1840s Clothing

With the Civil War hobby dying off these days, there seems to be a growing interest in other decades of the 19th century, including the 1840s.  Here in California late 1840s - early 1850s living history makes perfect sense with the 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter's sawmill in Coloma. 

I've decided to post about my 1840s clothing projects that I've worked on over the years and include my inspiration images.   I started another blog in 2007 to chronicle the creation of my 1840s clothing for my wedding.  You can see those posts as well as my other ramblings here: http://chandra-miller.livejournal.com/. My goal has always been to recreate historic clothing as closely to the original as possible and not create fantasy clothing.  I am obsessed with researching history (I have a bachelors degree in history, a certificate in Historic Preservation, and a master's degree in Public History), so historical accuracy is my number one goal. 

I hope you enjoy my projects as much I love working on them.

Our 1840s theme wedding (08/02/2008)