Dressing up a middle class lass, circa 1850s
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- čas přidán 1. 07. 2021
- as requested, a video on what working class woman would wear - the posh 1850 coming up soon though!
Hope you like it :-)
if you want to support me, you can now buy me a coffee!
www.buymeacoffee.com/priorattire
Credits
Costumes and presentation
www.priorattire.co.uk
Caps and nets:
www.sallypointer.com
shoes:
www.americanduchess.com
Photography:
www.timelightphotographic.com
Location
www.audries-park.co.uk
Music:
Chris Green,
www.chrissgreenmusic.co.uk - Jak na to + styl
Hello. I am korean women. I have been interested in western fashion history. Even if I dont understand exactly what you saying, your video is very interesting and helpful.^^
안녕! If you have Facebook, you could join the '19th century sewing' group. There are many people from all over the world who share their creations 😄😄
@@silvananivis9867 link please? 🤩
@@kaylahall1219 hope this works: facebook.com/groups/1773731902880238/
Korean traditional garb is amazing and beautiful in its own right!
crows eye production on youtube also has some great western historical clothing and modern history on youtube covers a lot of western medieval history from armor to weaponry to day to day.
OH! As much as I enjoy looking at the fancy clothing of the rich, with their luxurious fabrics and laces and so on, I must admit to me the dresses of the middle or lower class are more interesting. These are the people who kept the countries running with all their hard work, so... The colour of this dress is so nice, and the details are so interesting, thank you!
I’d love to see working class, late 1880s!
She has posted an 1880s maid
@@kalebpetrosyan5774 yes, I’m talking about working class. Like what one of Jack the Ripper’s victims would’ve wore. (Defiantly not obsessed with Jack the Ripper, btw 😉)
Think same thing but second hand if it weren't a uniform.
Yes!
A middle class dress like this would be a fantastic project for people like me, newer sewists with a limited budget. A cotton dress that doesn't require a tailored close fitting bodice seems like a mountain that I can climb without a lot of tears or bloodshed lol. And I love the Sontag, the waist ties from the back are genius!
As a fashion history nerd I am delighted to learn the name of that style of shawl - a Sontag! I always enjoy your videos.
I have always wondered on the name as well. Finally, I now know.
Another masterpiece....
I have also heard it called a heart-warmer shawl or danish tie shawl. But when looking for knitting patterns, sontag definitely brings the most results
@@rebeccawayman4219 vv
That’s funny because in German “Sonntag” means Sunday
I love how despite the dress being too big, it's not that much of a problem and you can still make it work and get the fashionable silhouette. So versatile!
I live in an 1820 house in the US South. Heated by fireplaces and a couple gas space heaters. I need a quilted petticoat and knitted sleeves, and a Sontag! Those clothes are brilliant for cold weather.
An 1820 house would be so cool to live in!
Yes!! More working class! As much as I love the ball gowns, I can't wear them to work vs the working women's clothing would even blend into what everyone wears especially at my place of work.
Where do you work?
Yes. Where do you work and are they hiring?😂
@@verdantfaerie4409 in a sewing production factory. I do belive soonish my boss is looking for another seamstress, she keeps making comments, but first we need a lazer cutter who sticks around for longer than their 90 days. We do have a new cutter but they are only on week 1.
I love the “middle class” videos. I hadn’t understood how those knit shawl garments worked, staying snug.
Working class clothing is such a great topic. As a Central/Northern European, I'm always bewildered by the lack of folkloristic dress in modern day England. Therefore, I would like to learn when the lower classes in England started phasing out their regional dress styles (if there were any) and whether you can point out certain areas that were more traditional than others in terms of dress and attire.
You should check out John Styles' The Dress of the People. It focuses on 18th century English dress, including regional variation that sometimes developed into folk dress.
