So...I am in need of some help. I want to get into re-enacting on the civillian side. My wonderful boyfriend has long time been apart of re-enacting the civil war, and has encouraged me to take part in it. However..the conundrum I have is..I don't have a single clue as to what I need to dress and etc. So please any help would be much appreciated!! THANK YOU!

Nikki Goughnour

have your boyfriend check to see if there is any loaner civilian clothing. they may or may not. that way you can still be involved without having to get everything all at once. being a civilian can be cheaper than being a private (or higher!).

you dont state your age... teens have a bit easier time with clothing than us older women
teens can wear short sleeves, but older needs to wear long sleeves.

i recommend starting from the bottom and going up. chemise comes first and then drawers. corset goes over the chemise. hoops, petticoats, and then dress.  always get your corset before you get a dress, because it will change the way you wear your clothing.  my dress doesnt fit me unless i wear my corset... the corset takes off a nice 4 inches

do you sew? if you sew its a whole lot cheaper.

i recommend a good summer weight wool for a dress. wool lasts longer than cotton. cotton tends to fade and wear out faster.

if you dont sew... that makes things harder. i really dont recommend ebay unless you know what you are looking for. there are so many dresses on ebay that are so pretty, but 99% of them are not authentic... the fabric is generally no where nears being authentic.

you will also need to think of which class you want to fit in. i portray lower/middle class. that way  my children dont have to wear upper class clothing and can play and i dont care much if they get dirty i can wear working dresses during teh day.  i also sew all my families clothing so that helps.

Oh so much to know!! LOL But I am enjoying this learning process!! To be quick, I am 23, so I am guessing I can't get away with a teenagers dress haha. There is an event that we are planning on attending in Nov in Atlanta....so I am doing my best to get as much info as I can..as soon as I can. I do sew, but not very well. I had a feeling this would not make things easy on me. But thanks for all the great tips!! It's much appreciated

yep definitely no teen dress for you afraid your stuck with long sleeve and long length dress.

when i got into it, i thought no problem, just sew up some clothes. but oh boy... ive only just started to learn!!!

i would recommend improving your sewing its the cheapest way to go.

check out lizs page... dedicated just to our era
http://thesewingacademy.org/index.php

heres some of her articles
http://www.elizabethstewartclark.com/GAMC/index.htm

theres also a few free patterns... chemise, drawers, petticoats for women. theres several children ones too but you dont need to worry about those yet.

her book on sewing comes highly recommended. i havent bought it yet. i have her girls pattern and love it because i can sew for both my girls with the same pattern AND sew different styles.

heres a picture of my family... excuse my hoops lol. i had no clue they were sticking out THAT much! and it was after a very hot event, in case you couldnt tell from our rosey cheeks and dhs look on his face! and my youngests dress is pretty farby... she had gotten her dress really dirty and a lady gave us a bunch of clothes and put my daughter into that dress... cute yes, but it has elastic and the fabric is all wrong (you cant tell unless you feel it). her other dress actually matched her older sisters.

Oh..I love it! You guys look great! Thanks for that info..I actually I have a 19 month old daughter..and I think she would just look adorable in one of those little dresses!! So I will have to check out all those patterns..and start brushing up on my sewing skills..oh lord help me! Thanks again!

Ahh... you didnt mention a child Shes at a fun age to sew for too. Especially since she cant tell you what she likes and doesnt Mine all love reenactments (we are looking forward to one this weekend). I wish I could have sewn for mine when they were little.

If his unit has a civilian contingent, I would talk to them. Just like the gentlemen, I always reccomend borrowing for the first few events to make sure it is something you enjoy. My wife reenacts with me and I can tell you the ladies things are just as pricey if not more so than the gentlemans.

I've relayed this information that I've gotten so far to my boyfriend. He's informed me that he's a 17 year campaigner ( I knew this but wasn't sure just what it meant until today) and therefor there is not citizens auxillary, balls, or the like. However, he did say he's willing to start for me. (the collective aww) So..if anyone knows of a good citizens group I could get into in Middle Tennessee.....it would also be much appreciated.

Dulcie,

Hubby looks grumpy...

Nikki,

I would of course never dare to aska lady's size, but here is a site of a friend of mine who has some dresses on consignment that seem to be very reasonable. You will ned to know your measurements with a corset. http://www.sewlongago.com/

She also has some adorable little girl dresses.  

--Last edited by toptimlrd on 2007-08-16 14:01:00 --

Quote :

A Soldiers Girl wrote : He's informed me that he's a 17 year campaigner ( I knew this but wasn't sure just what it meant until today) and therefor there is not citizens auxillary, balls, or the like. However, he did say he's willing to start for me. (the collective aww) So..if anyone knows of a good citizens group I could get into in Middle Tennessee.....it would also be much appreciated.

Is he wanting to switch to going to balls and such because that's what you want, or because he thinks that's all that civilians do at events? There are opportunities for the equivalent of women "campaigners" at some military campaign events. I mean functional 1860s roles where you try to live as someone might have at the historic time and place, without hidden modern convenience or out-of-place activities like balls immediately after battles. You don't usually need to be a member of a group to attend those events, though.

If you'd prefer the ball-tea-walltent reenacting lifestyle, of course there are way more of those events, and they're usually organized with the ladies auxiliary format, where you need to be a member of a group.

