At the Beach

This week the twins have tasted ocean water, eaten sand, splashed in waves big and small, played with their older cousin, and have been held by relatives galore. And they have been delighted. Being one year old is fun, they say!

Cherry Chess Pie and Raspberry Chess Pie

We interrupt our regular programming to bring you this pleasant late-spring interlude: a segment on two unusual chess pies.

If you live below the Mason-Dixon line, you've probably eaten your share, or more than you'd like to admit, of any of a number of delicious chess pies and their relatives the transparent pie, the Jeff Davis pie, and so on. Plain chess pie, lemon chess pie, chocolate chess pie...all of them luscious, sugar-custardy, rich but not too rich.

Photo: the raspberry chess pie in preparation. The pie shell is ready, the sugar base is mixed, and the green and brown araucana eggs, size medium, will be broken and beaten in with the sugar, the custard poured into the pie shell, and the berries carefully stirred in. I needed only half the berries. Hooray! Some for cereal...

I read long ago that the term "chess pie" was a corruption of an English cheese pie dish, but chess pie contains no cheese at all. It's a mixture of sugars, flour, melted butter, well-beaten eggs, and flavorings, poured into a single-crust pie shell and baked until the custard is set and the top perhaps a tad browned.

A Cherry Chess Pie for Curte Senior's 80th Birthday

Last Sunday dawned gorgeously clear and fresh, and promised a fine Father's Day, for having a picnic and celebrating my husband's Dad's 80th birthday.

Pie cherries were in season at the Farmer's Market, I found when the twins and I visited around noon-time, and we were lucky to get some. These were small red cherries, so tart! Perfect for a pie, perfect for a gift to a gentleman who knew and enjoyed homegrown produce so very well.

I'd planned your basic deep-dish cherry pie, but on looking in an old favorite cookbook, titled The Gold Cookbook, by Master Cheff Louis P. De Gouy, an enormous tome of French and regional American cooking, dated 1947, the only cherry pie he listed was for a cherry chess pie. Not familiar with such a beast, I read it, thought it sounded mighty tasty, and proceeded to make the pie. After spattering my new shirt and the breakfast tabletop with cherry juice from stoning each cherry, of course.

The pie made up easily, baked well, set well, and traveled well out to Spindletop in the countryside for the picnic. Mighty tasty it was too, as we all agreed. Hint of tartness in the cherries, not oversweet, hint of honey, of all things, too.

Here then is the recipe, straight from The Gold Cookbook, page 945:

Cherry Chess Pie
Pit one quart of sour cherries after first washing them quickly in cold water then draining well. Mix 2 tablespoons of flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup honey*, a pinch of salt, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter or margerin (sic). Stir in 3 well-beaten eggs with a pinch of salt and add the cherries. Pour into an unbaked pie shell and bake in a hot oven (450 F.) for 12 minutes to set the pie and crust; reduce the heat to 350 F. and continue baking for 20 minutes longer, or until set. Cool and serve with a whipped cream topping.

*I used mellow sourwood honey.

The pie crust: I use my standby crust from my mother's Good Housekeeping Cookbook from the late 40s or early 50s: 2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt; cut in 3/4 cup of butter or shortening; add 4-6 tablespoons ice water bit by bit, and blend until the mixture starts following the fork around and forms a ball. Roll out and line an ungreased pie shell with it.


A Raspberry Chess Pie Variation

My raspberries are ripe! A few tastes last week of early berries made us all happy, and I expected a similar slim picking today, but was rather shocked to find the patch loaded. I did two pickings today, yielding perhaps a quart and a half. Not bad for a small patch in town.

Wanting to make something special, and not being in the mood for a tart, I went back to the chess pie theme, replacing the cherries with the raspberries, and leaving out the cinnamon.

We shall see! It should be done in a moment and tomorrow morning in fresh light I will photograph it...

Photo: the raspberry chess pie has been tasted.

...Tomorrow arrived and here are the results of the taste test: well, it's pretty good! The chess flavor and raspberry flavor are nice together, if not outstanding. However, I think a tart with a cream cheese or sour cream filling might take better advantage of the raspberry flavor.

Edwardian "Lingerie" Dress Diary, Part 2: Bodice Cutting and Lace Insertion

At this stage of the Edwardian lingerie dress creation process, I am constructing the bodice. As a reminder, for a base pattern I am using Jennie Chancey's Sense and Sensibility Beatrix shirtwaist pattern as a base.

My dress design calls for 1/4 inch tucks at center front, then a wide band of lace insertion at each side of the tucks, set on an angle to visually narrow the bodice, then a one-inch wide tuck at each shoulder line, as bretelles. Another band of wide lace insertion is to be set horizontally to mark the high waistline.

Photo 1: first bodice fitting.

Creating Tucks for the Center Front of the Bodice

If tucks are to be used in a bodice, most period instruction manuals, such as the 1905 edition of Butterick's Dressmaker manual (republished as Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques, Kristina Harris, ed.), direct the seamstress to make the tucks in the fabric first, before cutting out the pattern pieces. This is what I did -- mostly -- because I wanted more tucks than Jennie's pattern allows ease for.

Photo 2: detail showing two sets of three tucks at center front of bodice. Picture was taken after pattern pieces were cut.

First, then, I cut a rectangle of linen from selvage to selvage that was big enough to hold the front pattern piece. Then I proceeded to hand-set six tucks in what would be the center front of the bodice. Following the photograph of an extant centrally tucked shirtwaist advertised on Ebay sometime back, I made the tucks in two sets of three, facing inwards to the center front.

To hand-set the tucks, I spray starched the linen so it would easily hold creases, and then pinched and pinned each quarter-inch tuck, pinning, pressing, and sewing each tuck one after the next. Here are the results, in photo 1.

Then I aligned the front pattern piece to the center front line in the middle of the tucks, and drew the pattern line. Because Jennie's pattern is marked for both a fitted waist version, with no ease for tucks, and a bloused or tucked version, I subtracted that part of the pattern piece that holds the ease.

Adding the Bretelle Tucks: A Matter of Trial and Error

After this, I added width to the front pattern piece to leave room for the two one-inch bretelle tucks...I measured the one-inch amount and added it to each side.

