If I Had My Own Blue Box:

A cottage industry at its simplest is product creation in the home.

Product creation in the home, cottage industry, simultaneously provides income for the home, ideally utilizing the resources immediately or locally available, and contributes to the economy of rural and developing areas. When the product created went from the home to a larger manufacturer, as was the case with sewing straw bonnets or hats, this was known as piece work. This is not to say home manufacturing solely occurs in rural or developing areas. Product development can also be done in urban homes, where it is often referred to as home manufacturing instead of cottage industry. In this case, the materials are often provided. Flower making or band-box making would be examples of this.

Straw plaiting and straw sewing as cottage industries in the 19th century were prominent in England and Italy in Europe, and in the New England through New York areas of the United States. (Some areas, such as Luton in England, continued plaiting well into the 20th century.) Straw cottage industry took fibers easily grown in these regions, commonly wheat and rye, and transformed them into money earning product. (more details in From Field to Fashion) The workflow differed between the US and England. In England, straw markets were the norm. Plaiters and sewers exchanged their goods for the best price of the day based on their materials and work. In the US, an industry representative would come to collect finished work in exchange for pay. (I did read a single passage saying a woman could take her work to the local dry goods store with the merchant acting as the industry representative. I need to find additional support for this to be sure of the actuality.) These pieces (bonnets and hats) would then go a factory to be wired and finally sized (blocked and stiffened.) At this point, they were ready to go to straw goods stores and millinery shops.

I used to think straw sewing as a cottage industry in the US faded out by the turn of the century. Then, I discovered this log book for tracking straw sewing from 1904. Likely, this sewing was done by machine. This is based on the year and by the number of pieces this person could get done in a month. The booklet gives directions for sewing and shop regulations inside each cover. The pages give space for tracking: Date – Block – Pattern – Goods – Price – Amount

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In person, as a visitor watches, the question is usually “Are you hand sewing all of it?” or something about the stitches itself. Online, the question I get is about what kind of machine I am sewing with.

Straw plait millinery was hand sewn up until the invention of the straw sewing machine in the late 1860s. The first straw sewing machine was for sewing the bind edge of a bonnet or hat, not the whole body. The machine for sewing all of the straw came just a short time later. These machines came into common, but not universal use, in the 1870s. I say not universal use because some original pieces from the 1880s still show hand sewing for the construction.

I sew my straw millinery as they did in the nineteenth century up through the mid-century: by hand.

I use little stitches on the outside and long, half inch to inch long stitches on the inside.

To this day, I am still amazed by the visible stitches inside many straw bonnets. Here is an original bonnet I have in my TLC collection. The left photos is outside. The right photo is inside. Notice how you can barely, if at all, see the stitches on the outside, while on the inside the stitches are very visible.

From an artistic or craft standpoint, I find I have far more control over the straw when working by hand. I can adjust the tension, slightly curve, shape, or even fold the straw as I work. This allows me to create the shapes of each style including the height seen in an 1860’s spoon bonnet or the straw bavolet in an 1840s bonnet or the V point of a Regency or late century hat. This straw manipulation is the job of my left hand. So, both hands get tired, often very tired and sore, when I push them. I go through a lot of creams and visit my massage person regularly.

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One more week and Summer starts for me.

Well, mostly, sorta, kind. I have a few things to do at school after the last day.

Millinery Shop Plans

My goal is to try to make 20 pieces each month this summer. I want to offer a balance of bonnets and hat, both decorated and undecorated. I have been holding back some woven straw so I can offer some fancy woven pieces. I will be doing some Regency era and later Victorian pieces as well as the mid-century pieces.

In July, some of these pieces will need to go to the museum for the millinery shop interpretation first.

Summer To-Do List

• The future Peppermint doll awaits her body and clothes. I may end up making her dress from red/white striped cotton instead of silk.
• Finishing my new corset is a must early in the summer. I started it weeks ago but got stalled out.
• I am considering making a large block quilt with some of the fabrics from the fabric swaps years ago.
• I really, really need to spend some time walking in the woods and wandering aling waterfalls.
• Then there are a bunch of small things I can’t seem to recall as I write.
• Hmmm….. and its about time I make either my green or brown wool dress.