Michael was, I too am baffled why the English have no folk costume. Even the Welsh one is a relatively recent invention. I've wondered if it's something to do with the industrial revolution hitting here first and the break from the country being so brutal for a large number, but then here in the West Country where I am and it didn't we still don't have anything. We have songs,dances,funny country customs but no costume. Was it Oliver Cromwell? With the burning of maypoles and destruction of" merrye olde England" ? Or was it earlier when Henry split from Rome Rome and all the saints days and feast days were lost,along with the religious practices of charity after death saving a person from pergatory and clothes being passed on to others as a charity no longer having a significance? Or a bit of it all? I don't know and you're the first other person I've heard ponder it. Any ideas as an outsider?
@@angryhistoryguy5657 Thanks for the suggestion. Let's see whether I can get hold of it in Sweden...
@@goodwifelucy5602 You are asking the right questions, no doubt! Let's hope that @priorattire has the answers to them ...
A lot of regional stuff was lost during the industrial revolution, when people were forcefully mixed together through mass-migration from the countryside to the towns, deep rural areas probably held onto their traditions longer than others.
I do love the lower class stuff. As much as I love the upper class clothing, the lower class stuff just holds up to being worn for a long time, day in and out, and then thrown in the wash.
Most poor people would dress in linen and wool. Wool wasn't 'washed' since it doesn't get stained nor chatch odours. They only beated it. As for linen, it doesn't get semlls as well, so they only needed to wash linens once every two weeks, usually just before going to mass in order to look clean for the Lord.
@@escaramujo in the 19th century, most poor people wore cotton for dirty work and daily wear, expressly because it was cheap (substantially cheaper than wool or linen) and can hold up to washing well. The vast majority of existing working class women’s garments, in the city and in rural areas (at the very least in North America and the UK) are one piece printed cotton dresses. Wool does stain over time, Just because it’s resistant to it doesn’t mean it’s impossible, and there are jobs where things get too dirty to just be beaten or aired out.
@@caissafrass6631 Excuseme, but linen was more affordable in the rural of the whole of Europe since it was planted by the very people that wove and wore them. Don't compare town people with no land of their own, or USA, with Europe, where linen was majority in the rural until WWI, please. And I don't know why you say wool gets stained when it doesn't. You beat it or brush it and everything leaves it. It's like staining human hair, not that easy without chemicals.
@@escaramujo wool absolutely can be stained by blood, by sweat over long periods of time, and certainly by food items, especially if it’s a twill or a stuff and not a woolen. A stain is not the same as dyeing, it’s possible to get dirt and such quite stuck in the weave without having to actually change the color of the fibers themselves. Not to mention that a stain is not the only thing that requires washing. Wool, like human hair, can pick up odors or become permeated enough with contaminants that it needs to actually be washed, not just beaten, and wool does poorly with washing. Which is why, historically, there’s always a layer of clothing between the skin and a wool layer - because it’s not washable, and it can in fact be damaged, stained or get an odor by proximity with the skin, dirt and oils. Now, on to the idea that in rural Europe linen was always less expensive. First of all, in saying “don’t compare the USA” or “people in cities/with no land of their own” is ignoring a large portion of the lower class of the 19th century in order to serve your argument. The working class of the 19th century was made up by a lot more than only rural continental Europeans, so if we are to talk about the working classes generally we absolutely should include people in the USA, UK, and who lived in farming towns and larger cities. Most of the population was working class. Second, Europe is a big place, and there are a lot of different crops that grow there. Do you assume that all, or even most people grew linen? Or that most linen was still processed and spun within the place it was grown after the industrial revolution? If you’re talking about Eastern Europe, maybe! I wouldn’t know, it’s not an area I’ve ever studied. But that’s not even remotely true in the Germany (which has a similar material breakdown to the USA and UK in extant garments, by the way), in France (although it is a special case for the first part of the century because of the strict Napoleonic tariffs on cottons and other non-French fabrics), in Austria, Switzerland, and to a lesser extent in the lowlands, Iberia and Scandinavia. Europe industrialized fast, and while you're likely right in the early part of the century, even rural areas became rapidly less regionally locked and relied more on industry as the years marched on. The change in fabric use, of course, becomes increasingly exaggerated as the European empires take more and more of Africa, which meant they could obtain the raw materials within their own territory. Cotton was certainly more expensive in continental Europe as a whole than in the UK and in the Americas, but it was still cheaper to get cotton clothing than linen or wool. Figured and printed cottons had been cheaper than equivalent linens since the end of the 18th century, partially because printing a linen is more costly and difficult, and wool has never been a particularly cheap fabric. I’m sure that there were regions of Europe where wearing wool and linen would be less expensive, but as a whole cotton was the fabric of the working classes.
