Moore’s Rural New-Yorker from Rochester, NY, March 15, 1862.
Black Silk Drawn Bonnet
This black silk drawn bonnet was a custom request. The new owner is adding her own flowers and ribbons.
The silk is a flat black tissue taffeta. I like this silk because it is so similar in weight and weave to silks I’ve seen on original bonnets. It draws up nicely on the thinner cane and allows for tight gathers without looking bulky or adding too much weight, while also drawing lightly giving nice waves to the silk.
The buckram form base is shaped to have a nice flaring brim, fashionable yet flattering.
Inside, is a cotton sheer lining and a silk organza frill ready for flowers to be added. The bavolet is lined with white cotton net.
I’m sure some are wondering if this bonnet could be dressed for mourning. Yes, it could be. One could add matte black ribbons and simply fluff out the frill (I like to ship the frills un-fluffed) for a mourning impression. For later in the mourning period, purple ribbons and simple white flowers could be added.
Green Mini-Check Silk Drawn Bonnet.
The form for this bonnet has been sitting on the work table since mid-summer, with the silk patiently waiting.
I played with the shaping of the buckram form to get the brim to flare up into a high fashionable shape. This is a shape that will want a bonnet stay. (Yes, I will get to taking some photos of stays asap.)
For this piece, I wanted to play with the texture created by placing the drawn canes evenly together, following the curving shape of the brim. I used the thicker of the canes to play off the tiny check. I found this really emphasizes the curve of the brim and visually elongates it. I love how that works.
The decorative ribbon is the German moire I like in white. It makes for a nice, wide ribbon that ties beautifully and lasts. The functional ties are silk satin, in ivory.
I set the organza frill high and slightly asymmetrically. Part of me wants to fill in the sides all the way through the cheektabs. But, this placement is supposed to emphasize the vertical line and height.
Now the flowers. As I worked with the silk, I knew it really wanted purple. I found a pair of pretty purple velvet roses and delicate white lilies whose edges have just a hint of purple. The spray of velvet blossoms add to the height. I went with a small bouquet set asymmetrically.
Almost forgot. This bonnet is available on Etsy.
Readings for Rural Life
From Moore’s Rural New-Yorker in Rochester, NY
Sept 24th, 1861
Fires in the Bedrooms.
Most people, even many intelligent reformers have the idea that to sleep in a cold room is good – essential health. It is an error. It is better to have an open fire in your bed-room. The atmosphere is not only by this means constantly changed, but with the fire you will keep the window open, which will add greatly to the needed ventilation. But more than his, with the fire you will have fewer bedclothes over you, which is a gain, as a large number of blankets not only interferes somewhat with the circulation and respiration, but prevents the escape of those gases which the skin is constantly emitting. Even furnace or stove heat with an open window is better than a close, cold room. Interchange with the external atmosphere depends upon the difference between the temperature of the air within and that without. But let us have the open fire. Let us go without. But let us have the open fire. Let us go without silks, broadcloths, carpets, and finery of all kinds, if necessary, that we may have this beautiful purifier and diffuser of joy in all our houses. In my own house I have ten open grates and find with coal at eleven dollars the expense is frightful, and if it were in any other department of housekeeping I should feel I could not afford it; but in this I do not flinch, so important do I deem the open fire. Dr. Lewis.
A Year in Millinery Fashion – 1864
A Leghorn bonnet, trimmed
with a salmon and black ribbon. The feathers are black. The inside trimming is
composed of scarlet velvet, black lace, and salmon-colored flowers. (Godey’s, September, 1864)
Children’s Headwear
Lately, I’ve been hearing an assortment of “kids didn’t wear…”, “children only wore…”, “she’s too young for….” and so on.
Ehhhh…. not so much. Children had a variety of headwear to choose from. Here is an attempt at a survey of paintings to help us get a better idea. (Clicking on the thumbnails will take you to the full paintings)
Let us start with this little boy from Britain. The title, A Visit from the Hall, suggests his family rents or works the land. He is young. I would estimate 2 or 3 years of age. He wears a long smock that may be a dress and what might be the start of pants underweight. He holds a cap in his hand.
This little girl is getting direction from her mother, in Responsibility by Hugh Cameron (1869). I can’t help think “Little Red Riding Hood” here. Except instead of a red hood she is wearing a white, possibly blueish, soft bonnet or hood. It may be a quilted bonnet. The weather may or may not be slightly chilled outside, as she wears a light outer garment and not arm coverings. 
In this Cameron painting, The Village Well (1871), the girl is wearing a short sleeve dress, pinafore and pretty pink sunbonnet. This appears to be a corded sunbonnet to me. The curtain/bavolet is long, hanging over her shoulders protecting her neck. In her hand (sorry I cropped that) is a jug for water. 
This girl coming through a garden gate is also wearing a pink sunbonnet. This one has a ruffle around the brim and a much longer curtain. 
This girl’s sunbonnet is white. You can see it tied under her chin with a ribbon that appears to have color. 
For an additional sunbonnet, see Pay Toll.
The next few images depict fairs. Looking at the whole paintings, we see a wide variety of clothing. In Alfred Mudge’s Walking the Walsall Fair (1859) we see two girls wearing structured bonnets, meaning buckram or straw bonnets. The lower image shows a girl who wears a pinafore type garment over her dress which is just above the ankles. I think she is 11 to 14. Her bonnet hints at straw while distinctly showing the bavolet and ribbons. She is holding the hand of another child, possibly a girl if that is long hair, who is wearing a hat with a ribbon. In the upper image, which is to the right of the first girl in the whole painting, is a girl who may be a bit younger than the first. She wears a bonnet perched far back on her head, to the point of falling off. 
This next child is a bit blurry because I tried to zoom in too far. She is from William Samuel P. Henderson’s Fair Day (1856). She is quite young, maybe 3 to 5. She wears a dark, possibly black, structured bonnet tied with light, possibly blue, ribbons under her chin. 
For additional “reading”, this page has several good paintings for clothing in general.
Also see, Looking out for the Engine while the Bell Rings for an assortment of head wear.
Still Life with Bonnets, caps actually
Still Life with Bottles and Breton Bonnets is a slightly different still life than the usually pretty arrangement of dishes and fruit or pretty flowers. How lucky are we that Pierre Roy decided to paint it?!
FanU “Fallen Leaves” Swap
Wow, this first swap of the fall went fast! It may have just been me. But, I received 1 envelop. Then, I received All the envelops.
It was so much fun opening that stack and seeing all the pretty fabrics. It seemed quite suitable that the fallen leaves arrived as the air turned such a chill. Let me tell you, boy do we have a lot of fallen leaves here.
As most of you know, I get migraines. So, this round I didn’t do well at all sorting the fabrics into group 1 and 2. So, we have 1 big photo. Well, 1 collection with 2 photos, a non-flash and a flash.
In this grouping we have so many pretty prints spanning a few decades. (We’ll get to talk more about techniques when we get to the ‘Greene’ swap later.) Though, I will say I can se some that were roller prints and at least one I suspect was a bloc print. One is called “Dancing in the Rain”. Another called “TossedLeaves”. We have pieces that come from Old Sturbridge Village and the Victoria & Albert Museum. One is a DAR fabric. There are fabrics from the Civil War Melodies collection, the Windham Winter Carnival collection and the Dargate Botanicals.
Something that I enjoy personally is seeing which fabrics Grandma had or that she likely would have picked. This groups was strong in those respects.
Thank you to all my FanU swappers for participating. I look forward to the next swap!
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If I Had My Own Blue Box: 