tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56122647669852123422024-03-14T00:03:15.345-07:00Jumbly GirlIsabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-29523909768728723412014-04-01T18:01:00.001-07:002014-04-01T18:01:59.609-07:00When Bought Clothing was a Treat.<br />
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When I was a child bought clothing was a treat. We dressed differently, in the Fifties and earlier, jeans were work clothes. As far as my mother was concerned they were still work clothes in the Seventies and wearing them when going out was not tidy enough. The source of many arguments and another bone of contention was the length of my mini skirts.<br />
We have become very casual, the rate of transformation of the way children dress over the last century is breathtaking and even in my life time the difference is dramatic<br />
As a child I wore cotton dresses in the summer with sandals, bobby socks and a cardigan if it was a bit cooler. Shorts were home wear. In the winter I wore pull on pants at home with a woollen hand knitted jersey but if we went out I wore a winter dress maybe out of velvet or corduroy or mostly a pleated skirt attached to a cotton bodice over which we wore a hand knitted jersey, tights or knee high socks and for best black patent leather mary jane shoes. Over the top of our winter garment we wore a woollen coat, in my case it was always bought not home made. We never wore pants to school, most of my clothes were made from woven fabric except for hand knitted jerseys and cardigans. Everything was made to last and most of it was made at home. The clothing I wore was similar to the clothing my mother wore as a child in the 1920's and 1930's. My children in the 1980's and 1990's had the advantage of cheap comfortable clothing in soft knits and of course unfortunate polar fleece.<br />
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Above a page from the Australian Home Journal 1959, what girls wore. Most of these dresses would have been worn with a stiff petticoat made out of netting.<br />
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Above myself in a jersey and pleated skirt which would have had a bodice.<br />
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Above myself again in a summer dress, I was given the doll for Christmas with dresses which matched my own.<br />
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There are many reasons for this change including the invention of new synthetic fibres, a more casual way of living and the availability of cheap mass produced garments. Also as in any change there is good and bad certainly many of the clothes children wear today are much more comfortable and practical for an active lifestyle.<br />
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Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-14282791580755246632014-03-04T19:42:00.001-08:002014-03-09T17:36:38.752-07:00A Story about a Handkerchief and a Painted Gate<br />
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In The Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese de Dilmont (about 1895) the hemming of a handkerchief is included in amongst the plain sewing section, even those with ornamental stitches.<br />
It was usual for even quite young children to be competent with a needle and thread.<br />
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A friend of mine told me a family story a while back about her grandmother called Eugenia Wilde she was born in 1895. This happened when the child was about five or six.<br />
Eugenia was the daughter of Ernle and Amelia Wilde and she lived on a farm near Marton NZ.<br />
Ernle had been painting the garden gate but had gone off to do other things.<br />
Later on Eugenia's mother told her to run out and greet her father as he was coming in for the evening. So Eugenia rushed out and jumped up onto the gate, the poor thing got such a growling from her father that she refused to speak to him for a week!! What a stubborn and grief stricken wee girl.<br />
Ernle was also very unhappy, he couldn't bear it so on his next trip to town he bought her some linen, thread and a tiny silver thimble.<br />
Eugenia proceeded to sew an exquisite white linen handkerchief for him.<br />
It is lovely and has been kept by the family along with a story of heartbreak and love between a father and daughter.<br />
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Here is a family photo in later years. Eugenia is the one holding the small baby and her father is second to her left.</div>
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Above are three thimbles, the first on the left is Eugenia's thimble, it has no size markings just tiny hallmarks.<br />
The other two are size 7 and 10 respectively so I expect hers is a size 3 or 4.<br />
Eugenia's thimble is tiny, delicate and very pretty<br />
<br />Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-75593486189446135512014-03-04T19:41:00.000-08:002014-03-04T19:47:16.124-08:00When is a Handkerchief a Muckminder?<br />
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In Elizabethan times a handkerchief was known as a muckminder, how descriptive.<br />
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A useful dealer of snotty noses, wiper of sweat and in more smelly times a perfumed one would protect a delicate nose.<br />
Although used in Roman times, it is thought that the humble hankie was not a fashion item until Elizabethan times when decorative lacy ones were often given a love gifts.<br />
In Shakespeare's Othello Desdemona's supposed guilt hangs upon the loss of a handkerchief with strawberries embroidered on it.<br />
In The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott the star crossed lovers share halves of a broken coin, Alice keeps hers in her handkerchief.<br />
In Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Mr Rochester wishes Jane's tears had been shed on his breast rather than into her handkerchief.<br />
In the Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll the Walrus's sympathy causes him to sob into his pocket handkerchief as he eats oysters.<br />
In P G Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster stories, Jeeves the butler objects strongly when Wooster buys himself monogrammed handkerchiefs.<br />
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In the above Painting <a href="http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17317/portrait-of-a-lady-known-painting-botticelli-sandro/">Portrait of a Lady</a> by Sandro Botticelli the woman holds a handkerchief as she looks longingly through the window. Handkerchief's seem to often be used to portray emotion in art.</div>
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When I was a child we always had a hankie tucked in our sleeve or in our schoolbag. Today even though tissues have largely replaced them it is by some considered more environmentally friendly to use a hanky. I have noticed that men often still like to use a hanky, it might have something to do with lack of size and strength in a paper tissue</div>
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My Grandmother crocheted a lot she made huge tablecloths and lots of doileys, none of which I use today but her handkerchiefs she made with crochet lace around I still use. See below.</div>
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The purple one I dyed many years ago on a whim not very traditional but quite effective I think.</div>
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For myself having a hankie in my handbag is a necessity they are just so much nicer to use than a tissue.</div>
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Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-73697052096098769812013-11-26T15:00:00.002-08:002013-11-26T15:00:43.706-08:00'Roughened by needlework, like a pocket nutmeg grater'<br />
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I am very fond of the first few chapters of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, especially the descriptions of the servant Peggotty and the warmth and security described in his relationship with her. 'Roughened by needlework, like a pocket nutmeg grater' is his description of the feel of the touch of her forefinger.<br />
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She is described as having "cheeks and arms so hard and red that I wondered the birds didn't peck her in preference to apples."<br />
Again when she cuddled David "I knew it was a good squeeze because, being very plump, whenever she made any little exertion after she was dressed, some of the buttons on the back of her gown flew off. And I recollect two bursting to the opposite side of the parlour, while she was hugging me."<br />
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Here is an image taken from a <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32372/32372-h/32372-h.htm">Project Gutenberg e book</a> called Dickens's Children by Jessie Wilcox Smith, I am not sure anyone actually ever wore a cap like the above but it gives the impression of the warmth of their relationship.<br />
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Often the impressions are related to the time spent in needle work.<br />
"I propped my eyelids open with my two forefingers, and looked perseveringly at her as she sat at work:at the little bit of wax candle she kept for her thread- how old it looked being so wrinkled in all directions!- at the little house with the thatched roof, where the yard measure lived; at her work-box with a sliding lid, with a view of St Paul's Cathedral (with a pink dome) painted on the top; at the brass thimble on her finger; at herself whom I thought lovely."<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">In my previous blog about The Encyclopedia of Needlework I mention </span>mending, darning and fine drawing which is invisible mending. My memories of my mother are of a very utilitarian sewer she didn't aspire to fine stitches but she did sew and often darned socks in the evenings in front of TV. Mum taught me how to darn socks. <span class="Apple-style-span"> A skill which I have rarely used in my adult life. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span">My mother's hands certainly acquired a roughness to them which I have never had, being a city dweller but they were from milking cows, lugging hay bales and gardening. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span">I remember sitting in church playing with her hands, they were solid warm and red. She had a particularly interesting attribute (well I saw it a such, she saw it as a nuisance!) the top of her right ring finger was missing leaving a nail free stub. Childhood memories can be so vivid and are somehow inextricably linked to our emotions in a way adult memories never seem to achieve.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">Despite her missing finger tip Mum was a very fine knitter.</span><br />
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<br />Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-38756005764902336022013-11-12T16:18:00.000-08:002013-11-26T15:02:50.150-08:00A Wee Fat Book Full of Fine Stitches<br />
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Recently I purchased an old book from Trade Me, our local auction website. It is called Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese de Dillmont. My one was probably published between 1900 and 1920 but the book was first published in 1886 and was published in different forms right through to the 1990's.<br />