@@escaramujo also, there are kinds of work, even work that women did, in both urban and rural settings that included chemicals like bleach and tanning solutions that would absolutely stain or ruin wool. “Chemicals” are not an invention of the 20th century, and rural work is not completely confined to working a field.
I do suspect we’re talking about different populations, but I do want to reiterate that it’s incorrect to think about the lower class as only the most rural of the rural. I think that you’re probably right, if you’re talking about very rural continental europeans, but this video and OP’s comment is about the lower and middle class as a whole. That includes people who live in towns, big and small, who live in cities, who live in the Americans and who in the British isles. In fact I’d venture to say that the people who don’t fit your extremely narrow definition are the majority of the working classes, and their behaviors and material history and just as important and relevant as the very rural Europeans you’re talking about.
Now that was a rabbit hole I didn't expect when I woke up this morning.
I began with trying to find a pattern for a crochet Sontag which led me to a Google Books copy of Peterson's Magazine. I found the pattern and another for a lovely Zephyr shawl. Along the way, I read a wonderfully romantic story about a woman who was married against her will at her mother's deathbed. An hour later and I am back to writing this comment.
I am always learning something when I watch your videos. Thanks! 😊
What a long, strange trip that's been.
What book?
@@kaylahall1219 It's a short story. Google "Peterson's Magazine September 1866" and look for the Google Books link. It's on page 182 and is called "Married without Love". I found my link through Ravelry's pattern "Crossing Sontag in Tricot" by Jane Weaver which has several months of Peterson's in one ebook.
Prior attire is such a clever name!
I love these videos! My Grannie was born in 1889, so I guess this is what her Grannie would have worn! You really bring history to life - thank you!
Your point about the corset being great for working in a kitchen all day because of lower back support is great! I invested a little bit into a few corsets that are decently made and comfortable and I wear one to work every day. I’m in a kitchen and while the extra layer can be warm when it gets above 30C, it is well worth it not to have extreme back pain every evening!
I think the good, steel boned corsets we have now are very comfortable, I keep telling myself a corset is like a pair of shoes. After a while they work with your body, it just feels so much more comfortable 😀
Hi,thanks for showing what a woman of more modest means would wear, all the beautiful dresses are fabulous but the realate is most likely we would all be wearing something like this not the posher stuff.💖
I love this video. I like seeing what working women would have worn. None of my ancestors would have been wealthy or probably more than lower middle class at best. Samantha Bullat did a great video on Regency clothes for a working woman.
“I can’t see because of my boobs.”
This is my life.
This video has convinced me that I need to knit a sontag!
same, I've been looking at knitted examples of godey's pattern and they're all so lovely! I totally need to knit a sontag and a sortie cap for everyday use
This is exactly how I'd want to dress in historical clothing if I had money and patience 😄 The upmarket recreations are beautiful, but I come from centuries of common working people and would want to pay tribute to them. Because they undoubtedly looked at wealthier women in their fancy robes, I'd obviously need to have a couple of those, because my ancestors would never have had the chance 😁
Pretty and practical for a working lady
Trying to do alliteration, are you?
@@Pharaoh_Tutankhamen just commenting good sir
@@ximena15367 What other wisdom do you have?
@@Pharaoh_Tutankhamen The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.
