I added a few things to my shop this evening to go towards my car fund. There are 3 wadded hoods and two nest pen wipers that would look cute in a tree.
I did put together a trio of doll millinery. It sold nearly instantly. I was already planning to have a second set done for tomorrow (Thursday) night. The straw hat is currently drying.
Normally, I have a sale for my e-publications at the end of the year. This year, I need to start it a little earlier.
Sadly, I need to replace my car. My car is old enough to graduate high school. I bought this car shortly after my Dad died in 2008. It has across the country and back with me. It has seen me through a lot. If I could afford to keep it running forever, I would. But, I can’t. The repair bills keep adding up. It’s reached the point where I start to panic each time it pulls or creaks as I envision a wheel falling off. (I’d like to say that is an irrational fear. But, it happened to a previous car.)
I plan to sensibly buy a used car of a similar size and good safety rating. I have an appointment with my local dealership on Thursday. Everything from this past week’s sales will be going towards the down-payment. Ideally, I would like to come up with another $4,000 to get the payment where I would like. I know I can’t pull that off this time of year when shipping is so high risk. Thus, this early sale.
All e-publications, including patterns, workbooks, and FanU In Details are 25% off through the end of the year.
I may have some additional items to sell once I think a little more. (I am too cautious to sell antiques this time of year.)
I was asked to add my PayPal tip link.
I was ecstatic to see the response to my Fanciful Utility theme Mystery Boxes. Fanciful Utility was published twelve years ago. In this day of social media and high-speed digital information exchange, that may as well be a lifetime.
Or, so I thought.
The near immediate sell-out of my FanU themed boxes tells me first, Fanciful Utility still has a strong following, and second, I’ve been neglecting FanU fans.
With this in mind, I’ve added a new FanU Fan tier to Patreon with the plan to add a monthly FanU Spotlight post.
FanU Spotlight posts will take a look at current, past, and future FanU and fancy work projects ranging from pin cushions to pen wipes; work-pockets to boxes. Some will include templates, too.
This tier will also be able to see the Pocket of the Month posts. (I think Patreon allows you to see past posts & content as well.)
My goal is to have 30 Patrons by the end of February and 40 by the end of 2024.
I decided I am going to start something new. This may be uncommon in the “business world,” but I want to do it.
Thank you to everyone who made a purchase this month! Your purchases literally help me pay my rent and bills. This month’s sales are just $100 shy of last November’s, helping me catch up to only 16.1% behind last year’s total sales. Nearly everyone used the “Share & Save” link to reach my shop. By doing so, you saved me $56.20 in fees.
Thank you to my Patreon patrons! I am excited to currently have 20 patrons. Your support pays for my WordPress platform and software. I was also able to buy a few exceptional CDVs for research this past month, which I will share with you soon. I have pockets for Pocket of the Month designed through February, plus June. I hope you love them.
Thank you to everyone who continues to follow my work! Each time you comment or share my posts, it helps.
Here is a cute photo of Clara, who is snuggling with me as I write.
I spent this past weekend talking about winter weather wear at GCVM for their Preparing for Winter event. I admit, there is a bit of irony to my fondness for this event given my disdain of winter itself. For me, it is all about the people, the visitors, those I see again and again, as well as those who are visiting the museum for the first time. I love the conversations, the questions, the tangents, the moments of connection, and understanding.
Friday night, as I drove home in the rain and dropping temperatures, I questioned whether I should really be doing a full weekend in the village given how completely worn down I felt from my day job. The world felt dark, wet, and cold while I felt tired, sore, and disheartened. Come Saturday morning, the sun was out and shining. As I walked into the village, music played while the ground was scattered with droplet speckled leaves reflecting the sunlight.
It was a beautiful pre-winter day.
My third group Saturday morning, moments after 10am, was a pair of families with 11 young children. They all lined up around the tables and gave me all of their attention. This was the moment my stress of the previous couple months melted away. I was able to let go of all the work baggage and truly enjoy engaging with people, sharing this little corner of history.
My topic for the weekend was winter weather wear, which allowed me to talk about both layers of clothing and my ongoing winter hood research. I was beyond pleased with how genuinely interested people were in which hood was good for what. Here are two of the short videos I did while there.
On my way out Saturday, I noticed one the photo stand in front of the Doctor’s office. This is one of, I think, two decorated photo/selfie stations the museum set up. Someone created non-intrusive wooden stands with grooves for holding phones or tablets. I made time to take a few photos with it Sunday morning.
When I left the museum Sunday, I stopped for my traditional post-program Chinese dinner and popped in one of my favorite antique shops, where I picked up two cdvs. I came home and got ready to launch my Mystery Boxes and Clara’s Corner bookmarks. By 9 something, half my boxes were sold, and I could curl up with the book I’ve been waiting to read. I may have been eating a most delicious molasses cookie at midnight as I read. This morning, when I woke, I found I was disappointed I wasn’t headed back for a third day.
Next event: Holiday Open House – December 17th – Find me in Jones Farm this year.
To wrap up Winter (head)Wear Week, I thought you might enjoy this selection of past unboxing videos as I open winter hoods when they first arrive.