Events

• This weekend I have a strawberry pin cushion class. This is a modern crafty class at a local quilt shop.
• Independence Day at GCVM is of course tradition.
• Chocolate Weekend is the 16th and 17th of July at GCVM. I will be talking about Victorian fancy work and chocolate while making a straw Bon Bon Basket, or two.
• GCVM’s Civil War Living History Weekend is July 23rd & 24th. I will be setting up the women’s employments interpretation.
• A local Old Fashion Day lands on the last Saturday of July. This is a relaxed event to sew and chat with attendees.
• August is less packed with a tbd day or days for interpreting a new idea I’ve been working on. Plus one last weekend before I am back at school/work at the end of the month.

Additional Question

I have something else I am trying to think through. 🤔 Is there some digital content you wish I made available? Of I had a sister shop, what would you want to see there?

This is a harder question than it seems on the surface. A woman may take many roles from an assistant to an employed milliner to a millinery shop owner. Each of these roles could take place in a larger or smaller shop, in a large city, small city, or small town. 

Skill level and shop sales were factors as well.  In the agreement between Newman and Stout, Emma would initially be paid $8 per week. A clause was included that if after 6 months “if business is good”, her pay would increase to $9 per week. (The full document, with notes is available to Patrons in Patreon.)

There are a few resources that help us understand what a milliner made.  Virginia Penny breaks down many of the rolls within the millinery industry in her book The Employments of Women. Penny looks at their pay as well as the training needed and some of the negative ramifications of some roles such as influence on health. This excerpt shows that overall some women in the role of milliner could make more than those making many other items. but the details show a wide range of income:

Looking at her more detailed sections, Penny breaks down her findings by city and type of job. Millinery shop assistants, who she calls “girls” are noted as being paid between $2.50 and $6 per week in Philidelphia in 1853. These are the young women who decorated bonnets and hats. In New York City, a shop owner would pay “first class workwomen” between $6 and $7 per week. Sales women in larger urban shops are said to have been paid $1 per day (Philadelphia, 1853.)

The workday would be long by our 21st century standards. This was true for both larger, urban millinery shops and smaller goods shops. Some passages I’ve read talk about work days starting before dawn, being fed quickly at the shop, and working until mid-night from Monday through Saturday. Penny accounts as slightly shorter day:

“I called in a small store of dry and fancy goods, with which was connected a millinery. The young lady waited on customers, and in the intervals trimmed bonnets for the store. She received $1 a day, and is at the store by half past seven, and leaves at nine at night.”

It is important to understand the millinery industry was a seasonal one. Shop assistants were often employed for the spring and fall seasons with the work hours running from dawn to past nightfall during the busy times and minimal to no work during the off seasons.

I would be remiss if I did not include this particular passage of Penny’s. She is discussing the work and living conditions in New York City, including how they vary. She notes “On the back streets and avenues in New York, women work longer, and the stores are kept open later than on Broadway. On Division street, large cases of bonnets are exposed for sale in summer on the sidewalks. In the poorer portions of a city, people live much and sell mostly out of doors. Their crowded apartments and the high price of rent account for it.” Her observations differ from this shop owner:

“He [D., on Broadway] says his girls spend all they make on dress. He has two forewomen, to each of whom he pays $500 a year. They never save a cent. He had one to whom he paid $1,000, but she never aid by a dollar. Women, he thinks, have not as much originality of thought as men. They seldom invent. He would give $1.000 a year to a woman who would think for him, and originate styles, and combine and arrage the trimmings of his bonnets with taste. He walks Broadway, and studies the fashion of bonnets; but none of his women ever do. (Perhaps they have no time.) Women, he thinks, never acquire such proficiency as men. They advance to a certain degree in the art, and ever after are stationary. He thinks it is partly because they majority look forward to marrying, and partly because they are constituted that they are not susceptible of acquiring the highest decree of excellence. (I fear that D. does not consider that women have not had as much time nor so many opportunities for improving themselves as men, nor have they as much to stimulate them.) He pays women from $3 to $8 per week.”

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Millinery Monday’s Summer Series kicks off tomorrow with the first of my visitor question posts.

Each week through the summer, I will answer one of the common questions I am asked by visitors when interpreting millinery.

Here is a sneak peek at the first few questions I will be writing about:

• What is cottage industry?
• How much did a bonnet cost?
• What bonnet should I buy first?
• Do you hand sew it all?
• How much did a milliner make?

Do you want to be a virtual visitor and ask a question I may include in the series? Ask in the comments.

I enjoyed having a regular series of Monday posts through the Spring. This Summer, I will continue with regular Millinery Monday posts.

