Gifts that Little Girls can Make

This is a passage I wish I would have read back when I was putting together the 12 gift series. It would have been a nice compliment.

Jennie Juneiana: Talks on Women’s Topics by Jennie June (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1864)

Gifts that Little Girls can Make

A little girl once asked us, confidentially, what she could make without asking her mother, which she did not wish to do, because the present was for her mother, and she had no sisters, and only two shillings in money. We told her of several things which she could easily make herself, and which would cost within that sum; and now we mention them again, for the benefit of other little girls.

A plain dimity toilet cushion is one of the most useful and acceptable of gifts, and is easily and cheaply made. A double piece of thick cotton cloth – size, six by eight inches; this must be stitched closely round, leaving half of one end open, so it can be stuffed with bran. When it is thoroughly stuffed, wedged well down into the corners, then the gap may be sewed up, and the foundation of the cushion is complete. The cover is made of fine white dimity, surrounded with a frill, neatly hemmed. It is made like a bag, one end being left open, the other side hemmed, and the frill attached to the upper one, so that it can be readily be slipped on and off when it is soiled and needs washing. More elegant cushions may be made just as easily by substituting colored silk or ribbon for the foundation, and transparent muslin for the cover, with a frill of lace.

The pretty silk and satin scent-bags, which cost from fifty cents to a dollar at a perfumer’s, may be made in a few minutes with a scrap of satin, a little piece of gold or silver cord to tie it up with, and sixpence worth of scented powder to enclose in the inside. The more costly ones are embossed, made flat, and surrounded with narrow gold braids or silver fringe. Little circular travelling cushions filled with pins, are also nice, as are handsome morocco needle-books, well supplied with pockets, and with fine flannel leaves; but these are almost too elaborate for little fingers, unaided.  

Published in: on December 4, 2011 at 1:13 am  Leave a Comment  
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Winter Images

 

Published in: on December 2, 2011 at 1:11 am  Comments (2)  
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“What do I get my wife for Christmas?”

Please see UPDATED for 2015

Are you one of the many reenacting men who are wondering “What do I get my wife for Christmas?” or “What do I get my girlfriend for Christmas?”. If so, this post is for you.

With such a unique hobby it can sometimes be challenging to find that perfect gift or gifts. This is especially so if you are a military focused man while the love of your life is focused on an ever improving civilian impression. There are questions of authenticity piled on top of the usual questions of personal preferance and fit that go along with buying any woman a gift.

Well, here is a list of mid-19th century appropriate gifts that a woman is sure to love:

  • Lets start with the last minute gift just incase it is the last week before Christmas and you’ve been distracted with work, the weather and every other crazy thing that happens this time of year. You can find just about everything you need to make your wife or girlfriend a nice hair basket or box in your local stores. Really. Find a cute box or basket, on that is about the size of a softball and simple. If you happen to see a plain tin covered with a paper label in the holiday cookie/candy/nut section, grab that and take the label off. Head to the hair section. Here pick up a pack of hairnets (the kind the lunch ladies wore when you were in school), a pack of small hair pins, a pack of large hair pins, a pack of the brown plastic pins that look like shell and a pack of the small black elastic bands. Arrange these neatly in the box, basket or tin. If you have time and are crafty, take the items out of their package and put them in little fabric bags or tie them with pretty ribbon. (If you don’t have a bag, don’t open the elastic bands.)

Now, on to the items you can order online….

