On this 15th day of #historyinherhands , I offer one of the many crafts of paper. This mid-twentith century box was constructed by hand of card stock and covered in paper inside and out. The pages of children’s books and ladies’ magazines were filled with useful and playful crafts made with paper.
On this 14th day of #historyinherhands , I offer this blue silk sewing case. This excellent piece is both an example of how women organized their sewing tools and organization in construction as this is made almost entirely from a length of ribbon.
On the thirteenth day of #historyinherhands , I offer bonnet veils. Lace worked on delicate silk net, can make bonnet veils quite fragile as a decade and a half passes.
On my much neglected to-do list is to re-roll the modest assortment of veils I have in archival paper.
For this twelfth day of #historyinherhands , I offer this carte de viste of milliners with their work in hand. While milliners get most of the attention in the bonnet and hat making trade, we must not forget the many assistants, straw plaiters, straw sewers, flower makers, lace makers, and more who’s labor made the beautiful confections possible.
For this eleventh day of #historyinherhands , I offer a pinking machine. Pinking machines replaced pinking dies or pinking irons in the second half of the nineteenth century. No longer did a dressmaker or milliner need to cut scallops an inch or so at a time. Lengths of silk could be quickly run through a pinker with the turn of a crank. This meant yards and yards of decorative trim could be created in a fraction of time with a fraction of effort. As the twentieth century progressed pinking machines were replaced with pinking scissors and pinked fabric transitioned from decoration to utility hidden inside garments.
I made a fun little crossword. You can do it online here:
https://crosswordlabs.com/view/womens-employments-in-the-19th-century
Or print this pdf version:
For this tenth day of #historyinherhands , I offer this stocking shaped needle-book. Footwear, including boots, shoes, and stockings, were popular shapes for making needle-books and pin cushions. These appear throughout women’s monthly publications and books of fancy work with recommendations of making them for gifts or fairs.
On this nineth day of #historyinherhands , for Women’s History Month, I offer accessible fashion in the form of these combs, one a vulcanite, one a gutta percha. Often the pages of Godey’s Lady’s book were filled with fashions not affordable to the every day woman, or practical. The use of gutta percha, mirroring the look of more costly jet and bog oak, made fashion more accessible to working class women.
On a whimsy, I picked up a friend’s challenge for Women’s History Month. You likely have noticed daily morning posts with the hashtag #historyinherhands. Each of these posts features an item, or items, from my collection connected with a theme word looking at women’s history on a personal level. I hope you enjoy these.
At the same time, you will be seeing posts on Mondays through at least March and April focusing on millinery from an interpretive perspective. Each year similar questions are asked about when, where, and how to wear hats and bonnets. Usually these questions start in April or May. This year questions are in the air. This tells me people are eager for spring and to get to events and sites. With this in mind, I am bringing forward the most useful blog posts addressing these common and important questions.
For this eighth day of #historyinherhands , I offer this soapstone. Soap stones could be placed near the fire, either in the hearth or upon the stove, to warm. Then placed in the bed while wrapped in cloth.
This was a challenging theme word of the day. I can tell you from experience soapstones such as this work nicely. I used to keep on in the oven to warm by the pilot light. It would warm my bed enough to keep me comfortable until morning.
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 