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Post by twomoons on Aug 21, 2005 22:50:38 GMT -6
I've heard stories about how some of the costumes and equipment are meticulously done. Like your not supposed to even use a pin or safety pin if you have trouble. With this I can only imagine what would happen if you have a tear in the wrong place. What was your experience with the most unbelievable costume or equipment? Or malfuncion, rip/tear experience?
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Post by twomoons on Aug 23, 2005 9:28:09 GMT -6
I'm sorry if I offended you by calling them costumes. I just assumed that by acting or reenacting means that they dressed up in costumes that's all.
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Post by Lawtonka on Aug 24, 2005 9:41:42 GMT -6
Hey, every good soldier carried a "housewife" .... This was a small sewing kit which included extra button, thread, needles, etc. This was the way repairs were taken care of. To be authentic, many reenactors use the same method. Another item of interest, with cavalry , those trousers with the canvas on the inner leg were more commonally added in field service. The old sky blue wool just did not hold up to well for the saddle soldiers. One running joke we used to have was when someone said someting like, "Hey they didn't have safety pins back then!" One might reply "Well, if they would have had them, they would have used them   |
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Post by Steve Wilk on Aug 24, 2005 22:45:34 GMT -6
Tim: yes they did! (have safety pins, that is). The safety pin was patented in 1849; invented by Howard Hunt, a New York mechanic, who, in addition to the pin and other inventions, built America's first sewing machine, and developed a repeating rifle prior to the Winchester. Hunt was twisting a piece of wire while pondering on how to pay of a debt and came up with the safety pin. He thought so little of his idea that he sold the patent for only $400.
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Post by El Crab on Aug 26, 2005 0:07:59 GMT -6
I dunno, 400 bucks was probably a decent amount of money in 1849... What cost $400 in 1849 would cost $8534.20 in 2005. Also, if you were to buy exactly the same products in 2005 and 1849, they would cost you $400 and $18.75 respectively. Its no small fortune, but that's not a bad day's work. www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi |
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Post by Steve Wilk on Aug 26, 2005 9:17:46 GMT -6
Crab, true, but one web source I checked mentions that Hunt went on to watch his safety pin become a million dollar money earner for someone else, making the $400 chump change.
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Post by danceswithwolves49 on Mar 25, 2006 19:13:17 GMT -6
Last year my brother and I were interviewed on local TV just prior to the reenactment. Just before taping began the interviewer commented on our "costumes" we then informed her we were wearing actual cavalry uniforms and in fact all of our equipment was made from the original dies patterns and molds and that we tried to attain 100% historical accuracy.
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