  • Ribbons are something every woman will love because they are so pretty and very useful. My favorite ribbon source is www.ribbonstore.com owned by a lovely woman named Carol. She is also on Ebay under Ribbon Store. The great thing about Carol and her ribbons is she send your ribbons in a pretty presentation inside a candy box. So creative! I highly suggest her silk satin ribbons which come in a variety of widths (pick 1″ and 1.5″ to start) and her German moire ribbons which come in bonnet widths (3″ and 4″). To figure out the right colors, think about what dresses you see your wife or girlfriend in most often at events or a dress she might be working on for herself this winter. 
  • Picking clothing is very difficult and a good thing to avoid. One expection are stockings. For stockings you want natural fibers (cotton, wool and silk.) I happen to love Sock Dream’s O Basics as well as their O Woolies as they are both very comfortable and nearly 100% natural. For silk stockings check out James Townsend who also has nice thin cotton stockings as well. For stocking colors white and black are the best safe choices. If you know she has a favorite color and might just wear colorful stockings, get one pair in her color. Clocking is good. Avoid stripes.
  • If you want to be a little creative, here is a little twist on filling a stocking I’ll call “a pocket full of sundries”. First, buy a pocket, the kind that ties around her waist under her skirts. Here are a couple 1, 2. Fill it with sundries such as – pomade, hand-salve, a fan,  lavender soap or sachets and rose water.   Then top it off with a reproduction pattern. 
  • If you have plenty of planning and shopping time, some items you might consider include  a custom made box or trunk, or a carpet bag.   – If you happen to be a craftsman you can make her a lovely box or trunk. Just about any reenacting woman can use a new box or trunk.
  • If your wife loves keepsake gifts, you might consider a parasol, a lace or paisley shawl or a piece of jewelry. If you don’t have a local antique jewelry dealer you trust, here are some favorites – Originals by Kay and Another Time Antiques (who is my local go-to.) Marta Vincent's parasols available at Originals by Kay

Gift Certificate Ideas – If you want to play it safe or know your wife likes doing her own shopping, gift certificates are a nice idea. A few to try…

Published in: on December 1, 2011 at 1:53 am  Leave a Comment  
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Quilted Hood Pattern Update

Thank you for the wonderful response to the release of my Quilted Hood Pattern. I have been floored, completely floored, by the level of interest. I didn’t expect the stock to run out so quickly, then run out again in days over Thanksgiving. You are all amazing.

As of this morning, I’ve asked my printer for a larger run which he will have available Friday. I put the Etsy listing back up so people won’t get nervous or think they are completely gone. Check here to order.

Published in: on November 28, 2011 at 7:46 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Looking at the Amount of Jewelry Worn

On my drive home this evening I was thinking about the amount of jewelry a woman wore during the mid-19th century. There would be a number of factors ranging from socio-economic status to personal preference.

I will be using a spreadsheet to go through my CDV images surveying the jewelry worn. I invite my readers to download this Jewelry CDV Survey Template in Word or this Jewelry CDV Survey Template in Excell  to survey their own images as well. If you could email it back to me when you are finished, we can put together a good amount of data. If you are unable to open the above files, here is Jewelry CDV Survey Template as a PDF.

Some guidelines:

  • Please include the images owned by you.
  • The more information you include in each column the better.
  • The better you can focus on what you see the better.
  • The closer you can look at your image the better. (I love to scan mine on a high dpi so I can zoom in.)
  • For image name – I find it easier to do my file names with a code. Please use a code you understand. If you have an image you want to share with others, please put your own name in the file name.
  • For Location – Please identify whether the location is the studio of the photographer or a hand-written location.
  • For “Sitter” – Please use the name of the sitter if known. Also include factors such as age or marital status as possible.
  • For “Dating” –  Please include an exact year/date only if it is documented (ie handwritten or tax stamp) otherwise please identify the image to the half decade (early or late) as 1840e, 1840l, 1850e, 1850l, 1860e, 1860l
  • For Socio-Economic identifiers – Please note observations about the woman’s status such as attire (fabric, elaborateness of dress.)
  • For each column of  Jewelry Worn – If nothing is worn, please write “none”. If this area can not be seen, please write “Unknown”. If an item can be identified, please write as much as you can see. If an item is there but not clear, please write “unclear”
  • For additional notes – please include other information you feel is important.
  • Please include any annotations about the collection you keep and are surveying within the Word or Excell file, such as at the bottom of the chart or the next page, so the notes are kept together. This might include what images you tend to focus on. For example, I focus on shawl images; others may focus on working images or those from a particular area. My hope is with a large sample size any collection biases will be minimalized.

Published in: on November 18, 2011 at 9:51 pm  Comments (2)  

An Assortment of Updates

My updates won’t fit nicely on Facebook.

