michaelsbagley

Whoa, great find, but I though it was two different styles - one square toed and one round toed. Doh, Go figure, I notice something as fussy as the way the Burnley and Towbridge are lasted, and I miss something as glaringly obvious as the toe shape on the Running Iron outfitter shoes.. Just shows you where my mind is at....

Bump.... Over the last week, I have come across not one, but TWO possible sources for period accurate shoes. Source one. Running Iron Outfitters Look about half way down the scroll bar on the left hand side of the screen, you will see two styles of 17th century shoes (well one style available in two colours). I emailed these guys about a week ago asking about pricing, still haven't gotten a response, I am thinking I will try calling tomorrow. I have generally had better luck getting responses from vendors in the past via phone than byt email. Source Two Burnley and Towbridge Men's 17th century Shoe Women's 17th century shoe These are a $110, which is about in line for what a pair of slightly out of period Fugawees would cost... But they are more correct! Hope this helps someone! If anyone gives either of these sources a go, please share any feedback... I am probably going to have to wait a month or so before I can dive in and give either of these sources a try.... EDIT - on closer inspection of the pictures from the Burnley and Towbridge site, they look left and right lasted (not straight lasted as they probably should be).... So they may not be perfectly correct after all. But given the choice of shoes that are straight lasted and the wrong style, or shoes the correct style by not straight lasted, I think the incorrect lasting would be an easier thing to fake....

Hey Chris, Just thought I would throw my two cents in here with everyone else's, and say that you have done a freakin' AWESOME JOB man! Looks great! Nice job on everything in the pic! Shoes, the neckerchief, I really like the green colour on the waistcoat... Just brilliant work man!

I've been thinking about this lately, and if anything, I might be more inclined to believe that pirates would have worn more ratty clothing than the next sailor. My line of thinking goes kind of like this... Pirates take vessel, and divy up goods. Pirates go into harbour to sell goods from said taken ship. Pirate use money from sale of goods to enjoy llife in harbour until said funds dry up and then it is back out to sea. These are all safe assumption, correct? I believe Kass (and other as well?) has stated in other threads that the used clothing trade was active and alive at the time. So if I got a set of clothes as a part of my share of the booty, am I going to sell said clothes in order to have that extra bit of money to enjoy while I am in harbour? Or am I going to wear said clothes, and sell my older item in not as good of shape for probably a lot less money? Obviously I would replace any worn out items with clothes taken as a prize, but anything I do not need, or can sell for more money, is going to get sold so I can enjoy my time in port more. I dunno, maybe I'm thinking at this from the wrong angle, but this just makes the most sense to me based on my above assumptions.

Looks great Morgan! I really like the fact that nothing really matches. I think this whole mis-match thing makes it look.... well... more pirate-ey. Awesome job! Keep up the great work!

It's not a primary source, but some searching on the web found me this little nugget... Published in 1890 about the Barbary Corsairs of the end of the 15th century... The Barbary Corsairs - by: Stanley Lane-Poole Another source (published in 1912) that would be a secondary or tertiary source, but still likely intersting is... The Barbary Rovers - By: John Finnemore A decent looking web article on the BBC web site regarding the Barbary Corsairs. British Slaves on the Barbary Coast I will edit and apend this post as I find more stuff rather than making a whole bunch of posts.

Bloody Jack Madd, I think your right in the assumption that making breeches would be harder to make than slops... There would be a hell of a lot less buttonholes involved in making slops, 'cause to be honest, buttonholes are the things that take me the longest amount of time and the most work. Also as a starting place for Barbary Corsairs The Wikipedia entry for Barbay Corsairs It seems the Barbary Corsairs had three "hey-days", the first was in the early to mid 1500s (under the Barbarossa brothers), the second was in the early 1600s, with a last resurgence in the late 1700's to early 1800s. So there are three primary time frames to work with, and probably others to choose from as well.

