The Rogues Sail on the Lady Washington!

I’m not sure how this post never got published. It might be for lack of a photo, which came out poorly due to the conditions (rain, sea spray and being tossed about). Without further ado – a very belated post from 2011.

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This isn’t exactly costume related, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the Rogues got to go sailing on the tall ship Lady Washington this last weekend! It was cold, wet, it rained and it was awesome! S. jumped up and down and squealed like a little girl as we headed out of the bay into open water with the hull slapping down against the swells.

The Lady Washington is the state ship of Washington. She sails around doing short adventure and battle sails (I want to be on board to hear the canons fire, even if the projectiles are only twinkies!), but her main goal is to provide educational experience of merchant seamen for school children. The ship itself is a 112 foot brig (two masts, square-rigged). She appeared in the first Pirates movie as the HMS Interceptor. The original ship (this is a replica built in 1989) was built in the 1750s as a cargo vessel and became a privateer during the American Revolutionary War. In 1788 she was the first American vessel to make landfall on the west coast of North America. She normally travels with another tall ship, the Hawaiian Chieftain. For more information on her history, current voyages and a 14 minute video on the making of the modern vessel, visit: http://www.historicalseaport.org/lady-washington and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Washington

 

The Golden Age of Piracy – Costumes to the Period

cc copyright Rogues of Thread

I love a good pirate costume as much as  the next person. You can be a sexy pirate, a rugged pirate, a cross dressing pirate (and I’m really talking about the ladies here. Please men, be nice to us and don’t don corsets and bad rouge. Hairy cleavage is not attractive.) , a fairy pirate (well, I’ve seen it anyway), a steampunk pirate, a Disni-fied pirate, etc. I’ve been a pirate wench (a la small additions to a Ren Faire costume), a scantily clad pirate, a corseted pirate and even a Middle Eastern pirate and my favorite, the traditional long vest (called a weskit) and pirate coat. If you want to be a classic pirate, consider avoiding a corset.

When we in Western culture think pirate, we usually think of the Golden Age of Piracy. This was roughly 1650 – 1730 (at least according to Wikipedia), the time of Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, Henry Morgan and other well known pirates. This is the time portrayed in one of my favorite pirate films, Yellowbeard, which if you haven’t seen it, is a fun Monty Python romp and not to be taken too seriously, and of course, the 4 Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and Treasure Island (the movie and novel).

What did a real pirate look like?

 

Pirates in Corsets

This is a corset I made for a friend to wear to a Pirate Faire where period is a little vague. Very vague, actually. The Golden Age of Piracy was over by the 1750s and this is a full late-Victorian corset with bust gussets. But no matter! She wanted a simple, yet elegant corset that was comfortable and could be worn… elsewhere. This is not my pattern, but came from the excellent LaughingMoon Mercantile, whose research and pattern drafting skills I very much appreciate. The corset is made of a grey-blue dupioni silk that has copper threads running along the warp (or possibly the weft – I don’t recall). The overall effect is primarily grey-blue with glints of copper in the sun. The pirate lass, who shall remain nameless, was very pleased with the fit and support of the finished corset (which took two full mock-ups to get right). Never overlook the squish factor in corset making or wearing.

   

 

All images by The Rogues of Thread (bythebodkin.wordpress.com) and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, unless specifically attributed elsewhere.

 

The Coats Multiplied

Our creation of two full pirate costumes sparked more interest in pirate coats. We set out to improve the pattern and adapt it for women. The female version has shoulder to hem seams for shape and fit, as well as a straighter, more modern sleeve that retains the original look.

 

All images by The Rogues of Thread (bythebodkin.wordpress.com) and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, unless specifically attributed elsewhere.

 

Marooned Pirate Coat

We have been asked to make 5 of these coats, from the original, in wildly different sizes. The original coat is in less than perfect shape and was in desperate need of a bath.

Historically speaking the coat resembles a “buff coat,” a French Carignan-Sallieres Regiment. Ensign (1665), an English Foot Guard Musketeer (1660), an English Coldstream Guard officer (Tangier, 1669), and an Austrian Artillery Gunner (1671), though none exactly. According to the owner of the coat, it is was based on a coat from the horrible (in every way but possibly costuming and sets) Cutthroat Island film. *shudders*