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Resources for Trekkers, New & Not-so-New


Developing Your Persona Shelters Clothing: Men,
Women & Children		 Accoutrements Furniture 18th C. Skills
Ladies & Mens		 Sewing Skills Trades & Occupations Toys, Games, & Entertainments

Many of these links will take you off of the CoHT website and are not the work of members of the CoHT.
The CoHT makes no claim as to the accuracy of the information presented.
This area of our website is for informational purposes only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Developing a Persona


  • An Introduction to 'Trekking' - by ??

  • Getting Started - Developing a Persona - by Wynne Eden

  • 'Creating a New Person from Scratch' - basic outline to help develop your persona

  • Worksheet to help develop and flesh-out your persona - by Cathy Johnson

  • Keeping Track of Yourself - a method of record keeping - from Swanny

  • Were They All Shorter Back Then? - by Carolyn Freeman Travers, Research Manager at Plimouth Plantation

  • Reading, Writing, and Speaking in the 18th Century


    • Shelters


  • How to build your own diamond fly tent

  • Another set of instructions for making a diamond

  • An interesting article and pictures on different ways to set up a diamond

  • 35 DIFFERENT ways to set up a shelter with ONE tarp! (And a WHOLE lot more information!)

  • An article on building a wickiup

  • How to Build a Log Cabin

  • How to Build Log Cabin Walls

  • Mountain Man Camping


    • Clothing: Men and Boys


  • A dictionary of 18th century clothing terms

  • Some notes on Men's Civilian clothes in the 18th century

  • What should I wear??

  • "What Voyageurs Wore

  • "The Well Dressed Explorer"

  • How to sew an 18th century men's shirt

  • And another pattern with some history, details and instructions

  • And one more really good one!

  • Special Clothes for LITTLE ones

  • How to fingerweave a sash

  • More fingerweaving instructions and patterns

    		•

    Clothing: Women and Girls


  • What should I wear??????

  • How to sew a woman's or girl's 18th century shift

  • This one helps with all sorts of other information too.

  • Here's another pattern you can try

  • How to make women's 18th century stays

  • Another set of instructions

  • Please, oh PLEASE, don't use that little vest looking thing! Here's why....

  • "Of Gowns, Jackets, 'Shortgowns', and Bedgowns: What Should I Really Be Wearing?" by Sue Felshin

  • Information and Instructions to make a Bedjacket

  • A period painting and instructions to make a shortgown

  • Here are some more really great instructions!

  • How to sew an 18th century petticoat (skirt)

  • Here is some more information on the petticoat

  • Every lady needs a head covering! Here are some wonderful directions on how to make one!

  • Information on women's headcoverings

  • More information on styles of caps and what we know of them.

  • From Colonial Williamsburg - women's clothing items *Notice the item on hats*

  • Instructions on making felt hats - *Look in the 'Skills' area for instructions on making felt

  • A felt hat using standard fabric store craft felt

  • One method for making a lady's straw hat

  • Making a straw braid hat in one piece

  • Making Straw Braid Crowns and Brims on Wood Hat Blocks

  • All sorts of things to know about aprons

  • Simple instructions for making an 18th century apron. (Just don't use the glue!!!)

  • Ooooo! Fans from the 18th century!

  • Special Clothes for LITTLE ones


    • Accoutrements


  • Accoutrements from Muzzleloader Magazine

  • How to make a haversack

  • How to make a snapsack to carry your stuff

  • How to make a shooting pouch

  • How to make a market wallet

  • How to make a canvas knapsack

  • A second style of knapsack, used by Butler's Rangers in 1779

  • How to fingerweave a sash

  • More fingerweaving instructions and patterns

  • How to carve a wooden spoon

  • How to carve a wooden dough bowl

  • Tinsmithing for Those With More Than the Usual Number of Thumbs, by J. Gottfred

  • Making a Copper Trade Kettle

  • How to make a powderhorn

  • Make a gourd canteen

  • How to make a leather bottle


    • Furniture


  • Sketches and notes on the camp stools used by General George Washington

  • A 6-plank chest/stool designed by David Brown, aka Cornelius Doghearty

  • A really cool folding camp bed/chair

  • A Trestle table pattern

  • A 14th century trestle table - history, pattern & building instructions

  • Plans for a folding table

  • Another set of plans for a folding table

  • A Simple wooden bench

  • An interesting chair pattern

  • A "Folding" Slat Chair

  • A Small Stool

  • A very primitive/rugged stool

  • Plans for a folding stool

  • Another version

  • A Wooden Chest, put together with pegs!

