Only one has its original cover, but the other three were perfect blank slates for recovering. The covered one I am leaving in its original state for study and display purposes. Its measurements are: 16" folded length, 28.75" unfolded length, 12.5" handle length, 12" rib length, .875" finial length, .75" finial diameter, the whole inside the bone bit of parasol is .125" in diameter, the vegetable ivory portion of the finial is just a hair over .5" in length, and fringe length is 4". The cover is a very dark green silk moire and the fringe is actually both green and black-they are intermixed. The shaft and handle are both dark wood (maybe cherry or mahogany? Not rosewood.) and the handle is very intricately carved. The lining is in good enough shape that I can't see the ribs-but they are either baleen or rattan. They are definitely not metal. As far as dating, she's a little longer than the other parasols which would point to early, but her finial is so small, that she's later than 1853. So yeah, right around 1855, plus or minus a few years. Speaking of finials, there would have been a ring that went through the hole in the bone part. I'm still working on sourcing out some bone rings. I can find them small and I can find them thick. Never big and thin. I'll keep looking!
The rest were already naked so there was no need to take anything apart. That always makes me feel better-I hate cutting parasols out of their original covers! Now to decide how to cover them.
The first uncovered parasol, earlier than the others, had some black thread hanging onto the ribs and on top near where the finial would have been. I already had a few yards of black silk taffeta (left over from recovering my American marquis parasols) and some black fringe so I'll end up copying the original cover on the 1st parasol in black. Thank goodness for little bits of thread!! Sometimes I feel like a forensic scientist getting the whole story of a parasol just on a thread or two left from 150 years ago. This parasol is has the longest ribs of the group and is therefore earlier than the others. It is probably late 1840's/early 1850's. It's smaller than my other two 1840's parasols but larger than my 1850 parasol. Let's say 1847-1853. Her ribs are rattan and she is missing a finial. Her handle and shaft are a dark wood with some graining to make it appear more like rosewood (a very popular wood in 1840's for parasols). Her measurements are: 16.5" folded length (would have been longer with a finial), 29.5" unfolded length (would have been longer with a finial), 13" handle length, and 12.5" rib length. The finial would have been long (3" or so) if earlier or, if later, could be as small as the green parasol. I think I'll go long when I source a replacement out.
Recovering her wasn't as easy as I would like. With no similar original covers to use, I kind of had to play with it a lot. I ended up using this original as my inspiration as far as cover went.
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| Julia Fedorovna Bekman, 1852-1855. Musuem of Fine Arts in Yekaterinburg, Russia. |
I ended up using the 'modern' vintage cotton cover from one of the 1840's staff parasols as a base. I ended up cutting it down about 3/4" on either side and of course, added a scallop on the end. It took me about a day and a half to get the cover to fit decently then I added the fringe. The fringe is silk and is vintage-I'm fairly certain from the 1920's. I had JUST enough to cover the scalloped cover with just enough left over to put on top where the finial will be. Then I sewed the cover to the frame. Before I did that, I discovered that one of the ribs was split right down the middle. The hole to sew through was still intact, but I wanted to strengthen the rib so I did a blanket stitch down and around the rib from the metal rib to the tip to keep the bits together. It seems to hold up and still be as flexible as the other ribs. Time will tell. After that, the lining was cut and then sewed on. I then put the finial fringe on and now all I'm waiting on is a finial.
After having so much trouble getting these parasols, I knew they had to have some very special covers. For the next parasol, I spent quite a while searching for a unique cover that is unlike anything else I have. A month or so before getting my hands on these parasols, I found some 100% silk moire in a beautiful teal blue. At $90/yard I wasn't ever getting a dress out of this gorgeous stuff, but I could have a parasol! I chose this parasol to be the moire covered one as she was the more expensive parasol of the lot. While the others had rattan ribs, hers are baleen. She also has a bit of ivory on her handle. And with her dark stick, I thought the blue would look great on her. She probably dates to 1855, plus or minus a few years. No later than 1858 though, because of her baleen ribs. Her stick and handle are of rosewood, and of course, she has her little ivory tip on her handle. Her finial would have been very similar to the green parasol's, and most likely would have also been of ivory. Her measurements are: 14.875" folded length (would have been longer with a finial), 29" unfolded length (would have been longer with a finial), 14" handle length, and 11" rib length. The ivory handle bit is only .75" long.
She has not been recovered yet so I'll add pictures here when she is. I'm leaving her uncovered for now as I plan on showing off my collection at the Texas Living History Association's 2020 conference and I wanted to show a few uncovered parasols as well as covered and recovered ones.
For the last parasol, I had trouble deciding exactly what I wanted. I went through puresilks.us site for months looking at their striped silk before deciding on something I already had in my stash (I believe it was originally purchased from Etsy). With her light handle, I think the green and blue fabric will just pop. This one probably dates to around 1855-1858. Her finial would have been short like the green one's. Her measurements are: 15.25" folded length (would have been longer with a finial), 27.5" unfolded length (would have been longer with a finial), 12.125" handle length, and 11.375" rib length.
Recovering her may have been the easiest parasol I've ever recovered. I actually put the parasol over scrap fabric and marked between two ribs then added seam allowance. The muslin fit great so I went ahead and cut into the silk. The cotton muslin as a little more forgiving than the silk so the cover is slightly loose but there are no wrinkles so it looks fine. Lining went together just as easy. As I couldn't find any matching antique silk fringe, I fringed two layers of the silk I used to recover the parasol for the fringe. It turned out really nice! I used extra fringe for when I put a finial on the parasol. Here are the recovered pictures:
Here's all the set together as I received them:
Here's the set covered (except for the one):
Enjoy!
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