Are You Arriving for the Fort de laPresentation Workshop by Landau, Phaeton or Barouche? Fashionable Carriages of the 1812 Era

Are you arriving for the Fort de laPresentation Ladies Day Workshop by Landau, Phaeton or Barouche? 

The novels of Jane Austen frequently mention various types of carriages used in the early 19th century. 

Picture Lady Catherine de Bourgh driving past in her aristocratic barouche - the Honourable Lady Dalrymple also owned a barouche. 

Think of  Willoughby taking Marianne for a private drive in his sporty curricle - his high flyer.

The dreadful Rev Mr. Collins arrived in a gig - a small unpretentious two passenger carriage.  

And exactly why was Mrs. Elton so very proud of her sister's barouche-landau? 

In the early decades of the 19th century Ackermann's Repository of Arts magazine was well known for featuring all that was new and cutting edge in fashion.  Even transportation was seen as a highly important fashion accessory.  On occasion they published colourized plates and articles about the latest in carriages:   

A Landaulet was the sporty version of a Landau:

 

A Landau is a four wheeled "convertible" carriage - it has a top that can be raised or lowered:

 

The Phaeton was the "sports car" if its day and generally drawn by two horses for speed.  It was lightweight, fast and could be extremely dangerous - and although he drove a curricle the phaeton perfectly exemplifies Mr. Willoughby's reckless and dashing character: 

Another Landaulet - the sporty smaller version of a Landau:

A Barouche was a leisure, summer vehicle with  a soft retractable or convertible top.   Double seats on the inside faced each other:

My guess is that this particular magazine article was perhaps geared more toward the gentlemen readers of Ackermann's but I'm sure an enterprising lady or two used the information to make interesting diner conversation.

1812 Traveling Quilts in Meadville PA October 27-28 and November 3-4

The historic Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum in Meadville, PA, 42 miles south of Erie, will host the Great Lakes Seaway Trail War of 1812 Traveling Exhibit October 27-28 and November 3-4, 2012.

The exhibit of 26 quilts newly-made, but true to 1812-period quilting patterns, fabrics and colors and new Great Lakes Seaway Trail “Storyteller” interpretive panels on “America’s second war for independence” is traveling to quilt shows, museums and historic venues across Canada and the U.S. through 2014.

Some of the 1812-style quilts on exhibit at the Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum October 27-28 and November 3-4

The traveling exhibit includes the work of 20 American-made “cot-to-coffin” quilts from 11 states. The 30-inch-wide by 70-inch-long size represents the average height of a man during the war. A story card with each quilt tells either the factual history and heroes represented by the quilt or the imagined tale of a family sending its loved one off to the war.

Among the American-made quilts is the “Underhill Tree of Life Whole-Cloth Quilt” made by Pennsylvanian Jill Meszaros of Cambridge Springs that earned runner-up honors at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail War of 1812 Bicentennial Quilt Show in Sackets Harbor in March. The show’s Viewers’ Choice-winning quilt made by Upper Canada Village’s living history interpreters is among six Canadian-made quilts representing three provinces in the exhibit. The Canadian-made quilt features hand-embroidered images of War of 1812 participants British Major Sir Isaac Brock, Lt. General Sir George Prevost, native Chiefs Tecumseh and Joseph Brant and Laura Secord.

The Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show theme for 2012 inspired quilters on both sides of the international border to interpret the War of 1812 Bicentennial in many interesting and personal ways, to learn more about that period in history and the struggle for North America, and to share their own family ties to that time. We are pleased to share their quilts with visitors to the Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum.

Lectures have been added to the event:  At 2:00 PM on October 27, Jill Meszaros, Viewers’ Choice runner-up at the March 2012 Great Lakes Seaway Trail War of 1812 Bicentennial Quilt Show, will speak on the quilting styles and assembly techniques of the early 1800s. On November 4 at 2:00 PM, Linda Bolla, curator of the Erie Maritime Museum, will present “A Tale of Two Flags.” Contact Judith Stoll at 814-398-4365 for lecture reservations.

The museum at 639 Terrace Street, Meadville, is the stately historic home of US Congressman and Supreme Court Justice Henry Baldwin and later of Meadville’s first mayor William Reynolds, a descendant of Baldwin’s wife Sarah.  The hours of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail 1812 traveling exhibit at the Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum in Meadville, PA, will be 12-4pm daily October 27-28 and November 3-4.

Learn more online at www.baldwinreynolds.org.

Fashions for the Fort de laPresentation Ladies Day Event

Ackermann's Repository of Arts was a popular ladies magazine published from 1809-1829.  The monthly issues covered a wide variety of subjects to entertain the masses of the era.  Included in most issues were political commentaries, poetry, short stories, current events,  stock and commerce reports and other interesting tidbits. 

Every issue also contained wonderful hand coloured illustration plates showing fashions, home decor, architecture and a variety of items that would be of interest to their readers.  Some of the early issues even included actual fabric samples! 

The embargo of  the War of 1812 made American fashions a few years behind the times and out of date because we had no access to the European fashion trends.  Therefore, I present the 1809 Ackermann's Repository fashion plates  for your enjoyment. 