  • The same chest, more accurately done

  • A really nice one - more modern instructions/design

  • Plans for a rope bed

  • And another one

  • Plans for an early American cradle

  • One version of a Kitchen Box


    • Men's/Woods Skills


  • The first part of an article on trapping

  • The second part of the trapping article

  • Mountain Man Camping

  • Wilderness survival skills

  • A series of videos on how to build a fire

  • Or try this series

  • How to start a fire by friction

  • Using a bow drill

  • YouTube video - How to start a fire with flint & steel

  • Another from Google Video

  • A video series from Expert Village on how to track animals

  • More on tracking - to include pictures of tracks

  • Outdoor Action Guide to Animal Tracking

  • 18th & early 19th Century Navigation

  • How to Build a Birchbark Canoe

  • A Braintan Short Course - by Ken Purdy and Wynne Eden

  • Tanning Deer Hids and Small Fur Skins

  • Braintanning

  • Hair-on Tanning

  • A series of videos on tanning

  • Making Cordage

  • Native American Cordage - from NativeTech.org

  • 1st in a series of videos on Making Cordage from plant fibers - the others are available as links off this page

  • Making Nets

    		•

    Ladies' Skills


  • Crewel Embroidery - some history and examples

  • Basic Crewel Embroidery Stitches

  • A Dictionary of Stitches for Hand Embroidery and Needlework

  • Paper Quilling Instructions

  • Another set of Quilling instructions with other shapes

  • More quilling shapes

  • How to Spin from The Joy of Handspinning - Videos, tips, etc.

  • Spinning with a Top-Whorl Drop Spindle

  • A Video series on how to handspinning from YouTube

  • How to weave a basket

  • How to weave a reed basket

  • How to render and refine tallow and lard - excerpts from A Practical Treatise on Animal and Vegetable Fats and Oils, 1896

  • How to render lard (and tallow)

  • Dry Rendering of Tallow & Lard

  • How to make lye from wood ash

  • Making homemade lye

  • Making lye from ash - Video

  • How to Make Soap - from The American Housewife published 1841

  • Colonial Soapmaking

  • How to make Soap

  • Video series on making lye soap

  • How to make Tallow candles

  • To make Home-made Tallow Candles - from Encyclopedia Of Practical Receipts And Processes published 1872

  • How to make hand-dipped beeswax candles

  • Making bayberry candles

  • How to make Homemade Bayberry candles

  • 'HOW TO' Instructions for natural fibers - from All Fiber Arts.com

  • How to make felt

  • "Dye History from 2600 BC to the 20th Century"< - by Susan C. Druding

  • Making & Using Natural Dyes

  • How to Mordant Cotton and Linen Prior to Dyeing

  • A Simple recipe for making an alum mordant

  • A Brief Introduction to Flax Processing - by Elizabeth Rump

  • How to make a hand-tied broom

  • How to make a cobweb broom

  • How to Make a Broom


    • 18th Century Sewing Skills


  • 18th Century stitches and sewing techniques

  • How to measure for a pattern

  • Basic Pattern Drafting

  • How to make 18th century covered buttons

  • How to sew an 18th century worked button hole

  • Instructions sheet for making Dorset orThread buttons

  • More information and styles of Dorset buttons from 50 Heirloom Buttons to Make by Nancy Nehring

  • How to sew eyelet holes

  • How to do a burn test to check the fiber content of your fabric


    • Occupations & Trades


  • Colonial Occupations

  • An 18th Century Trades Sampler - Colonial Williamsburg

  • 18th Century Secrets in Arts, Trades, and Crafts - An original work of 1809

  • Basic Tinsmithing

  • Making a Copper Trade Kettle

  • Papermaking on the Isle of Wight

  • Traditional Papermaking

  • The Art of Paper Making - from Handicraft For Boys, published 1918

  • The Great Cotton-Rag Paper Myth

  • Bookbinding for Beginners - 1914

  • Bookbinding: A Tutorial

  • Bookbinding and The Care of Books - 1902

  • A series of videos on blacksmithing

  • Tanning Deer Hids and Small Fur Skins


    • Toys & Games


  • How to play 18th century games

  • How to make a whirligig

  • How to Make Benjamin Franklin's kites!

  • How to play marbles and make your own

  • The game of Loo - "A mild or bitter game of scant renown"

  • The game of Brag

  • The game of Gleek - Classic game of tricks and bluff for three

  • The Game of Gleek - Another source

  • The Game of Five Card Cribbage

  • The Game of Basset

  • Grand Trick-Track

  • Backgammon

  • The Rules of Draughts

  • The Game of Tip Cat

  • The Game of Picket

  • The Game of Faro

  • Laugh and Lie Down

  • Nine Man Morris

  • Shut the Box

  • Glückhaus

  • Nine Pins

  • Bowl and Dice

  • The game of Old Maid

  • The game of Rounders

  • All Fours

  • The Game of Chuck-farthing

  • Hazard

  • The Game of Whist

  • Going to Boston

  • How to play Farkle

  • More on Farkle

  • Booklet on Farkle


    • Other 18th Century Entertainments


  • The History of Tea-time

  • Another source for History of Tea in Britain

  • Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate in Early Colonial America

  • Tea Caddies & Tea

  • An antique Rolled paper (or "Quillwork") Tea Caddy - With beautiful close-up pictures!

  • 18th Century music and dance

  • How to dance an 18th century country dance


    • Reading, Writing & Speaking


  • How to read 18th century writing

  • The 18th century alphabet... and that funny "f" looking "s"!

  • 18th Century Copperplate Handwriting

  • Samples of Handwriting from 1795 - 1838

  • How to read 18th century documents

  • Quill pens the 18th century way

  • How to say hello in the 18th century! (And how to properly address someone you're talking to!)

  • How to speak 18th century

  • The Most Common 18th Century Greetings and Farewells

  • How to cut quills from feathers

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