Image @Colonial Williamsburg Official Site
The blog, Two Nerdy History Girls, featured Janea Whitacre, mistress of the millinery & mantua-making trades in Williamsburg in their last post about Accessories: Head to Toe, a symposium that was recently held in that historic city. Accessories Head to Toe: Beautiful Fashion From 1760 to 1830 showcases some images from the people of the Margaret Hunter Shop, where milliners and mantua makers still plie their craft.
An interview with Ms. Whitacre illuminates how fashion was made in those days, and how fashion and economics are tied together.
Janea: Mantua-making – that’s gown-making, so we’re the 18th-century dressmaker, and what we do is cut the gown to the person, so the lady is her own mannequin or her own dress form. So I don’t need to take measurements, I don’t do patterns. We cut to the person.
Lloyd: Okay, so at the risk of getting this wrong, what you are is what in a male version a tailor would be.
Janea: There’s a lot of overlap between the trades. The tailor is going to claim that stay-making and making ladies riding habits is his trade. I’m going to claim that it’s my trade. But the difference between the trades is really how we cut the fabric out. He takes measurements and does patterns. We usually don’t, because our customers are perfection in their stays. So as long as they have the stays, we’re ready to cut. Click here to read the rest of the interview on history.org
Jane Austen's World 
I’d like to see this mantua maker in action. Can’t imagine cutting to the person instead of using a pattern, and I used to sew a lot. It’s time for another visit to Colonial Williamsburg.
I actually prefer pattern draping to drafting because it’s “freeing” in a way. I don’t have to really worry about math or rulers and French curves, and when draping with muslin, mistakes are easily rectified and improvisations are easily added to the design! I can image that women of the 18th century, who were not formally educated, learned pattern draping because it did not require the aforementioned skills (math, etc).
The redingote a tailored riding coat style was made popular in France for ladies by that trend setter Marie antoinette then it traveled to England for women.
Ah, my love for Williamsburg (grew up there) and my love for Jane Austen and all things Regency have just collided here! I had wondered how much I would learn by visiting the dressmaker’s shop in Williamsburg. It was good to hear the distinction between tailor and mantua maker from each of their perspectives. So, how did a lady choose who was going to make her stays? Modesty would make me think she’d use the mantua maker. But was she sort of bound by culture to use her husband’s tailor?
A fascinating interview, especially the idea that a dress could be cut to the person rather than from a pattern. I agree with Jean, I wish they’d included pics or video. Thank you for sharing it!
Thank you so much for the link, Vic. I wish you’d been there, too. :)
I completely agree that Janea is a genius with needle and thread! It is really amazing to watch Janea and her staff create a gown, cutting here, pinning there, and sewing every stitch by hand to make a custom fit gown. Equally amazing is how swiftly they work: they can make one of these lovely 18th c. gowns in two or three days, much as their counterparts did 200 years ago.
I’ve been fortunate enough to watch them work. If anyone is interested in photos of the process, they’re part of these three blog-posts:
http://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.com/2009/11/stitching-mrs-newtons-gown-part-i.html
http://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.com/2009/11/stitching-mrs-newtons-gown-part-ii.html
http://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.com/2009/11/stitching-mrs-newtons-gown-finale.html
Lynn Sorge-English, who developed the stays pattern system that Williamsburg now uses, told us on Friday that she is planning to release a book with some of that information.
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