Then I hand-set each bretelle tuck and basted it in place, and looked at the effect. Eek: the bretelle edges were taking up part of the seam allowance! Out came the basting and I redid the tucks, checked them again, and stitched them in place. In retrospect, the bretelle are a bit more angled than my original design called for, but they still look nice.

Photo 3: the front bodice piece with one bretelle tuck set and basted in place.

Cutting the Bodice Back Pieces

Since the dress opens at the back, this meant cutting two back pieces. Just as for the front, I added an extra inch to each side for the bretelles, then eyeballed and hand-set each bretelle, basting it to check to make sure it ended at the shoulder line as well as matched the bretelle positioning on the bodice front piece before stitching the final bretelle tucks.

Photo 4: the two back pattern pieces with bretelles set and the placket hems pinned.

First Fitting for Setting on the Vertical Bodice Insertion

Now I basted the bodice pieces, wrong sides together to check fit and to place, and then baste, the wide vertical lace insertion bands.


Photo5: first fitting, showing vertical bands and portion of horizontal waistline lace band pinned in place.

The lace I am using dates to the Edwardian period. It was cut in pieces from a lingerie dress at some point by a previous owner. The dress may have been homemade, or at least repaired at home, because two of the pieces came with the snap fasteners used apparently to close the back of the dress, and the three sets of fasteners are all different. In time-honored fashion, I am reusing the lace on this dress.

Photo 6: detail view of a piece of the insertion.

Photo 7: Edwardian-era snap fasteners from the period lace I am reusing. Two fasteners are of the same type, but different sizes, while the third, smallest fastener, is of the simplest design.

Photo 8: Reverse side of each fastener. Note that the two fasteners on the left both use spring wires to keep the nubs tight.

Recutting the Front Bodice Pieces

The fitting showed that the bodice needed to be taken in to fit more closely around the torso (see photo 5). Further, the underarm seam had gotten skewed towards the back. So, I took two vertical tucks under the armscye and pinned them until the fit was right.
Photo 10: shows the bodice pinned at the new underarm seam.

After removing and pressing the bodice, I removed the basting, remarked the seamline, and recut the underarm seam.

It proved instructive to lay out the bodice front and back pieces, still connected at the shoulders, to show the difference between the recut seamline (bottom right in the picture) and the original seamline (top right in the picture).




Photo 11: shows the bodice pieces laid out.

Edwardian "Lingerie" Dress Diary, Part 1: Design Phase, with Two Antique Skirt Inspirations

As part of the Ladies' Historical Tea Society Edwardian Picnic preparations, I am in the middle of constructing a circa 1909 white linen ensemble, in a fashion popularly known as the lingerie dress.

About Edwardian Lingerie Dresses

The term "lingerie dress" is not a modern name for the garment, but a common name back then for this type of dress. As Anne Rittenhouse reported in the New York Times on May 26, 1912,

The white wash gown, which we universally call the lingerie frock, is a subject of interest as soon as the warm weather advances on us. There are seasons in which it is dominant; there are other seasons in which it is almost effaced by other kinds of clothes. (1)

These days lingerie dresses are often sold under the label "tea dress", as they were often worn for afternoon functions, especially during warmer weather.

Photo 1: unlined skirt portion from a lingerie dress; a previous owner cut away the bodice. The dress is constructed of two tiers made to look like three. Each tier is composed of three panels, but the upper tier and lower tier panels do not line up. The cut plus the ankle length lead me to think the dress dates after 1908. Trim is limited to wide tucks setting off each tier, complemented by narrower tucks.

Lingerie dresses are normally white, and made in lightweight fabrics like muslin, voile, cotton eyelet, batiste, or linen. Some dresses were lined; many -- perhaps most -- were not. Because the fabrics and laces were usually quite sheer, a camisole and petticoat, or full slip would be worn. I understand that frequently the underslip was in color, such as a cool blue, soft green or pink. The coloring would lend the lingerie dress itself a hint of color. maybe because the colored fabrics faded and wore out, or perhaps because, as the few samples I have seen are utilitarian-looking, few of them seem to be extant. Often they were worn with a belt or a sash. Dresses could be one-piece, or sometimes a two-piece outfit of skirt and waist.

Photo 2: Lingerie-style skirt, flared and quite trained. The skirt features an opaque soft muslin underskirt in several panels attached in the same waistband. The fashion skirt is made of a single panel, darted to fit the waist. It is trimmed at knee level with a double frill of self fabric edged with Valenciennes lace, attached in the middle like a ruche. The skirt is edged at bottom with two narrow tiers of self fabric edged with the same lace. The underskirt is trimmed at bottom with a narrow headed flounce. The flare and train lead me to believe the skirt style, at any rate, dates to at or before 1908, and the 1905 edition of the Butterick Dressmaker sewing manual recommends attaching underskirts in this manner.

While the overall silhouette follows whatever was popular in the year it was made, whether that be a yoke or flouncing or separate front and back apronlike panels, like the lingerie of those times, they are trimmed, often heavily, with various combinations of tucks and lace and embroidery. These dresses were very popular, and you see photos of girls and women wearing them from at least the turn of the century right through into the twenties.

Photo 3: detail of skirt bottom, showing double-tiered frill and underlying headed flounce.

My Dress Design

My dress design is based on a composite of several actual dresses of the period, as seen on vintage clothing sites. The main dress bodice inspiration was made in 1911 or 1912 of white linen, and featured wide bands of broderie Anglaise lace placed pretty much as in the design I ended with, along with two wider tucks as bretelles and tucks in the central bodice. However, it featured a far narrower silhouette, and two fascinating extra panels in front and back that floated free, almost like aprons. The bottoms were fringed with bobble trim. I have picked up the bobble trim for this dress, as it was popular in 1909.

The skirt ideas I used are common to many lingerie dresses: a train and a band of eyelet insertion near the skirt base. My skirt is composed of multiple panels and features a short train.

Photo 4: my design. Front view, with thumbnail side and back views

To bring the skirt and bodice together, I made the central tucks go from collar to skirt bottom. In the drawn design I added vertical tucks to the side skirt panels and at the back from collar to skirt bottom, but decided that was overkill and the final skirt will simply feature the front tucks: they should narrow and lengthen the look of the dress.

For the base patterns, I am using Jennie Chancey's Beatrix shirtwaist pattern and Beatrix walking skirt pattern. I have shortened the shirtwaist to and Edwardian "Empire" height popular during the time, and have narrowed the pattern pieces for a closer fit. I am using the train option on the Beatrix skirt pattern, and have added height to the waistline to meet the short bodice.