This Summer Series is inspired by what inspires me: Visitors

Each week’s topic will be a question from visitors, either a commonly asked question or a unique question.

Starting out, some of the questions that come to mind are:

• How much did a bonnet cost?
• What is Cottage Industry?
• How much did a milliner make?
• How long did it take to make that?

I plan to focus on one question each week. I expect more past questions to come mind and new questions as the summer progresses.

This past weekend, I did a presentation focusing on straw millinery as cottage industry. This developed out of a larger program I have been envisioning as Tools of the Trade, where an assortment of trades focuses on the tools they use.

I had planned on sharing the details of my plan following the event. As you read on Saturday, that is not where my mind was come that evening. With some delay, here is the breakdown of what I had in mind.

The goal – Open discussion about the different roles within the millinery trade and the materials used.

The tools and supporting materials (tools in bold):

• Natural straw stalks
• Straw Splitter
• Split straw
• Straw being braided
• Braided straw
• Straw hat in progress
• Straw hat completed (easier to visualize than a bonnet)
• Bonnet or hat block
• Flower petal or leaf dies
• Cut silk petals/leaves
• Examples of completed flowers
• Ribbons
• Sewing work box with needles, thread, scissors, etc

Last minute, I made a reference book with images of original blocks and illustrations/photos of womenworking with straw. I’ve been trying to bring more reference materials with me in case visitor discussion needs it. For other recent events, I’ve brought reprinted books. This compilation was lighter and more condensed.

A similar interpretive discussion display could be created focusing on dressmaking. Tools included for discussion prompts could include a pinking machine, sad iron, flutting iron, and an equipt sewing workbox.

• An equipt workbox
• Sewing bird
• Sad iron
• Fluting iron
• Pinking machine

Every so often I start writing a post…. then…. it gets forgotten in the depths of the draft folder. This is such a case.

This first set of images uses a National Geographic microscope attachment. This magnification tool is sold as a toy, but can be quite useful. It attached to my previous phone very easily. (I have yet to try it on my new phone with its many camera lenses.)

Here I am using it with an assortment of CDVs. Each shows the neck closure in magnification.

Respite. Not a word you would normally expect as an article title on a historical interpretation blog. Not a word I would have expected to be using.

That is what today was for me: Respite

This week was difficult… shocking…heartbreaking. It started Monday morning at 6am and kept shocking me through Wednesday when I realized my legs were shaking in class from mental exhaustion. As Friday came, I questioned if I should be trying to do today or if staying in bed was best.

I am so glad I stuck to my commitment.

Today was truly a day of respite. I was able to relax my mind and body. I think I was even able to rejuvenate a little.

I had excellent, meaningful conversations with visitors.

I was able to share the story of women and straw with them. I feel as though I was truly able to communicate fully the important connection I see between straw millinery and everyday women’s history. This meant a lot.

Here is an iceberg tip:

My focus was meant to be on tools of the trade for the day because of the museum’s antique show taking place. With the weather being rainy, I realized the pinkers would not work at all and that negated the storyline of some of the other machines/tools I had in mind. So, I focused on the tools of the cottage industry end of millinery. I am very glad I did because this let me truly focus on that part of the story as it builds into the whole story. The other way around, the women sewing and plaiting at home seems to be lost. As I talked today, the power of a tiny straw splitter really grew for me. The idea that a tiny tool, small enough to disappear in a hand or be lost in the dirt, was the starting point for turning a tubular grass into a durable, lasting pieces of clothing, was wow.

As I talked today, I finished the closest hat, which I will wire tomorrow.

Did you know I share Exclusive Content on Patreon??

I do!

I share Exclusive Content about extant items and original documents on Patreon. Sometimes it is Victorian fancy work. Sometimes it is millinery history. Past content has included:

• “The Milliner’s Girl” an excerpt from The Women of New York
• Squirrel!!!! (My squirrel pocket’s design)E
• Eva’s Book and Excerpts from Eva’s Book
• Repaired! a look at how I repaired a miniature millinery block
• Straw Explorations – A look at straw motifs and learning to make them
• One Hundred Presents an excerpt from St. Nicholas’s Magazine
• In Detail Exclusive: Heart Pin Cushion
• An original millinery bill
• Original straw bonnets and restoration exploration

Patrons also get access to In Detail publications as they are created. (Initially these were emailed. Then I discovered I could share them right in the posts.)

You can find me under:

A Milliners Whimsy