My grandmother was skilled in picking up only one thread with her needle when required. Also, on very fine fabric she would ravel out some of the strands from the weave and then use it as thread. She did this for the hem of the beautiful dress I wore in my sister's wedding many moons ago making the hemming stitches completely invisible. She is the one who taught me hand sewing when I was only four years old.
Threads were removed from the cloth to use for sewing together the garments in many time periods ie: Medieval & Renaissance. That's what I learned in the SCA. Now I see that method spans many centuries!
When my mother wasn't satisfied with the color selection of spooled thread, she would trim the selvage from one side of the cloth and ravel off as many full-length threads as she would need to complete the sewing which would be visible in the finished item.
What impresses me is that thread salvaged in that way could be strong enough to sew up a durable garment! I've occasionally had to do the same with cotton thread unpicked from extant seams or pulled from selvedges (to make colour-matched repairs or alterations) and it seemed to be fairly prone to fraying & snapping? Is it more feasible when using linen rather than cotton...?
One reason why she might not have been able to squeeze 30 gathers into an inch is because linen was woven much more finely back then. In museum examples there are linens that are woven as finely as some of the most fine cottons today, over 120 threads per inch. I’ve never, ever encountered a linen with a wpi that comes even close to that (most I’ve encountered is 75) and it makes sense that with so much more loosely and coarsely woven linen she finds it difficult to replicate that level of fineness.
When I was in the eighth grade I made all my school clothes and my home Economics sewing project was a tailored pantsuit of brushed denim. Cuffs, Lapel, All hidden seaming too. I was taught to sew like a tailor and i was hand sewing quilting squares and little pillows when I was 5 also. I was taught at home at first to sew and to embroider and crochet. I like to make doilies. Being raised by a grandmother has its advantages. All her friends were my playmates🙂. She was born in 1906 and my oldest friend I met when I was 4 my friend until she died was 20 yrs older than granny. I always have a pile of my family’s sewing mostly by hand repairs waiting on me.
Wow! Impressive! I too was taught sewing in 8th grade Home Ec! My mom taught me crewelwork, but being left-handed my grandma couldn't get me into crochet. As for knitting, my only accomplishment was a scarf!
I can smell that sewing room. For whatever reason, sewing rooms always have that same nostalgic scent. Even if you've never been in a sewing room, walk through a craft store's yarn and thread section and you'll get it.
Having watched Bernadette Banner for years, I'm not at all surprised at how long that shirt took to hand sew, especially for someone accustomed to machine sewing. There's a reason that sewing machines became a "must have" item for people of all income levels so quickly once they were invented! It came out nicely though, and was a project to be proud of. Very cool to see that they are using a combination of historical sources and real-life wear tests to improve the design!
In 1935 a Singer 201K was 1/3rd the price of a new Ford car, you could buy it on weekly payment for 10 years. BUT - to give a little more perspective, they are still regarded as one of the best machines in the world and a good one will cost you $500 to $1000 today. So 87 years of work out of your investment. On another note - Im 90 hours into a Victorian Frock Coat and its nowhere near finished...
@@piccalillipit9211 My 1918 Singer treadle machine is basically a tank, and at 104 years old it still works like new, so I agree they were worth the investment, especially in a time when so many people made their own clothes! I spent months combing online ads to find a working machine at a decent price, and it was worth the effort to get my hands on a usable piece of history. With reasonable care, that Singer will probably outlast my modern Husqvarna machine by another 104 years.
I reenact viking/iron age around 10th century in scandinavia. Even if I have used store bought fabrics I have always hand sewn all my garments (the underdress has six double folded seams from cuff to hem). My multi year (/decade) project is to make full garb starting from spinning the yarn. I have just finished warp yarns for a jacket from herjolfsness. I also have most of the weft yarns. I have one finished piece, which is aprondress.
I do the same: I reenact a character from 10th century Northern European “middle rana” of society. It’s absolutely my favorite type of clothing. I also use store-bought fabric. I made a few tablet-woven bands, but I can’t get the hang of that.
That's so cool! You can tell that that they both really care about the processes of every day life in the past, whether it be his cooking or her sewing, and that's a really valuable and understated part of understanding history.