-Albert Einstein
@@ximena15367 This strikes close to home
New viewer here. I've been enjoying all these demonstrations of historical fashion. I think most fans of period dramas are all secretly asking "How the heck did they ____?" I know I do, lol. I remember an interview of an English actress who explained all the layers of her period costume & the interviewer was amazed. When I saw the behind-the-scenes footage even I was gobsmacked at what was underneath. But it really does add to the "drama" and I think that's why I love watching them. Currently I'm into the 1860s - 1880s era. Thank you for your content & I can't wait to catch up on the rest.
I love the videos where you explain the garments and chat as you go! (As opposed to music playing over the whole thing.) I also love seeing more working class outfits.
I agree! I love when she narrates! And seeing outfits from all classes is very interesting.
I’d watched this video once before, and I’m coming back to it because I just found out that the living history museum I’m about to start volunteering at (in costume) has narrowed it’s time period from the 19th century with a couple decades on each end to the 1850s. Good luck? Fate? Who knows, but thanks for the preview
Sontag. I've learned a new word today. I can't wait to use it in a casual conversation!
in german you can use it every week ;)
@@marastuff9256 hahaha
...that hairnet looks exactly like a beanie hat I had in the 90s.
Loved this! The fancy dresses are wonderful of course, but sometimes you just want something simple and comfy to wear.
You look just as fetching in middle- /working class clothing, as you do in clothing of women of the upper class. Love how your skin is covered with freckles...like you've been sprinkled with stardust ❤.
Just loved this,so interesting to see what ordinary people of the era would be wearing.I love that knitting and crochet work are being shown.🧶❤️🙏
Actually prefer the landscape videography. I'm actually watching this on the tv! Good to see details more clearly too than having to have my phone 5cm from my nose 😂 cheers!
The sontag is especially nice!
I've been looking at the clothes of pit brow women of Wigan coal field, fascinating stuff - they frequently wore trousers!
I was just investigating Bal Maiden's clothing. I'm doing a project on mines local to me so it caught my interest. I so far haven't seen anyone wearing trousers though but there's an amazing amount of white for such a dirty job.
Feels like I've been whisked away in a time machine watching Izabel dress/undress. Her vids have no items that you wouldn't have seen in the era she depicts. Kinda magical, really. Thanks again, Prior Attire.
I think that dress is so flattering. Love it! The crocheted cap is adorable.
"You can't go flashing your forearms" 😂
I loved this so much, I'm always curious about what fashion looked like for people who weren't rich
Absolutely agree! I am much more interested in what my ancestors would have worn, than what they would have dreamt of someday wearing!
I get so excited every time I see you post something new. Thank you for sharing with us!
Interesting how the underthings (shift, corset, petticoats) resemble many forms of folkwear, which is often a dressed-up version of peasant woeking dress.
I'm guessing that in hot weather, countrywomen would strip down to the minimum layers required for comfort and freedom of movement, while preserving modesty.
I’m not a sure about Victorian era, but before that a country woman in the summer would just wear a shift, Stays, and skirt. This was considered normal for everyday wear so your predictions are right
I love this one more than the upper class outfits. It looks warm, comfortable, practical. Very pretty! Well-made. You can be versatile with shawls, hats, etc. I love it!
I love your video, I recognize some words in french, corset, bavolet ;). The last piece in wool, we call it a "cache coeur"
I'm happy you are doing voice overs with your vids so much more added
Oh look! Something I can knit!🧶
Wonderful! That's my jam! Lower to lower middle class 1850's-1860's rural farm wife!!! Thank you so much for this video! I DO like my corded petticoat, tho. ;-) lol
This yellow dress looks simply delightful on you! I never knew about sontags! Looks like something easily crochetable. Must look up a pattern.
Pattern and instructions are in my latest book
Finally, with the knitted armwarmers and the knitted shawl that ties in the back (brilliant!) something from your videos that I can make! Thanks for showing the clothing of the middle and lower classes. Very few could afford the velvets and silks, or the maid servants to help them dress.
It's so facinating to me, all the practical techniques used
Lovely dress! I miss your little hops yuo used to do to get your petticoats settled. lol
Lovely as always. I hope you are having a good season, and things are returning to normal there. Good to see you again.
