Post by brass on Nov 10, 2011 4:53:06 GMT -5
Fellows,
Has been kinda slow on this forum so am posting something about overalls I made for my commercial hunter impression, hopefully is of interest.
Brown canvas duck ‘overall’ bottoms I made from modified Chas. Childs trouser pattern (with repro hard rubber buttons from Blockade Runner), I use these for old west era commercial buffalo hunter living history activities. References from 1876-78 in F. E. Conrad cashbooks and ledgers (of the G.& B. Robertson Collection) show that overalls were sold to buffalo hunters through his merchant activities. Overalls references are also found in several reminisces and diaries of commercial hunters of the 1870s as items of purchase (per Encyclopedia of Buffalo Hunters and Skinners Volumes I & II, 2003 & 2006 respectively, by M. Gilbert, and Getting a Stand also by M. Gilbert, 1996). Construction inspiration for these reproduction civilian overalls is from illustrations of 1872 pattern overalls bottoms for mounted troops page 74, The U.S. Army in the West 1870-1880 by D. McChristian, 1995 and page 141, The Horse Soldier, 1776-1943 Vol II by R. Steffen, 1992. It is assumed that commercially available overalls (bottoms) resembled their military equivalents in general appearance/construction. One period photograph I found of a c1860s-70s miner on page 67, The American Frontier by W. Davis, 1999, clearly shows overall bottoms with one button crotch, one button waist band construction similar the reproductions above. ‘Overalls’, as perhaps a general term in Victorian era usage, captures several types of over-sized, loose-fitting heavy cotton garments to be worn over one’s clothing to protect it from being soiled or otherwise damaged. My limited research indicates that overalls can include canvas tops & bottoms separately, one-piece items that can be referred to as ‘jumpers’, and aprons. The terminology of these items being generically labeled as ‘overalls’ is supported by their grouping as such in both the 1895 Montgomery Ward (page 269) and 1897 Sears & Roebuck (page 178) catalogs, though only ‘overalls’ and ‘jumpers’ are listed for sale on page 39 under ‘Clothing’, less any apron or specific tops/bottoms references, in the 1875 Spring & Summer Montgomery Ward catalog where such were offered in brown duck, unbleached duck, and blue denim. The term ‘overalls’, therefore, can lead to uncertainty in period written references as to what type of ‘overall’ is being referred to; a one-piece type or bottoms only, for example.
G
Has been kinda slow on this forum so am posting something about overalls I made for my commercial hunter impression, hopefully is of interest.
Brown canvas duck ‘overall’ bottoms I made from modified Chas. Childs trouser pattern (with repro hard rubber buttons from Blockade Runner), I use these for old west era commercial buffalo hunter living history activities. References from 1876-78 in F. E. Conrad cashbooks and ledgers (of the G.& B. Robertson Collection) show that overalls were sold to buffalo hunters through his merchant activities. Overalls references are also found in several reminisces and diaries of commercial hunters of the 1870s as items of purchase (per Encyclopedia of Buffalo Hunters and Skinners Volumes I & II, 2003 & 2006 respectively, by M. Gilbert, and Getting a Stand also by M. Gilbert, 1996). Construction inspiration for these reproduction civilian overalls is from illustrations of 1872 pattern overalls bottoms for mounted troops page 74, The U.S. Army in the West 1870-1880 by D. McChristian, 1995 and page 141, The Horse Soldier, 1776-1943 Vol II by R. Steffen, 1992. It is assumed that commercially available overalls (bottoms) resembled their military equivalents in general appearance/construction. One period photograph I found of a c1860s-70s miner on page 67, The American Frontier by W. Davis, 1999, clearly shows overall bottoms with one button crotch, one button waist band construction similar the reproductions above. ‘Overalls’, as perhaps a general term in Victorian era usage, captures several types of over-sized, loose-fitting heavy cotton garments to be worn over one’s clothing to protect it from being soiled or otherwise damaged. My limited research indicates that overalls can include canvas tops & bottoms separately, one-piece items that can be referred to as ‘jumpers’, and aprons. The terminology of these items being generically labeled as ‘overalls’ is supported by their grouping as such in both the 1895 Montgomery Ward (page 269) and 1897 Sears & Roebuck (page 178) catalogs, though only ‘overalls’ and ‘jumpers’ are listed for sale on page 39 under ‘Clothing’, less any apron or specific tops/bottoms references, in the 1875 Spring & Summer Montgomery Ward catalog where such were offered in brown duck, unbleached duck, and blue denim. The term ‘overalls’, therefore, can lead to uncertainty in period written references as to what type of ‘overall’ is being referred to; a one-piece type or bottoms only, for example.
G