THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 4, 1996 TAG: 9608310187
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: COASTAL JOURNAL
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: 87 lines
When you visit the Francis Land House this fall, you will be seeing volunteer docents dressed in clothing that has been sewn and styled in just about as authentic a manner as you can get in the 20th century.
Thanks to other volunteers who spend every Thursday afternoon, sewing in the Land house basement, the docents' attire will be hand sewn in a style befitting the old Princess Anne County colonial plantation owner.
Docents won't be dressed in typical ``colonial costume'' but their attire will reflect the style of rural Virginia. For example, that means fabrics won't be as fancy and the women's waists won't be cinched as tightly as you might see in Williamsburg.
The sewing project began because of the need for the Land house to replace the attire worn by its volunteer docents. Many of the sewing volunteers are also part of the Land house flax team that educates the public about the process of growing, harvesting and converting flax into linen cloth.
The women decided it would be a nice idea to show the next step, turning the cloth to clothes, said volunteer seamstress Nancy Marx. In addition to donating their time, the women are donating the materials, too.
``We thought it might be a nice idea to combine everything,'' she said, ``and also let people watch us and ask questions about what we're doing.''
Visitors are welcome anytime between 1 and 4 p.m. on Thursdays through October to watch the seamstresses apply their needles, by hand, in what is becoming a lost art.
You'll learn that no patterns were used in colonial times, only instructions. Size was often adjusted by drawstrings at the neck and waist. Colonialists referred to it as ``inkling.'' For example, women's petticoats, which are called skirts today, were inkled at the waist.
``They were made that way for the child-bearing years,'' Marx explained.
Petticoats also had to be expandable because a woman might wear two or three of them in winter to keep warm. Except for a short jacket, known as a bed gown, there was not much difference between winter and summer clothing.
``It was the layered look,'' Marx said. ``They just kept adding clothes.''
This fall you can watch Marx and friends create bed gowns for the volunteer docents, too.
The women also are making hats, an important piece of attire for both colonial men and women. Hats were worn all the time, inside and out.
``Head covers were used to protect you from soot and dirt,'' Marx said. ``Also if your hair was unclean (which it usually was because folks didn't bathe much then), you didn't want to present that to the public and if it was clean, you wanted to keep it that way!''
As you talk with the seamstresses, you also learn other little facts about colonial clothing. For example, only women of child-bearing years wore aprons with long apron strings. In colonial times toddlers were literally tethered to their mom's apron strings for safety.
``To cut the apron strings,'' Marx said, ``meant you no longer had children to be tied to them.''
All the clothing are in authentic colors, too, Marx went on. Although the cloth has not been hand dyed, they are using colors that match dyes used in colonial days. That day one volunteer wore a vest that was brilliant yellow but no brighter than one that would have come from marigold dye in the 18th century.
The volunteers enjoy sitting around, sewing and talking with each other as women would have done in the 1700s and they also showing off their craft to visitors.
``It's wonderful to be able to talk about sewing,'' Marx said, ``because it's not done much anymore.''
P.S. For those of you interested in stitchery, don't forget the Tidewater Sampler Guild's juried sampler exhibit at the Francis Land House through Oct. 4.
Also coming up at the Francis Land House is ``Take an Olde Stitch'' at 1 p.m. Sept. 14, when members of the guild will teach the queen stitch, the Algerian eye stitch and the basic cross stitch. The fee is $2 and reservations can be made by calling 431-4000.
TAKE A SUNSET CANOE TRIP from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at False Cape State Park. The fee is $5. Participants will meet at Little Island Park in Sandbridge and transportation into False Cape will be provided. Call 426-7128. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know
about Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555.
Enter category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet
address: mbarrow(AT)infi.net. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
Toby Netherton, left to right, Nancy Marx, Martha Danklefs and Sandy
Craig do sewing at the Land House. by CNB