more proper was to give them English clothing.
• Eventually the Natives used some of the English clothing as well as their own.
• The Natives used a cloth called duffel cloth to make cloaks, though their cloaks were usually made out of furs.
• As time went on and the colony grew, more and more Natives started to the English ways and use more and more of their clothing.

My Ideas:

Clothing was one of the main points that lead the depletion of the Native Americans. The English settlers gave them gifts that often included clothing, the Natives started to take the new clothes in to their own culture. This seemed harmless at the beginning, but later it become clear that the English want to take over the Natives. I think that they tried to make the Natives respectable by making them look more like the English. One of the examples of this is Pocahontas, she was the daughter of the great chief Powhatan, then she married John Ralph. She was given a new name was taken into the English traditions and ways of dress. In a way this is a less brutal version of bringing Africans and making them work under horrible conditions. The enslaved Africans stared to adopted the English clothing while still keeping their own cultures’ clothes. Though like the Natives they were eventually forced into the European ways of dress. The English showed their wealth and rank through their clothing, enslaved people were automatically judged by their clothing and race. The Natives also had their own hierarchy that was also shown by clothing. I think that eventually the Natives were showed their rank through the amount of English clothing they had showed their rank because if you could have traded more clothing that means you have things to trade and you are wealthy. Clothing could also have been very helpful or unhelpful in the drama of society. If you were someone looking to get married you would want to have nice clothing to look wealthy, to look well keep and maybe just to show off. If you wore odd or different clothes you might be though as odd or different. The English settlers spent a good amount of their money on their clothing, the Natives and enslaved people weren’t this particular though they were still showing their rank through their clothing.

Annabelle H.
2015

Title of Notecard: Materials, and Hierarchy Rankings
Source: Taylor, Deborah C. “Clothing in the Colonial Period.” Encycl…

Quote(s):

“Wealthy merchants imported most of their cloth from England and considered local homespun coarse and suited only for workers and servants. English sumptuary laws prohibited the use of fancy laces, ruffles, and embroidered cloth by any but the upper classes.”

“Native Americans dressed in various styles according to tribal customs. In general, they wore clothing made from animal skins: boots, dresses, shirts, leggings, a fur cloak in winter, and hats.”

“The Euro-American workingman’s costume consisted of loose breeches, canvas jerkin, woolen hose, and felt or straw hats. Poorer women wore simple short gowns, which allowed for physical labor, and modest linen caps, although farm wives used vegetable dyes to create ‘Sunday best’ outfits from homespun. Prosperous American men dressed in breeches of fine cloth, waistcoats, silk stockings, broadcloth coats with silver buttons, silver buckled shoes, heavy cloaks, and wool or beaver hats. “

Paraphrase:

• Rich merchants got some cloth from England mostly.
• The rich thought that the less fancy fabric was for servants and workers.
• There was an English law that states that only the higher classed people can use fancy cloth.
• Native Americans dressed in relation to tribal traditions.
• The Native Americans wore animal skins of all sorts.
• Working European men wore wool, and felt or straw hats.
• Poor women wore simple things like linen hats.
• Farm wives made their ‘Sunday best’ with using vegetable dyes.
• Successful American men wore fine cloth, silk, broadcloth, and heavy material.

My Ideas:  This is important because it shows that the wealthy people that lived in Europe had a better wardrobe then the poor people. They rich in Europe cared more about clothing, they had more access to fancy things. But the servants had to wear simple cloth, that had boring colors, but they were inexpensive. But who made the law that only wealthy people could wear fancy materials? Maybe it was a greedy, selfish, vain ruler of England that didn’t care about the low ranking people, only the rich and themselves. The type of material that a rich merchant is wearing, is very different then the type of material that a poor servant is wearing. Maybe the person who made the law wanted everyone to know the difference between high class, and low class. The rich people had a chance to wear amazing things with lace, and ruffles, and things with beautiful stitching. But the poor ranking people had a chance to wear dirty rags that were probably rough, and not smooth and soft like the wealthy people would wear. I think that the law is unfair, what if a servant got a piece of clothing that was fancy for a gift? They wouldn’t be able to wear it at all, even if someone just gave it to them. Even the low ranking people should have a chance to wear something nice for a change, and not just rough rags.

Cate W.
2015

Title of Notecard: Colonial Appearances
Source: Walker, Niki, and Bobbie Kalman. The Milliner. New York, NY: Crabtree, 2002. Print.

Quote(s):

“Appearances were important to many colonists. People were often judged by their clothing and possessions. Wearing beautiful, fashionable clothes showed people that a colonist was successful and could afford expensive things.”

“Her gown was impressive, indeed, not only because it was made in the latest style, but because it required several yards of expensive fabric.”

Paraphrase:

• Many people were judged by what they are wearing.
• Appearances were very important.
• People would try their best to look their best to look fashionable.
• Everyone had also tried to wear as much expensive things so they would look nice
• Women would wear things that other people would like to see
• Women would try their best to stay in the latest fashion.

My Ideas:  Back then you would see people walking around with the prettiest stuff. Women’s dresses has to be beautiful with the prettiest fabric and men had to wear their nicest clothing too because people judge other people by what they are wearing. When someone looked at someone back then, they would instantly think that they would be rich or poor and they would treat that person differently just because of how they look. Many of us do that still today. We judge other people by the way they look not the way they act. Outfits are so different these days and so is true beauty. Womens beauty was so important back then because they wanted to look their best for other colonists. Nowadays we still want to look our best, but our beauty is different. The way women try to look pretty is now more of a sexy pretty. For example, If you look at Halloween costumes you could see how they are different than other costumes that people wore when halloween started. Today, not everyone gets that sexy look but that is what men these days sometimes like. Sexy wasn’t good for people back then. Back in the Colonial Era women wouldn’t even be able to show their shoulders. So I think that it wouldn’t be good if they showed any thing else. Back then people just wanted their wigs to be beautiful or they wanted the latest fabric and a complex dress. That was the type of beauty that women had back then.

Cate W. 2015

How can you tell if a shoe is for someone that is fancy or not? The man at the shoe shop said, “For men shoes you have to look a little closer. Typical men shoes in the period are just going to be black leather. So for in a distance you aren’t going to see difference. Buckles are how the shoes close. See this shoe has ties, which is something worth less than a buckle. That means whoever had this shoe couldn’t afford buckles. This one is really average nothing too special. five or six shillings. Now this soft leather right? Bound edge. All of the stitching is hidden. So this is a really fancy shoe.” How can you tell if a wig is for someone in the gentry class or not? “The fact that you’re wearing a wig is going to give you the status because only 5% of the population can afford to wear them at all. Now within that, gentlemen’s fashions dictated on their profession, doctor, lawyer, merchant, but only the very wealthy that can afford them at all.” Paraphrase:

Annabelle H.

2015

Great Hopes Plantation, Interpreter

What would the working class wear?

“Well, I’m wearing trousers which is very working class as appose to wearing knee britches. That’s more the fashion and this is more for working. My sleeves are rolled up, I’m wearing a hat because I’m working. gentlemen would wear all the same plus a coat and a wig. My clothes is mostly made out of common fabrics, and not silks.”

Where did you get your clothing? Did you make it?

“You can go to a tailor to have them  make it, or on the plantation your probably going to make your own clothes, and spin your own cloth.”