Made by Hand: The Art and Craft of Apparel
How many t-shirts do you own? How many pairs of jeans? Dresses? Pairs of shoes? If you find this difficult to answer without going to your closet to physically count each of these, you are in the company of many people. Clothing is infinitely more affordable and accessible today than it was in the past so we tend to have more of it now than people did when the hand-production of cloth and garments made clothing less accessible and more precious.
If you would like to visualize exactly why early apparel was so valued, then you should have the opportunity to watch Peter and Linda Oakley as they hand-make shoes and clothing. This weekend they will be demonstrating the art and craft behind apparel of the early 19th century. I recently asked them how they got started doing this interesting work.
What first interested you in history?
Linda: I have always loved reading; we had a book series (it came with the Encyclopedia) that included biographies, and those were the stories with which I grew up. I read historical biographies/fiction as an adult; Georgette Heyer novels included fantastic descriptions of Empire fashions! At Old Sturbridge Village, all of these interests converged. Now, when I am teaching my students Language Arts, I incorporate history into the lessons. Even in Computer class, we can talk about Babbage, Lovelace, and Jacquard!
Peter: I have been interested in history since I was a kid. I probably got it from my dad, who read and talked about history all of the time.
What do you enjoy most about making shoes/dressmaking?
Linda: The challenge of creating a 3-dimensional object from an essentially 2-dimensional material; making clothes I can wear that I could not buy; teaching the history of fashion and how it cycles; encouraging others to sew and create as well. Oh, and hand sewing can be done anywhere - I remember doing my tailoring samples while watching baseball games….
Peter: I like working with my hands, and I find it satisfying to make something that looks just like an original. It’s rather like being able to touch history, replicating methods that were once common.
Tell me how you developed your interests in doing this.
Linda: I made Barbie clothes and stuffed dolls as a child, by hand, until I took machine sewing lessons at Singer and the local YWCA. All through high school, I made many of my clothes, especially new skirts, etc., for the weekend dances. I wore a very “interesting” outfit for the Bicentenary, but by the time I began to work at Old Sturbridge Village, I was more historically accurate. While student teaching in England, I was introduced to the real world of historic clothing/costume by Mrs. Jordan, one of my cooperating teachers. I collected fashion prints, developed a lesson based on costume postcards from the Victoria and Albert Museum, and finally, after meeting my husband-to-be, began to sew up an historic wardrobe for the many time periods we reenact. Then it was a wardrobe for our daughter - her clothes sometime go out on loan to girls who need 18th or 19th C clothes for class projects.
Peter: My love of history got me involved in historical re-enacting, and, through the influence of friends, I started thinking about working in the Living History field. Working at Old Sturbridge Village gave me the chance to recreate objects and then to develop patterns from the originals.
Can you describe what you have done/how long you have worked to develop these specialized skills?
Linda: Sewing skills have developed over much of my life, though I have to credit Jane Nylander for inspiring me to look at originals and model their stitches. Patternmaking has been the biggest challenge, but even in high school I tried to make more avant-garde clothes from existing patterns (no Mary Quant, for sure). Working with drawings of original pieces, patterns in books, and a few patterns on loan from other costume fanatics/friends, I manage to make the costume pieces I need for particular time periods. Luckily, now that we are doing 1940s Britain, there are copies of or original paper patterns available! In sizes!! My mother taught me to embroider pillow cases, so now I am re-teaching myself crewel.
Peter: I have been making shoes since 1980. When recreating old construction methods that haven’t been used for decades, or even centuries, you are constantly learning, re-learning, developing your skills. Sometimes you suddenly discover a better or easier way of doing a process, and you then wonder why it took so long to learn this.
On Saturday October 1, 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. see Peter Oakley, shoemaker & Linda Oakley, dressmaker at Historic Deerfield.