While it is nice to have pristine or exceptional examples, I prefer pieces that allow me to explore how they were made, the details of construction. Some pieces show piecing or little make-dos. Others show wear patterns. Fractured silk can allow a look inside. While some are fairly clear puzzle pieces falling into place, others are little oddities, offering more questions than answers…..
Plaid silk wadded
Lots tbd..
Black silk
Plaid wool hood
Doll size wadded silk hood
Quilted silk hood/bonnet
From the Winter Millinery series I started but got distracted from:
Black silk quilked hood
The most common sewn winter hood of the early through mid-nineteenth century was the quilted hood. This type of hood most often consisted of three pieces: the brim, crown, and bavolet, each of which were quilted with a lining fabric, outer fabric, and wadding or batting inside.
The shape and proportions of the individual brim, crown, and bavolet pieces and some construction details evolved from decade to decade, reflecting the needs of changing hair styles. When the coiffure was placed high on the head, more space was needed high in the crown. When the coiffure was placed low on the neck, an adjustable bavolet to crown seam was needed.
Most commonly, a tight weave silk taffeta was used for the exterior material. A tigh weave, smooth wool is also seen in originals for the exterior. A tight weave with a smooth surface helps snow slide off of the hood with minimal moisture absorption.
The wadding or batting is most often wool, though occasionally other fibers. The bits of wool batting peeking through seams, fractures, and holes in original hoods range from white to golden/orangey yellows to dark browns. I have observed both cleaned and uncleaned wool with plant fibers inside. I have found fulled wool fabric quilted inside original hoods as well.
Inside quilted hoods, linings most often consist of polished cotton or silk, though to a much lesser extent printed cottons are also found. The smooth surface of a polished cotton or silk causes less disruption to the wearer’s hair. The front few inches of the brim can be faced with another silk, solid, striped, or plaid. Often, this facing is on the bias. On multiple pieces, I have observed ribbon used for the facing, pieced together on the bias.
Some quilted bonnets have structural support used in the construction. So far, I have found: wires, cane, paper, pasteboard, buckram, and straw.
I am currently working on a new workbook focusing on quilted hoods, ca 1840-1860s. This workbook will include an assortment of quilted hoods in my collection with detail photographs and walk through how to make a quilted hood with patterns for three hoods.
I had planned to have it available this week, but I over scheduled myself and find myself behind. The good news is I finished the first of three samples for the directions section last night. I will focus on finishing the workbook during Thanksgiving recess and have available asap.
The next winter workbook will either be doll hoods or children’s hoods. Which would you prefer?
A lappet style winter hood is distinguished by its elongated cheektabs reflecting the look of a lace lappet. These extended cheektabs align with a deep brim that comes forward of the face. Lappet style hoods are batted thinner than many other hoods. This makes it easy to fold back the brim. Laid flat, this deep brim and long lappets can protect the face. Folded back it allows for ease of vision.
This style hood is distinct among its quilted and wadded counterparts, yet lacked a name. The distinct long, wide cheektabs so similarly reflect a lappet’s shape and position of wear, the name lappet became obviously appropriate.
Lappet style hoods are found with three piece construction and two piece construction.
This pink lappet style hood is currently on display at the Genesee Country Village and Museum. It is shown with the brim turned back. You can see how the neck edge of the crown can be drawn up inside for comfort and fit.
18th century example at the Boston Museum of Fine Art
To make your own lappet style winter hood
A “Pumpkin” hood or bonnet is a wadded bonnet, most commonly made of silk on the exterior and polished cotton, cotton or silk on the interior. Wide, full channels are filled to a full loft with wool batting either lightly or densely. The channels are separated by smaller channels, single or multiple, that are drawn in by cord or ribbon. The front brim may or may not have a decorative ruffle, attached or tucked from the base exterior fabric. These usually have a petite to moderate bavolet either lightly filled with batting or without batting.
Some other terms that seem to apply: Wadded bonnet/hood, “Ugly”, a “Kiss-me-quick”.
Most museums seem to start their dating of wadded, pumpkin style hoods in the second quarter of the century. Some do push earlier, as far as the late 1700s/early 1800s, such as this example from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
As domestically made winter hoods were a utilitarian garment rather than a fashionable one, their appearances in fashion literature is limited. I see one set of passages referencing a wadded hood or bonnet, drawn in, worn close to the face that may help us give wadded hoods drawn close to the latter 1830s:
In the Ladies Pocket Magazine, of 1838, London, we see a mention of wadded bonnets as a fashionable item. Of English fashions – “Wadded bonnets which before were very much in vogue, are now almost the only ones adopted in promenade dress, and it must be confessed nothing could be better calculated for the season, particularly when they are worn, as in often the case, over a blond morning cap of the demi-cornette form.” (In this passage, wadded pelisses and wadded mantles are also mentioned.) Of Paris fashions “Winter has set in with all its rigour, but that is of little consequence to our elegantes, who, occupied with the grand dinners, balls, and fetes that are always given in the commencement of winter, have deserted the promenades. Novelty in out-door costume is consequently out of the question, velvet or satin mantles, which are trimmed and sometimes lined in fur, that their busts are defended by a large fur palatine, their hands doubly shielded by fur cuffs, and a muff, and their pretty faces guarded by a large wadded bonnet, which completely meets under the chin, we have said all that can be said of out-door dress.” The year prior, the same publication tells us: “We may cite with confidence, among the new bonnets will be very fashionable, the capotes a conlisse ouatees, or wadded drawn bonnets; the are a most comfortable head-dress, composed of satin or pou de soie, lightly wadded, and simply trimmed with ribbon. They differ a little in shape from the other bonnets, sitting closer round the face.” This may or may not be the beginning point of the wadded, pumpkin style bonnet. Neither publication includes an illustration of this practical winter wear in the midst of the popular large bonnets of the era.
