LIMITED FABRIC CHOICES

Finding evidence of everyday clothing prior to the development of photography in the 1840s is difficult. Portraits were usually made of those people who could afford to dress in high-style. Most people had only a small wardrobe and wore their clothes until they gave out. Items no longer useful made patches, rags or rugs. Few examples survive to the present.

People living on isolated farmsteads could not simply buy their clothes ready-made at the store, and even many middle-class women were unlikely to hire another to make their family's clothing. While Kentucky was not so far from centers of trade that one could not buy bolts of cloth in some towns, most poor women and women in less connected areas made their family's clothes and other textiles by hand from cloth woven at home. The average cloth was generally homespun, a fabric similar to muslin and somewhat course. It was made to be durable as were the other common fabrics of the time such as calico, wool, and linen. Only the very well-to-do could afford the silk that was available through some towns. Store-bought clothing was generally reserved for church and special occasions.

MEN'S STYLES

The image of the Kentucky frontiersman wearing buckskin clothing was sometimes accurate, especially during the early decades of exploration and settlement. Leather clothing was more durable, and animal skins were readily available. Still, buckskin clothing was generally not women's wear. Prior to the 1830s, men wore knee britches with a buttoned "fall front" style. During the 1830s, the style changed to full length trousers with more refined gentlemen beginning to wear the "center fly" design. The long loose-fitting linen shirts typically worn changed little in the course of fifty years. Fitted vests, waistcoats and jackets remained fairly constant. Men's underwear consisted of an undershirt and a pair of drawstring shorts.

WOMEN'S STYLES

Early women's dresses were cut from a simple pattern given shape by drawstrings at the neck, sleeves and waist. Later, a more form-fitting style emerged. Common dress lines broke at the waist, but the influence of the empire style and its higher waist became apparent in the 1830s. Women also wore separate skirts and blouse, especially for work. The apron was so much a part of the everyday outfit for women that even wealthier women, who did not need to protect their clothing from the stains of cooking and cleaning, often wore smaller, highly decorative aprons over their dresses. They also wore bonnets to shade their faces outdoors. Women's underwear was very much like a nightgown and was called a shift. Children's clothing was simply a smaller version of adult styles.

SHOES

Many people adopted Indian moccasins, which were better suited to the frontier lifestyle. Manufactured shoes at this time could be uncomfortable for those who could not afford a custom-made pair. Shoes were not prefitted to a range of sizes and were not shaped for right or left feet. They were made with wooden soles and leather uppers, usually black. In good weather, poorer people might save their shoes to wear in winter and to church or special occasions.

WASHING CLOTHES

People without washing machines could not be so obsessed with hygiene as their descendents are today. An outfit was likely to be worn more than once before it was washed, because doing laundry was a such an involved task. Well-to-do families could afford enough clothes to have their wash done every six weeks. The poor might have only a single set of clothing, which they could wash at night and hope it would be dry by morning. The average family, however, did their wash once a week.

Doing the laundry was an all day affair. Clothes had to be sorted, soaked, rubbed, bleached, rinsed and hung to dry. People used large tubs and hand-powered wooden dollies. Women had a variety of techniques for removing stains: chalk and pipe clay for grease and oil, lemon or onion juice for ink spots, milk for urine, and vinegar for fruit stains. Linens were bleached by soaking in an ammonia solution or sitting in the sun.

Lesson plans dealing with frontier clothing:

Lesson 4: letter from Daphne Tiller to her mother (1794)
Lesson 7: reminiscence of Daniel Drake on chores (includes section on carding wool)
Lesson 10: Daniel Drakes memories of Sunday best clothing
Lesson 13: 2 estate inventories (includes appraisal price of suit of clothes)

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Created by Jennifer Small and maintained by DLSC faculty and staff. Last Modified July 19, 2005. All Contents Copyright © 2005.
Western Kentucky University.

URL: http://www.wku.edu/Library/museum/frontieronline/clothing.htm