1621 Clothing Options & Sewing Help

.

The following period garment information is taken from The American Patriot’s Treasury of Historical Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas, which covers the subject in much greater detail.  (The guide covers class distinctions, Sumptuary Law, accessories, gender questions, undergarments, children’s attire, fabric choices, resources, weapons, and more).

.

STEREOTYPES
The first order of business is to set the record straight about those goofy lookin’ black and white Puritan clothes… they’re from the wrong era!  Hurray!   This means we don’t ever have to wear them for Thanksgiving again!  (They came from the 1690′s – the era of the Salem Witch Trials.)  In 1621 the middle class English couldn’t even afford black fabric.

As for Native attire, it’s sad, but true:  There were no 19th century Plains Indians present in 1621 Plimoth :-(   But not to worry.  As you’ll see, New England Native attire could also be very appealing!

.

.

PILGRIMS
In this time period English attire was actually quite colorful and romantic. Middle class men looked more like musketeers, and middle class women like era shop keepers.  All the Pilgrims of the Mayflower were middle class citizens, but don’t let that stop you from making clothing that you’ll love to wear if you prefer the upper or lower class attire.  Pictured here Carrie is wearing a lower class woman’s outfit, with an upper class hair style and pearl drop earrings.  She decided on lower class attire because, just like in times past, the lower class garments are less expensive to make.  (OK, and, well, she likes the “wench” style better, anyway :-)   )   Dave is shown wearing a middle class suit with sleeves removed, tall boots which were upper class, and an upper class wide brim hat.

.

.

WAMPANOAG
Americans only have partial descriptions, and no known portraits of 1621 Wampanoag people, so Wampanoag costuming is left wide open for interpretation. The picture above shows a style-plausible interpretation, followed by line drawings of traditional attire currently donned by Wampanoag Indians (as featured in The History Channel production, Mayflower). For this costume I couldn’t afford leather leggings, but I did manage a snake skin belt and fur wrap. Snake skin belts are mentioned in period descriptions of the New England Natives.  Although we have historical reason to believe no Native women were present at any time during the three day fall picnic of 1621 Plimoth, it’s still fun to include Native women / attire in modern reenactments.

.

.

PIRATE
Essentially there are two types of pirates authentic to the 1621 Plimoth story: the Barbary Coast Pirates (also called Algerian Corsairs; pictured left), and French Privateers (government-appointed pirates who were more inclined to steal than to kill; pictured right).  Learn more about these pirates on our 1621 Pirates page, and through 3 Sun membership.

.

.

.

NEW TO SEWING, OR HISTORICAL COSTUMING?
The one thing that holds more people back from joining history clubs than any other is the fear of sewing, or of not being able to pull together a nice set of period clothes. Old-fashioned sewing circles are a great way to meet this need, but even if you don’t have a group to meet with, you can inexpensively teach yourself how to sew.

3 Sun and Lets Play History now have a free, very easy to use beginning sewing lesson site at http://Squidoo.com/sewinginstructions101, which you can use in combination with the $6.99 Combo Guide to Beginning Sewing & Authentic Period Costuming book pictured here.   The site takes you step by step through learning the basics of modern machine sewing techniques, while the guide provides an introduction to historical sewing.

We also offer some sewing help in our forums, and of course through our member e-magazine.

So don’t let not being able to sew hold you back.  Take a look at the Squidoo.com/sewinginstructions101 site and see how easy the steps are.  You can do it, and we promise you’ll have fun!

.

.

.

.

.