Candace and members,

I'm posting this for my wife Robin Giliam-Crawford, the Curator of Historic
Structures at the National Ranching Heritage Center, next door to my museum.
She can't answer from her office computer, so I'm doing the honors.  If you
would like to respond to her directly, her work email is
[log in to unmask]  She's a well respected clothing historian who has
been studying and collecting historic clothing for over thirty years.
Saundra Altman can vouch for her.


Cheers,
HBC


To Museum-L on Riding Habit Questions

Candace,
Although you did not describe the fabric, most "proper" riding habits in
the late 19th century were of wool, in a nice dark color.  If yours fits
this description, it would absolutely require an overskirt of large
proportions.  The skirt would also have provided some nice yardage for
reuse a decade or so later, if the original wearer no longer rode, or no
longer fit her old habit!  A regular day skirt for a woman or a whole
dress or coat for a girl could be cut from that much fabric.

If your riding habit is one of the formal ones in wool from the 1880s,
you could consider making a replacement skirt for exhibit purposes.
Past Patterns sells a good, accurate pattern of a habit, and the parts
(bodice, skirt, and trousers), may be purchased separately.  The pattern
was copied from an original one in black wool from my own collection, so
I know that it is correct!

Generally speaking, farm women who wore "pants" to ride in often wore
their husband's or brother's trousers, and would not have gone to the
trouble to make a specific, matching riding costume with a bodice and
trousers only.  The divided riding skirts become popular around the late
1890s, but most of them show up in the 1900 - 1920 era.

Hope this helps -
Robin Gilliam-Crawford, Curator
National Ranching Heritage Center


***************************************
Henry B. Crawford
Curator of History
Museum of Texas Tech University
Box 43191
4th and Indiana
Lubbock, TX  79409-3191
[log in to unmask]
806/742-2442  FAX 742-1136
Website: http://www.museum.ttu.edu
***  Living History . . . Because It's There  ***

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