If loving cartridge pleating makes me a nerd I don't want to ever be cool.
Thank you for doing and posting this video! So interesting!
I have a personal interest in this era of clothing. My Grampa’s grandparents and their 2y.o. came over from Germany to Philadelphia, U.S. in 1848. My Gramma’s grandparents came over separately from different parts of Ireland to Philadelphia in 1838.
I like the hand-crocheted shamrock edging on the chemise’s sleeves and neckline.
I love hearing little bits of family history! Thank you☺️ I’m wondering about your Irish family if you care to share. Do you know if the time they decided to move here was near the time of the famine? That experience has always interested me as someone with Irish heritage. It’s very tragic.
@@planningtolive_thebestlife453 …. I wish I knew more than what I do. Margaret Valentine came over first with her brother. She was 17, I think. George Johnson arrived in Philadelphia several months later. He was baptized in Dublin. I don’t know if they met in Philly, or were sweethearts before their journeys. They married in Philly and had many children. 3 of their sons fought with the Union army. One was a POW, who survived the war but died of dysentery in the camp he went to after being released. Their daughter Maria and her husband Purlee(spelling varies) were my Gramma’s grandparents.
I have not taken the time to do more research. My Dad said that the family had travelled to Scotland and back to Ireland at some point before coming to America.
I had wondered if the Potato Famine was a reason for their journey. I did a quick reading at Wikipedia, but that has been it. I need to.
My focus has been finding where the different branches of my Dad’s side of my family tree travelled from before settling in the Philadelphia.
@@amethystanne4586 wow! What an interesting family history! I personally haven’t done much research into my own history but my mom was/is very into that and did a lot of research on ancestry.com into her side and my fathers side of the family. My moms side’s earliest arrival here in North America was on the mayflower. I forget their names but you don’t forget mayflower lol! They were English of some variety. Not sure. I think all totaled my siblings and I have heritage from 16 European countries. Mostly western but a few eastern thrown in there. It was pretty interesting to learn about.
Wow, that's neat! How old are you if you don't mind me asking?
@@planningtolive_thebestlife453 that is so cool! I do the family research through ancestry also. 16 countries is an interesting family lineage. …. Gotta say it again “that is so cool!” 😁.
I haven’t counted up the countries of origin. …..ah, umm. On Dad’s side, Eidelsheim and Karlsruhe Germany(1948), Ireland(1838), the Harvey’s were Quakers emigrated from Wolverhampton England(south east of Birmingham) previous to 1700, and one group I can’t go back further(there were 2 Lena’s LastName in Philly at the same time).
On Mom’s side, 3/4ths of the tree were from Holland. The 4th main branch, we cannot find the father of Grampa’s grandfather. Mom found Abner listed in 2 locations for the 1870(?) U..S. Census. We knew it was him because he was the only Abner Hart in the county who could not read or write. He was in 1 place on the 1st day of the Census, and in the other place on the 3rd (and last day) the Census was taken.
i saw this hair net's pattern on pinterest and i found it adorable i really wanted to give it a try
today i learned what a sonntag is and my poor characters will definitely be wearing them from now on.
Sonntag is also German for Sunday...just clicked. Makes sense...nice outerwear for church
Looking very elegant, I actually think you could get just about anything done in that dress, and not be cold.
That's where my cute arm warmers I wear now originated from!? Holy Moley.
Thank you for this. I live in Sacramento, California. The area of the 1849 American Gold Rush. We have a great group of reenactors at Sutter's Fort and Old Sacramento who dress in this era. I have been asked to join several times but I'm always hesitant just because it gets quite hot here.
Its great to see everyday looks of the lower classes ! thank you !
PriorAttire confusing ghosts for decades! Lol
Love this channel. Relaxation with a bit of education thrown in.
I love all your outfits but this is the first 19th century dress I could imagine myself wearing. So lovely and looks so comfortable. (The hat by Sally Pointer also!)
