Clothing and accountrements for a Mesteñero circa early 1870s

[Willie Dixon]

so, been working on the color pallette of my garb.  My gal says "yep, proper peacock" so I think we're on the right track.

the colored drawings are from "The Way We Were, Costumes of Early California: 1840-1850" by Shirley Joliff
all are used for educational purposes exclusively

here's the first one.

This will be my traditional working garb, all made I'm thinking from duck cotton.  Nice and durable, machine washable, and it'll get the job done on the ranch:


this one will be my semi-nice, no offense, but realistically the fanciest I'll dress anywhere near dirt.  Wool chaqueta, with duck calzoneras.  The calzoneras made from duck, will be my additional, but nicer set to go with the chaqueta above, making it a matching set:


and then my semi-formal attire, all 20oz wool, with LOTS of hand-stitched embroidery on the real deal:

[Blair]

Willie,

I like very much what you are doing.
Your research is very good as well.

However, and this is just from my prospective, I would suggest keeping your working "kit" (clothing) simple and perhaps uniform in color and pattern to fit your persona. Cotton twill like Denham or Brushed Cotton would be good.
For more formal attire, I would suggest the mixing and matching of colors and fabrics that accent each other along with the gewgaw's that that these outfits are noted for having?
My best,
 Blair

[Willie Dixon]

good points Blair...

the reason I'm thinking of mono-tone for more formal is because the very utmost formal attire is either all black, or a deep navy blue velvet.  Also here:


where it appears they're showing off their best stuff.  Lots of mono-chromatic, but plenty of dual too.  I just really like the all-green guy lol

vs


where they're working.

that's where my thoughts came from.  Not saying yours is any wrong, bad, or indifferent quite the opposite actually.

as for the fabric, I think we're thinking practically the same, maybe just different terms given the local area.  Basically the cotton that Carhartt are made out of.  I'd do lots of buttons, for sure, but they'd be the more modern types, metal, and not showy at all.  Don't need them to get caught.  And I want them easily replaceable.  

actually, probably what is "standard" in most CAS garb even from COWS is about what I'm looking at for those buttons.

hence my thinking of a green, and brown working jacket and pants.  I can easily wear either.  Also, after reading some wills and testaments of Rancheros and such dated in the late 1850s through the 1870s, it's safe to say a Mestenero could have more than one set of working clothes.

then one or two at most of the utmost niceties.  And these will be the only ones with embroidery.

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[Tascosa Joe]

Willie:
How is the Mestenero outfit coming?  The drawings/patterns look fantastic.
T-Joe

[Willie Dixon]

Right now, we're currently more in the hunt in buying a ranch out here.

hoping to purchase a fixer-upper on 40 acres make it a bona-fide Spanish style villa.

Right now, we've been having fun looking at different fabrics, but not necessarily purchasing any because we're also preparing for the move.  I'm also not quite dead-set on a particular fabric.  When I find the right fabrics, I'm usually ecstatic, and know it.  Haven't had that happen yet. Combining that, with the move, is putting a hamper on making the kit, but we've been having fun making and editing the tailored patterns though.  But yeah, unfortunately this has slowed us down a bit.

So, basically, just reading, alot.  I finished a biography on Don Bernardo Yorba:
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049641304;view=1up;seq=39

which while being excellent at showing the area I wish to portray (I grew up in Yorba Linda), didn't actually have a whole lot on the clothing and accouterments.  More just in what they were up to in their daily lives and how Don Bernardo avoided so much turmoil others got wrapped up in.

I'm also finishing up "Reminisces of a Ranger" by Horace Bell, which unfortunately again, not including the first chapter, hasn't had too much details as far as the clothing either.  But I'm only half-way through.  And the accounts into the daily-lives in Los Angeles has been absolutely fantastic.

Hopefully starting next week, we'll have more of our ducks in a row, type of thing, and then be able to back to our regular lives including this

[Tascosa Joe]

Good luck with the hunt for the ranch.  I envy you having a place that you can live on and play too.  We have 160 in SE Colorado but it is not livable.  Just a place to grow wheat.
T-Joe

[Willie Dixon]

still working on the ranch side of things, but I did some research and talked with some friends and I've found some fine examples of vaquero hats:

my favorite:
http://yourhat.com/

and then these as well:
http://atwoodhats.com/
http://www.acowgirlspromise.com/vaquero-style/
http://www.northvalleyhatco.com/buckaroohats.html

I know Atwood hats pretty well, just wondering about the higher end stuff, if it'll hold par with my custom Bear Creek I have now.

I'm looking at 80% or more beaver, so in that regard Montana Rio is looking really good.  I'll be wearing this hat ALOT so having a good quality one is what I prefer.

[Tsalagidave]

Carnal,

I have a couple of leads for hats to try on:

http://www.benderhats.com/flattoparabia.html
The flat top Arabia hats are very common with the Californio impressions. The round top Arabia pattern is also pretty common with Gringos and Californios alike. http://www.benderhats.com/dometoparabia.html

Too bad you cant get a good red vicuna felt but you never know.

I saw an earlier mention about swordsmanship and there are many original artifacts and written documentation that attest to their fairly common use. There are numerous manuals and references to fencing as a common pass time not only to the elites but to the middle class as well. Knowing your way around a foil, rapier or even knife blade is a handy thing to know whether you are a Hidalgo or Emigrant.

-Dave