I'm a fiber artist. I scour, card, and comb fleece. I spin it into yarn. I weave the yarn into cloth or knit it. My sewing skills are more elementary. I found this presentation to be one of the most I've enjoyed from this website. I hope you feature this seamstress/sewist more!
I would love to learn to take the sheep wool, clean, card, spin and weave it into cloth... Wool is my favorite fabric, {second is Cotton} and all winter I'd have something to do with myself! Raising sheep for milk & cheese is great, but I'd love to use the wool myself.
This was amazing. Between all the cooking, cleaning, childcare, and other household duties, its mind-boggling that those women found enough hours to sew items like these.
There was a lot of overlap for those things. Sewing one of the shirts could have been done while teaching some of the children how to do it. They could sew a bit while the dough was rising or dinner was stewing. They would be able to sew while spending time and talking with their family and friends. Just a different approach to life.
They had Moore time because they didn't have modern technology constantly demanding attention. How many hours of your day to you spend on your phone or computer?
@@broganmckoko LOL! What they did is focus their time on indoor projects. For instance, repair and maintenance of farming and hunting and fishing gear, sewing, knitting, candle making, food preservation and yeah, reading. It wasn't so much the lack of modern technology; it was the lack of convenience. There was no driving to corner big box store to replenish supplies. In addition to that, they weren't wasting an hour or 2 commuting to and from work.
I once handstitched a basic (very basic) 18th century dress. I didn't follow patterns or stitch guides but based the dress on one in a local museum. It took several weeks. I can only imagine trying to be 100% historically accurate and the time it takes to learn the stitches required. Such a lucky lady to get to work daily with this wonderful group of historians.
Did you ask the museum if they had any information to help you? When you express an interest in someone’s passion often the will be very forthcoming with information to keep it from being lost to time.
@@charlesmckinley29 Actually no. At the time I was a stay at home mom who'd learned Tatting and was getting ready to work a local festival to demonstrate the art. I wanted to know what it was like to hand stitch the dress so I did. I'm sure if given the chance again I'll do much more research and complete my clothing more accurately.
See Jon this is the type of things people are asking about at the Nutmeg Tavern. Great video so much information. Love it, I am very greatful for this. 👍🏻❤
I DEFINITELY want to see more of this kind of stuff! Having Nicole explain the importance of the garments, the logic behind the design, & how we learn (in modern time) the secrets this craft is amazing!
She's a natural in front of the camera. It helps if you know what you're talking about . I sometimes need to make small videos at work and its not as easy as Nicole makes it look
I've ordered two work smocks. They are great. I wear them in the garden. They keep the mosquitoes off better than you would believe. Love them. I like to imagine I'm a great 18th century cropper getting my tobacco futures in order. I'm not, but I like to imagine I am. :-)
@@1775LostOne It keeps them from biting you. Having that extra layer of clothing is enough to keep them from biting. You can really see why field workers used to use them. Why people don't use them today, I have no idea. I think they need a 21st century comeback. The linen work smock is useful.
@@1775LostOne The looseness of the garment and especially the poofy sleeves really help with that! Mosquitoes can't get to you when there's a bunch of air between the fabric and your skin, unlike with our modern mostly skin-tight clothing. (obviously they will still try to bite your head/face/hands if they're exposed though)
It's always strange when some completely unrelated channel like a British medieval reenactor mentions Townsends lol Pretty much every history channel I like has given shoutouts now.
@cerveza Oh yes! Check out their website. You can see all they have. Several of the earlier videos. They are ads for their products. That is how they started doing videos. So are kinda funny too. 😁👍🏻
I still don't know that they're a "big" operation. It's ultimately a family business that happens to have grown into a notable RU-vid and online business as well. Not that this is a bad thing, it's just that it isn't some multi-hundreds of employees business.
A great tutorial about a subject that most of us don't even think about. "Sure, they had workshirts. So what?" Well. there's LOT'S of whats! Just like I learned in the past few minutes!
Second this. I didn't click at first because of the subject but when I did I got drawn in immediately. Just the right amount of information, presented very well as you said. I also love this approach to the refinement process as well. The team puts the clothes on, then get out there and work. What rips/chafes/etc. they fix on the next iteration after researching historical methods to do so.
