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.