For those waiting for the quilted hood pattern – I was hoping to have it available for you by now. I am waiting on the printer who has filled me in that they are waiting on a part to fix their machine. As soon as I ‘okay’  proofs, I will open pre-orders. Pre-ordering the hood patterns will be available through Etsy with a special offer for those pre-ordering. I have a running list of those to send a message to about the pre-orders. Let me know if you want to be on that list.

I finished the muff that goes with my hood yesterday. It should keep my hands nice and warm this winter. Photo below. I am impatiently waiting for a green silk to arrive for a custom hood. It has been 21 days. So patience really has gone away.

I’ve done something new with my Etsy store. When you visit, you will see a new banner using the motifs from one of my paisley shawls. I’ll be using this paisley motif for for my store as well as my cards and thank you cards, which will be coming along soon.

 

Published in: on November 18, 2011 at 7:01 pm  Comments (4)  

Shaker Style Work Boxes

I meant to get this post together over a week ago, but I’ve been non-functional sick. I just had a conversation that reminded me to put this together. This is one of those posts I’ll be adding info and image to over several days.

While at the Geneseo Kiwanis antique show, I saw a display of Shaker or Shaker style work boxes, aka sewing baskets. (I do wish I had my real camera rather than my camera phone for you all.) None of these boxes are dated.

In this box we see a green silk lining around the sides and bottom. The needle-book is a woven straw tied with ribbon to the box. There are two pincushions one in silk and one in an off-white velvet. The exterior shot shows the green ribbon ties which likely held other accessories in place.

This box has a creamy silk lining without any pockets evident and a single tie to the front right.

If you look online at reproduction shaker boxes, you will see some such as this one  with drop in trays including trays with thread spool pegs. As much as I love the idea of keeping my thread neat, I have yet to discover whether this version is appropriate for the mid-century.

This is a Shaker style sewing box finished by Bevin. (The box itself was made by the Rapones at GCVM.) She lined her box and lid. Inside she has a scissor’s case, pincushion and needlepages.

Now, this has little to do with the above Shaker or Shaker style work boxes. This is just another sewing box I happen to love the look of and would really like a reproduction of.

Published in: on November 17, 2011 at 1:50 pm  Comments (2)  
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Men’s Winter Headwear Observation

Observation – Looking at the winter scene illustrations I pulled together a bit ago (which you’ll see in December), I’m noticing all but one of the adult men have utterly insensible headwear on. The one with sorta sensible head wear coming home in a storm with his scarf wrapped over his head. The younger boys appear to have slightly more sensible headwear in that they appear to be wearing caps which are wool. But, I still don’t see any coverage for the sides of the head and ears. Now, granted this isn’t a large pool of images and just illustrations from 61 to 64 from Godey’s and Peterson’s depicting winter or Christmas scenes. But, it has me wondering about men’s winter headwear. Women have a fairly wide assortment of winter millinery pieces that are both practical and fashionable available to the. Years back, Bevin and I were perfectly comfortable strolling through town when the weather was either teens or single digits thanks to our hoods. But, a man in the same weather with just a hat or cap on would have frost bite in no time flat. There just has to be a group of headwear I haven’t looked at for men. (Sorry men, I know I’ve neglected the men’s straw hats as well. That will be coming, some time.) A farmer has to have something more than a knit cap to throw on when running out to the barns in a deep winter blizzard. He ought to have something more sensible when out ice skating as well (one of the images.)

Published in: on November 16, 2011 at 4:58 pm  Comments (3)  
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“What do I get my wife for Christmas?”

Are you one of the many reenacting men who are wondering “What do I get my wife for Christmas?” or “What do I get my girlfriend for Christmas?”. If so, this post is for you.

With such a unique hobby it can sometimes be challenging to find that perfect gift or gifts. This is especially so if you are a military focused man while the love of your life is focused on an ever improving civilian impression. There are questions of authenticity piled on top of the usual questions of personal preferance and fit that go along with buying any woman a gift.