I've been sewing my entire life, yet hand stitching isn't my forte! THIS shirt would be hard for me! When my Children were born, and young toddlers, I had a stretch & sew easy pattern for overalls\dress and I lived near a company who made track suits. I was able to go and was given Free fabric, as well as the rib knitting for the cuffs and collars of sweat shirts. I made my kids everything they wore for at least the first 4 years of their lives, just from the free fabric & this stretch & sew pattern. Shorts and short sleeves in summer, & long pants with long sleeves in the winter! Back then, with kids & 1 income, THIS was a God Send!! I do wish I could get a New machine now. As my grand kids are now having kids, and this economy is so bad, I'm sure they would love the large amount of clothes I could make using scraps.
You are better off finding one of the old all-metal machines at a thrift store. Almost all of the sewing machine companies have been bought by Chinese holding companies, who care nothing about building a quality product. My "daily driver" is an early 60's Singer. Sews like a dream.
@@heatherngillis Heather, I've been looking & looking! My first machine was my Grandma's old black Singer that didn't knot the stitches, so I would have to go over the the beginning and end of each seem a couple times. I burned that motor up, and got a REALLY good used Singer, and of course it's just worn out! I am able to use the zig zag, but that's it! If I could find THAT same machine without all the hours on it, I'd be the happiest camper on earth! The few I've looked at are VERY cheap... I do way to much to invest 400 bucks {I don't really have} to buy something that's going to break down... perhaps I should try looking up estate sales...
@@heatherngillis agreed! I found 2 lovely old machines (one treadle and one from the 1950's electric) for only $30 for both. Those old machines just can't be beat.
@@dragonslayer7587 One of mine is a 1942 Singer treadle machine, complete with button holer, ruffler, etc. The belt is leather. It even has the booklet on trouble shooting and adjusting it. I learned to sew on it over 60 years ago.
@@tsugima6317 I'm jealous now! That's wonderful! Those Pedal machines were made to sew everything! The old electric singer I got from Grandma didn't knot after the stitches, so I used go back and forth over the seems every 6" or so to keep the kids from ripping them out! The one I've got now is really on its last legs... I wish I could find a pedal machine I could afford! Especially if we lose power. I can make almost anything, as I'm sure you can... Although men's shirt collars are tough. Don't let that machine go! They are truly priceless!
This makes me very happy! Thank you so much. I loved sewing by hand when I was young, and it is slow but relaxing. I'm sure if you also had food to prepare, kids to raise, and gardens to manage it was the one thing easiest to do after dark.
Nicole is a fantastic presenter. Love that she really tried to authentically recreate one of these garments and shared the experience. I can repair my own clothes, but I don't think I could produce something from scratch by hand.
Yes. Doing by actual needle and fingers takes way longer and yes your stitches definitely get better as they go. Sewing 🪡 for a family was a real art in those days that are just way under appreciated these days. Good to know why the hearts and other issues. Linen is definitely a finer detailed shirt than say cotton as the weaves are NOT the same. Thank you for this vid. Would love to see you actually fitting one together for a "family" member with how each adjustments for those bigger or smaller were done. You never know when something like that will come in handy.
The weave structure for linen or cotton may be the same...plain weave, twill, etc ...but the fiber comes from a different source. Linen is made from the flax plant, while cotton comes from the cotton plant. Both are cellulose fibers, but the processing for linen is much more labor intensive.
I was under the impression that cotton did not become available for most people until the middle of the 19th Century. Linen and wool were what most people wore.
Sooo interesting!! As a seamstress of many decades, fiber artist and garment designer, this was very insightful. My sewing machine conked out at the beginning of the pandemic. Wanted to remake some items to keep the creative juices flowing while locked down. Ended up altering and modifying pieces (apparel and home dec) I'd made previously or purchased with no option but to sew by hand. While I somewhat like hand sewing, definitely an eye opening challenge as it tested my limited skills (and patience realizing most would've been a quick fix on the machine).
...sounds to me like you need a 'back-up' machine...or two! LOL (if you check yard sales and flea markets, you can find wonderful vintage machines for less money and they're workhorses)
Thanks, nice video! Very impressive all that hand stitching! Twenty years ago I worked at a living history museum, and still have my pair of 1880's style overalls. My neighbor was a seamstress, and made them from an authentic pattern, and period style cotton. They're still in good shape, and when people ask me about them, these days I just call them my 'Sling Blade' overalls. That always gets a chuckle, and then I explain the history. Oh, and I've had one of your 'market wallets' for years, use it all the time, and only had to make one repair at the opening. It gets a workout, and I appreciate the quality.
