Edited April 23, 2021
Today I have something special to add to the research on period methods of adding skirt fullness in the mid-1890s. A length of antique, unused "Skirtbone" produced by the Warren Featherbone Company of Three Elms, Michigan.
At just a quarter of an inch wide and about 1/16 inch thick (NOT 1/32" as I have it in the video), it's a springy, sproingy boning. It weighs, well, a feather, and you'd not notice any additional weight in your skirt, I believe.
To understand it, you really have to see it close up, see it move, and see the insides. It's really remarkable, and perhaps the most interesting thing about it, is that it's not made of wire, but the quills of poultry feathers, set parallel to one another. I hypothesize that the quills were woven together with black thread and probably glued in place, and then covered by interwoven black threads that are again glued or perhaps starched.
I've made a YouTube video so you can get as close as possible to experiencing the real thing.
Here's the reel that the length actually came from, below.
Warren Featherbone Company's "Skirtbone" hem boning. Photo from Annie's Antiques on Etsy. |
The skirtbone in detail. The actual boning in only 1/4" wide, so the photo is quite magnified. It's really quite small. Photo from Annie's Antiques on Etsy. |
How would Skirtbone would be actually used? For that, if you haven't read it already, please see "1895 Outfit: Period Methods To Add Skirt Fullness, Part 5, Steels, Rattan, Candlewicking, and Dust Ruffles".
Skirtbone and Warren Featherbone's other products are a clever use of easily available and renewable natural materials. Back in the day, Featherbone was an alternative to whalebone, and made from materials not otherwise used, say in feather dusters. Skirtbone would have been an alternative to wire-based skirt hem products, too, which would have been subject to rust; somehow I can't see folks using stainless steel for a stiffened hem tape, do you?
Warren's Featherbone was invented in the 1880s by Edward Kirk Warren. His application for a patent is copied in full at the bottom of this post, and it explains the construction of the first featherbone product. As Randy Miller of the Michigan newspaper The Herald-Palladium explained it,
"The process for making featherbone was published in magazines and newspapers across the country in 1883 and was described as follows:
'The first thing is to strip the feathers of their plumage. Rollers, with knives attached, split the quills in half. Sandpaper rollers revolving rapidly removed the pith. Then, a series of interlocking knives reduced the quills to fiber. In this state, the material is fed into a machine that forms it into a strong fine cord; at the same time it is being wound with thread. In another machine, four of these tightly wound cords are wound together with thread, in such a manner as to form a flat tape.'"
Here's an advertisement for it that appeared in towards the back of the August 1895 issue of The Ladies Home Journal (p. 27).
Warren's Skirt Bone advertisement, August 1895. It appears that the product was pretty new. Other Warren's products were already popular. |
The sample of Skirtbone is still amazingly flexible, as we have seen. No, we don't know how how it stood up to sudden breakage or repetitive stress breakage. We do know that whalebone tended to become brittle, while this product isn't brittle at all, even now. That's some pretty good longevity, no? Am I going to bend it wildly or bash it to see how it takes rough treatment? Um, no. It's antique and a small but significant part of dress history. It goes into the collection.
Skirtbone wasn't the only mid-1890s skirt aid that Warren's produced. They also made "Bustle Bone", a wide bone strip that dressmakers were urged to shape into small hoops and install inside godet plaits to help hold the rounded funnel form. Here is an advertisement for it from December 1896, towards the end of the godet skirt's popularity, in The Delineator (Vol. 48, No. 6, , p. 108)
Warren's Featherbone Company "Bustle Bone" advertisement December, 1896 |
For those among us who are vegetarian or vegan, the prospect of reviving the use of feathers for boning likely doesn't appeal. However, it is a nice alternative to plastic. I sure wish Warren's would consider bringing it out again. Are you listening, ladies and gentlemen of the Warren Featherbone Company?
More About Warren's Featherbone Company and Its Products
The Warren Featherbone Company is still in business, although it's no longer in Three Elms, Michigan, but in Georgia. There's quite a bit out there about the company and its history. Here are a few good examples, and if you run a search, you'll find much more:
- How turkey feathers changed Three Oaks' destiny (The Herald-Palladium;
- The Legacy of Warren Featherbone
- Exhibit - From Corsets to Philanthropy: The Warren Featherbone Company
- Information from the archives of Western Michigan University
Aug 20, 1999 Updated Nov 15, 2011)
5 comments:
Hello Natalie!
How wonderful to hear your voice and see the skirtbone in action! I haven't heard of featherbone before. It is, indeed, quite marvelous that it still has so much spring after 120 years! Thank you for sharing this bit of history!
Best,
Quinn
Dear Quinn,
You're most welcome! It's super-neat stuff. Since having experimented with an array of skirt stiffeners this past weekend, a project which is still ongoing, am appreciating just how perfectly balanced the Skirtbone is by comparison for stiffening hems to stand out while allowing luscious rounded folds. Will be reporting on it in another blog post.
Am really tempted to purchase some chicken feathers and core-spin them on the spinning wheel with a cotton yarn plus thread to see if I can even faintly replicate the feel, but that would be quite an undertaking so it'll likely remain in the brain and not in the universe :}
Just last evening I bought a length of vintage Featherbone garment boning in a vintage already-opened package. The product is co-branded Dritz and look forward to examining the packaging up close.
Very best,
Natalie
Hello Natalie,
Yesterday I got my latest antique petticoat from the post office. All the way from America to the Netherlands. It is a silk bright pink 1895 petticoat. I did not know there was skirtboning in the hem under the ruffles. It is from featherbone. The break at centre back proofs it. I love it. Never seen before. And I'm collecting for over 30 years. Thanks for your little movie. Best Dirk-Jan
Dear Dirk-Jan,
You actually found one? That's like finding a needle in a haystack! I am so happy for you! These posts are meant to share what I've found and it so good to know that they are indeed doing so.
Hooray and thanks so for writing,
Natalie
Hi Natalie. My collection of featherbone has grown since. Yesterday I got my 1906 catalog. Love it. Short article on hoop skirts. I also have a 1898 bustle and 1920's slip dress with side hoops. Best, Dirk-Jan
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