Therese worked for DMC when it was based in Mulhouse, Alsace and it was DMC who published her book.<br />
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Here she is in her faded glory a small fat book, full of all sorts of interesting information and instructions.</div>
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In the book 'careful workers will be able by its help to instruct themselves in every branch of plain and fancy needlework'</div>
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She starts with plain sewing stating that 'it is of such importance to be thoroughly grounded as in plain sewing properly so called, which is indeed, the foundation of all other needlework'.</div>
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The first chapter includes such things as how to sit, needles, scissors types of threads etc.</div>
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There is a whole chapter on how to mend, darning and fine drawing which is invisible mending.</div>
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The subject matter is comprehensive and covers all sort of embroidery, tapestry etc as well as such things as crochet or tassel making. Using this book one could make a garment completely by hand or embroider the most exquisite white work.</div>
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Written in a day when women had few choices about how their lives would pan out, it would have given them an opportunity to explore creativity in a socially appropriate way for the time.</div>
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I love the thought of having the time to spend stitching beautiful things by hand but I do seem to still head straight towards my sewing machine it is an old friend. </div>
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The reality back in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth century was that a woman's situation was for the most part similar to our own, they were busy. Unlike us they would have made a lot of clothing themselves by necessity and much of the sewing would have been utilitarian and very time consuming. Imagine providing garments for a family of nine or ten. The advent of the sewing machine and it's increasing availability throughout the nineteenth century was a godsend to the ordinary housewife. By about 1880 sewing machines were in general use.</div>
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For myself this book is a wee gem, a picture of its time and a repository of information on sewing which I would like to experiment with. The book is completely published as a project Gutenberg book which means anyone can access it and I will certainly be saving this fat wee book for posterity and using the online version. It can be found <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20776/20776-h/20776-h.htm">here.</a></div>
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In my searches around the subject of hand sewing versus machine I came across a page in the V&A's Underwear Fashion in Detail page 16 where there are two man's dress shirts. Both are very finely made from linen with tiny stitches. I couldn't say either was better or tidier that the other, both are exquisite. But I have noticed a big difference in the way they look and it seems to me that the machine stitches are crisper and seem to almost impose their stamp on the fabric whereas the hand stitched one the stitching is more sympathetic with the fabric and seems to be almost an extension of the weaving.</div>
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I have put images below but it is difficult to see the detail. Even online the detail isn't as good as the photos in the book unfortunately but check them out online below.</div>
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<br />Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-83999094905379604942013-10-08T21:56:00.000-07:002013-10-08T21:56:10.082-07:00A Rambling as Warm as a Fleece<br />
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I was walking in a local park this morning in amongst the ewes with their lambs it was very pretty but even in the case of a public park the sheep are destined for shearing and the table.<br />
Although I was brought up on a dairy farm, I had plenty of opportunities to see a wool shed in action with friends and family but funnily enough my most vivid memories are the times I went into one when it was empty. No sounds of blaahing and shearing, no calling out, no dogs just silence and the echos in the empty stalls and chutes. The all pervading smell of lanolin, sheep pooh and dirt; oddly really quite a pleasant smell. The dark wood permeated with sheep smell smooth to the touch and rubbed shiny with use.<br />
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Above is a picture of my Grandfather shearing a sheep in our old cowshed in 1964, nothing like as convenient as a shearing shed but we kept a few sheep at the back of the farm.</div>
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Shearing time is just plain hard work and as far as I know there are no commercial sheep shearing robots. Wool has been used for cloth for at least ten thousand years and the way of getting it off the sheep hasn't changed much. Although other fibres have replaced wool in many fabrics it still remains popular for its warmth and resilience.<br />
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When I was a child hand knitted jerseys were the norm and the cold winters meant woolen skirts were best for school wear (girls didn't wear trousers or shorts to school in those days). We wore some garments which would seem odd in todays world but as far as a woolen garment is concerned the gym frock stands out as the most bizarre out working of twentieth century uniforms. They are normally a very dark navy serge pinafore with a square yoke and three large pleats falling from above the bust line and belted at the waist with a buttoned belt or tie. A shirt, tie and bloomers were worn underneath and a hat and blazer for street wear.<br />
Gym frocks were worn from about the end of the First World War up to the nineteen seventies <br />
Here is my Aunty Molly in her uniform in the nineteen thirties.<br />
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Gym Frocks were worn as school uniforms and even at Primary school although we didn't have a uniform we did wear them for our inter school netball games. I still remember the first time I put one on, my older sister wore one as a school uniform and it felt a bit grown up. Until I actually wore one that is they were heavy prickly and totally unsuited for playing sport in. The most interesting part was the tie belt we wore it was made out of silky loosely woven rayon very soft and fun to play with, one could surreptitiously unweave and reweave the tasseled ends. By the time I was at college we wore a tunic for a uniform.<br />
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I have had trouble finding an image of a whole gym frock with some one in it. Here is a picture of one which is in the collection at Puke Ariki museum in New Plymouth.<br />
I do think that of all the creations to make a girl look her worst the gym frock beats them all, maybe that was the idea?<br />
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Seamus Heaney in his poem 'The Wool Trade' uses the words above in my title. I won't go into the political connotations of the poem, they are just nice words.</div>
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<br />Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-81976288950813347892013-08-13T18:46:00.001-07:002013-08-13T18:46:09.038-07:00A Women's Magazine 60 Years Ago <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Australian Home Journal December 1953 asks on the above page:<br />
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"What is the secret of a well dressed woman? A few simple rules which you yourself can practise. Here are some of them. Aim always for balance in cut and colour. Restrict bold stripe contrasts to a one colour background. Don't kill the effect you're trying to create by mixing too many shades at once. remember that a good contrast is better than a poor match any day in the week and that the daintiness of tiny flowered patterns is 'lost' in fussy styles."<br />
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Again advice is given on the seasonal look the "Team Theme" "Because of the popularity of the 'ensemble look' this season coats, jacket and toppers are an important part of your summer wardrobe- and they should all look as though they have been planned as part of an outfit, not added haphazardly to it."<br />
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These were the days of not putting green and blue together and all sorts of fashion rules applied. Black was worn sparingly mostly for evening wear and a teenager was considered too young to wear black.<br />
We have thrown most of these rules out and we, New Zealanders anyway, rely a bit too heavily on black as a staple. But if you read a woman's magazine today we still have the same sort of advice.<br />
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The Home Journal was all about adornment, home life, crafts, recipes etc. It seems to me that the subject matter in it is really not so different from women's magazines today. Even the advertising is covering perceived concerns of the day which are the same as the subjects of advertisements in contemporary magazines or television, see below:<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Sanitary Pads!</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">House work!</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Dieting!</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Keeping Regular!</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Cosmetic surgery!</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Cosmetics!</span></b></div>
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I know I am very different from my Grandmothers and Mother but we still do have to keep clean and want to look groomed. </div>
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In reading these old magazines much has seemed quaint and different from today. The view of what a fulfilled life might be was certainly narrower, they were simpler times with fewer choices for everyone.</div>
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Not better or worse just the same but different.</div>
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"Fashion changes but style endures" Coco Chanel<br />
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I apologise for some slight crookedness in the images the magazine doesn't scan properly so I have had to photograph them. </div>
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Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-85546643642565751092013-07-30T18:13:00.002-07:002013-08-13T15:45:21.228-07:00Home Journals and Milk Arrowroot Biscuits.<div>
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I remember my Grandmother eating buttered Milk Arrowroot biscuits, her old Australian Home Journal tells me that she would have been able to indulge in 1954 and also that she could have bought Continental Chicken Noodle Soup in a packet. Palmolive soap was touted to give you a lovelier complexion in 14 days!</div>
