More Breakfast Caps

Not that I needed more than one breakfast cap-and the first would have matched most of my wrappers.  But I had extra fabric and just couldn't help myself!  So here are three more breakfast caps.

First off, a little cap dating.  When you see caps with all the fullness at the sides (by the ears), you're looking at an 1850's cap.  In 1860, you'll start to see some bows put on top of the head, but still most fullness is at the sides.  The frills start being only at the top in about 1864 and will stay there until almost 1870.  This makes sense when you think about it.  Caps followed bonnet fashions closely (being head wear) and you also see this in bonnets (and evening headdresses, actually!).  Flowers and frill were found around the ears and sides of bonnets in the 1850's and then gradually went all around and then upwards until you hit the epitome of the spoon bonnet where all the pretties are on top of the head.  Let's take a look at some original caps to see this pattern.

1850's Caps

Morning and Dress Caps from
Arthur's Illustrated Home Magazine, 1858.

Unknown collection
white and blue silk cap, ca. 1850-1855.

See all the frills around the ears?  Definite signs of a cap from the 1850's.  Also notice how detailed they are-caps get a little 'cleaner' later on.  The 1850's were a time to pile on all the trims!  So delicate and intricate!

Early Civil War caps (1860ish to 1862ish)

Der Bazar day caps, 1860.

Centraal Museum Dutch cotton and silk cap, ca. 1860.

Both of these from 1860, you can see frill sort of concentrated at the sides, but not nearly as full as in the 1850's.  In the illustrations, you can start to see trims (ribbons, bows) starting to go on top of the caps whereas before, it was just flat trims on top.

La Mode Illustree January 5, 1863. Morning cap of organdy.

This one from 1863 is interesting  because it shows the in-between.  There is still fullness all the way around, but the bow on top makes the top stand out a bit more.

Late War Caps

Wien Museum cotton tulle and lace and black velvet cap, ca. 1864-1866.

Metropolitan Museum of Art American silk lace cap,
ca. 1864.

Private collection morning/breakfast cap
with lavender ribbon and flowers, ca. 1864-1868.

All decor on top speak to late or post war caps.  Flowers in caps become popular (generally you only see lace and ribbon on earlier caps).

Now onto my caps.

The first was a quick and easy cap inspired by these two originals:

Cap from an unknown private collection, ca. 1860.

"Head-dress for Breakfast", Peterson's Magazine, 1864.

The first picture (of the original cap) was my main inspiration, and is most like mine.  The other shows an illustration of a similar cap.  Peterson's cap states that to make the cap one should "Take a square of tarletan, trim with narrow black ribbon, and pin it quite forward on the head: and you will have the head-dress complete.".  As there is a ribbon on top of the cap and no fullness at the sides, this is a very fashionable cap for 1864.  Tarletan is an open-weave cotton cloth similar to cheesecloth or cotton gauze but is heavily starched.  Think gauze meets organdy.  For those interested, you can supposedly still find tarletan fabric today as it is used for cleaning off a plate in the intaglio printing process.  I can find it in colors, but I'm struggling to find it in white.  Let me know if you know of a source for white tarletan!

For my cap, I used point d'Espirit (dotted net) from Originals by Kay.  I can't remember if I purchased 1 yard or 1/2 yard, but I've gotten 4 caps out of it and still have leftovers. It is a wide fabric at any rate.  This fabric closely matched the original cap which is why I used it.  I used some 100% cotton lace from cottonlace.com for the lace.  Since my lace was more narrow than the original, I doubled the lace to make it sort of ruffled.  The lace is applied flat except at the corners, just like the original.  The blue velvet ribbon is rayon, unfortunately, and is from farmhousefabrics.com.  I purchased 4 yards of 3/8" ribbon.  In hindsight, I should have ordered 5/8" length and 5 yards.  The tails are a little short for my liking but I didn't feel like going back and ordering just one more yard-that was a little ridiculous!

I cut a 12" square of the dotted net.  The Peterson's did not give a size and I haven't seen the original in person so I had to guess.  12" is from ear to ear on my across the top of my head so that's what I went with.  I then put on the lace in two layers then the ribbon.  The distance between ribbons is about 1/2".

My second cap I actually made for a specific (in progress) wrapper.  Now the above cap will match the wrapper, too, but as the wrapper itself is blue, I felt like I was matching a bit too much and took a secondary color for the cap's ribbon.

Cap from Ebay, circa 1860.

I used the KayFigII Negligee cap pattern for both this and the next cap.  I used regular cotton net (the cheap stuff from Dharma Trading) for the base and crinoline net from Judith M for the headband piece.  The lace was all from cottonlace.com and the exterior fabric is point d'Espirit from Originals by Kay.  Ribbon is silk satin ribbon from Farmhouse Fabrics.  For the first cap, I didn't purchase enough ribbon to make the lappets so the cap is currently without. When I place another Farmhouse Fabrics order, I'll order a few more yards to complete the cap.

The next cap I based on these originals.  The fullness at the sides date it to the 1850's.  Perfect as I don't have an 1850's cap yet!

