If I Had My Own Blue Box:

It is rather fun to see how an item or story appears from one publication to the next. I’ve been amused time and time again by how the accounts of shawl production numbers evolve into more and more flattering accounts. Sometimes the subtle or not so subtle evolution takes place over a couple months, other times over years.

This week, I found myself looking at an illustration in a May 1865 Godey’s convinced I’ve seen this travel bag before. In fact I did. About a year back, or so, maybe two, Marta, I’m pretty sure it was Marta, sent me a bag from La Mode’s July 1864 edition. This one was called a “Sac-Portefeuille”. A year later, across the water, the same bag was called “A Travelling Hand-Bag.” The description gives the option of making it of leather or canvas:

Our pattern is in dark brown leather, varnished on both sides, but may also be made of drab-colored canvas, in which case a small pattern looks well worked over it in cross-stitch. The bag is cut out all in one piece, with the exception of the sides. Each part is bound with silk braid, firmly stitched, after which it is easy to sew the different parts together. The leather handles, which are finished off with tassels, are fastened to the bag by small straps put on with steel buttons. The rosette in the centre is made with stiff ribbon; a buckle of cut steel is fastened in the middle of it; a loop of silk elastic is sewn on under the rosette, and fastens to a large steel button placed on the lower half of the bag.

I do have a similar bag started in leather, which I think I will be taking apart and starting over with this version once I find it.  I also think I want to work this up in canvas.

I have been reading through the Encyclopedia of Victorian Needlework reprinted from the 1882 second edition. (Thank you, Pat.) Along with the helpful explanations and definitions, there are several illustrations of travel accessories. Just about everyone screams “make me.” I need to look each of these up to see when and where they originate from to determine if they will be appropriate for my travel impression. While I do this, I’ll be looking for information who may have made this item, who may have used it, when it was used, how it was used, etc.

(My apologies for those images which refuse to load right-side up.)

 This Railway Rug, is the only non-container of the bunch. It is essentially a blanket. I need to look up the phrase to see when it came into use.

This “Travelers Wallet” is a larger case than the word “wallet” would suggest. Laying open it measures 48 inches by 23 inches. The items shown in the illustration make me think this may be for a man. But, I can easily see a parasol and shawl or fan tucked into this case.

This “Traveling Case for Wraps and Bed Linens”  seems as thought it would also be rather large. I do not know if this would be inside the trunk or larger travel bag intended for the evening. If the traveler was traveling through the night on a railcar, then she may have it with her in her larger travel bag. If she were staying at an inn, it would more likely be in a trunk.

This case for medicine is quite interesting and very tempting to make. It would make a great discussion piece. It would also be very useful to have on had with Benadryl and pepto or headache meds.

This “Luncheon Case” looks like it would be quite handy. It reminds me of the smaller lunch case from Beeton’s book.

This “Bolster case” has to be shared for its similarity to the “Dufflebag”. I suspect this illustration is later in the century, as with some of these others, but need to look into that.

This simple “Umbrella Case” would be very useful. I keep my parasols and umbrella in a simple cloth tube-shaped bag for storage. This would give a nice safe place to put a damp or wet umbrella to keep it from getting other things wet. (Do remember to take it out to dry.)

In making my list of bags and such for my travel impression, I can’t help but think about which ones were seen as the most practical by the original cast, which they made but found were not as useful as they thought, and which were purely fancy.

Let us start with a fairly standard travel bag. This one comes from one of Beeton’s books. Pulling from her description: “This pattern is of the ordinary shape of travelling-bags, but it is very prettily worked…. The embroidered part measures 14 inches in its widest part, and is 11 inches deep. The bag is lined with light brown silk, and made up with a steel clasp.” With her measurements of the embroidered section, this bag may be 20-28 inches wide and 15 to 20 deep. This is a fairly good-sized bag capable of holding the day’s necessities of travel or even the set of night-clothes suggested by some advice writers. She does indicate the sides are made of java canvas. I will have to look into this material more, but I would be concerned about how water-proof or not this material (thus bag) is.