The cut of my bunad is based on a wedding dress from the 1840s or early 1850s, and like the dress shown here, it has a dogleg closure, with the bodice closing in the centre front and the skirt in the side front.
yesss! i love 1850s-1860s fashion, it's my favorite of the Victorian decades! i hope you do lots more of this time period c:
"Protection for the back of the neck" ... yep, this is one thing which the French had over the Brits with their helmets, because they added a piece of cloth to the back of their "chapeaus" (no idea how the little straight hats are called exactly) while the pith helmets of the british didnt have anything of the sort. Both fail to protect the sides though (no matter if you take the military pith helmet or the "explorer" version with the brim).
Aren't the straight little hats French soldiers wore called képis?
Made me think of Elizabeth gaskell 's north and south, were one of the characters speaks about cotton , that no one wants to wear...
Who would want to wear a fabric that gets odours easily, gets damped and deteriorates at a rate that a piece wouldn't last for two years straight? XDD
Why am I not surprised that you know Sally Pointer?
I love how so many of you excellent ladies are acquainted :D
Just realized...Sonntag is German for Sunday (or very close). Well, nice footwear for churxh...
Indeed it is.
Originally more elaborate types were worn on sunday's. So the name kinda stuck. At least here in Germany. ;)
"Flashing your forearms" lol, you ARE a nerd, Isobel! 🤗😍
Thank you for showing how an average woman dressed in an era. I get tired of seeing dresses that emulate the uber rich of an era. It gives a warped view of the period. And come on, during past epochs 95% of the women never dreamed of having or in some cases were not allowed to use the fabrics of the rich.
This style of fashion was only for city women. Majority of women lived in the rural, and they didn't wear dresses, just skirts over their tunics.
I’ve seen a few pictures of my ancestor ladies wearing an attire like this and wondered how the dresses were Poofy.
This is exactly what I wanted to see today!
I’m so glad to have a full screen video.
Absolutely enjoyed watching this video as always Izabella !! Very interesting and I do learn all the time. Really love those dresses and it would be nice to see them again.
I really enjoyed seeing this. Thankyou for posting.
This is my favourite aesthetic - thank you!!
The colour of the dress is so lovely
Your videos never disappoint!
Wonderful video. I love the commentary. So insightful. I love learning what my ancestors wore. Thank you.
The pleating, oh my lord!
I love to see what the different classes would wear. The color of the dress is warm and lovely. Looking forward to the posh vid! :)
Absolutely fascinating! I love it.
I just love your video’s, and look forward to each new one. 😃
I could think of wearing something similar still to this day..
Really brings the period to life, thank you!
Thanks for narrating and giving all the info for an everyday, middle-class woman. Also, the wide-shot looks well!
wonderful! This was great to see
I just started my sontag tonight. I’m really glad you posted this video so I could find out about the sontag.
This is wonderful! Thank you!
Thank you. This was a lovely description. I've seen similar accessories in modern fashions with no way to attach them to keep them in place like I see here.
I love this siluette! I loved the little house on the praire this is my favorite everyday siluett
Beautiful as always! It can't be as comfortable as it looks. I'm jealous of the knitted criss cross and the corset!
Thank you for sharing..... delightful!! Ax
The dress has beautiful details. Thanks for sharing.
That was fantastic! I say bring back knitted sleeves and sontags!
That was cool and interesting ! I want more videos about lower classes clothing !
I really like your videos, I watched all of them , you have thumbs up in your videos of me, for sure. ¡Excelente trabajo!
What a beautiful fabric!💫 So bright! I also like the pattern on it; almost looks like grapes🍇
Just in time for Pioneer day, 1847, Utah holiday. Look it up! 😁👍💕
Fascinating!
This was great, thank you
I am so glad I found you. Haven't seen you on u tube in a long time. Love your videos❤
I post regularly twice a month….
Im on here every night. How do I miss you ?
@@catherineluthultz5494 the algorithm does some really annoying things. I've missed quite a few videos from creators I'm subscribed to recently
I am a very big fan this channel