Next up: cutting the bodice and placing the lace insertion.

Additional Resources

• Fashion in the Edwardian Era: Part 1: 1900-1909 The Last Age of Elegance (The Ladies Treasury of Costume and Fashion)
  
• 1900s in Fashion (Wikipedia)
• Shelter and Clothing: a Textbook of the Household Arts. By Helen Kinne, Anna Maria Cooley. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1914. On Google Books. Includes directions for making a "one-piece dimity or lawn dress" (lingerie): see page 343.
  
• Early 20th Century Fashions (Lavender's Green): examples of period and reproduction lingerie dresses, worn well.

Extant garments are for sale on many vintage clothing sites. For some fine examples, see:

• Vintage Textile, Edwardian section
  
• Contentment Farm, Edwardian section
  
• Bobby Dene's Vintage Clothes, Edwardian section (the pictures aren't of best quality but the examples are so numerous that the site gives a super idea of the variety of styles made over the years)
  

Photo 5: example of lingerie dress in Shelter and Clothing: a Textbook of the Household Arts, page 343.

References

(1) Rittenhouse, Anne. What the Well-Dressed Woman is Wearing: Lingerie Frocks Important Part of This Month's Sewing---Simple Gowns with Only Tucks as Trimming Have Come into Wide Favor. New York Times May 26, 1912. Accessed June 9, 2008 (http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C04E4D7103AE633A25755C2A9639C946396D6CF)

Happy Birthday, Little Tots

On May 31, our two boys had their first birthday. Grandparents and cousins visited and we all, every one of us, had homemade white cake and vanilla ice cream and homegrown strawberries.

Above: everyone sings to to the tots, who take the attention most seriously.

Poor babies, no coffee for them, not even if it did smell so good. There is something about fresh-roasted beans that is softer than regular coffee; we're lucky that a vendor at the farmer's market roasts his own.

Christopher enjoyed it all but Noah thought ice cream less than appealing. Wonder when that will change?

Just a few days before this, the boys and I played in the back with a laundry basket. Bless his baby heart, Christopher can still climb inside it. Please don't grow up too fast, little boy!

Fashion Plate and Photo Sources...Oh, and Random Patterns, Too

Updated September 9, 2011

The Web is chock full of sources for period fashion plates and period photos. Folks on Elizabeth Stewart Clark, Truly Victorian, H-Costume and Sense and Sensibility have passed several sources around over time, and others I have uncovered myself. Lately Google Books has been offering increasing numbers of volumes of popular women's magazines in full, which is a true blessing since not only do we have the fashion plates, but the descriptions and the other magazine content...what a rich source!

Photo: A 1796 fashion plate from the Collection Maciet, with a handwritten note underneath, "Morning Dress".

I am cataloging these resources here for ease, and am adding to them as chances occur.

Right: detail from La Mode Illustree fashion plate, 1869. Collection Maciet, Bibliotheque des Arts Decoratifs
America's First Look into the Camera: Daguerrotype Portraits and Views, 1839-1864
More than 725 of them, mostly portraits, and mostly by the Mathew Brady studio. Wonderful for fashion research.

Arthur's Home Magazine (on Google Books) (Added October 1, 2009)
Entire volumes of Arthur's Home Magazine, digitized by Google books. Most volumes contain a half year or full year of issues. While more religiously minded than other magazines, Athur's still offered some fashion and needlework information. When you click the link, you will go to the Google search results list for "Arthur's Home Magazine". The search may not have garnered all that's out there, because if there are spelling mistakes or the book was titled with a different word or character, Google will not recognize it.

Belle Assemblee, La (on Google Books) (Added October 1, 2009)
Entire volumes of La Belle Assemblee, digitized by Google books. This is a super source for Regency fashion. When you click the link, you will go to the Google search results list for "Belle Assemblee". The search may not have garnered all that's out there; because the magazine name changed several times and it is entered into Google Books in several ways. Because of this, I could not use the Editions feature in Google Books, so many items farther down in the search results list will not be the magazine.

Bibliotheque des Arts Decoratifs, Collection Maciet
Very large database collection of fashion plates, with the occasional pattern. Marvelous for mid-nineteenth century. Photos zoom to very large size. In French. To view the plates:

• From horizontal nav bar at top, choose "Recherche simple" (simple search).
• A form will appear on the left half of the screen.
• In "Termes de recherche" (search terms) field, enter "mode" (fashion).
• Under "Type de document" (document type), check "Collection Maciet".
• Under "Langue" (language), check "Tous" (all).
• Click "Rechercher" (search) in the lower corner.
• A database results list will appear. If you don't speak French, the citations will still make sense enough: just check the boxes next to the years in which you are interested.
• At the bottom of the screen, click "Voir les notices" (view the citations).
• One or more full citations (depending on the number of citations you chose) will come up in the right screen. To view the fashion plates associated with each, click "Voir les vignettes Maciet" (View the Maciet plates) at the lower right corner of a citation.
• Thumbnails will load.
• If you click on a thumbnail, a full-screen dialog box will pop up. It will contain a larger-size image, and along the left side, viewing tools.
  "Zoom avant" = zoom in
  "Zoom arriere" = zoom out
  You can also use the percentage box beneath. Note that it takes time for the images to resolve into their new zoom setting.
  "Selection" gives you a zoom selection tool. On the image, the pointer changes to a box with four arrows. Click and drag to create a selection box to zoom in on a particular portion on the image.
  "Deplacement" is a pan tool. Click and drag the image around.
  "Luminosite" and "Contraste" affect the color, as you might expect.
  "Garder les reglages" (keep the ??) probably means keep the settings
  "Configuration par defaut" (default configuration) returns the image to its original size
  "Impression" (print) allows you to print or save. A new print screen will show up with the image. In the box at bottom it says that you may insert your comments: they will print along with the image. Magnifique!

BFI (British Film Institute): Mitchell and Kenyon Collection: Edwardian Britain on Film
A superb way to see Edwardian clothing (mostly from 1900-1904) in action, as worn by everday people and celebrities. The films are usually just a few minutes long.

Dames a la Mode
Fashion plates. Especially useful for the Regency era. A blog maintained by Tayloropolis.