Well, here is a list of mid-19th century appropriate gifts that a woman is sure to love:

  • Lets start with the last minute gift just incase it is the last week before Christmas and you’ve been distracted with work, the weather and every other crazy thing that happens this time of year. You can find just about everything you need to make your wife or girlfriend a nice hair basket or box in your local stores. Really. Find a cute box or basket, on that is about the size of a softball and simple. If you happen to see a plain tin covered with a paper label in the holiday cookie/candy/nut section, grab that and take the label off. Head to the hair section. Here pick up a pack of hairnets (the kind the lunch ladies wore when you were in school), a pack of small hair pins, a pack of large hair pins, a pack of the brown plastic pins that look like shell and a pack of the small black elastic bands. Arrange these neatly in the box, basket or tin. If you have time and are crafty, take the items out of their package and put them in little fabric bags or tie them with pretty ribbon. (If you don’t have a bag, don’t open the elastic bands.)

Now, on to the items you can order online….

  • Ribbons are something every woman will love because they are so pretty and very useful. My favorite ribbon source is www.ribbonstore.com owned by a lovely woman named Carol. She is also on Ebay under Ribbon Store. The great thing about Carol and her ribbons is she send your ribbons in a pretty presentation inside a candy box. So creative! I highly suggest her silk satin ribbons which come in a variety of widths (pick 1″ and 1.5″ to start) and her German moire ribbons which come in bonnet widths (3″ and 4″). To figure out the right colors, think about what dresses you see your wife or girlfriend in most often at events or a dress she might be working on for herself this winter. 
  • Picking clothing is very difficult and a good thing to avoid. One expection are stockings. For stockings you want natural fibers (cotton, wool and silk.) I happen to love Sock Dream’s O Basics as well as their O Woolies as they are both very comfortable and nearly 100% natural. For silk stockings check out James Townsend who also has nice thin cotton stockings as well. For stocking colors white and black are the best safe choices. If you know she has a favorite color and might just wear colorful stockings, get one pair in her color. Clocking is good. Avoid stripes.
  • If you want to be a little creative, here is a little twist on filling a stocking I’ll call “a pocket full of sundries”. First, buy a pocket, the kind that ties around her waist under her skirts. Here are a couple 1, 2. Fill it with sundries such as – pomade, hand-salve, a fan,  lavender soap or sachets and rose water.   Then top it off with a reproduction pattern. 
  • If you have plenty of planning and shopping time, some items you might consider include  a custom made box or trunk, or a carpet bag.   – If you happen to be a craftsman you can make her a lovely box or trunk. Just about any reenacting woman can use a new box or trunk.
  • If your wife loves keepsake gifts, you might consider a parasol, a lace or paisley shawl or a piece of jewelry. If you don’t have a local antique jewelry dealer you trust, here are some favorites – Originals by Kay and Another Time Antiques (who is my local go-to.) Marta Vincent's parasols available at Originals by Kay

Gift Certificate Ideas – If you want to play it safe or know your wife likes doing her own shopping, gift certificates are a nice idea. A few to try…

Published in: on November 14, 2011 at 1:11 am  Comments (1)  
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Tempting Fashion Plates

This week I stumbled across two, make that three, fashion plates with dresses that are way too tempting.

Normally, one would think it was the wrapper in this plate that was tempting me. But, no. While I do love this wrapper and have ideas of how I would make it, the coat is what is calling me. I see this coat done in a black wool trimmed with quilted red silk or quilted red velvet. It just looks so cozy and warm to me. Plus, I’m back on a red kick as you will see further down.

After doing a travel program this fall, travel images catch my attention. When I saw this train interior my eyes went right to that great green bag. Then they went to the gold dress. Picture wearing that dress in a light weight to tropical weight wool. Wouldn’t that be great to wear? I may want to change the trim placement through the front of the bodice though. I do have this great green wool thanks to Bevin that I’ve been waiting on. If there is enough to do this cut, I might just do that.  

Remember how I said I’m back on a red kick? Well, check out this red and white dress. Incredible!!!  I just love it. I love the lushness of the red either in silk or velvet trimmed out with the white feathers or fur. I don’t know if I could get away with the bodice the way it is with my age and bust. That would get redrafted though. Now of course this much deep red taffeta and trim could be a bit pricey. So, I think it may have to stay on my dreamy wish list for a while.

 

While this isn’t a fashion plate, I just had to share it.

Published in: on November 10, 2011 at 4:34 pm  Comments (6)  
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