Foods in Season: November, 1861

Checking Beeton's Book of Household Management to see what's in season for November, we are definitely starting to see a reduction in available ingredients.

Fish- Brill, carp, cod, crabs, eels, gudgeons, haddocks, oysters, pike, soles, tench, turbot, whitling.

Meat- Beef, mutton, veal, doe venison.

Poultry- Chickens, fowls, geese, larks, pigeons, pullets, rabbits, teal, turkeys, widgeon, wild ducks.

Game- Hares, partridges, pheasant, snipes, woodcocks, doe venison. 

Vegetables- Beetroot, cabbages, carrots, celery, lettuces, late cucumbers, onions, potatoes,  salading, spinach, sprouts--various kitchen herbs.

Fruit- Apples, bullaces, chestnuts, filberts, grapes, pears, walnuts.

The fish list lost barbel, flounder, lobster, mullet, plaice, prawns, and skate, gaining in return cod and pike. Pork is off the meat list again. No changes to poultry. Blackcock and grouse came off the game menu (and doe venison was moved into "meat"), with no new additions. Root vegetables and cool-weather greens dominate the vegetable list, which has since last month lost artichokes, cauliflower, tomatoes, mushrooms, pease, turnips, and vegetable marrow. It did see the addition of late cucumbers, though [which confuses me, since my cucumber plants were at their most prolific through July/August and active into September, all months which do not list cucumbers at all.] The fruit category lost damsons, figs, and quinces, but gained chestnuts; we're firmly into an autumn mix of hard tree-fruits, nuts, and grapes.

Originals: Silk Mantle, 1850s

Woman's mantle in off-white silk taffeta. This item is listed as a pelerine, though I disagree: the size (down to the elbow on the sides and past the waist in front) and shape more closely resemble a mantle, in my opinion.  

 

"Pelerine" (mantle), 1850s, in LACMA.

 

It's worth zooming in for a look at that self-fabric trim. It appears to be a variation on puffed gathering; there's a minimum of two rows all around the edges, expanding to four at the elbows, which adds a delightfully subtle extra bit of shaping there.

October Mending

Not much mending this month: just fixing the bones of my 1850s corset as they escape, and darning my red wool stockings just before Candlelight Tours. Fortunately, this left some time for new sewing projects, which will hopefully be done in time for December events.

Tablet-Woven Belt, 14th Centuty

Silk, made with 14 tablets. The pattern is a simple stripe (2 rows yellow, 2 rows green) based on a surviving fragment documented in Textiles and Clothing: Medieval Finds from Excavations in London (page 133, fig 100c) as a girdle or spur strap from the second half of the 14th century. It also appears in Dress Accessories (page 48). The original fragment is two colors: one source give pink and green/yellow, the other pink and yellow/white.

I wanted it to follow the narrow, long trailing belt styles popular in the 14th century (as on this statue or this surviving belt), which seemed congruent with the width of the surviving fragment. For the belt fittings, I used the "garter buckle and chape" set from Billy & Charlie's, which is meant to be 14th to early 15th century in style, and which fit the size of the band I was weaving.

The main lesson from this project was so fun that I got to learn it twice: re-read the instructions if you've set a project aside for months/years. For the weaving, I had gone so long between warping and weaving that I forget that 'using a finer weft on warp-faced tablet weave is necessary or else it will distort the pattern' is basically the first rule of tablet weaving. Alas, my clever idea of using the same silk for warp and weft to get cleaner selvedges also turned the lines of the pattern into zig-zags. And then when it came to installing the buckle and chape, I used an unnecessary extra pin (for which there really wasn't enough room), because there was a spare in the kit and I incorrectly assumed both should be needed. Again, if I'd taken a moment to check the item specs, this could have been avoided.

That being said, I did like working with the silk thread. The simple pattern made it very easy to bring this project out to public events, since it was easy to stop and start without losing count.

Foods in Season: October, 1861

Candlelight is close at hand, so for planning purposes, I took an early look at Beeton's Book of Household Management to see what's in season (in London, which doesn't have a substantially different climate from here) in October:

Fish- Barbel, brill, crabs, cod, eels, flounders, gudgeons, haddocks, lobsters, mullet, oysters, plaice, prawns, skate, soles, tench, turbot, whitling.