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Every home journal I have of my Grandmothers has a Milk Arrowroot add on the back.</div>
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The Australian Home Journal was a magazine that catered for the housewife through much of the early 20th century. My Grandmother had kept several copies which I inherited. The magazines also had free garment patterns inside, the cover always had pictures of the free patterns on it. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OKlSLRjGtMk/UfhRtPWN5MI/AAAAAAAAAYs/GLtSBmcnxMs/s1600/1954.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OKlSLRjGtMk/UfhRtPWN5MI/AAAAAAAAAYs/GLtSBmcnxMs/s640/1954.tiff" width="486" /></a></div>
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Notice the children's patterns open out for easy ironing.</div>
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The magazines had sewing for the family, knitting and crochet patterns as well as craft and embroidery. </div>
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It is a lot of fun to read through the agony column and the adds for things like Mum deodorant and for the newly invented tampon. What is noticeable is the lack of gossip, the only bow to celebrity is a double page about the latest film releases.</div>
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For Grandma it enabled her to obtain patterns by mail order of which I have some.</div>
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Here is one of them, I hunted through the magazines to see if it was pictured in any the magazines Grandma owned but unfortunately not.</div>
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The styles were strongly influenced by what was being worn in the UK and increasingly the USA. Designers like Claire McCardell cemented the American look which was smart but more casual that her European counterparts.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZDZeUJFYNug/UfhacxsWVPI/AAAAAAAAAZU/esC5WTNuaE8/s1600/Bonds.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZDZeUJFYNug/UfhacxsWVPI/AAAAAAAAAZU/esC5WTNuaE8/s640/Bonds.JPG" width="488" /></a></div>
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There are adds in the magazine for Bonds undergarments and nightwear. Candy Wilson was the Bonds 5th Avenue style reporter. </div>
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For Grandma from whom I suspect I have inherited my love of sewing and fabric's, these magazines would have been a welcome boost to her interests. In her later years she would always buy the NZ Woman's Weekly, but that was in the day when that magazine also had a lot of craft and cookery. </div>
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Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-47349015522746711312013-07-16T22:38:00.000-07:002013-07-16T22:42:39.726-07:00Blue Thread , very fine, Two of White by its side.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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Thursday of beneficence</div>
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For warping and waulking,</div>
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A hundred and fifty strands there will be</div>
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To number</div>
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Blue thread, very fine,</div>
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Two of white by its side</div>
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And scarlet by the side</div>
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Of the madder</div>
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The above is part of the Chant of the Warping (weaving of cloth) used by the women of the scottish highlands. An individual would weave the cloth and the order of the colours would have been very important for the specific patterns. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QnGfDxqTszc/UeXocc6_kPI/AAAAAAAAAYA/nGs7KtoyYlE/s1600/edi_uni_eu_0614_624x544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QnGfDxqTszc/UeXocc6_kPI/AAAAAAAAAYA/nGs7KtoyYlE/s640/edi_uni_eu_0614_624x544.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/women-singing-at-a-table-waulking-the-cloth-94160">From Edinburgh University fine art collection</a><br />
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The above painting is by Keith Henderson a Scottish painter from the early part of the 20th century. I love the way all the faces are different but the same forming a pattern along the table. Each woman is wearing a wedding ring and the clothing worn gives us an idea of what was worn. The warm shawls, a kerchief and the arms bare thick and ready for work. These women are waulking, their mouths open singing the songs of generations of highland women. The songs are chant like and aid the rhythm of the communal work, they were about all sorts of subjects and included improvised subjects such as gossip and blessings on the person who was to wear the cloth. It was bad luck to repeat a song.<br />
You can listen to a waulking song <a href="http://vimeo.com/20467842">here.</a><br />
Traditionally hot urine was used on the woven wool fabric to felt it to form a durable waterproof fabric, the women kneaded it and passed it to the left in a rhythm. As in this painting sometimes men watched and joined in the chants but more often than not they weren't involved it was a social occasion and often there was food and a dram afterwards. The last known waulking was in the 1950's though the songs etc are often performed.<br />
Keith Henderson has painted a few pictures of highland people, they were some of the poorest people in Britain and the paintings depict life lived in poverty.<br />
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My own Irish and Scottish heritage tells me that I had ancestors who were like these women, I have linen cloth woven by my great great grandmother in Ireland. My Scots ancestors also certainly would have at least been involved in producing cloth for home use. So what was it like? Is it possible to imagine what it would have been like for a woman in this preindustrial culture?<br />
One thing I do know is that almost everything would have to be made from scratch so one would be incredibly busy. We are a very busy generation also but we are not worn out by the age of 40 so physically it is much easier for us.<br />
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I know enough about what was worn in these times to imagine an approximation of how it felt to wear the garments worn in eighteenth and nineteenth century.<br />
So here goes head to toe:<br />
Firstly as a married woman a kertch or cap made of linen and fairly comfortable.<br />
Undergarments: a sark or shift depending on quality scratchy or soft, the linen piece I have of my ancestors is very soft but I have bought badly treated linen, so if I were poor I expect the linen may have been a bit scratchy.<br />
Stays or corset, poor people wore stays made out of linen, and sometimes wool or leather on the outer side and they weren't as tight as a wealthy woman's stays. They were stiffened with broom or cane and were laced up, I expect they were relatively comfortable and supportive.<br />
Top garments: Hopefully, if one wasn't too poor two petticoats of wool or linen and again maybe a bit prickly.<br />
One of these petticoats was an outer garment and they were tied at the waist as was the separate pocket which could be worn inside or outside your petticoats. Possibly an apron tied at the waist.<br />
A jacket or as it was called bedgown made of linen or wool.<br />
A shawl or an arisaidh, the arisaidh was very large not tartan, plain cream or striped and was often belted. It was woolen.<br />
Here is where I think it became much less convenient, if you were lucky you would have some prickly knitted woolen stockings tied at the knee and shoes or cuaran (like moccasins), but most of the poorest women had no shoes.<br />
NO SHOES IN HIGHLAND WEATHER!! BRRRRR<br />
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Above is quite a list of garments but yon woman would have had only one of each and maybe two shifts. Being clean as we know it would have been virtually impossible, would that matter if you didn't know anything else. I find being not clean hard to imagine.<br />
So my thoughts are that the hard life of a poor highland woman would have been grindingly difficult at times but the sense of community you see in the songs and working together would lighten the load. They laughed and danced and sang and being Scotland most had some education.<br />
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Here is part of a waulking song<br />
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My dear my love is the valiant youth,<br />
I would go with thee through the branchy wood,<br />
I would fashion and sew thy shirt<br />
With slender needle and pure white thread,<br />
I would wash it thereafter<br />
On slippery slab in the bright river,<br />
I would dry it on the tips of branches<br />
I would place it folded in thy pages hand<br />
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The songs in this blog are from Carmina Gadelica taken down by Alexander Carmichael in the Nineteenth century as he travelled around the Highlands working for Customs and Excise.<br />
The poems, hymns, songs and stories he collected give a picture of a vibrant culture, hugely reliant on community and prayer. If you want to have a wander through some of the verse etc <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg.htm">here</a> is a link<br />
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Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-51246085859359569052013-05-21T16:56:00.000-07:002013-05-21T21:42:19.013-07:00Aunty Alice's Button Tin<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HmCj4TeAaXw/UZv9kvB_gYI/AAAAAAAAAXE/MtgD8gr8HsI/s1600/IMG_1518.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="492" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HmCj4TeAaXw/UZv9kvB_gYI/AAAAAAAAAXE/MtgD8gr8HsI/s640/IMG_1518.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Aunty Alice was my husband's great aunt. She was a very practical, garrulous, slightly eccentric lady from Lancashire. I met her a few times in her cluttered house which apparently she liked to vacumn in the middle of the night.<br />
I acquired her button box through my mother in law who gave it to me when her loss of eyesight had stopped her doing any more sewing. Some of the buttons are very ugly, some are lovely and I am fond of this battered old tin with its rust and barely visible chocolate box picture. It holds at least three generations of buttons including some additions of my own.<br />
Why would you buy a characterless plastic compartmentalised box when such a tin exists?<br />
Old buttons have their own character and I use them on garments when I can, take them off and reuse them again and again. I do as my mother and grandmother before me and I remove buttons from worn out garments to be given new life on another garment.<br />
This box only holds a small part of the buttons I have collected over the years and I sometimes guiltily look at my buttons and think I must display some of them sometime. I don't really have any of great value but the early plastic buttons are pretty.<br />