La Couturiere Parisienne
Fashion plates, patterns, and fashion history from an accomplished fashion historian in Germany.

The Daguerrian Society (this entry added 09/23/08)
A database of over 1,000 images. You may search the database or browse the images by thematically organized galleries.

De Gracieuse 1862-1936 (the Netherlands)
I noted that for 1868, anyway, the fashion plates are replicas of those in Harper's Bazar. Entire magazines have been scanned. Zoom doesn't appear to work, but as of September 2008, if you select an image, and choose "save" from the icons to the right of the image, you get a large enough scan to see details.

Diderot: Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers
There are a number of versions of Diderot's enormous encyclopedia out there, some translated, some in the original French, and some as images of each page. A quick Google search of the title will get you many of these. My preference is for the Wikimedia Commons and Wikisource version, since it includes both scans and a searchable text version, and the index to all the plates.

• Scan of each page, on Wikimedia Commons
• Searchable text
• Plates, by volume

Also, see plates related to 18th Century dress from Denis Diderot's Encyclopedia, on the Costumer's Manifesto
Duke Digital Collections (This entry added November 19, 2008)

• Emergence of Advertising in America
  Ads, pamphlets, and more.
• Hugh Mangum Photographs, circa 1990-1922
  Terrific collection of portraits and almost documentary style images from an itinerant photographer practicing in rural North Carolina. Super way to see normal people in their best, and not so best.

Earthly Angels: Cartes de Visite
A blog collection. Can be sorted. Sadly, the collection's editor hasn't, perhaps not being able to, included much in the way of information about the images.

Fashion (Category) in Wikimedia
Image archive divided out by category, with sections such as "18th century fashion" and "dressmaking. Warning: some categories are loaded with images, many without text description, and take forever to load. Proceed with care.

Flickr "Pools" of Historic Photographs and Images (added May 13, 2009)
Flickr is stuffed with contributers who love to share antique photos, postcards, and other images. Here are some of their "pools", groupings of photographs by subject. Be forewarned: some pools, such as one labeled "antique photographs" contain pinups and other images that may not be appropriate for young people (I did not include that pool in this list).

• The Smiling Victorian
  Photographs from the Victorian and Edwardian era, as contributed by individuals from all over the world. One of the nicest thing about the collection is that indeed, many photos record happy moments, either in formal sittings, or more frequently, in snapshot style. Many photos with provenance. Over 800 items.
• La Belle Epoque ca.1890 - ca.1914, including ArtDeco and ArtNouvea
  From photos of buildings to fashions to people, a huge pool of over 11,000 items.
• Vintage Victorian
  Photos, CDVs, postcards, trade cards, illustrations...
• Cabinet Portraits, CDV, Photos on Cardboard
  Just what it says :}
• Pre-1930s Photos
  Again, just what it says.

Godey's Magazine (on Google Books) and The Lady's Book (Added October 1, 2009)
Entire volumes of Godey's Magazine, and its predecessor, The Lady's Book, digitized by Google books. Most volumes contain a half year or full year of issues, and most are complete with their fashion plates and accompanying descriptions. When you click the link, you will go to the Google search results list for "Godey's Magazine" and "Lady's Book". The search may not have garnered all that's out there, because if there are spelling mistakes or the book was titled with a different word or character, Google will not recognize it. Also, note that some volume years were misstyped in Google; thus the "1886" issue is really for 1836.

Good Housekeeping Magazine (Added October 1, 2009)

• Scans on HEARTH archive site.
  Run of issues in their entirety from 1885-1950, from Cornell University's HEARTH archive. Each page available as an image, a PDF file, or as searchable text. Scans are not great quality, but content is superb anyway. You can easily search all content from all issues at once.
• On Google Books.
  Better quality scans than HEARTH resource, but not a complete run of issues.

Harper's Bazar Magazine
All the magazines from inception in 1867 until 1900. Each page available as an image, a PDF file, or as searchable text. Sadly, the pattern supplements aren't included, but a patient person might find a pattern match in De Gracieuse, which carried many of the same plates and patterns. That magazine's supplements have been digitized. See the entry for it in this list. On the Cornell University HEARTH site.

Historical Artwork and Fashion Plates
Includes Peterson's, Demorest's, The Delineator, New Idea, and more, from 1870 to 1918. Includes some Peterson's patterns. Posted on Festyve Attyre.

History of Corsets (in images)
From Wikimedia Commons. I cannot locate an author. Page takes ages to load, but there are tons of images.

Iowa Digital Library: Iowa Women's Archives and the Noble Photographs (This entry added November 19, 2008)
These two collections, part of the much larger Iowa Digital Library, contain fascinating photographs of women in everyday, work, and school settings. Chiefly Belle Epoque era and later. On the homepage, scroll down to choose either of the collections from the list.

Iowa State University Digital Collections: Fashion Plates
"Contains plates of general fashion dating back to the 18th century and continuing through the 20th century. Additional categories within the files include accessories, baby and beach fashions, bridal fashions and portraits, children's and communion clothing, footwear, inaugural gowns, maid uniforms, masquerade costumes, men's fashion, millinery, mourning dresses, negligees and undergarments. There are also magazine issues relating to fashion as well as magazine articles discussing fashion of the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern periods."

LACMA Collections Online: Costume and Textiles
Fashion plates and online exhibits from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Large holdings.

Ladies' Companion, The (on Google Books) (Added October 1, 2009)
Entire volumes of The Ladies' Companion, an English woman's magazine, digitized by Google books. There is a very limited amount of fashion information, but enough to be interesting. Most volumes contain a half year or full year of issues, and most are complete with their fashion plates and accompanying descriptions. When you click the link, you will go to the Google search results list for "The Ladies' Companion". The search may not have garnered all that's out there, because if there are spelling mistakes or the book was titled with a different word or character, Google will not recognize it.

Lady's Monthly Museum, The (on Google Books) (Added October 1, 2009)
Entire volumes of The Ladies' Monthly Museum, an English woman's magazine, digitized by Google books. This magazine was published during the Regency and offers some fashion information. Most volumes contain a half year or full year of issues, and most are complete with their fashion plates and accompanying descriptions. When you click the link, you will go to the Google search results list for "The Ladies' Monthly Museum". The search may not have garnered all that's out there, because if there are spelling mistakes or the book was titled with a different word or character, Google will not recognize it.