Meat- Beef, mutton, pork, veal, venison.

Poultry- Chickens, fowls, geese, larks, pigeons, pullets, rabbits, teal, turkeys, widgeon, wild ducks.

Game- Blackcock, grouse, hares, partridges, pheasant, snipes, woodcocks, doe venison. 

Vegetables- Artichokes, beets, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celery,  lettuces, mushrooms, onions, pease, potatoes, sprouts, tomatoes, turnips, vegetable marrow, various kitchen herbs.

Fruit- Apples, black and white bullaces, damsons, figs, filberts, grapes, pears, quinces, walnuts.

Again this month, the fish category saw multiple changes: barbel, crabs, gudgeons, haddocks, and tench were added, with carp, sturgeon, and whitebait removed. Venison replaced lamb on the meat list. Ducks came off the poultry list, with widgeons and wild duck added (back). Buck venison is out; doe venison is in, along with snipes and woodcocks.  The fruit and vegetable categories are both starting to contract. In the vegetable list, we see asparagus, beans, salading, and sea-kale replaced by beets and cauliflower. Apples have finally made the fruit list this month (though depending on the variety, my friends have been harvesting theirs since July or August) while melons, morella-cherries, mulberries, nectarines, peaches and plums have all rotated off. 

Note that teal and widgeon are both types of ducks. I don't know the nuance implied by listing them out separately from duck or wild duck. 

Original: Embroidered Corset, 1830s

 

Corset, c.1830, in the LACMA collection.

While the small embroidered leaves on this garment were what first caught my attention, what I'm really curious about is the cording or quilting along the top edge of the busk casing. I'd really love to see this one in person and get a better idea of how that part of the corset was constructed, and whether it is actually cording or just close-set rows of parallel quilting. I don't recall seeing anything quite like it, and will need to keep an eye out for whether this is a common feature that I've previously overlooked.

1919 Corset Ad

I came across an ad-article for Gossard Corsets in the March 1919 issue of Women's Home Companion, and was intrigued by their take on "What the War Has Taught Us About Corsets." Or rather, I was interested in how the conclusion presented is almost diametrically opposed to every modern narrative I've heard about how corsets interacted with women's expanded sphere of activity during WWI. 

What the War Has Taught Us About Corsets 

NEVER in in the world's history has any one article of clothing been so prominently brought before the world as an economic force, as has the corset by the part it played in the Great War. 

It was demonstrated to the Governments of Europe in the early stages of the conflict that women could not stand the burden of their unaccustomed duties unless they were properly corseted. 

Thousands broke down under the strain of the new work and production suffered. When these same women were put into proper corsets, sickness decreased and in many instances production was practically doubled. 

From then on corsets were recognized as an essential in war work and when America's women responded 35,000,000 strong to their Country's call GOSSARD Corsets The Original Front Lacing Corsets [emphasis original] were privileged to contribute, in a large way, to the important duty of preserving their health and efficiency. 

Daily it was demonstrated that the correctly corseted woman was capable of greater and more sustained effort than her uncorseted or poorly corseted sister. The hygienic body support of a correctly designed and fitted corset kept thousands of willing workers well and sustained that splendid woman power that was one of the greatest forces contributing to the conclusion of a successful peace. 

Not only has the war taught every thinking woman the value of correct corseting; it has taught her the wisdon of buying only corsets that are hygienically correct; it has taught her to be fitted carefully and to adjust her corset each time it is worn so she may realize its full benefit and service. 

Gossard Corsets are the complete expression of modern corsetry. If possible, the new Spring and Summer corsets are superior to those of the past season which were generally acknowledged to be without equal in meeting the needs of active womanhood from the stand point of comfort, hygiene and style. 

Even allowing for bias (the whole point of this ad is to sell corsets), the fact that this ad was written in this way indicates that someone in 1919 thought 'corsets help you work better and achieve more' was a plausible and persuasive line or argument for other people in 1919. Which is a useful data point to keep in mind when evaluating the claim that corsets fell out of favor because women started doing a wider variety of active work during the later 1910s.