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My mother stored her buttons in an old sewing machine drawer in old penicillin tins from the farm. I have the old drawer and there is one penicillin box left. See below, she colour co-ordinated her collection and it was fun as a child to sort them for her.<br />
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I also have one box which belonged to my grandmother, she only ever wore navy blue or maybe a bit of pink or grey so her buttons have a certain colour bias.</div>
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So if you have an old button box which belonged to you mother or grandmother please resist the urge to put the buttons in a nice new box. I think maybe the container is as important as the buttons.<br />
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<br />Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-6103010732900342482013-04-30T18:49:00.002-07:002023-08-13T16:01:52.057-07:00A 101 Year Old Home Made Waistcoat <br />
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On the 4th January 1912 my Irish grandfather left London on the SSIonic and set off for a new life across the oceans in New Zealand. He travelled from Ireland to board the ship. He was allowed fifteen cubic feet of luggage, in that luggage he carried a waistcoat made for him to wear onboard. I am not sure if it was his mother or sister who made it.<br />
Here it is:<br />
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This 101 year old garment is in good condition there are a few light stains but the fabric isn't particularly worn. The main fabric is a cotton waffle weave cunningly made to look more luxurious by running a thick soft embroidery thread through the top of the weave in a herringbone pattern. This would have been done by hand. The high v of the neck would have been the style of the time. The pockets are beautifully finished with what is more like piping than jets. It is machine topstitched around the edge.</div>
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Waffle weave has been traditionally used domestically for towels, cloths etc so this is a thrifty garment.</div>
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The effect is tapestry like, I think it is a rather nifty idea.</div>
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The lining is a nice satin cotton with a caramel coloured stripe, it is a better quality fabric than the outer.</div>
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In this photo (above) you can see the outer fabric without the embroidery in the facing note the joins to save fabric. The unembroidered fabric is used to form the piped effect on the edges and pockets. The garments main sewing is by machine but the lining is attached by hand and the button holes are hand done as one would expect of a garment of this age.</div>
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In the picture above are the button holes and you can see the piping effect on the edge of the garment.</div>
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The buttons are sewn to the facing through eyelets this would reduce strain on the outer fabric. </div>
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I have always loved these buttons, I may have used them on garments of my own on occasion.</div>
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The back of the button is brass. I am not sure what the front metal is but it has been coated with something shiny. The mother of pearl square and tiny glass centre finish the button off beautifully.</div>
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Unfortunately one of the buttons is broken on the shank.</div>
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The back is a lovely rich cream moire silk.</div>
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There is something comforting and homely about this garment it feels nice and is solidly made. It says something to me of the nature of my Grandfathers family and their middle class Presbyterian roots. It is thriftily made with care and love. It is a garment made to last it exudes commonsense and practicality.</div>
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Or is that just my imagination.</div>
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To end, here is part of a poem written by a relation of my grandfathers on his departure from the Emerald Isle. For this garment also represents the sorrow of parting from family and friends to what was for my grandfather a better life across the seas.</div>
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"But whether or not I shall ever</div>
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Come back to the land of my birth,</div>
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The seas my affection can't sever</div>
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From all I hold dearest on earth"</div>
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John Bailey 1906</div>
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Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-58299001274536638982013-04-09T18:57:00.000-07:002013-04-09T19:00:09.816-07:00The Exquisite Happiness of a Fine Garment<br />
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Thinking about my sister's 1962 dress (see my last blog) it was similar to a grown up dress of the time. But children dressed very differently from today. Knit fabrics weren't as prevalent, I even remember having winceyette knickers made out of an old pair of pyjamas. They were cut on the bias but not as comfy as a knitted cotton pair.<br />
I have my mother's copy of Clothes for Your Children by Enid Gilchrist published in about 1949 when my big sister was born. It has everything a child would need to wear up to about age eight. Enid Gilchrist was an Australian clothing designer who produced many books containing patterns and detailed instructions for family sewing from the 1950's up to the 1970's.<br />
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Here are her suggestions for dressing a baby remembering that both sexes wore dresses or gowns when little and mostly white or pastels.<br />
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Note the use of natural fibres, how specific the descriptions are of the prerequisite garments are. Back in those days mothers used a very fine cotton wool mixed twill fabric called viyella.<br />
As you will see below Enid liked to use what was known in those days as a magyar sleeve. We would call them kimono sleeves. They were comfortable and practical.<br />
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The person willing to iron babies clothes today would be few and far between. Enid Gilchrists patterns were very practical for the day considering the clothing norms and fabrics available.</div>
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Below is an example of the type of petticoat mentioned in the layette list, this was made by my Grandmother. The edges have been crocheted and the seams are flat felled, the fabric is a light woolen twill.</div>
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And here is a bonnet I made for my first girl in the 1980's. I have always liked old fashioned clothes, she was too young to have a choice. </div>
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It also later made a good dolls bonnet. The pattern was one of Enid's.</div>
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I think in looking at the book and the work on the garment my Grandmother made, there was more value expended into the clothes than there is today. The fabrics were longer wearing and the methods used were time consuming. The creative housewife could make garments that were works of art with handwork, embroidery, and smocking. I am not really saying the old way is better in fact practically speaking quite the reverse, the garments took a bit of care and why would you spend time ironing babies clothes. </div>
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What I do like is the value that would have been put on each garment, the quality of having garments that are not made to be worn a few times then thrown away. </div>
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Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-7505804060952049412013-03-27T17:01:00.001-07:002013-03-27T17:03:07.425-07:001962 Dress for a Princess<br />
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I am still wandering around the considering of florals especially the rose in fabrics.<br />
I spent some time this morning looking through old photographs looking for photos of my sister wearing her blue rose dress from the early 1960's. I have scraps of the fabric and it is really quite unusual, navy blue roses?<br />
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The fabric is a good quality firmly woven satin cotton of the sort you can't really find these days. It had a lovely sheen and drape. My sister told me that Mum made it for her when our Granny was unwell and didn't have long to live. With it she wore her first pair of slip on shoes, my guess is that she was eleven or twelve. In those days there were things that children just didn't wear, our shoes always had buckles on them when we were young.</div>
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Here she is in the dress ready to go to church, the shoes are a bit hard to see but the hat is worth a mention. I really don't know what people were thinking? The hats of the sixties were often pretty unflattering, maybe that is why they became so unfashionable soon after. I was too young to wear my Grandmothers creations of which I am sure this white hat is. I am the wee girl in front, the way I am wearing my shoes with the bobby socks is how little girls dressed. No slip ons for me!</div>
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Here is a picture that shows the style of the dress, it was quite simple letting the fabric show to advantage. I think I can see a self fabric belt around the waist we wore those quite a bit, you could buy kits from the habedasher.</div>
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" I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I have never been able to believe it. I don't believe a rose would be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage."</div>
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L M Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables</div>
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Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-15025335034448022312013-03-12T17:49:00.000-07:002013-03-17T00:26:57.821-07:00'And she was as Fair as the Rose in May'.<br />
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The rose is a symbol of love and beauty and has been used to decorate our gardens houses and bodies for thousands of years. We have used it in embroidery, tapestries and printing and a beautiful rose never seems to go out of fashion in some form or other. The above quote in the title is from the poet Geoffery Chaucer written in the fourteenth century.<br />
Specifically today I am going to meander around the printed textile rose from a European perspective. I was lucky enough to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum in London a few months ago, my niece and I had a great time at the British Glamour exhibition and then wandered around a small exhibition of clothes at the exit of the above.<br />
