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Costuming Stagville
These costumes were made for a holiday event at Historic Stagville Plantation. Stagville was a working plantation from the 1700’s up to the early 1900’s. It is now a North Carolina State Historic Site in north Durham located at 5828 Old Oxford Highway. My daughter, Jennifer Farley, is the Manager of the Site. The date interpreted by Stagville is 1800-1825. The costumes are authentic for the year 1815 and I made them mostly from found materials at the PTA Thrift Shop.
The man at the table is my husband. He is wearing a green vest made from a round tablecloth. The shirt is from a nice size piece of cotton yardage.
The gray and yellow hats are two of several made for the site’s Junior Interpreters. The gray one is from a satin gown and the yellow one was a scrap of “buttery” colored velveteen. The green hat is an adult hat. I made the brim from leftover scraps from the vest I made for my husband. The top is from a scrap of green velvet and the band was a wide ladies belt.
In the photo of the indoor group of people seen below, my niece is in the front, left. She is wearing a man’s straw 10-gallon hat that I scrubbed clean and stretched to this new shape. I am in the back, left.
The hat I am wearing was made using a black velvet scrap for the top, the brim is from a black ladies skirt and the band is from a wide, ladies belt which is covered with black, “jet,” beading. Under the hat is a lace head topper made from a lace collar.
My jacket is a piece of black velvet, lined with a piece of white lining material. My husband, next to me, is wearing a gray wool jacket made from a big piece of wool yardage, which I purchased from the Plaza Store.
The buttons on the jacket are from make-your-button kits, which I also found at the Plaza Store. The buttons are covered with scraps left over from the brim of my hat. He has a white silk scarf around his neck. His pants are from a huge piece of cotton canvas, which I found at the Carrboro Store. His boots are from the Carrboro Store.
My son, on the right, is wearing pants and a vest from the same piece of cotton canvas. Both pair of men’s pants have mother-of-pearl buttons from the Carrboro Store. My son has a shirt from the same piece of cotton as my husband. He has a black silk scarf at his neck and a gold silk waistband made from a gold silk blouse.
In the outdoor grouping photo at the top of the page, you can see my flat, black, ballet slippers from the Plaza Store.
My niece and I are carrying straw baskets. In her basket is a book by Washington Irving, whose books were available in 1815, which I found it at the Carrboro store. My basket contains cotton skeins from the Carrboro Store, and a crochet hook. Both my niece and I have purses, which I crocheted from the cotton. I also have a shawl over my basket. You can see the gold epaulet on my son’s shoulder. I made that from metallic gold material and some fringe.
Everything mentioned was made of materials from both of the Thrift Stores. Given more time to shop, I may have even found more!
The next Stagville event is the first Saturday in April. Come out and see it all in person. You can find more information at HistoricStagvilleFoundation.org.
Meredith Friedman
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