Now you're going to ask who to get in touch with in middle Tennessee... Hm... I've been down there once for an all-civilian event this year and there's now talk of holding another there, but I'm independent so don't have any insight on what groups are where, and just go by what events are announced that sound good. You might get in touch with Trish Hasenmueller at dhecsi@charter.net who's from that general area, and she probably knows about both mainstream and progressive civilians locally.

What events does your boyfriend attend? I'd guess most Tennessee campaigners will be at Outpost this fall, but there's not much civilian presence there (three slots I heard, already full).

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

ya think grumpy that day had gotten up into the 90s and we were getting ready to leave. plus he had been gone for a week for work training, didnt even get a chance to go home and had to be dragged to a reenactment. poor guy   so he was more hot than grumpy. we will see how he does this weekend

Quote :

GrumpyDave wrote : Dulcie, Hubby looks grumpy...

From a fella who goes by "GrumpyDave", I'm thinking this is quite a compliment, no?

Robert, Thank you for the link...she has some beautiful dresses and the prices are all very reasonable. I much appreciate the help!!

Hank,
 Thanks for your input as well. Bringing me into re-enacting is a huge deal for him as he's been doing this for 17 years now, but I am willing to bet he's willing to do those types of events to please me.  He's still very adament about being a campaigner, and we are crossing our fingers that he will make it home in time for the outpost. He's been talking about it for months. (he's deployed and due home sometime in oct) But I much appreciate your insight and will send Trish an email and hopefully I will be ever more enlightened as I have the last few days. Thanks again for your help.

The first thing you'll want to do is decide what it is you want to portray (do) at events?  This will help in determining what clothes and accessories and such you'll want or need.  For example, if your goal would be to interpret Civil War era laundry you'll have an entirely different outfit from someone portraying a planter family on their way to church services.  However, except for the cage and/or the number of petticoats the base layer is pretty much the same.  

A corset: The first item any lady needs when getting into the hobby is a good corset.  That's not something to be purchased ready-made at a sutler -- you'll want a custom made one, one that won't cause welts and pain both when you move and don't move.  

A good corset will run in the neighborhood of $80 on up depending upon your sewing skills and/or the ability of your machine to sew through multiple layers of cloth. Whether you can sew or not one of the best corsetiers is Kay Gnagey http://www.originals-by-kay.com/ While it may seem like a hefty amount for an item not seen by the majority of reenactors, it is an investment into years of reenacting, will give you the proper shape, and will also save you from a fate worse than "the Nine Circles of Hades," as Liz Clark so eloquently once defined an ill fitting corset.

The corset will change your measurements to some degree (remember tight lacing is not part of our period except for formal parties and balls), so this item really needs to be had before you start on a dress.

Once you get the corset the other undergarments are much easier to obtain.  Especially since Liz Clark has free patterns on her site. http://www.elizabethstewartclark.com/GAMC/FP/index.htm  You'll want:

A chemise.  A chemise is like a full slip that has cap sleeves and comes down to about the knee cap.  

Drawers.  A lot of ladies freak out when they learn that drawers were/are crotchless, but there's a reason for all things; the more you reenact the more you'll understand with all those petticoats, chemise, skirt, etc. you'll be happy there's nothing to pull down when nature calls.  

petticoats Depending upon what you'll be portraying at events you'll need anywhere from one to three or four petticoats.
For a lower class/working portrayal I usually where anywhere from two to three petticoats under my dress to get my dress to stand out a bit more.
For a solid middle class and up I usually wear a cage (hoop)with a petticoat under it.  If there isn't a lot of fabric in the skirt and the fabric is rather light weight, you may want a petticoat over the hoop as well to hide the boning.

Cage or hoop It's been years since I've needed to purchase a new cage, but Liz says that Heirloom Emporium has a nice one, also according to a few other sources I've seen Kay Gnagey also has a new one -- the kit runs about $65 and the finished product is $105

Of course the dress depends entirely upon the very first question, what do you want to portray/do/interpret at events?  What social class? etc.  Also, don't forget that dresses need little white collars, those with open sleeves (pagoda-style) need undersleeves, and that sort of thing.  But we can help you with all that after we get more information.

Welcome to reenacting, and welcome to the boards.

Linda Trent
lindatrent@zoomnet.net  

--Last edited by Linda Trent on 2007-08-30 09:34:10 --

I can't add a lot to the great responses already shared, so I'll be brief.

No matter what style of events a person is likely to attend, I recommend opting for the very most accurate clothing possible... it will be appropriate at the more "smorgasboard" events (with scheduled skirmishes and evening dances), as well as at the more scenario-focused events, and you won't have to replace things.

What is the event in November?  Perhaps we could help you get set for that event's needs, and go from there?  The understructure will be similar, regardless of the future event needs.

how are things going nikki?

Dulcie,
 Things are going well. I apologize for taking so long to get back. Things have been a bit crazy getting ready for Eli to come home from deployment. But, I do have a dress...and underpinnings are on the way..and I've also been doing a TON of research on refugees of the war, and also on female spies..couldn't help myself, they are so intriguing!! But thank you for all of your help and your input, and for everyone's opinion! It's been much appreciated. If it wasn't for everyone, I would have been lost!!
~Nikki

ive been studying about female spies also.. more so the smuggling of medicine from the north to the south. at some point this winter one of my petticoats will end up with a secret pocket in it.