We were allowed to photograph this lot, so we did with abandon, a bit grim through glass but it is good as a reminder of what one has seen. Looking back over these photos I spotted a beautiful pink silk Balmain dress decorated with the the most enormous roses. In real life you can see the care and attention gone into the placement of the appliqued roses around the the waist and over the top of the skirt. The bodice is structured and boned, see below;<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-me5JLMwo9MA/UT-vpfii0tI/AAAAAAAAAS0/oeOS7x0DGJw/s1600/2007BM6013_jpg_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-me5JLMwo9MA/UT-vpfii0tI/AAAAAAAAAS0/oeOS7x0DGJw/s400/2007BM6013_jpg_l.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<a href="http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O120798/evening-dress-pierre-balmain/">Copyright: © V&A Images</a><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zxaRA-dK8Lk/UT-v8bC2RII/AAAAAAAAAS8/b2SII4quQe0/s1600/2007BM6011_jpg_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zxaRA-dK8Lk/UT-v8bC2RII/AAAAAAAAAS8/b2SII4quQe0/s640/2007BM6011_jpg_l.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<a href="http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O120798/evening-dress-pierre-balmain/">Copyright: © V&A Images</a><br />
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I think the dress epitomises the overt femininity of fifties fashion in its colour style and grace. It is said that this dress was worn in 1957 by Lady Gladwyn the wife of the British ambassador for France at a state dinner for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip.<br />
So why do we wear roses on our garments? Is it to evoke a more romantic age? The roses in the above dress are certainly similar to the actual roses fashionable in this period, think Queen Elizabeth or Peace (Below is the Queen Elizabeth rose). Is it similar to the wearing of label clothing today? If we wear a rose pattern does it make us pretty?<br />
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The early twentieth century was another time of particularly romantic clothing, again the rose was used in this delicate dress in 1903 by Jaques Doucet. Of course in these times these dresses were worn in part to show that the woman didn't have to work - she was a delicate rose.<br />
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<a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80096979?rpp=20&pg=1&ft=dress+rose&pos=16">© 2000–2013 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. All rights reserved.</a><br />
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In contrast below is a practical but romantic Biba suit from 1974. The trouser suit at this time was a sign of emancipation from the ways of the past. It may seem odd in this day and age but I remember not being allowed to wear trousers or shorts to school in the 60's and early 70's - girls just didn't.<br />
The choice of fabric in this case is in line with the vintage style which was part of Biba's look. <br />
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<a href="http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O84088/trouser-suit-biba/">Copyright: © V&A Images. All Rights Reserved</a><br />
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The fabric is a printed cotton with a dark background which gives it a slightly mysterious feel. <br />
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<a href="http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O84088/trouser-suit-biba/">Copyright: © V&A Images. All Rights Reserved</a>Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-5507793532456446262013-02-27T16:52:00.000-08:002013-02-27T16:55:53.308-08:00For the Love of Printed Cotton<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I love textiles I would spend all day every day immersed in them if I could.<br />
I am making a dressing gown inspired by an eighteenth century gown, the toile is made, it works beautifully. The toile is going to be the lining of the garment being a lovely light plain unbleached linen. I have been hunting for a printed cotton for months that will look authentic. So far no luck, I may have to use a plain fabric.<br />
But in my internet hunting for said fabric I have learnt a bit and I suppose I have not realised before just how influential the revolution in cotton was.<br />
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Cotton in the Eighteenth century was so popular and powerful as a commodity that it could make or break countries. Printed textiles became very fashionable in the seventeenth and especially the eighteenth century in Europe due initially to the importation of printed cottons from India. All these cottons were block printed, a hand craft which required much skill especially if the pattern was complex or multi coloured.<br />
There were huge changes to the way it was manufactured especially through the middle of the century which took its manufacture from small cottage industries in India to factories in Britain. It made textiles readily available and contributed to the growth of the middle class.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A5d21flXYqI/US6dHnJFhCI/AAAAAAAAASE/sOpl_0Gqyhg/s1600/2011ER5689_jpg_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A5d21flXYqI/US6dHnJFhCI/AAAAAAAAASE/sOpl_0Gqyhg/s320/2011ER5689_jpg_l.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Above are block printed cottons from between 1700 and 1740 (<a href="http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O225379/printed-cotton-unknown/">Copyright: © V&A Images</a>) if you compare the above images with the one below they are a bit simpler and the printing is not as sharp. These would have been comparatively much more expensive than the one below.<br />
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European cotton from about 1799 from <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/120039626?rpp=60&pg=12&ft=cotton+fabric+eighteenth+century+european&what=Cotton%7cPrinting&img=1">The Metropolitan Museum of Art </a> online collection.<br />
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In the 1750's copperplate printing was invented by the British which meant that printed cottons became cheaper and more readily available in Europe. India was exporting 10,000 bales of raw cotton to Britain by 1764. India suffered a collapse of their industry through exporting most of their raw cotton to Britain and Japan, which they didn't start to recover from until the 20th century.</div>
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A photo I took last year of a copperplate printing machine at Quarry Bank Mill National Trust property, it is more modern than eighteenth century, but the principles are the same. In fact talking to the demonstrators there, much of the machinery remained the same for about 150 years from about 1800 to the 1950's.</div>
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" In the 18th century, James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny, and Richard Arkwright pioneered the water propelled spinning frame which led to the mass production of cotton. This was truly revolutionary. The cotton manufacturers created a whole new class of people - the urban proletariat. The structure of society itself would never be the same." A. N. Wilson</div>
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Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-12116784355910935142012-10-31T17:26:00.000-07:002012-11-04T12:50:05.083-08:00Upcycled Domestic Armour<br />
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I am taking a word out of my lovely niece's vocabulary, <b>upcycled</b> a trendy way of calling something new made from something old!<br />
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Back in the day's when we had less there was an attitude of make do and mend. In my childhood I remember what that was like.<br />
My mother made quilts out of barkcloth, the inner was usually old jerseys or old blankets, they were heavy and uncomfortable but warm.<br />
I remember her using a hot poker from the coal range to melt plastic patches to mend an old plastic bucket. The fumes probably were toxic.<br />
My experience of mended socks is remembering the odd hard mended bits you had to walk on.<br />
The unravelling of old woolen jerseys to remake into new ones, the re knitted ones were never as nice.<br />
My Mum wasn't a great seamstress and she had very little time to do such things so I am not complaining.<br />
We don't seem to have a history of lovely quilts in New Zealand, though I am sure they have been always made, not in my childhood though.<br />
My experience of the good old days of the past when we reused things is to put it kindly mixed. But it must be said that the consumerism of the last few decades apart from the morality of such, lacks a certain satisfaction. So despite my past I am very happy to embrace upcycling!<br />
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I had a skirt, very good quality, a bit dated and I haven't worn it for a few years. The fabric is a bit faded but it has plenty of life in it yet. See below...<br />
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Trelise Cooper the designer of said skirt doesn't tend to stint on fabric so there was plenty to work with.<br />
The fabric reminds me of the sort of stuff my mother used for Aunty Janet's aprons, the ones she made each year at Christmas (See my blog called Domestic Armour).<br />
So it was an apron I made and it didn't take long, quite a bit of the sewing was done for me.<br />
First I measured and chopped...<br />
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It has turned out a bit fancy using the nicely curved waistband for the band and the bib...</div>
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I am very happy with my apron I think I will save it for wearing at christmas.</div>
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Here is Cleo modeling it for me....</div>
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<br />Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-11572551496444027672012-10-16T20:09:00.001-07:002012-10-20T19:19:10.154-07:00The Golly Doll<div style="text-align: justify;">
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With kindly smile he nearer draws;</div>
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Begs them to feel no fear.</div>
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"What is your name?"</div>
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Cries Sarah Jane;</div>
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"The 'Golliwogg' my dear."</div>
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Over the weekend we were sorting out the cupboard under the stairs when we discovered Golly in a box of old things. Golly belonged to my husbands brother and was made lovingly for him by his Aunty Nancy in the mid 1950's. My husband suggested I mended him and returned him to his rightful owner.</div>
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Said rightful owner has rejected him, probably because he lives in a very small apartment and anything extra is junk. </div>