Los Angeles Public Library: Casey Fashion Plates Index
"The Joseph E. Casey Fashion Plate Collection contains over 6,200 handcolored fashion plates from British and American magazines dating from the 1790s to the 1880s. All of the plates are indexed and digitized for online viewing."

McCord Museum, Canada: Costume and Texiles Collection
Zoomable photographs (one per ensemble) and explication of hundreds of items in their collection. Note that the museum has many other collections online, including photographs, plus fascinating games. A marvelous site.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Added January 13, 2009
Their entire collection is online. Not all pieces have photos. Not all photos are that good, and text information is limited. From the index page, choose the Collection Database link. It seems to be easist to find things if you search for a large category of garment, such as "dress" and then sort the results by date.

Mode Histoire
Scans of the fashion plates and patterns from nineteenth century magazines and transcriptions of all the original text that accompanied them. Currently limited to Peterson's 1863, but more to come. I have contributed my 1872 Peterson's to the effort.

New York Public Library

• NYPL Digital Gallery
  To find fashion plates, in seach box type "fashion" and then a year.
• "The Pageant of America" Photograph Archive
  These are photographs, not fashion plates, but very useful for looking at dress

Period Resources Fashion Scans
From Digital Changeling's site. Including Paris Modes from 1909!

Peterson's Magazine (on Google Books) (Added October 1, 2009)
Entire volumes of Peterson's Magazine, digitized by Google books. Most volumes contain a half year or full year of issues, and most are complete with their fashion plates and accompanying descriptions, plus some garment patterns. Warning about the latter: they are not to scale, I hear, even if marked in images, so that you must drape the pattern pieces and alter them to fit you. . When you click the link, you will go to the Google search results list for "Peterson's Magazine". The search may not have garnered all that's out there, because if there are spelling mistakes or the book was titled with a different word or character, Google will not recognize it.

Powerhouse Museum Collection
From the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia. Photos of actual garments and accessories, including some ensembles with zoom feature. Warning: the accompanying descriptions can be poor and undated. For example, a search for "fichu" returned quite a list of photos of actual fichus, but almost all of the items were undated and information scanty. Further, not all items listed have photos, but you can filter those out. However, the breadth of objects is wide, and if you already know a bit about the type of item you are researching, the images can be of help. There is also an electronic swatchbook of fabrics from a narrow (but fascinating) selection of years.

Royal Lady's Magazine, The (on Google Books) (Added October 1, 2009)
Entire volumes of Peterson's Magazine, digitized by Google books. Most volumes contain a half year or full year of issues, and most are complete with their fashion plates and accompanying descriptions, plus some garment patterns. Warning about the latter: they are not to scale, I hear, even if marked in images, so that you must drape the pattern pieces and alter them to fit you. . When you click the link, you will go to the Google search results list for "Peterson's Magazine". The search may not have garnered all that's out there, because if there are spelling mistakes or the book was titled with a different word or character, Google will not recognize it.

Shorpy Online Photograph Archive Added May 13, 2009
An online archive of thousands of high-resolution photos from the 1850s to 1950s. Our namesake, Shorpy Higginbotham, was a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago. Many of the photos have been extracted from the Library of Congress, while others are contributed. The photo quality is extraordinary.

Tidens Toj
A Danish museum exhibition site containing high-quality, zoomable photos of actual garments, and often fashion plates and patterns to go along with them. Covers multiple centuries, but the nineteenth century is very nicely represented.

University of Washington Digital Collections: Fashion Plate Collection
"The database consists of 417 digital images chosen from a larger group of fashion plates"

Victoria and Albert Images: Heideloff Gallery of Fashion plates
A small selection of plates from the famous Gallery of Fashion, published 1794-1800 by Nikolaus Heideloff in London.

Why Not Then: Antique Garments section
Photographs of garments in author Stormi Souter's collection. Multiple photos per garment, with accompanying construction notes and measurements

Two Trimmed Edwardian 1909 "Beatrix" Skirts Dress Diary, Part 2: Designing a Graduated, Shaped Flounce

Polly desires her Beatrix skirt to have a tall flounce. Skirts of this era often were flounced, although as 1909 turned into 1910 and then the 19-teens, flounces appear to receded in popularity in favor of bands of flat embroidered, lace, or pleated decoration.

Some of the prettiest flounces I've seen are graduated in height. A graduated flounce might start at, say, seven inches in height at the skirt's front panel, but incrementally become taller until it might reach some fifteen inches at the back of the skirt. Combined with a short train, the effect is of two curving lines receding from one another.

Another characteristic of Edwardian tall flounces is that they were frequently cut shaped and on the bias, so that the top of the flounce would be sewn on flat, while the bottom, being wider and on the bias, fluttered out. Such flounces are softer and more clingy than a flounce made of fabric cut straight of grain and then gathered.

Emma Ruth of the Sense and Sensibility described how to make a shaped flounce, and I followed her directions in making Polly's flounce, photographing as I went. Here is how it went:

First, I laid the skirt pattern pieces out on the floor, one right next to the other and matching the seam marks, as if they were making up the shape of half of the skirt.

Then I taped several pieces of waxed paper together and laid the resulting piece of paper on top of the pattern pieces.

In the first image you can see the pattern pieces laid edge to edge, and the waxed paper placed atop.

Next, I traced the line of the bottom and sides of the skirt pattern pieces onto the wax paper.

After this I drew the flounce line. Starting at front of the front panel pattern piece I marked a spot at 7 inches or so from the skirt bottom. Then I drew a curving line that increased in height as it went to the pattern pieces for the sides and then back of the skirt, ending at a position about 15 inches from the bottom of the final, back skirt pattern piece. I cut out the result. Now I had the basic pattern for the flounce, but...I needed to make it flare.

In the second image I have drawn and cut the basic flounce pattern. The front of the skirt is to the left; that's where the flounce is most narrow. The back of the skirt is at the right, where the flounce is widest. Like most pattern pieces, the pattern is for one half of the flounce.

So, on the base pattern I drew long vertical lines several inches apart, from the flounce bottom almost to the top. Then I cut each line with scissors, slashing the pattern pieces and spreading them at the bottom. The more I spread each slash, the wider the fabric would be at the bottom of the flounce and the more the resulting fabric would flutter and flare.

