Jamestown Conference - Day 2

Today started with a tour of the Jamestown Fort.  Really, we were let loose in the fort to explore.  There were several demonstrations which were great to see.

Kat Ferneley was making hooks and eyes and pins.  I'm looking forward to taking her class later.

The tailors, Dan Rosen (Plymoth Plantation), Matthew Gnagy (Modern Maker), and Mark Hutter (Colonial Williamsburg), were busy making a summer weight suit in the new world style.  This translates to an unlined pair of canvas breeches and a canvas cassock (the source of the canvas was hemptraders.com).  It's really a marvel to watch them all work.

Noel Gieleghem was showing off his many ruffs and the colors and construction of them.

There were other more common fort demos ongoing.  Thankfully, the weather wasn't too warm, and we were only out and about for the morning.  We probably didn't need the full time and ended up killing some time before lunch.

After lunch, we had three lectures. Unfortunately, they dimmed the lights, so with a full tummy, it was difficult to stay focused.

Drea Leed spoke about the typical wardrobe for children as detailed in the Petre Family inventory.  It was interesting to see the differences between the different ages.

Dan Rosen spoke about his learnings from several colony / new world provision lists dated 1622 to 1672.  He consolidated the list of 49 items spanning a cap, shirts, suites, shoes, stockings, points, garters, etc.

Fred Scholpp spoke about the tailoring of armor and the proper fit of it.  Just as the waist of doublets is shorter than our modern eye thinks it should be, so are the waists of breast plates.

By far the highlight of the day was the presentation from the Tudor Tailors.  This was a new presentation and covered the outfitting of a sailor into land-lubber clothing, complete with undressing and dressing back up.  It was hilarious with plenty of jokes (everyone was named John) and even a dig at building a wall.