61 here! I'm a historical interpreter and want to make my own clothes...eventually. Right now there are 5 year olds who are better seamstresses than I am! lolz. But it's relaxing. I'm looking at Bernadette Banner's RU-vid videos as well.
One of the reasons I love this channel is how infectious the passion everyone shows. Really liked this video. Would love to see how other pieces of clothing, types of stitching, materials, etc, came about this period.
Great video! Enjoyed meeting another member of the team❤️. I’ve been doing almost all my sewing by hand for the last couple of years. I find that I actually “finish” more projects because I don’t have to carve out time to sit at the machine … I can sew when watching tv in the evenings. My speed and skill have increased exponentially as well but I’m pretty sure I still couldn’t get 30 gathers/inch!!! Maybe 20 on a good day.
Perhaps with finer needles and thread thirty is possible? How many threads cross each other per inch when a simple work shirt fabric is put together on the loom?
@@charoleawood between 35 & 45 threads/inch on a medium weight linen. Some really fine, high quality linen might approach 60 threads/inch and 30 stitches would be easier on the higher thread count. Small fine needles do make it easier to take tiny stitches. I use a really tiny needle I think it’s the next to the smallest size available. One thing worth noting is that really high quality needles available to purchase today are not as good as vintage needles. I’m always super excited to find tiny needles at thrift stores because I know they will be good ones.
She's clearly a master and such a pleasant woman with great delivery. Very cool hearing modern craftsmens' thoughts on old methods and industry standards. Bring her back to talk about other projects!
I loved this! I do medieval re-enactment and use mostly linen. I've made gowns totally by hand. Learning how Townsends has researched and made garments was extremely interesting.
Hooray!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳Finally, after many years, a video about the sewing techniques used at the time in common garments!! Yay!!! I know there's a lot of historical costuming channels on youtube, but no-one makes videos with th kind of 'editorial flavour ?' that Townsends do! More of this please Townsend's team! With love from a very long term subscriber! ❤❤
I own several Townsends work shirts made several years ago and they are still holding up exceptionally well. After seeing this video with this young lady and her devotion and love of the craft, I will order more and hope she is my seamstress.
Thanks for giving us these insights into sewing and the making of shirts at Townsends. Anyone who buys a garment now can picture the person and the effort that made them.
Thanks so much for this unique content! I don't doubt the 40-hour schedule, especially for someone unaccustomed to it. When I hand-quilted my first quilt I went from painfully slow to maybe twice as fast. I wonder if Bernadette Banner (who does loads of hand-work) could shed more light on the amount of time needed to hand-stitch garments, as she filmed herself making a "pirate shirt" a couple of years ago?
I was thinking the same thing about the gather count on the cuffs. Bernadette has a book on hand sewing that might shed some light on it as well. Wonderful video! I enjoy hand-sewing and find it relaxing. I’ve concentrated on Victorian clothing. But in the end, a seam is a seam!
When someone on a video mentions that something took forever, I guess we don't really get an idea of what they mean. It is telling though that these days Bernadette is using a period machine. Clearly we're all spoiled by machines :)
I love these deep dives into such typical things that were such big parts of life not too long ago. It’s what makes your videos so great and why I now feel like I need one of your work shirts.
And before you could even start on the 50 hours of hand-sewing the shirt, the raw cotton or flax fibres had to be spun and woven. During the 18th century you had early-industrial advances like the spinning jenny and the flying shuttle but before that it was a full-time job for many women just to keep their families clothed.
I have been sewing for over 50 years. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to see Townsends do this video. I love it so much and appreciate it so much. Thank you!
I loved this, thank you so much for giving us the inside info. I know sewing is a art form that is almost long forgotten by the masses so I enjoyed this!
As a seamstress, this was so interesting. No wonder young girls were taught stitchery skills early on. That was an extremely important ability. Thanks for sharing. I love Townsend videos.