Well Pogue, I'm with you on the breeches over slops/trousers thing.... I will eventually make myself a pair of slops/trousers, but for the moment, I have two pairs of breeches, and feel more comfortable and feel I look better in them than I probably would in slop/trousers. And wearing breeches is not inaccurate (in my opinion), I am thinking it would be very safe to assume that sailors wore both, why else would most, if not every iteration of the Royal Navy Slop Contracts contain both breeches and slops/trousers if sailor's did not wear both? I think the slops/trousers just appear a more in period artwork, which MIGHT indicate a preference for sailors to wear the slops/trousers instead of breeches, but I certainly do not think that means that all sailors did. And Duchess, I would love to see Barbary Corsairs (middle eastern and northern african pirates)! In fact I had a conversation with someone earlier this summer, I even told them if I had time to do the research and make a set of clothing, I would do a barbary corsair outfit for next summer. If you come across any good references, please share, and I will do likewise.

Yes to horizontal buttonholes on all items. I've placed the buttonholes on the left hand side (me looking out) and the buttons on the right (again from my perspective looking out). So someone looking at me would see the buttonholes on the right hand side (from their pespective) and the buttons on the left side (from their perspective). As someone (GoF?) mentioned on another thread recently, there should be about 11 (10 to 12) buttons on the front of a short waistcoat, the buttons should be evenly spaced between the top of the front of the waistcoat and the navel area (as in belly button region). So the spacing will vary somewhat depending on how long of a body you have. Two or three buttons/buttonholes on the cuffs, and buttons/buttonholes on the pockets (if you have added any) are optional, but one or three would probably work best for a common impression. Another option I have seen on a few period illustrations (I think posted somewhere in twill), are buttons and buttonholes in pairs, so two buttons/buttonholes close together (maybe half to 3/4 of an inch?), a space of an inch and a half and then the next two buttons/buttonholes close together and so one and so forth. This is less common from the images I have seen, but I am sure I have seen it...

Les reebit!

Right.........., What HE said..... >>>> Cascabel Roughly translated... "It's incredible that there is no pirates in the Forum. Holy crap! It's sad that no one speaks the language of love. Where are the Corsairs and other persons who engage in piracy?" I think that is it... My French is a bit rusty, but I think that is very close if not exactly it...

It kind of sucks, I could read it (although slowly, and with great concentration). I just can't afford it...

Well Morgan, The sholder pieces should align at the neckline. The peices should be offset at the shoulder for the purpose of attaching a sleeve (which you are not doing). So align the pattern pieces at the neckline, and when you go to finish the arm hole, trim the arm hole even by removing the excess. Hope this makes sense. If it doesn't, please speak up, and I will try and explain more thoroughly, or perhaps someone else can chime in and try to explain this better than I have.

Well lets see a pic then Petee! The whole point of this thread is to share pics of your garb, authentic and/or artistic/theatric, or any combination thereof. By the way OL Jack, nice pics, love the one with the birds, gorgeous parrots! (Or are they macaws? I never could tell the difference).

Hey Lady B, There is already an exhibit for the Whydah artifacts.... The ship itself is not on display (except for the bell), but most if not all the intersteing artifacts found on the ship are a part of this display... It is currently running in Cincinatti Ohio until January before it packs up for the next location (I don't know if the next location has been established yet or not). It is running under the name of "The Real Pirates" exhibit. Might this be the same exhibit? The exhibit opens with a short movie about the ship and how it sank, although I think there would be plenty of room to expand the film, it is also done by National Geographic. Cincy Art Museum where the display currently is Link to National Geographic article about the exhbit (which didn't work for me this morning).

Okay, here is another picture of my new set of garb... I've added the final touch of a linen neckerchief (nice brick red one at that), and had the picture taken outside in a slightly more natural background than in front of my entertainment stand. The shoes are just modern leather dress shoes... They are the ones I am contemplating cutting into periodish shoes. Some more pics of the same thing in my Flickr site.

Since this is Twill, we should be discussing if they are real or not! Edit: Not that the I won't be stuck staring at the un-authentic ones just as much as the real ones...

Great outfit Rumba! I like the diamond pattern of the bodice. It has a nice colour and pattern to it. And "Dead Fred" makes a brillaint accessory to the whole getup.

