… depicts her REAL ancestor who was the sister of Daniel Boone – yes THAT Daniel Boone. Her character’s story takes place in Kentucky, where her husband would leave her for years at a time, tramping through the backwoods with Daniel. When she was eventually widowed, Hannah remarried and moved into a small town to begin her new life.
Depiction of this character leaves many choices because little is known about her class or financial status which were keys to what women wore in that post Revolutionary War era. We do know all classes still wore versions of the “mantua” or “sacque”, a one piece dress with various methods of attachments and pleatings (“robings”), that wrapped around a petticoat – an outer garment in this era.
We also know there were only natural fabrics available, and in rural America, most would have been locally sourced. It’s highly doubtful she would have imported cotton or silk from India or Europe, or European trims or laces. Her design circles around local materials and colors – flax, linen, and wool most predominantly, with a few special items that might have been a splurge bought from the peddler or mercantile.
Shelly’s “open robe” made of teal blue heavy linen is accurate to the time and place. She has cotton undergarments; a practical nod to OUR availability as these would have in reality been of lightweight linen. Her stays are of “berry pink” (many at the time wore brown) linen, and we did splurge on real silk bows and sash.
A Gal has to have something pretty.
Of course the notable part of her ensemble is the mobcap – every woman of every class wore them all the time. Shelly’s would be starched and stuffed with paper by her serving girl or housemaid, as even a middle class working wife of rural Kentucky had hired help.
Shelly is the veteran performer of our Gals, and lends confidence and expertise on how to handle pre-show jitters and to expand gesture and vocal on the small stage. She is also a professional singer and storyteller, and takes part in the Wyoming Storyteller events wearing her ensemble.
The nice thing about Shelly’s outfit is it has accessories and different ways to wear it so that she can depict everything from original tales about Hannah to stories about jumping frogs. Her children’s audiences are particularly mesmerized when she strips down to show them her “rump”.
They think that’s rather silly to wear a pillow on your backside.