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I nearly didn't blog on Golly because golly's and the word gollywogg have racial connotations I don't feel comfortable with. But when I looked into the history of the gollywogg I felt that maybe it would be a good thing to air the original intent. The fact that poor old golly has been the originator of some very derogatory words is not the fault of it's creators.</div>
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Gollywoggs were first created by a mother and daughter in indigent circumstances who wrote a book published in 1895 called<b> 'The Adventure of Two Dutch Dolls and a "Gollywogg"</b> 'by Bertha Upton and Florence Upton who illustrated the books. Florence was a professional illustrator who was to say later 'I am frightened when I read the fearsome etymology some deep, dark minds can see in his name". You can read the first book <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16770/16770-h/16770-h.htm">here</a>. The pair went on to produce nine books in the series, they were very popular and toy manufacturers started producing the dolls. I am inclined to think that a picture of a black doll arm in arm with two pale dolls going on an adventure doesn't exactly smack of racism. </div>
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Well back to our Golly and his resurrection here is a before...</div>
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As you can see his pants are falling apart and his face has holes beside each eye.</div>
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He has been mended before by my mother in law....</div>
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I darned his face.....</div>
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And patched his leg....</div>
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Is he good for another fifty years? I don't know but he looks better. </div>
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Here is another illustration from the book, looks like fun to me.</div>
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Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-35150519297888032682012-10-02T20:44:00.001-07:002012-10-23T15:44:10.978-07:00Hats My Father Wore<br />
On top of the Crumpety tree<br />
The Quangle Wangle sat,<br />
But his face you could not see<br />
On account of his Beaver hat,<br />
For his hat was a hundred and two foot wide,<br />
With ribbon and bibbons on every side<br />
And bells, and buttons, and loops and lace,<br />
So that nobody ever could see the face<br />
Of the Quangle Wangle Quee.<br />
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From 'The Quangle Wangle Quee' by Edward Lear<br />
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Well, I am not talking about beaver hats today but this is my favourite hat poem so any excuse to pop it into the blog. I am concerned though about the number of beaver pelts it would take to make such a large hat and its contribution to the continuance, or not of beavers!<br />
Over the centuries though, men and women have worn any number of silly hats and I am sure it would be better for us if we wore hats more often in this time.<br />
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Today I am going to talk about some silly hats my dad wore.....<br />
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In amongst the things stored away at my parents house when it came time to sort things out was this Palmerston North Boys High School Sports Team cap. I am assuming it was for Cricket or Rugby as he was in the First Eleven and First Fifteen. It is quite lovely with it's metal piping and metal tasselled top. <br />
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I am going to leave the flippant comments above but I have been doing some research on the internet and for my Dad to receive this hat was an honour and he received it three years in a row 1941, 1942, 1943. It was probably for Rugby.<br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Arial;">The first record of caps being worn at 'Rugby School' is in 1839 when Queen Adelaide paid a visit. The boys paraded for the royal visitor in the 'quadrangle' with plush crimson velvet caps with gold tassels. The queen, having heard of the spectacle that was football, requested a match take place later that day. The boys retained their caps and this is the first recorded occasion of a uniform being worn in a match. The practice of cap wearing was retained into the 1840s, so that fellow team players could be distinguished in a scrummage and not mercilessly hacked by a team mate. There were two classes of player at this time in Rugby</span> <span style="color: navy; font-family: Arial;">School</span> <span style="color: navy; font-family: Arial;">, those who wore caps and were allowed to 'follow up' or play the ball, and those without caps, normally the younger pupils who acted as 'goalkeepers'. There was no hard rule as to how a boy won his cap, it was on the whim of the the 'house captain' as to whether he was good enough, a player was 'invited' to pick up his cap.</span></span></td></tr>
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The above is taken from the <a href="http://www.rugbyrelics.com/museum/exhibitions/nr125/02.htm">World Rugby Museum</a> website.<br />
I can't help but think how different this lovely little cap is from todays sportswear. It is silk velvet lined with twill cotton fabric hand stitched in then with metallic piping machine sewn on. The piping and tassel are silver gilt. The letters and numbers are hand embroidered. I couldn't imagine it surviving a rugby game. The label on it says it was made by Millar and Giorgios Ltd 'The Great Outfitters'.<br />
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This one is another of my father's caps, awarded at Duntroon Royal Military College in Australia where my father trained as a tank commander in 1945 and 1946. It doesn't have a peak which gives it a middle</div>
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I assume he received this for playing Rugby League for Duntroon as there is a picture of him in a team wearing the typical chevroned jersey.<br />
This cap also has a silver gilt tassel and Duntroon insignia on the front in silver gilt with it jaunty crossed boomerangs. Again it is silk velvet beautifully stitched and lined in black twill cotton. The year numbers are hand stitched on. Each seam has cord sewn over it and the back of the cap is 6 cm deeper than the front so it would sit back on the head. It was made by David Jones.<br />
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Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of my father wearing these hats but here he is wearing a sensible army beret.<br />
I love the way hats are used to denote honour, rank, career etc. We use them to say things about ourselves probably more deliberately that any other garment.<br />
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<b>When I was about 5 I think, I desperately wanted to be a pirate and have the hat and everything.</b><br />
Keira Knightley<br />
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<br />Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-46368919054596751392012-09-18T17:04:00.000-07:002012-09-26T14:49:30.496-07:00Woollen Stockings Are Prickly at the Best of Times!<br />
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We live in a time of ridiculously comfortable clothing, I am sitting here in my stretch jeans and a lovely warm knitted jersey. I have nothing to constrict my movement. I use my muscles to hold my back straight and conciously relax my shoulders when I find them rising as I type. My knee highs are a cotton lycra mix with extra elastic around the top to hold them up. We are heavily reliant in the west on knitted or lycra woven garments.<br />
So I was interested to learn that knitted garments were first introduced to the west in the fifteenth century, and then it was used mostly for knitted hose or stockings as we know them. Men did the knitting.<br />
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There are paintings of men wearing hose before that time, they were woven and looser and cut on the bias for stretch. Later than this men still wore woven hose under their knitted hose for extra warmth and so the hair on their legs didn't show through!!??<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FvgpXr2eUp0/UD1ZiofwOSI/AAAAAAAAALI/YgUnOONo6-Q/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-08-29+at+11.42.14+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FvgpXr2eUp0/UD1ZiofwOSI/AAAAAAAAALI/YgUnOONo6-Q/s320/Screen+shot+2012-08-29+at+11.42.14+AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Above are some hose from the 17th century made out of linen cut on the bias with lacings to tighten around the ankle area. <a href="http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78739/pair-of-mens-unknown/">http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78739/pair-of-mens-unknown/</a><br />
Would they have been comfortable, I don't know. It is worth following the link to the V&A and reading the description, they are intricately made.<br />
Old knitted hose are beautiful things, knitted out of wool, silk or linen with clocks or decorations down the side. In the eighteenth century they began to be made by machine and the use of more mechanised spinning meant that the yarn was more even which gave a better result.<br />
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These ones are from the 1750's made out of linen with silk clocks. <a href="http://emuseum.history.org/code/emuseum.asp">http://emuseum.history.org/code/emuseum.asp</a><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OO8IHvwkGD8/UFkGKMGll-I/AAAAAAAAANY/iIZiWZsKme4/s1600/CI55.52.1ab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OO8IHvwkGD8/UFkGKMGll-I/AAAAAAAAANY/iIZiWZsKme4/s320/CI55.52.1ab.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
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These French late Eighteenth century stockings are silk, decorated with gold thread, they are gorgeous but did the metallic thread prickle?<br />
<a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80054758?rpp=60&pg=4&ao=on&ft=stockings+1700+to+1800&pos=229">http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80054758?rpp=60&pg=4&ao=on&ft=stockings+1700+to+1800&pos=229</a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; line-height: 16px;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Lady Fastening Her Garter</em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; line-height: 16px;">(also known as</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; line-height: 16px;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">La Toilette</em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; line-height: 16px;">), François Boucher, 1742. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy of and © Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.museothyssen.org/en/thyssen/zoom_obra/836">http://www.museothyssen.org/en/thyssen/zoom_obra/836</a></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">This painting is an interesting view into the private lives of women nearly 300 years ago. She is tying her garter a little higher than I would have thought, maybe the artist wanted to show a bit more leg? The stockings are plain and the sheen denotes silk. The feet are painted small as was fashionable.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">There are all sorts of details, the cups and teapot at the back. The fire protector discarded on the floor (to protect ladies faces from the fire). The wee reticule hanging on the fire screen.The jacket she wears is to protect her expensive clothes from make up as it is applied. Right at the back is a large pin holder and a powder jar. Pins were used in dressing to attach the gown and stomacher.The other ribbon for the garter is on the mantlepiece there is also a letter and some sealing wax, one would imagine that the letter may be a love letter. The red fur trimmed cape on the chair looks sumptuous. There are more details if you really want to have a good look click on the link, the Museo Thyssen website is excellent and you can zoom in on all the little details.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">When I think about what it would have been like to wear these stockings I can't help but think it would have been nice to be wealthy enough to wear silk. I have worn woollen stockings and they are prickly at the best of times. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-51899054010284517902012-08-28T19:55:00.000-07:002013-04-30T15:12:12.450-07:00"To tie up my garter and jog on again".<div>