Comparatively,  here is the Pouche Pompador from the December 1864 edition of Godey’s. This is a pretty and interesting travel bag I’ve wanted to make since it showed up in Virginia Mescher’s “Traveling Tips for Ladies”. This bag is described as having the shape of a large purse. Continuing ” The bag is entirely lined, a pocket is formed on each side, and a slit is made in the centre of the bag exactly in the same way as in a purse; two rings are slipped over, and the slit is further fastened by pearl buttons and silk loops…. These pockets are very convenient to hold the numberless small articles which a lady always wishes to have by her during a journey.” It is the “small articles” that is catching me when thinking about the slit in the meeting point of the pockets. If this meeting point is narrow, the size of the items that can fit inside either pocket would be limited. I don’t know about you, but I hate digging for small items in a bag. If the meeting points are relatively wide, then larger, though not big, items may fit.  I do have an alternative idea for the openings. But, I would really like to hear from those who have made this bag to see what they find.

This next one has me thinking ‘maybe… maybe not’. A few versions of this show up in the 50s and 60s. This particular one comes from Godey’s in November of 1860. The description reads: “We direct the attention of our lady reads to a little article which will be found an extremely useful travelling companion, and which, by the exercise of female taste and industry, may be rendered no less elegant than useful. We allude to the worked plaid strap of which we furnish two illustrations; one with the plaid, and the other without. Plaid straps made of plain leather have long been used by gentlemen, and their utility is fully acknowledged by travellers. These straps are much used by ladies, who impart to them a superior degree of elegance by various kinds of ornamental work. They are available not merely for plaids or shawls, but for securing together umbrellas, parasols, and other small articles, which, in the hurry of railway travelling, changing carriages, etc. are liable to be dropped and lost. The strap from which our engraving is copied is made of Danish leather, and the ornaments are executed in beadwork, or embossing in colored silk.” Nifty? Yes. Practical? Maybe. I don’t know if I want to fuss with strapping together my parasol, umbrella, shawl, etc if there is a chance in departing one of the articles may be needed with no place to easily unstrap and restrap. I would rather take them out of a bag. Since many of the similar items are described primarily for shawls, I am concerned about keeping the shawl dry and clean. Yet this could be useful. So, it sits firmly in the maybe-maybe not category.

Now, as my battery almost runs out…. The “duffle-bag” travel bag as we’ve named it. I have to say I love this bag. But, I’ll have to say more about it later.

As part of my focus on a travel impression, I’ve started a new board on Pintrest for items related to this impression. As it grows, you will find a variety of travel bags including carpet bags, trunks, travel attire, and other details. Hopefully, this will be useful for some and just enjoyable for others.

(ps – I’m also in the pre-planning stages of some ‘make me happy’ clothing that may go a tad over the top.)

I’ve done a little rearranging of the categories for the blog. Hopefully this will make finding what you want a little easier. In doing so, I’ve added a new long-term project – “Travel Impression”. While I’ve decided not to do many, if any events, until we get settled properly, I’ve also decided to acknowledge the theme of travel that has constantly popped up time and time again over the years and actually focus on this interesting area by developing an educational impression on travel. As I work on this, I want to share my research, planning and process with you.

A little back story – Last fall I had the opportunity to develop an impression of a woman traveling across NY in the 1830s using rail, canal and stage. Two weeks ago, while talking with Bevin about the linen plaid recently added to my stash, she suggested a travel dress to expand on last fall. That was a combination of a ‘light-bulb moment’ and a ‘duh moment’. I felt like that answer should have been staring me in the face. Back when I started CW reenacting, we often used travel as a significant portion of our interpretation (we had the luxury of our events being village, home or train based.) Since then aspects of travel have always been of passing interest to me. Developing a travel impression is an excellent way of bringing together many material culture pieces as well as aspects of social and regional history.

So… Step 1 – Make a list. How I love t0-do lists.

Travel impression