In the third image, a closeup, you can see the vertical lines drawn across the pattern, ready to be cut and slashed.


Finally, I laid another piece of wax paper over the slashed and spread pattern, drew a fresh pattern, and cut that out. Voila, shaped flounce pattern!

In the final image, I have cut and slashed the pattern to create the shaped flounce pattern, and have laid a layer of waxed paper atop, ready to draw the final pattern. Because slashing causes the pattern to curve, I had to add several little pieces of wax paper to fit the curve.

(Emma Ruth noted that if I wanted a gathered flounce I would have slashed each line from top to bottom to break the pattern into separate strips, and then would have spaced them out. Then I would have cut a new pattern from the resulting shape.)

Emma Ruth had another note about preparing the flounce: hem it before applying it to the skirt. Otherwise you're in for a lot of work.

Warm thanks to Emma Ruth for her kind direction. It all worked so well.

Sewing Mornings Continue

A few days later, Polly and I met to work on her skirt. We seamed the main skirt up, and Polly had her first experience using a treadle. She took to it immediately, even getting the hang of working the W&G wheel, which turns in the opposite direction of most sewing machine wheels.

Then I used the flounce pattern to cut out Polly's flounce from her navy and white stripe seersucker, and laid it on the plain skirt. What a nice effect! The stripes on the bias contrast nicely with the stripes on the straight part of the skirt. Can't wait until it's applied to the skirt.

That day's work was attended with a few technical difficulties, shall we say? I hoped to use my Singer handcrank's gathering attachment to make the small ruffle to attach to the main flounce, but it kept jamming, and then the Singer's tension went wonky, a condition from which it has yet to recover. Yargghh. So Polly gamely worked on a trimming ruche by hand...

A few days later we met again, and I demonstrated applying a period placket, using an original garment as a design guide, and we set the waistband, too.

Working on that fabric has been most interesting: did you know that working with narrow striped fabrics can make you dizzy, and ditzy? After several hours of cutting, sewing and ruching, both of us felt a little woozy.

And Rebecca's skirt? It's seamed up and has its waistband, and is ready for the lace insertion. I even found some true period torchon lace to use to trim it with!

Two Trimmed Edwardian 1909 "Beatrix" Skirts: Dress Diary, Part 1

I am making two Beatrix skirts (a Sense and Sensibility pattern) as gifts for friends for a 

picnic at the end of May. While the original pattern is for an untrimmed skirt, each of these will be trimmed in a fashion appropriate to the era. I am planning to set insertion lace in two rows into Rebecca's skirt around the hem, and Polly's skirt will receive a circular flounce headed by a row of ruching. Both ladies loved the idea of trained skirts, too, so both will have their heart's desire.

Having promised to document the process for our tea society, herewith the first report!

Rebecca's Willow Green Trained Skirt with Lace Insertion


On a sunny spring morning, with the crabapple blooming outside the window, I cut out the skirt pieces.


Ladybug helped. This was her first week with us, and she delighted me with her interest in sewing. Zip Zip used to love to help me, and I missed her company.


Now each panel is sewn together. I used 3/8" French seams. French seams are a delight when you have fabric of light enough weight to use them, because a French seam encloses the fabric edges neatly and sturdily, so there will be no loose threads, unraveling, and no further seam finishing!


Fully pieced together, the last seam that draws the skirt up from a two-dimensional bunch of panels into a three-dimensional garment, is ready to be sewn. In the background you can see my circa 1911 Willcox and Gibbs chainstitch treadle sewing machine. It makes sewing linen so straightforward, and it's so quiet that I can sew in the evening while the twins sleep in rooms nearby. Willcox and Gibbs advertised their machines as being silent stitchers, and oh, what a blessing, when you have light-sleeping children!

In fact, here is a little video of the machine at work:

Under the crabapple tree, our boys celebrate springtime

Last year I stood under our crabapple tree, weeks before it bloomed, wearing maternity clothing.

This spring, what gift laughs under our tree in full bloom but twin boys, chuckling with their cousin Jane on the porch swing?

Home! In 1883...

Ithaca! "Forest City", they called it back then. Where Rome had seven hills, "Ithaca makes her boast of seven streams, concerning which she challenges the world". Then there's the lake, "that with its framing of bright, foliage-covered hills and the inlet at its head, might be likened unto a large and beautiful hand mirror." Cornell! The town. The 150 waterfalls. The deep glens and gorges.

Look! This view of Fall Creek emptying into the lake -- it's hardly different now.

D. Morris Kurtz wrote about them all in Ithaca and Its Resources, in 1881. By a wonderful miracle, I ran into it on Google Books, where it's there for the reading. As the title page says,

Ithaca and Its Resources
Being an Historical and a Descriptive Sketch of the "Forest City" and Its Magnificent Scenery
Glens - Falls - Ravines
Cornell University
and the principal
Manufacturing and Commercial Interests
by D. Morris Kurtz
Fully Illustrated

Come and see >

19th Century Women's Fashion Mix and Match Games at the McCord Museum Website

Canada's McCord Museum has two games about women's fashion that test your ability to recognize fashion silhouettes. One of them is tough!

First, try the High Fashion of the Nineteenth Century game, at http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/games/jeu2_2/.

Second, try the harder Women's Fashion game at http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/games/jeu2/. I found myself making mistakes right off the bat!

Waving Doughnuts with Excitement

...not me, the boys. I only wish I had a nice fresh old-fashioned doughnut to wave, and then nibble!

Anyhow, back to our story. Last Thursday afternoon was warm and breezy, and before the rain set in, Mom and I set out to garden. We set Noah and Christopher on a quilt, dressed in wide-brimmed hats, and gave them their favorite stacking toy, with rings we call doughnuts, to play with. Well, Christopher handily stacked a doughnut on the stacker, and celebrated to the world.



Curte says that a boy walked by sometime later, and Christopher watched him pass, and then waved a doughnut madly at his back.

Here's Noah in "My Hat"; dig, dig, dig, dig it!

Ornate Mid-Nineteenth-Century Chemise with Front Flap

A month or two ago, when winter still gripped us hard, for solace I browsed a favorite antique shop that sometimes carries vintage and antique clothing. I hadn't looked about for more than a minute when this garment caught my eye. It was listed as a pinafore, and very reasonably priced.