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I pitched my day's leazings in Crimmercrock Lane,<br />
To tie up my garter and jog on again,<br />
When a dear dark-eyed gentleman passed there and said,<br />
In a way that made all o' me colour rose-red,<br />
"What do I see -<br />
O pretty knee!"<br />
And he came and he tied up my garter for me.</div>
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From Thomas Hardy's "The Dark Eyed Gentleman"</div>
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A garter in these day's of elastic is thought of as stretchy and comfortable. I wore garters to hold my socks up as a girl and they were basically a piece of elastic sewn in a circle.<br />
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But in the days of long dresses and petticoats and no knickers, people also had no elastic. The stockings of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century were pretty things if you could afford to have silk, without garters they stretched and fell down. Garters were made of ribbons or decorated fabric, often frilled and embroidered. They were tied just below the knee.</div>
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Garters were unseen and could have messages of love and fidelity on them, one didn't tie one's garter in public. In fact tying one's garter in public was a saying which meant you were wearing your heart on your sleeve. So the girl in the poem above was caught out. </div>
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Above is a pair of garters from the V&A collection (year 1780), <a href="http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O139317/pair-of-garters-unknown/">http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O139317/pair-of-garters-unknown/</a> they are satin with a padded pleated frill attached to a ribbon with which to tie. In the book Underwear Fashion Detail by Eleri Lynn the messages above with scrolling and rosebuds are described as reading 'UNIS A JAMAIS" (united forever) and "JE MEURS OU JE M"ATTACHE" ( I die where I take root). The latter being a traditional statement of fidelity. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uk2DY5oUUkU/UD12f9ZAFRI/AAAAAAAAAME/YaQtj-8v530/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-08-29+at+1.54.04+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uk2DY5oUUkU/UD12f9ZAFRI/AAAAAAAAAME/YaQtj-8v530/s320/Screen+shot+2012-08-29+at+1.54.04+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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These buckled numbers have springs in them to give some stretch. I think they would have pinched, even though the springs were covered with fabric. <a href="http://emuseum.history.org/code/emuseum.asp">http://emuseum.history.org/code/emuseum.asp</a></div>
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The garter below is of interest in a political context with an avowal of secret loyalty. In the day's of the Eighteenth century to be a Jacobite or a follower of Bonnie Prince Charlie or his father James was treason. For this reason there were secret ways of making your loyalty known. Outlawed Jacobites when drinking would ostensibly be toasting King George II but by passing their glass over water were really toasting the King across the water (James in Italy). </div>
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<a href="http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O359842/garter/">http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O359842/garter/</a> </div>
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I wonder if the owner of this garter allowed it to be seen, her servant would probably have been illiterate so unable to expose her. </div>
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It says 'OUR PRINCE IS BRAVE OUR CAUSE IS JUST" </div>
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As a matter of interest, elastic made with rubber was invented in 1820 and by the middle of the Nineteenth century was used extensively in clothing. But my plain elastic garters seem very unromantic in comparison to the pretty evocative uses described above. </div>
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Maybe it was better to be less comfortable? </div>
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Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-20404853556573993492012-08-14T21:51:00.000-07:002012-08-14T21:56:57.101-07:00Pajamas and Party DressesI was flicking through the channels on television the other evening and came across a show about English aristocrats who are making money by hosting people in their homes. The guests were having a wedding and for the first night decided to have a pajama party, so everyone turned up for dinner in the beautiful dining room in their PJ's. It was very funny to watch the Lord of the manor waiting at table on the PJ clad people, the look on his face, I don't think he could quite believe it. Of course this is what makes reality television and I am sure it was all very doctored. If I had been one of the guests I would have felt sad that I didn't have a chance to dress as suited the room.<br />
We live in a world where clothing has been democratised to the degree that we are in danger of losing any sense of occasion. Many of us have garments in our wardrobes that we would love to have an excuse to wear, so I say we should just wear them anyway. Or make an occasion to wear them.<br />
I remember hearing a famous New Zealand designer say that many people think that just because you have put a nice top with your jeans you are well dressed. But that to wear jeans it means that you have not really thought about it.<br />
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How does this relate to the past and what we did in the past, I certainly remember having best clothes as a child, to wear to church or somewhere special. It included a hat and gloves. My mother, in the sixties would always wear a hat when she went out and jackets were worn in the street not jerseys or cardigans. When I started high school our uniform consisted of hat, jacket and gloves both winter and summer. We had to wear our hats and jackets in the street, we got a detention if we wore our cardigan or no hat. I am not saying we should go back to such prescribed dressing but maybe we have lost something along the way.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g3yqFI-0tXU/UCsSigY5wRI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/jPZsf080PaU/s1600/1958_wedd_barb_children.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g3yqFI-0tXU/UCsSigY5wRI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/jPZsf080PaU/s320/1958_wedd_barb_children.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.fashion-era.com/Weddings/1958_old_wedding_photos.htm">http://www.fashion-era.com/Weddings/1958_old_wedding_photos.htm</a> I found this gorgeous picture, doesn't the wee girl in the middle look a trick. This was in 1958 photo taken in Australia.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0sOA0bFhzzw/UCsWvzF8NCI/AAAAAAAAAKk/rWYRhvhtYe4/s1600/111958_wedding_barbara_group_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0sOA0bFhzzw/UCsWvzF8NCI/AAAAAAAAAKk/rWYRhvhtYe4/s320/111958_wedding_barbara_group_small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here is the full photograph the top photo having been taken from it (link same as above) if you look closely you can see the ladies wearing hats glove etc.<br />
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<a href="http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f89/vintage-streetstyle-1960s-74659.html">http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f89/vintage-streetstyle-1960s-74659.html</a> Here we are in the USA in the mid Sixties. Unfortunately there were a lot of bad hats in the 60's maybe that is why we stopped wearing them.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v2iY3c5vK0A/UCsZy5fJzEI/AAAAAAAAAK0/QuaFV7_nRss/s1600/Annes+Wedding+Guests.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v2iY3c5vK0A/UCsZy5fJzEI/AAAAAAAAAK0/QuaFV7_nRss/s320/Annes+Wedding+Guests.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here is my sisters wedding guests a few years later (1973), the dress has changed radically. No one is wearing a hat or gloves in fact except for the fashions the level of dress is similar to today. So I say enjoy what you wear and try not to be too practical all the time.<br />
<br />Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-78187121491603070642012-07-31T18:02:00.001-07:002012-07-31T18:02:20.877-07:00I Want My Thimble Back<br />
My thimble has gone missing, it is 34 years old and well used and loved, but for the past six months it has been in hiding. It must be here somewhere but not in any of the usual places. <br />
My thimble is a tailors thimble it is open ended and has a piece of grubby old plaster wrapped around the inside of it because I have small fingers and they don't make my size. The plaster actually makes it more comfortable and less likely to slip off. I have been using a nice silver one instead which is part of my small collection. It is a little big but I don't want to spoil it with a plaster lining.<br />
Here it is.<br />
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I have always wondered why most thimbles are closed at the end so I had a look on the internet and discovered that historically tailors thimbles have an open end because they push the needle through with the side of the finger and dressmakers have a closed end because they push the needle through from the top. As I was taught at fashion school to use the side of my finger, I couldn't imagine using the top. I tried it and it feels odd. We had to tie a small piece of fabric around the thimble and around our finger until we naturally had the right crook of the finger. The tailors thimble is said to stop your finger from getting too hot, also having the end open means you can feel the fabric as you sew. <br />
