Parlorcraft Circle: Smoking Caps

The NYNCS invites you to join our Parlorcraft Circle. Practice the techniques of nineteenth-century hand-work over tea and conversation!

In July we present our smoking cap edition of the Parlorcraft Circle. Beautifully embellished smoking caps, jackets, and slippers were popular lounge wear for fashionable Victorian gentlemen of the mid-nineteenth century. They replaced the looser banyan dressing gowns and mitred sleeping caps of the eighteenth-century gentleman. Smoking caps were especially widespread after the Crimean War, when Turkish tobacco became popular in Britain. Gentleman retiring to brandy and tobacco after dinner wanted to protect their hair and clothing, so they could rejoin the ladies afterwards without smelling of smoke.

Most nineteenth-century patterns assume the reader can easily sew a small cap, and provide instructions only for embellishment, but we’ll show you how to measure, cut, and sew the cap, attach a button and tassel, and give you inspiration for decoration. Basic materials and tools will be provided, but you are welcome to bring your own special fabric, button, trim, etc.

Tea and light refreshments will be served but you may bring your own treats to share if you wish. Please leave your laptops and modern sewing/craft projects at home for this event – we’re all about historic hand work!