Right: chemise front

It's hardly a pinafore: to my middling understanding those usually fastened at the back and at this length, were worn by children. This garment is clearly sized for an adult.

It is actually a woman's chemise, but of a variant type because it features a front flap. Until very late in the Edwardian era, fashion historians generally write that chemises were worn, along with drawers, as the undermost garments. The chemise absorbed body oils and perspiration and protected the corset, which was worn over it. Over the corset a woman would often add a corset cover/camisole. This protected the dress and corset from each other and might also keep the corset from view if the main dress or waist (blouse) was at all sheer. At times, I have read that the chemise and corset cover were made in one: the chemise would feature a flap that could be pulled out and over the top of the corset. That that is how this garment is meant to be worn.

Very curious as to what I had, and wanting to share pictures of it with others who love antique clothing, I posted information and questions about it on my beloved Sense and Sensibility board. To my delight, other members enjoyed seeing it, and were curious about it or had information to share about it. The garment description that follows is immeasurably improved by their contributions.

Materials

The garment is made of an opaque, tightly woven, mid-weight fabric that hasn't any sheen at all. I thought it to be cotton, then wondered if it might be linen. It's of a plain weave, with occasional very, very small slubs in the thread. The fabric as a whole is the color of high-quality cream from the top of the milk bottle. Not dead white. On the inside of the garment there is a little yellowing , but very little, and there are a few pinpoint rust stains and one or two droplet size stains.

Suzi Clarke, costumier in London (http://www.suziclarke.co.uk/), wrote in a post of the fabric: "It is possible that it was made from "Horrocks's Longcloth", a firm washable cotton made and sold in England by, of course, Horrocks. This was a suitable fabric for underclothes, and was used for, and can be seen in, many still surviving garments."

Carolann Schmitt of the Genteel Arts Academy (http://www.genteelarts.com/) thought it longcloth too, and described the fabric thus: "a tightly-woven cotton with a smooth "hard" finish. The fabric was produced in England and the US and is very common for this period."

Longcloth has an interesting history, and while my antique sewing manuals and fashion history books mention it with frequency, none of them expound on either its nature or its roots. Finally, here is its story, courtesy Carolann:

"The name "longcloth" derives from how it was manufactured. Prior to the industrial revolution, weavers would produce fabric in lengths just sufficient to make a particular garment. Why weave more fabric than you need? It's why so many early 19th century garments (and before) have a "squares and rectangles" cut - virtually no waste. If you look at some of the cutting diagrams for chemises in The Workwoman's Guide (published in 1838) you can see how careful planning uses virtually every inch of fabric.

When commerical textile production is established, it's no longer cost effective to weave short lengths of fabric. A cotton fabric made from tightly-spun fibers woven with a tight weave suitable for undergarments and shirts was one of the first textiles woven in long pieces, hence the name "longcloth". A "piece" of longcloth averaged 62-67 yards; even today, textile production is measured in "pieces" - each averaging 62-65 yards.

One of my primary sources, in an "advice to young wives" article, advises purchasing two full pieces of longcloth when the new wife establishes her household. The first piece will provide enough fabric to make the minimum number of undergarments they should have on hand, including a dozen chemises, 4-6 petticoats, 2-3 underskirts, 2 nightdresses and 2 robes. (Notice they don't mention drawers!). Then, as these garments wear out, they should be replaced with new items cut from the second piece of longcloth. A very practical recommendation."

Right: chemise back

Construction and Measurements

The neckline is wide and shallow, and it is trimmed with a single ruffle edged with tatting. The neckline is shaped by the yoke, which gives the entire garment its shape. The yoke is quite narrow, measuring only an inch wide over each shoulder, and is identical front and back. It is trimmed with a band of broderie anglaise.

The front and back pieces are lightly gored: they are of trapezoidal shape, in the fashion that goes back centuries. Very similar to the pattern shape Elizabeth Stewart Clark uses in her chemise pattern on her site. The top of each panelis lightly gathered and stroked into place. In spots you can see the tiny gathering stitches.

The sleeves are short, plain pieces, carefully gathered and stroked into the armscyes, and trimmed like the neckline.

This chemise has a gusset inset under each arm; they are surrounded by a double layer of fabric, presumably to take strains. I understand that gussets under the arms were less and less used as the nineteenth century went on.

The seams and trim inside and out are exquisitely, precisely, almost invisibly sewn. The tatting, for instance, is made of single threads, and the thread used to whip it to the edge of the neckline and sleeves is so fine that it can hardly be seen. I do not know if I could find thread that fine now. The broderie anglaise trim is similarly fine. The main seams and bottom hem are machine sewn with a lockstitch machine, using similar or the same fine thread. These main seams are flat felled and the stitch count is very high, some 16 stitches to the inch. The ruffles are hand whipped to the neckline, and the reinforcement fabric at the underarm gussets is so finely hand-hemmed that it took awhile to find any stitching.

Measurements were taken on a dress form, but loosely:

• front and back neckline, shoulder to shoulder: 19 1/2 inches
• yoke width at shoulder: 1 inch
• sleeve diameter: 5 1/2 inches
• front flap width: 12 1/2 inches at top, 7 1/4 inches at bottom
• front flap length: 7 inches
• front and back panel width measured at arm gusset bottom, each: 27 inches
• front and back panel width measured at garment hem: 34 inches
• garment length, shoulder to hem: 32 inches

Its Date and Context in Fashion History

Much of the posting back and forth today concerned the chemise date. Portions of the posts are included here, and offer not only a date for this garment, but give a sense for how a decision was arrived at.

• Emma Ruth: You're right, it is a chemise. I would date it to the 1850s or 1860s because of the horizontal band yoke. That was the style of chemise worn while dropped shoulder seams were used on dresses. Once shoulder seams moved up to a more modern position by the early 1870s chemises with straight horizontal yokes could no longer be worn and chemises with shaped yokes came into fashion instead.
  

• Elizabeth Stewart Clark: "I'd ditto a mid-century date, due to the shape and "set" of the yoke. How are the seams in the chemise body handled? Is the body gored, or straight panels?"

• Acacia: "Perhaps more of us will join in here: I've done "surface study" of mid century but certainly not in depth. My first impulse was 1840's. I suspect it's the style of the white work that will help date it. It looks to be entirely hand sewn - is that right? It possibly could go one decade earlier into the 1830's - as you say the wide neckline hints at that, but this style neckline was still worn later - especially for ball gowns, which retained that style of open, wide neck. (After this, I detail its construction as a mix of machine and handsewing.)
  