Arthur's Illustrated Home Magazine, 1858

I used the same materials as my other cap, but got the ribbon (rayon moire) from Timely Tresses.  It is 2" wide and I believe the color was periwinkle.

Enjoy!

A Tatted Lace Parasol

Yes, another parasol :).  This is my newest one (she actually just arrived about an hour or so ago) and quite pretty.  But then again, I think all my parasols are pretty.

This is my newest parasol.  She’s from the mid/late 1850’s judging by her finial and her non-metal ribs.  She covered in black silk taffeta and lined with white ‘china silk’ (typical parasol lining fabric.  It’s not as shiny or slinky as modern china silk.  More like a super thin taffeta).  Over her cover is a tatted lace overlay that is made from incredibly small thread.  On online pictures, it looks more bulky than the tatting really is.  The tatting is made from sewing thread weight cotton perle and the resulting lace is very fine.  The lace is also in wonderful condition-very few breaks to the thread and no major breaks or missing pieces.  The finial is post-1855 based on its small size and shape and is missing a bone ring that would have gone through the hole.  When I bought the parasol, it had a sheer ribbon threaded through the hole probably to replace the ring.  The stick of the parasol is wood but the handle is bone.  The handle has ridges in it that remind me of bamboo or sugar cane.  The metal sleeve that goes over the hinge to hold the folding part open is brass.  Ribs are baleen and there are tiny but thick bone rib tips to attach the cover.  The cover and lining have a scallop to finish the raw edges.  On the cover, a few inches from the finial, is a metal hook that has a dark (what I would describe as) thread elastic coming from it.  The elastic is broken and so what was on the end is no longer there.  Other than that and the finial ring, the parasol is complete.  Here are the measurements:

Length of unfolded parasol: 25”

Length of folded parasol: 14”

Handle length: 11”

Rib length: 9.5”

Rib tip length: a hair less than .5”

Finial height: 1”

There's also a nearly identical parasol on Etsy right now.  The only difference (aside from being more complete) is the lavender silk cover instead of black.  The tatting is a different pattern as well.  Here's a picture of that parasol:

When I go to restore this parasol (probably not recovering, just replacing missing bits), I now know that there most likely would have been a tassel on the elastic string and tassels through the bone ring.

Enjoy!

Two 1840's Folding Parasols and a Parasol Box

I have really started to enjoy this parasol collecting thing.  It's starting to get a bit obsessive!

This first parasol is one of my favorites.  She's from the 1840's and is just one of the loveliest things I own.

When searching online, I went past her for weeks because she had the same cover as the fringed 1850's parasol I already had and I didn't want to have two of the same parasol.  Finally, though, I ended up clicking the link to search through more pictures.  My goodness-this was nothing like my English wooden parasol!  Yes she had a broken finial, but most of my parasols do and I didn't let that bother me.  I ended up purchasing her after I saw that she had bone tips on her ribs-I didn't have a parasol with bone tips in my collection yet and I instantly decided to purchase her without looking too much into the pictures after that.

When she came in, I was surprised.  In addition to the bone tips, her stick was dotted with mother-of-pearl dots.  Totally gorgeous!  She instantly became one of my favorites!

My initial plan was to keep her all original, but she's just so pretty, I really want to use her!  She's still original for now, but eventually she will be recovered.  Here she is!

32” long when unfolded (finial is broken, actual measurement would have been longer.  Not counting the finial, the unfolded length is 31”)

18” long when folded (finial is broken, actual measurement would have been longer.  Not counting the finial, the length is 17”)

Cover/canopy diameter is 25”

Ribs are 14” to bone tips, tips are 1” with a total rib length of 15”

1” height of (broken) finial.

This is the fabric I plan on recovering her in.  It isn't perfect, but it is an embroidered silk taffeta in brown so I can compromise for that.

The second was listed as an 1880's parasol.  I have no idea why the seller thought that-this little lady has nothing in common with an 1880's parasol.  I spent more on her than I have on any other parasol yet, but I did so for a couple of reasons: first, she is absolutely complete-no missing finial, broken ribs, etc.  Secondly, her cover was in great condition.  Her lining not so much but her moire cover looks great!  Also, she has managed to retain her original box.  I really wanted to add that to my collection!

This one is staying all original as long as she's with me.  She really is in great condition for her age-just her lining is a little shot. The parasol’s ribs are baleen.  The stick and handle are white painted wood with a little tip (hand holding a bead) of bone.  The finial is also bone and has a hand towards the canopy end.  The cover is a rust brown silk moire and is lined in a thin silk (not as shiny or slinky has china silk, but similar in china silk in weight).  She has little bone rib tips.

34.25” long when unfolded, 21.125” long when folded, shaft length is 16.125", wood handle is 11.875", bone handle tip is 1.625", for a total handle length of 13.5", cover/canopy diameter is 25.5", Ribs are 14” to bone tips, tips are .875” with a total rib length of 14.875”, ?” height of finial.

Parasol box is 22" long, just a hair over 1.5" wide, and is 1.5" tall.  The lid is 22" long, 1.625" wide, and .75" tall.  The blue is a tape of sort that strengthens the edges.  It is not evenly applied.  The material of the box appears to be a thin pasteboard.

Enjoy!