Next out of the Basket~

mid 18th c Baby Bodice, 1128.2020.20

   What a cunning little piece this one is!  This bodice, as it is now, is typical of the period for a small child~ the cut being the same for a poor class or an elite class baby, with the only difference being the outer fabric. The further down the class scale one went, perhaps a little plainer fabric, less decorative details, that sort of thing....but not always, as clothing was always being sold at Vendu sales(18th c equivalent of our yard/garage sales), given to the poor ect. As evidence shows from thread remains at the waistline, this bodice has been unpicked from the skirting it once had. I have examined the area closely, and it looks to have been made up as a lined bodice first, then whipped to the skirting, as the lining is intact and not cut away, only the threads used to whip it to the skirts were cut. 

  I am leaving these big, as reducing them one cannot see the wonderful details of the vertical pleating on the front and back of the bodice. Dorset button back closure, with sleeves that would have reached down to the elbow of the wearer. I use a minimalist approach when it comes to storage. I do not wash unless the piece's structural integrity would be compromised otherwise....I do not steam or iron out wrinkles unless something is going on exhibit. I store all my items flat to reduce the most stress on the fibers.  So here, to help ease out the bad creasing of years of being crumpled in the sleeve area,  rolls of acid free towling have been inserted from neck to cuff. This helps to prevent flat crease folds at the shoulders, and support the sleeve at the same time.  If you enlarge the picture, look closely at the over shoulder neck edge area.  The band of fabric that goes up over the shoulder here, along the neck edge, is twice as wide as shown. I had unfolded the fabric with my fingers before inserting the towling, and upon inserting it, they folded right back in on themselves. The fold is greatly worn as well, which tells me, this happened when precious one was wearing it as well, so that is how they will remain in storage.

One thing I love about early clothing, is that, much like a fingerprint on paper...clothing forms to its wearer...like a body print, if you will.....providing details of how the piece was worn, how the wearer was able to move and function with the garment on. 

  I love the details in this piece~ tambour embroidery up center front, with wonderful drawn threadwork bands running aside it.

 And then those broad bands of minute pleating, really amazing.

   Here is a great close view of the Dorset buttons on the back closure

 The construction is very simple~ just a band of cloth peaked up a little at the armscyes, with a strip running from back to front over the shoulder, that the sleeve is set in to. There are tiny, tiny eyelet holes at the very top of the lining, at each side of  each armscye, for a drawstring adjustment along the neckline. 

  A gathering of pin holes can be easily seen center front of the lining, where other pieces of clothing were pin'd to this bodice, or the bodice pin'd to something underneath.

It's no wonder the skirting has been removed and reused at some point, the fabric is a gorgeous sheer hard cord muslin popular for caps and things at the time.  Cord muslin came in three kinds~ hard(stiffened or dressed), soft and lawn. 

Basket of Surprises

A Precious Time Capsule...

  If you guessed an 18th c Christening set, or basket....you would be correct. What sets this grouping apart from others I have, is not that it has so many pieces that match. That is awesome, yes, but what really made my heart skip several beats, was that the Christening items were still in their original matching basket. I have seen other quilted basket covers identified as cushions over the years, but never, ever a cover still stitched onto the original reed basket underneath. I could hardly contain my excitement when I obtained this precious 18th c time capsule... so I thought it would be fun to dig back in the pictures, and share the basket with you all, as I picked out each item....one by one.  I think at a post every other day, this should  be a nice respite for some while~

 So lets see what came out first!

 I did sneak under the top two items to retrieve this shirt (1125.2020.17) first..., it is the most fragile of everything in the basket, .even more than the basket itself.  Why so fragile you ask? well...I will explain in a moment.

  A shirt like this would have been worn under the Christening gown. The long pleated sleeves end with silk tape ties.  Lace trims the cuff, neck and front opening edges. 

  The shoulders both have insertions of  delicate Hollie Point lace. The above is a single repeat~ Flowers in a vase. Sadly, there are no initials or dates worked into the lace, but hey, I'm not complaining.  Do you notice anything 'interesting' about the ground fabric yet?

  What makes this shirt so fragile, and such a rare survivor, is that the pattern of the ground material, has a pattern that was literally pressed into it. Along with the pleats of the sleeves, if this shirt would have ever been laundered,  the impression and pleats would have washed out. 

The V&A has a wonderful example of  a shift  with this type of gathered and pleated sleeve....when a description reads as 'in the pressing', this means they are done just that way~ not stitched in. 

The design of the pressing on this shirt is wonderful, and also a singular design, meaning no repeats. I don't know if you will be able to see it if you enlarge the very first photo...but the front is composed of an undulating vine in a U shape, of what look like wheat, over a pointy sprig'd ground. 

 Looking behind, there is a lattice filler down the center back.

  So....one of my current challenges with this piece in particular, is how to remove this vertical crease on the front...doesnt look like its been there too long, but all the usual ways of removing a crease such as this, would ruin the design of the fabric...so for the moment, I have it in storage with the weight of a buffered acid free tissue holding the flap open.