A fantastic video! I have hand-sewed a work shirt very similar to the one highlighted here and it is indeed humbling. It's nice to know that the original makers had 40 hours in the garments (mine took MUCH longer to make). As a longtime (20+ years) customer of Jas. Townsends, I appreciate how the company has grown, both in its offerings of wares, but also in its commitment to research and education. (Please post more videos with this presenter. Her passion for her craft is infectious and inspiring.)
It’s cool to see experiential learning applied on so many levels - not only the practice of making the cabin, but using THAT process to experiment with the practicality of the clothing.
I really enjoyed this. Thank you. I will look through the channel for more fiber arts videos- from crochet to knitting with weaving being my current fascination, I love fiber arts!
Agree, sewing for my family is so relaxing and freeing. Don't have to sell my youth to some faceless globocorp. Just happily raise my family at home, I homeschool my children using good materials, teaching them so many good things. I wish other women could enjoy this luxury like me
It is amazing to see how much research and effort is being put into these products. Especially the fact that you wanted to see if you could do the handsewing. If you are up for it, I would love to see a time period video in which you make such a shirt the way it was done by hand. But let's stick with the working class shirt then 😅
Very interesting I hope we can see more videos like this. I really like to see how much skill and care goes into the awesome products they have to offer. Not just some cheep Chinese stuff but hand made American products from a true family small business. We need to support more business like this. I bought some candle holders from them and they give such a fantastic look to my office.
Sewing content! Sewing content!! I'm so excited!! The shirt looks super good. When I handsewed one I definitely didn't do 30 gathers per inch, more like 5 or so. Thank you so much for the research, now I know what I can do better next time. And I definitely feel like I'll sew another one because that heart shaped patch is so cute and I need one!!
I would have liked to see the side seams. Did you flat fell them? I've made this shirt before. Nice that you did make one completely by hand, it does make you appreciate what seamstresses had to do in the past to make all garments.
Its a pleasure to see some of the work spaces, particularly since I was able to order a cape there awhile back, so it makes it just a bit more special :)
I love all of the amazing videos by John, so don't even think for a moment on cutting back on those, but this has been a very informative and interesting video, especially where we are having a modern professional talking about the requirements of the shirt, and what she found difficult. It was akin to learning that NASA has astronaut outfits hand sewn. Thanks so much for this!
This was an excellent video! I had no idea the work women did sewing all the clothes for themselves and their families. I mean, I knew it was a lot of work, but that's really a lot of work. I enjoyed learning the reason that you guys worked to improve the quality of the work shirt because of the guys wearing the shirts while building the cabin. Also, Nicole is an excellent presenter! She certainly deserves kudos. As always, the production values are top notch!
Also, imagine the person who had to grow, clean, card and spin, then weave the cloth before ever cutting and sewing the garment! That's a full time job. I'm a spinner of wool but have never woven any cloth for garments... that's for another time!
This is an incredible inside look into Townsends. Love the video and the information is so detailed and the presentation was so professional. She was amazing!
Wow what a fabulous job you have!! I've been sewing my whole life too and have made a few period pieces. Some by hand and some by machine. It can be challenging and so fun to figure it out! Thank you for the video!!!
What a hidden gem. You said your name so fast I did not catch it... Nichole Curren was what I heard. Jon, as much as Ryan, Arron and Brandon mean to us, you need to have her on more. God Bless and stay safe.
So amazing. This is a classic case of " If you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life" It must be so cool to be a part of this endeavor Best wishes
I would enjoy more of this type of content. Nicole has a straightforward way of explaining things. History of clothing would be very interesting, I think.
Fantastic video, could do with more exploring this aspect of history by explaining the garments, showing them, then what other clothes they developed from, and so on :)
Thank you so much for this video, I found it super informative. It was fun to see not only a little glimpse of the behind the scenes operation but to have someone that experienced in a more modern style of sewing explain just how much work went into something that was so common.
Fantastic! As much as I love the cooking and project videos, would love to see more from the team who makes your products! Proud to have my whole parade unit outfitted by Townsends!
What a wonderful addition to the Townsends catalogue of RU-vid videos. The young lady who's narrating is a wonder example of employees of your great company. Well spoken, knowledgeable and easy on the eyes. John, you did your company a good thing by hiring her and putting her in this video. Now, make a vid with your barkeep. Thumbs up for all you've done to make American history come alive. God bless.
