War of 1812 bicentennial costumes finished  A team of sewers
stitched 50 costumers for use during the War of 1812
bicentennial. Monica Wolfson/The Windsor Star  A group of women
spent the past six months sewing costumes for volunteers to wear
walking around town as part of the War of 1812 bicentennial.
They got a $2,000 grant from the Trillium Foundation and turned
it into $10,000 worth of costumes made with volunteer labour.
The outfits aren’t fancy but then again, the times back then
were hard. Most of the people who lived around the turn of the
19th century were farmers and probably had only one or two
dresses. The women wore full-body aprons to protect the one or
two dresses they had. There was no Target or cheap clothes back
in the day. In talking with the sewers, we theorized that the
women, especially household labour, wore the bonnets because
they didn’t wash their hair as much and probably lice and flees
were a problem. Just a thought.