  As one can see, the underarm gusset is pressed, and on the sleeves, only the outermost third of the fabric has the pressed design.  

A beautiful, and very expensive little shirt for an undoubtedly elite class little baby!

Anyone???

Have a Guess???

As to what this may be???   Leave me a comment or email what you think it is~ dont worry if your comment doesnt show up right away~ I have them on moderation to keep out the pesky spammers.

Since everyone always emails me for 'hints'....the hint for this is....its a someTHING....that is made of of many someTHINGS.

Bergere Hat 1099.2019.20

Did you have a guess?

  A couple of days ago I posted a larger view of this close up, asking if anyone knew what it was. I had  a few guesses in the email and more on facebook. If you guessed 'knotwork', you were correct!   This is an example of knotwork done in straw, and was used to trim a bergere, or flat hat. 

Knotting was a favorite pastime in the 17th c & 18th c...all a Ladye need was a length of fiber, and her knotting shuttle. The knotting shuttle looks very much like a tatting shuttle, just with open ends.

 The fiber was wound round the shuttle, as shown in the 18th c painting above, and then a series of knots were tied in the material....so in the end, one had lengths of knotted silk, linen, straw....that could be used in trims and fringes, and also couched onto items for decorations.

   This is a wonderfully quaint flat hat, it is unique in the fact that it is stitched leghorn straw, with a thick layer of gesso painted/pressed over the entire outer surface~ I have never seen this treatment before in this type of hat. In addition to the knotted straw fringes, there is a band of stitched straw rosettes and flowers, pressed paper leaves, and beautiful feather flowers, shown above.  Red and green feathers have been tied round fluffy wool centers with silk. 

 Here one can appreciate how thick the gesso layer is, as it has cracked in several areas

Hope you enjoyed a peek at this wonderful hat~ I'll be back maybe tomorrow with another fun something....Happy Monday!

Peaceful Sunday

My Me Day....

Happy Sunday!  I should be working on my model for my Dallas class...but decided to take a me day. I turned on the Spa channel on my Sirius XM radio, and spent better part of the day today painting the swan side of Precious's travel case.  I love to paint, its not 'work'...even tho I paint for a living. When I paint, I can just get in the 'zone' and enjoy each and every stroke my brush makes...and before I know it, its 6 o'clock and I realize I never put anything out for supper.

I hope YOU had a wonderful day today!

Anxiety....

  Is this what they call March Madness???

I  wouldn't call myself a worrying kind of person, but as the days go on, I find my level of anxiety getting larger and larger...heavier and heavier.  Everyone is just fine here, I am working working working...one really great thing about working for oneself...by oneself~ I'm hardly ever around people...so not difficult to do the social distancing now recommended!  I am keeping my news watching to a minimum, just once a day in the am, and then not very long...because the Corona is all anyone is talking about...and like I said before...I have just reached my saturation level. 

So in an attempt to keep my mind busy thinking about more light hearted pursuits~ I thought I would pull some things from stores and share with you all. 

Anyone have a guess as to what this is???? I left it big, so do click on and enlarge!

Back home

with...Treasures!

  I apologize for letting the blog slide this past month, was super busy with my order for a private needlework seminar and show at Colonial Williamsburg. As you can see, we were graced with beautiful weather~ 

  This year I designed and made special thread palette sets with one of the Williamsburg coaches on the fronts.  I took several things to sell as well, some of which the remains are in the ETSY shop, which I should also say, is back open now.

I love to design for special events~ something special no one else will have!

  I had alot of fun in Williamsburg this year, love love love the trades~ folks are always so passionate & eager to share their knowledge...I had a riveting conversation with the gals in the Weaver's Shop. If you recall I have a pair of rug mittens in the collection that are similar to the rose design of a piece hanging in the shop~ it is a knotted rug, whereas my mittens are knit, with the same effect of that thick full pile. 

Aren't they great? We were talking about how usually in clothing the pile is to the inside of the garment, not the outside. 

I did not come home empty handed of coarse... for those of you who have never been to Colonial Williamsburg, the Prentis Store in the historic area sells only items made by the craftsmen/women at the trades shops....so if you want something special, go there! Last year I bought several skeins of wool made and dyed at the Weaver's Shop...I was lacking greens tho. ( I have planned a pair of pockets for Wood) So this year, I was elated to find a nice selection of colours...and concentrated mainly on the 'uglies'.  Same as in quilting & beadwork...embroidery is no different~ its the 'ugly' colours that will make your work stand out and bring harmony to a design. An extra special treat, was that they had linen yardage....which they have not had the past two years I have gone. (If the weaver's have left overs from historic projects, they will sell the overage in the Prentis Store) This is 20" wide, Irish Fancy linen woven in a twill pattern~ so I just may make Wood's pockets from this instead of another linen I had set aside!