Apparently sterling silver ones eventually get holes in them, they are more comfortable than steel but the softness that makes them comfortable means they wear out quicker. In the 1880's a man named Charles Horner started making thimbles with a steel middle and silver or gold outside so you could have the best of comfort and durability. They were called the Dorcas thimble.<br />
I have a few thimbles, one is a well used brass one which is worn out. It belonged to my paternal grandmother.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gjE4bZlJiTk/UBh0IvTjVGI/AAAAAAAAAJU/67DyCKF37jw/s1600/Thimble+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gjE4bZlJiTk/UBh0IvTjVGI/AAAAAAAAAJU/67DyCKF37jw/s320/Thimble+2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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As you can see it is squished to fit on her finger and there is a hole on the top from the needle. It would be unusable as the needle would always find its way into the hole.<br />
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This is my small collection, from left to right: Granny's silver thimble, Grandma's silver thimble, Grandma's aluminium thimble, Grandma's Brass thimble and a silver one which was a gift.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-npPnWGk5hN4/UBh63LYY22I/AAAAAAAAAJ4/ketWHgH1Kko/s1600/TT+Thimble.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-npPnWGk5hN4/UBh63LYY22I/AAAAAAAAAJ4/ketWHgH1Kko/s320/TT+Thimble.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here is a silver tailors thimble picture I found on the internet. <a href="http://www.thimblesociety.com/sales.asp?stock=B14">http://www.thimblesociety.com/sales.asp?stock=B14</a><br />
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There is a lot of information on the net about thimbles have a look if you are interested, I think I will have to replace my lost thimble but it is very hard to get a tailors thimble in NZ. I will have to continue searching.<br />
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Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-46296402418460859052012-07-17T20:33:00.000-07:002012-07-17T21:15:01.421-07:00'Tippets for Mice and Ribbons for Mobs'The above title is a quote from the Tailor of Gloucester Beatrix Potter. It is a lovely story of mice coming to the rescue of a poor tailor. I have always thought mice would be of more use if they would sew for us, maybe if I was as poor as the tailor of Gloucester they might.<br />
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Over the last few years I have kindly made my student daughter coats and jackets, it saves her a lot of money and I enjoy tailoring. This end of semester she turned up with a light wool which has some stretch and quite a bit of drapability. Patterns are always a challenge, the pattern books often don't have much that is interesting in the way of coats or jackets and I mostly can't be bothered making a pattern.<br />
Anyway, my daughter fossicked through my patterns and triumphantly held up an old scrappy pattern envelope ' Mum this is really fashionable, can I have this." So the eighties pattern that I made up into a jacket for myself was to be reborn in a slightly different way.<br />
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Here it is. I think I made this in 1979 or 1980, I wore it for about 5 years.<br />
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We both opted for the collared version and to take some of the width out of the gathering. I shortened mine considerably.<br />
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Here I am in my jacket, not the best photos to show you the jacket but it is all I have. It was excellent for our many Sunday afternoon sorties to the west coast beaches near Auckland NZ. It was the eighties so I hope you will excuse the dress sense. I padded and quilted the yoke on mine with a flower design.</div>
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My daughters version is simplified a bit, as the fabric was a bit stretchy and didn't topstitch well.</div>
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Here it is modeled by Cleo. Cleo is a size twelve, my daughter is a size eight, it is baggier in real life. It is interesting to see how different materials and times will change the way a pattern can be interpreted. The fabric was bought from Global Fabrics in Wellington NZ. I am so glad I could re use my pattern and for some strange reason I like the idea of our generational continuity.</div>
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'When the snowflakes came down against the small leaded window panes and shut out the light, the tailor had done his days work; all the silk and satin lay cut out on the table.' The Tailor of Gloucester Beatrix Potter</div>
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This is what I bought.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fzuzuwT333o/T-pX9-zXh7I/AAAAAAAAAHM/B1WTpYt9nwo/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-06-27+at+12.44.55+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fzuzuwT333o/T-pX9-zXh7I/AAAAAAAAAHM/B1WTpYt9nwo/s320/Screen+shot+2012-06-27+at+12.44.55+PM.png" width="217" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/home-kitchen-aprons/983148.jsp">http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/home-kitchen-aprons/983148.jsp</a></div>
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Rightly or wrongly in the nineteen sixties and seventies we threw our aprons away, linking them to servitude and the subjugation of women.<br />
So these days why are aprons popular with twenty and thirty somethings? Is it a reaction to their mothers rejection of domesticity and the ties that went with it? Is it long enough since the sixties and seventies and the feminist movement of that time that we can look at what was with some objectivity and see the good with the bad? Try watching some old sixties movies to see how different attitudes to gender are today.<br />
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Cupcakes, macaroons, baking, aprons, cute little baking accoutrements, food shows on TV it all adds to the culture of nostalgia. The thing about such nostalgia is that is doesn't necessarily relate to the reality of living or a desire to live in the same way as our grandparents or parents. The pace of life was slower? Really? Maybe things happened at a slower pace generally but for most, running a family and house was very time consuming and busy indeed.<br />
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If you go further back to the time of my grandmothers (Both were married in the first half of the 1920's) life was even busier and physically pretty hard. Both lived in farming communities with the isolation that came from small town New Zealand at that time.<br />
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Above are my grandparents, the only photo I can find of Granny wearing her apron, this would have been taken in about 1960.<br />
I know little about what life was like for my village dwelling fathers mother but Mum used to speak a little about her mother. The week started with Monday's spent washing and ironing for a family of eight, it took all day. All that was bought food wise was a huge sack of flour a sack of sugar and dried fruit, everything else came off the farm, garden or orchard. Bread making, cooking, baking, milking the house cow and butter making, preserving, gardening (there was a flower garden as well as vegetables) sewing, soap making these were all things that were the domain of the farming housewife of the 1920's and 1930's. If they weren't made or done you didn't have them.<br />
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I guess what I am saying is that compared with most of history my forays into domesticity are simply flirting, I can bake a cake or make bread or I can buy a cake or bread. There is choice and what a privilege it is.<br />
So when I don my apron I will spare a thought for the millions of women throughout history who didn't have a choice and also for those in less privileged situations today who still don't have a choice.<br />
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"I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then." Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland<br />
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P.S I can't help but think that if my mother was alive and had read the above blog she would say 'but we had a lot of fun along the way'.Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5612264766985212342.post-38586737556792741692012-06-12T17:19:00.001-07:002012-06-12T17:20:57.394-07:00Domestic ArmourAprons have been worn in all sort of different forms for thousands of years by both men and women but for the purposes of this blog and the next one I am going look at the wearing of aprons by women in the last few hundred years. There are not many examples of very old workaday aprons as they would have been worn out and the scraps of good fabric used in other things. Fabric was so much more precious when it was hand woven. So existent examples of eighteenth and nineteenth century aprons tend to be the pretty, dressy kind. Most were a simple rectangle shape about 1 metre wide stitched and gathered onto tape.<br />
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Here is a lovely example of an early 20th century apron that isn't so dressy using the basic rectangle. It is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the website has some beautiful examples of clothing from the past. <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80060113?rpp=20&pg=2&ft=Apron&pos=31">http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80060113?rpp=20&pg=2&ft=Apron&pos=31</a></div>
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Do you remember your Grandmother wearing an apron? My Granny passed away when I was very young so my memories of her are very vague. But my older sister remembers skipping and singing along with a gumbooted and aproned Granny to collect eggs from the chook house. As with most women of her generation if she was at home she would be wearing an apron.</div>
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Granny made an apron every year as a Christmas present for her neighbour. When my gran passed away my mother took up the mantle and Aunty Janet got a new apron every Christmas until she died. It was essentially made out of squares and rectangles. The skirt part was the width of the fabric the bodice another square doubled over and of course the ties were all rectangles, nothing fancy but very practical and economical and of course there were alway two large pockets. I remember Mum putting a lot of thought into what sort of fabric the apron would be made of it was always cotton print and the bolder the better.</div>
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To me it seems as though it is a link to the past in that so much of the clothing made in the past was made from rectangles, using gussets and straight lines so as to not waste a scrap of fabric.</div>
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Above is the only photograph I have of Aunty Janet, I think it is very appropriate, here she is helping on the silage stack. I forgot to mention an apron was also essential for farm work. Janet worked hard all her life, a very forthright practical woman who did not see any need to retire, she was about eighty when this photo was taken.</div>Isabel Lintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304893114017409498noreply@blogger.com1