Please select what you will wear to the upcoming Fort de laPresentation Ladies Day Event!  See you there!

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - January Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - January Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - February Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - February Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - March Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - March Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - April Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - April Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - May Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - May Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - June Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - June Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 1 - June Issue (Bonus)

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 2 - July Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 2 - July Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 2 - August Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 2 - August Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 2 - September Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 2 - September Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 2 - October Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 2 - October Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 2 - November Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 2 - November Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 2 - December Issue

1809 - Ackermann's Series 1 Vol 2 - December Issue

Some Notes on Early Quilts from Diane MacLeod Shink

Canadian Quilting Expert and Author Diane MacLeod Shink recently attended our War of 1812 Quilt Show Reprise to visit her quilt entry pictured below.  

I thought I would post some comments she shared with us earlier this year on one of her research trips to the Smithsonian.

Dear Lynette

Hope by this time you have my Pillar cot to coffin challenge in hand. I was able to spend time at the Smithsonian last week examining the circa 1800 quilts in their special storage drawers and thought I would pass on a few impressions.

Only one out of three in that era had an applied binding. The blue Copp Quilt I loosely based my challenge quilt on has a knife edge finish joined with a running stitch - I used a whip stitch.

The pinwheel one made while the makers husband was at the 1812 war has a back to front finish and in all cases the 1812 era quilt’s edges are not exactly straight and even.  I chuckled as I was so determined that mine have a straight edge when clearly it was not of great significance to the quilters in the 1812 era.

We need to be cautious about making generalities about quilts in that era. The quilters then used various methods no doubt what they had been taught by others. Someone said black was not available then but that is not true. In explaining my quilt I said that there was no green in it because green dye was not available. When I examined the Copp Quilt there were a few green fabrics, clearly overdyed blue and yellow but never-the-less we do see green fabrics from the 1812 era.    

It is also helpful to keep in mind that the first pattern for a quilt block was printed in Godey’s Ladies Book in 1835 so the patterns used in 1812 were simple designs. 

I am sorry not to be able to attend the exhibit will be thinking of you as I celebrate Quilting Day with a chapter of the Modern Quilters in Boca Raton Florida.

Thanks,

Diane

P.S.  I trust you are aware of the wonderful resources appearing in the Smithsonian quilt collection on the web although neither of the quilts I used for my quilt design are on the site yet.

Copp Family Quilt
about 1815
 This quilt was made by members of the Copp family of Stonington, CT. The more than 150 different pieces of copperplate-printed, block-printed, roller-printed, resist-dyed, woven-patterned, and plain fabrics of cotton, linen, and silk range in date over about a 40 year period. They provide a catalog of clothing and furnishing fabrics available in the late 1700s and early 1800s to the prosperous Copp family, some of whom were in the dry goods business. But while the array of fabrics is extravagant, economy is evident in the use of small, irregularly shaped scraps to compose many of the pattern pieces of the quilt. The lining of the quilt is pieced of mended linen and cotton fabrics that were probably sheets originally.

 

Ladies Workshops for War of 1812 Domestic Arts

Please join me at a day of introductory workshops to War- of-1812-era domestic arts at Ogdensburg’s Dobisky Center Saturday, November 3, starting at 9:00 a.m. Enjoy workshops on chatelaine and bonnet making, a demonstration of English country-dance and readings from letters and diaries written by the women of the day.

            

“We have a full day of activities for the modest cost of $50 to cover lunch, basic materials and honoraria for our experienced workshop leaders,” said Barbara O’Keefe, President of the Fort La Présentation Association.  “Our presenters are Lynette Lundy-Beck from Sackets Harbor, NY and Mardi MacFarlane from Prescott, ON, and George Cherepon from Star Lake, NY, is the dance instructor.”

         

 A chatelaine suspended from the neck or a belt held the tools, such as keys and scissors, a woman may require. Participants should bring items for the chatelaine they will make and take home.



This is the style of Chatelaine you will be making in my workshop.  The brass thread cutter and beeswax amulet on the right side of the photo will be provided along with the chatelaine construction ribbon.  Feel free to bring any special sewing tools you may want to add to your chatelaine along with antique buttons or sentimental bits and pieces to make it unique.  

Participants will cut, paste and sew simple straw hats, supplied by the workshop, into bonnets. They should bring one-and-a-half-yards of fabric, as well as dried-flowers, ribbons, and small decorations to individualize their bonnets, which they will keep.

           

The St. Lawrence Valley English Country-Dance Club will demonstrate and lead participants in period dances. These dances were popular throughout the war and are mentioned in Jane Austen novels and other personal accounts.

               

“Ladies wishing to build on their dance experience are invited to return to the Dobisky Center at 7:00 p.m. for an English country-dance that will include lessons,” said Mrs. O’Keefe. “Dress is casual, and no partner is necessary. However, a number of experienced dancers will attend in period clothing.”  Soft-soled shoes are encouraged. Admission is $5.00

           

Women’s History Day has been planned the Ogdensburg Organizing Committee for the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 whose members are drawn from Forsyth’s Rifles, the Fort La Présentation Association, the Ogdensburg Library and the City of Ogdensburg.

               

The public is invited to register soon since space is limited.   Registration forms and further information is available at gcherepo@slic.com or 315-848-7736.