Thanks for the compliments Sterling, GoF, and Lady B! I have already started working on a neckerchief to finish the outfit, and hope to be done that either tonight or tomorrow... Make that tomorrow, tonight is my lady's B-Day, so I should be busy with that.... Ya know GoF, I was going to have that photo taken outside in the back yard in front of the pond, Jessica (the better half) even offered and suggested it, but I was feeling too lazy... Maybe when I finish the neckerchief I will get it all together and have the picture taken outside. I have been watching Zeph Nash's thread for the converting modern shoes, and I have an older pair of dress shoes that have pretty much had their day that I could probably convert.... Maybe I will give that a go as well...

Okay, here is a picture of me in my newest set of garb.... From bottom to top. Still no proper shoes.... A pair of Linsey-Woolsey knee socks from Hamilton Dry Goods A pair of knee breeches made using RH706 (RH=Reconstructing History) and based heavily on the Royal Navy Slop Contract specs. A shirt made using the RH 713 A grey worsted wool short waistcoat made using the RH704 pattern. A Leather sword belt based somewhat on Patrick Hands work, and partly on an image from "Swords and Blades of the American Revolution". Everything is completely hand sewn by me with the exception of the socks and the hat...

All this sharing of images of recent projects has gotten me into the mood as well.... So I made myself a pair of breeches based on the Royal Navy Slops contract descriptions. Slop Contract Specs as posted by GoF I followed the slop contracts description and used the Reconstructing History pattern RH706 (kudos to you guys brave enough to draft your own patterns!). The one thing I couldn't get correct is black buttons, since I am still weighing my options for buttons and trying to decide what I will do, I used the brass(?) buttons sold to me by Mary Diamond as described in this thread.

Unfortunately I don't get to watch as many cartoons as I would like to... I haven't seen enough of Batman TAS, but from the little I have seen, the Mark Hamill Joker is pretty good, and I do like the Harley Quinn character as well. I don't think I have seen any episodes with the Catwoman though... I think the local Blockbuster has some of the shows on DVD, maybe I might just have to give it a try. Thanks for the unintentional reccomendation! If ya really wanna get to see the best version of the Joker, the Frank Miller "Dark Knight" run of Batman comics/graphic novels are to die for. Specially in the story line just after Robin (the 2nd?) is killed off. And the "Batman: Year One" run (possibly Miller as well?) was in my opinion the best version of the Catwoman....

My vote would be for Cesar Romero and Eartha Kitt as the best incarnations of the Joker and Cat Woman from Film/TV.... Jack Nicholson got the temperment more or less right for the Joker, but his physicality was very wrong for the role, and I feel it affected his portrayal. Michelle Pfeiffer had a very good physique for the Cat Woman, but she just wasn't evil enough to fit the role. On the whole I have not been impressed with the movie versions of the Batman villians. Or at least I wasn;t impressed until "Batman Begins" was released, then my attitude changed dramatically.

Bump... An oldie but a goodie. So I've been looking at the slop contracts lately thinking of adding some slop contract clothing items to my slowly growing collection of period garments from the era.... And one item that keep throwing me for a loop is mention of "black buttons" on waistcoats and breeches in the a few iterations of the Slop contracts. What are "black buttons"? Are "black buttons" a reference to heavily leaded pewter? It would not be truly black, but much darker than the "white Tinn Buttons". I seem to recall a discussion about these on a forum, and I thought it was either this Forum or the Pirate Brethren forum, but searches on both forums have not provided me with any good results. And I seem to also vaguely recall someone suggestion horn buttons as a possibility of what "black buttons" may have been. No offence to whomever may have put forth this suggestion, but it doesn't "feel" right to me. But I'm asking here, so obviously, I have no clue. Are there any other theories out there? Even better, is there any reasonable evidence as to what might have been meant by "black buttons"?

The absolute cut off time is ten minutes before the whole event ends. If you can come down for half, a third or even a tenth of the event, we'd love to see you there. Thanks William! That does give me a bit more time on my side to hopefully turn things around. Should I and my other half still fill in the forms and send them in? In hopes of a change of fortune... Or should I wait until I get a better indicator or what will be?