How Authentic Do You Want to Be?

When you have chosen your time and your character, the next problem you'll face is authenticity. How authentic do you have to be in order to be correct? If you're doing living history, you'll probably need as close to 100% authenticity as possible.

If you want to be authentic and not just look it, you can't use a sewing machine for costumes prior to the 1860s. While there were some sewing machines beginning in the 1850s, they were not generally available. In addition, the original sewing machines were not lock-stitch like modern machines. Using just one thread, the machine sewed a chain stitch. That was fine....unless a thread broke. Then the entire seam ripped out!

In 1877, the Merrow Company began manufacturing crochet machines (known today as overlocks or sergers). They are still made today. While I've been unable so far to locate information on how much the original overlocks were used in the late 19th Century, you can certainly use them for 20th Century costumes, especially beginning with the 1980s.

If you are like most of us, you find the idea of hand sewing an entire garment daunting! For cases like this, you can compromise and use a sewing machine for interior seams that will not be seen. For all external stitching, you can do hand work. Hems, for example, will look more natural if done by hand rather than machine stitching. (You can compromise and use the blind hem stitch, but unless your costume is late 20th century, I'd avoid serged hems and even topstitching.)

If you have never done hand sewing (and with the great machines on the market these days, many people haven't), why not start with small projects until you master the stitches? The sampler was a teaching aid for many of our young ancestresses. While many of them show only decorative stitches, you can make your own sampler with assorted hand stitch work, and then use it as your guide as you construct your garment.

Here's a list of the basic stitches you'll need the most.

• The Running Stitch
• Just the way it sounds, this is a simple, straightforward stitch. Like a machine chain stitch, however, if it breaks, the entire seam is apt to unravel. If you're going to do a running stitch, I recommend adding a Backstitch every few stitches.
• The Backstitch

• Viewed from the top of the seam, a backstitch looks exactly like machine stitching (if you have a steady hand). The other side of the seam, however, tells a different story. I like to think of this stitch as "one step forward, two steps back," although it is definitely not a bad way to progress. On the back, you see how the needle has moved the length of two stitches. 
• Backstitch forms a VERY firm join, but it's time consuming. Worked in combination with Running Stitch, it works great.
• Hem Stitch
• This stitch can be as firm or flexible as you need, depending on the fabric. You can take just one thread, and make the stitching almost invisible. 

Naturally, you can use decorative stitches, but for costuming purposes, those fall more under the classification of embroidery.

One thing you will notice if you do decide to make the entire costume by hand: even if you press the seams open, they will not be as perfectly smooth as a machine stitched seam. You'll see a slight waviness, due to the nature of hand sewing. This is perfectly all right, and even desirable in some cases. How durable the seam is depends on which stitch you use.

So, to recap: if you don't have the patience to make a costume entirely by hand, go for just the visible parts. Hemming by hand will make a big enough difference to most costumes. Costumes with visible outer stitching may be done by hand.