• Suzi Clarke: "If it is machine sewn, it is highly unlikely to have been sewn before the 1850's when sewing machines were first commercially available for domestic sewing. Also, I can't remember the date when lock stitch, as opposed to chain stitch became the regular stitch, but chain stitch was the earlier."

• Carolann Schmitt: Mid-19th century chemises are one of my "specialties". I have 25+ in my collection.
  
  I'd date this chemise c.1855-early 1860s.
  - The neckline is starting to transition from the straight band of the early-mid1850s to the deeper shaped yokes c.1860-1865.
  - It still has the square cut sleeves, gussets and reinforcements typical of this period, before the transition to sleeves cut with a bias seam and no gussets.
  - This is the same period when the cut of the body of the chemise transitions from the full width of the fabric with inset triangular gores to add width at the lower edge (look carefully - the seams can be almos invisible!) to a body cut with gored seams. In the mid1860s this cut will transition again to one with some slight shaping at the waist.
  - The fabric does appear to be longcloth - a tightly-woven cotton with a smooth "hard" finish. The fabric was produced in England and the US and is very common for this period. Cotton had pretty much replaced linen for undergarments in the late 1840s-1850s.
  - Chemises from the 1840s are square cut, with a wide 'scoop' neckline, longer and fuller sleeves, and are much longer in length. The length of this one indicates it could have been worn tucked or untucked.
  - The flap protects the inside of the dress from wear and crocking from the corset. It's a characteristic feature of late 1850s chemises. I have two chemises with a flap in the front and the back. You'll also find flaps on nursing chemises - covering the slits in the fabric.
  - The trimming at the neckline - corded tucks, whitework band, tatted edging - is very common. I have two or three chemises with almost identical trim.
  
  Chemises like this were available ready-made at very affordable prices from merchants across the country in towns and cities of any size.
  
  It's a lovely piece, Natalie.

Additional Pictures

Side view

Yoke and neckline detail showing tatting, piping, broderie anglaise trim and stroked gathers on sleeves. Note: if you view the large version of this image by clicking on it, please be aware that I used telephoto to approximately twice the actual size: it blurred the image a little but also made the tatting look coarse. In actuality, the tatting threads are fine as sewing thread. Each picot is an eighth of an inch tall. The yoke is but one inch wide at the shoulder, and the ruffle but 3/8 of an inch wide.

Detail showing gusset with reinforcement fabric under arm

In Memoriam: Inkspot Ferguson, 1990-April 3, 2008

This evening sometime after 5:00 p.m. Inkspot, our wonderful, happy-spirited kitty passed away. She had been our dancing cat with the lightest paws -- they hardly touched the ground when she'd see us and come to meet us. She spent her days with Curte, sitting on his desk while he worked, our dear friend and companion. I will write more very soon. Tonight, just hours after she has gone to be with Zip Zip, my heart is too broken. Someday we will see you again, darling. For now, you're with your kittens in a happy place.

Inkspot sometime in 2004.

Days Later, the House Is So Empty

It's been five days since Inkspot has left us, and the shock has hardly worn off. Curte tidied up in the evening and had an armload of things to bring upstairs. "Must leave room to carry Spot," he thought, and then it hit him that she no longer would stand in his arms as he brought her upstairs for the night. I pass the yellow barrel-back chair that she favored in the living room: its seat is a thick down cushion and it's close to a skirted table she could leap onto that gave onto a great view of the front yard. Usually I have a little startled moment as I realize that she no longer naps there. Yesterday something close by sounded like a cat retching after she has eaten grass, and I thought, "Oh boy, better check on her", but the sound came from outdoors.

On winter morning in late 1991 or early 1992 as I was struggling with my master's thesis and very bored, I glanced out of the dining room window, and saw a small black and white cat emerge from under a parked car in the lot below. It was such a thin little being, and I'd not seen it before.

So I went to investigate and found a bony young kitty with a big stomach and spots of engine oil down her back from having rubbed the underside of a car. She was terribly skittish. It took time, perhaps a day or two, and tuna fish and dry cat food to lure her to our second-floor landing, and from thence into our house. At first I said she'd stay on our porch at the back of the apartment, but that lasted a few hours and then she was wandering our rooms, sniffing and tentatively happy. I recall she found and ate the wrapper from a stick of butter. Clearly she had been on her own and trash-picking for some time.

We named her Inkspot for her tuxedo patterning -- not that engine oil on her fur -- and when I opened the door to the outside some days later, where it was warm and sunny, she stood near the threshold, but would go no further, and she looked at me and meowed. She did not want to leave us. So that was that. She was part of the family.

Her thin-thick self proved not to have a worm infestation but to be bearing kittens, and when the time came to deliver them, she wanted my sister's affection and help, unusual in cats, who often like privacy. She asked for help in caring for the five little ones, too: as the kittens grew she couldn't easily lift the biggest of them, fuzzy blue-gray boy Woolly Bear, and on the way from an old den to a new one, dropped him in the hallway, meowing for us to pick him up and carry him for her. We helped her carry each kitten. When the kittens used us as jungle gyms, she rested nearby.

Her Spotness, International Cat of Mystery, our Miss Silly, sweet tater purrpaw, Little Spot, she was svelte and when she purred, if you listened closely she might favor you with a breathy, elegant sound intermixed with the deep inner vibration. As the years passed, she discovered the joys of lap sitting and sleep on the bed, and took to Curte, so much so that in pictures we have of him at breakfast, there's Inkspot next to him on a chair, paws tucked under has he reads the paper; there's Inkspot next to his rocking chair on the front porch, there's a quiet moment for man and cat on the back deck in the sunshine, there she is sprawled as he works on house renovations in Atlanta. There she is perched on just three inches of chair arm in his office as he works, or on his desk next to the mouse pad, so he has to circle his arm around it to get to the mouse. There they are out in the back yard, touring the grounds together, cat in front a few steps, sometimes starting up for no reason and tearing pell-mell to a tree to climb it halfway in the joy of being alive.

My sister also wrote about Inkspot: see her post.

You were about 18, we guess, when you left us, but you graced us with sixteen delightful years. We miss you, sweet Spot.