In that same time period, we see wadded and quilted hoods/bonnets constructed for children in The Workwoman’s Guide. The illustrations suggest the quilted versions have larger crowns that are volumous in some cases. It is important to note the difference between this shape and the Pumpkin shape. I believe this is the construction that evolves through the rest of the century as the quilted bonnet.
Blackwood‘s suggested I should look at “quilted wadded capotes” as well as “bonnets” and “hoods”. Though, this February and March 1843 Peterson‘s suggest capotes were quilted, rather than wadded with loft.
One of only photographs clearly depicting a wadded “pumpkin” style bonnet/hood is a bit of tease. While taken in 1897, the photograph does not show contemporary/current wear, rather historical costume wear. This photograph is held by Deerfield.
Yes, evidence suggest wadded hoods were worn in the 1860s. The 1860 painting, School Girls, by George Augustus Baker, shows the girl on the left in what could be a red silk wadded pumpkin bonnet. The artist did several studies for this painting, including Little Girl in a Red Bonnet, which is undated.
With winter coming, many are thinking about how to keep warm in their nineteenth century attire, including how to keep their head warm.
The great news is there were several styles of winter hoods worn in the nineteenth century.
The challenging news is there were several styles of winter hoods worn in the nineteenth century.
With the many styles available, how do you pick the one right for your impression or interpretation?
I have this ongoing love (obsession) with sewn winter hoods. I am fascinated by how each is put together, what
the commonalities are, what the uniquenesses are, and which suits which situations best.
This overview looks at sewn winter hoods focusing on the mid-19th century. It does not include the many knit
styles that were made.
Let’s start with some basics.
Sewn winter hoods generally fall into two catagories: quilted and wadded, with some draped hoods which do not have interior guts. Winter hoods were most frequently made with a silk exterior and a silk or cotton interior. They could also be made from wool. The breakdown lands somewhere around ⅔ silk with ⅓ wool. The silk used is most frequently a tight weave taffeta, with the occasional fraille or tight jacquard weave. The tight weave and smooth texture is important for resisting water. Think about how an umbrella resists water. If rain or wet snow fall onto a silk hood, you want the moisture to roll off. If dry, fluffy snow falls onto a silk hood, you want it to slide off. The same principle applies. Similarly, when wool is used, it too needs to be a tight, smooth weave. A tight weave will minimize absorption. A smooth weave will encourage snow to slide off. A fuzzy wool will act almost like velcro, grabbing and holding onto snow. In terms of weight, the vast majority of original wool hoods I’ve examined have been light weight with some slightly medium weight wools.
Turning to the interior, silk and cotton are commonly found. Silk is often a solid color, either a taffeta or tissue taffeta. Cottons is more often a polished cotton in a solid color or a sateen, with the occasional smaller print. Often, the interiors include multiple fabrics of the same fiber. The color selection can be a dark neutral, black or brown, or a bright, vivid color such as pink or yellow.
Now, let’s talk situations and styles.
I break this down environmentally.
If you are doing an event that is likely to be windy and/or stormy, you will want a hood that can protect your face. For this situation, I recommend a hood that comes forward, protecting the face. A lappet style hood is a good choice for this. The brim extends forward of the face with the lappets hanging below. This was the style I had on when a sudden heavy, icey burst of rain hit. I found while walking through the village, my face was fully protected and dry. A capote style hood, one with minimal structure and a deep brim, would work well for a stormy situation as well.
If you are doing an event that will be very cold, while you need to be active, you will want a warm hood that stays in place while giving you a good line of sight. For this, I recommend a wadded hood. A wadded hood is likely the warmest of the hoods as it is filled full with wool wadding or down. A well fit wadded hood will snug the head, keeping out drafts, and stay put while you actively work. The edge of the brim frames the face giving you full range of peripheral vision, which is important for working with livestock or visitors.
If you are doing an event where visitors need to see your face while giving you protection from the cold weather, I recommend a quilted hood with a brim that can be turned back or is shaped with wire. This style hood can be made with lighter or cotton batting for subtle warmth or with heavier or wool batting for more warmth. A channel can be added to the inside of brim so the hood can be drawn in to hold in place if it is windy or the interpretation role is an active one.
While some winter hoods are trimmed, the majority of the everyday/common hoods I have studied are not trimmed. Simple trims can include ruched ribbon or pinked silk along the brim edge or simple bows on the crown or along the center top of the brim.
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 