Visiting Cards and Cases in the 1830s

 Being that I hope to start attending 1830s events soon, I decided to work on a few practical wardrobe pieces for interacting with the public.  A card case for Sarah's (my character) visiting cards as well as my own business cards was first on the list.

The Workwoman's Guide has directions for a card case... and I did try that at first.  It didn't turn out too well.  So I decided to go back to the drawing board.  I search Godey's Lady's Book (Then called simply "The Lady's Book") and Peterson's Magazine hoping to find directions for making a card case.  No such luck, although from 1830-1835 I did find many references in stories to cards and card cases used by both men and women.  So they were definitely being used.

Although finding directions for making card cases was difficult, I did manage to find pictures of originals.  I am especially fond of the following ivory/bone carved ones.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1830-1840

Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1830-1840

Unfortunately, no similar looking cases were for sale in my budget.

I decided to take a break from card cases and focus on the actual cards.  I think mine turned out quite well, especially when compared to the original.  I used Mrs. William H. Wharton for Sarah's cards as that would have been most common at the time.

Here's an original card.  The date is unknown (1822-1863) as cards don't change a whole lot during this time frame.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Supposedly, the visiting card custom started in England before it moved to the States.  I'm not sure of the time frame on that but cards were definitely being used in America by the 1830s.  In 1832, Miss Emeline Parker from Massachusetts had her portrait done with visiting card in hand.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

I can't find record of card cases being sold or card engraving services being offered in Texas pre-1836 but advertisements aren't as thorough in the early years as they become mid-1840s and beyond so that does not mean they weren't offered.  Sarah, being schooled in Nashville and New York City would have certainly been familiar with the custom and probably had her own cards and case.  As all Texans were transplants from other states (Texas only started being colonized by white people in 1821), it is likely that they brought this custom over with them.

As far as beaded card cases go, I had a hard time finding originals.  But finding original card cases that aren't bone or metal is difficult as they are often labeled as something else (cigar case, pocket book, purse, coin purse, etc.).  I found a few originals that had a similar look as what I was going for.

Unknown source, 1830-1850

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1800-1830

FIDM Museum, 1785 (with sequins, not beads)

For my case, I decided to do the beadwork on perforated paper, although the originals appear to have done the embroidery directly on the silk fabric.  This was mostly so I could have holes to get my stitches even.  I found when the case was done, it looks remarkably similar to the MET beaded example above and one can hardly tell the paper is there.

For my design, I picked a vine looking border done in green and blue with a center featuring a yellow rose and several little pink flowers. For the back, I decided to go with Sarah's initials done in pink.  Since the initials were in pink, I opted to use a scrap of yellow silk for the interior of the case to make the pink stand out more.  I used a bit of teal ribbon to bind the top edge of the pockets as well.

My finished embroidery pieces ended up about 4" by 2.5" with the finished case ending up being about 3" tall by the time you add in the bit of yellow silk on top.

Enjoy!

Recreating an 1850s Silk Dress

 So remember a few months ago when I did a post about a new original I added to the collection?  And I said I would recreate it?  Well, I finally had the time to sit down and do it.

Since I already recreated a black silk dress, I decided to do a different color than the original for this gown.  Since the original gown was more of a tissue taffeta than a normal taffeta, that limited my color choices somewhat.  Two of my three other 1850s gowns were blue so that ruled that out-I decided that a little variety was in order.  Purple, I felt, was too close to blue and since the cotton candy silk already had some pink, I ruled that color out as well.  There were some really pretty shot taffetas and a few greens I considered, but I ended up going with red.

The dress was easy to make up-gauged skirt (to which I added a watch pocket), skirt pocket, and facing done in polished cotton.  I did attempt hem braid for the first time-I think I may go with a slightly wider wool braid next time.

The bodice features absolutely no boning, but instead is gathered both in the front and the back-even the lining is gathered.  The bodice closes with hooks and eyes, spaced a rather whopping 1.5" apart.  The bodice also featured a self-fabric waistband that is piped along the bottom (along with the neckline and armscye).  The only real changes I had to make to my normal bodice pattern was to cut it 1.5" shorter to accommodate the waistband and to add width to the back bodice to allow for the gathering.

The sleeves are bishop-not ever my first (or second) choice in sleeves, but I think they turned out nice.  They have a self-fabric cuff that is trimmed with a ruching of self fabric.  The cuffs close with hooks and eyes and I also added some small white linen cuffs.

For the collar, I chose an 1854 Godey's Lady's Book pattern for a crochet collar.  I used size 30 crochet cotton, which in hindsight was still probably a bit thick for what I needed it to do.  I used a crochet hook that is itty bitty but labeled size 7.

I made up the collar mostly similar to the original pattern, making some changes to the leaves to make it lay better.  Here is my version of the pattern, with modern crochet language.
     Chain 180 stitches.
     Row 1: Work a sc in every chain across (180 stitches).
     Row 2: *3 dc, ch 3, miss 3.  Repeat from * across.  You should end on a 3 dc.
     Row 3: *3sc, ch 3, miss 3.  Repeat from * across.  You should end on a 3 sc.
     Row 4: *Sl st on the 1st sc, ch 6, skip 5 stitches.  Repeat from * across.  I think I added a little chain of 3 at the end to make it since it didn't match up perfectly.
     Row 5: *Ch 7, sl st on the center of the loop.  Repeat from * across.
     Row 6: Sl st until you get to the center of the 1st loop, *ch 6, sl st on the center of the next loop.  Repeat from * across.
     Row 7: Sc on every chain, miss every sl st.
     Row 8: Sl st the 1st 6 stitches.  *Ch 9, sl st in same stitch, ch 12, sl st in same stitch, ch 9, sl st in same stitch.  Turn work, work a sc in every ch across, missing the sl st.  Turn work.  Sl st in 1st 3 sc, then attach your leaf to the ground by taking the 4th sc to your right that is on the ground.  Work both stitches as 1 (sc).  Sc on the remaining sc, sl st once you reach the end of the leaf.  Sl st on the next stitch, ch 2, work a sc in the next 10 stitches.  Work a sl st in the 11th stitch.  Repeat from * across. You should end with 6 sc stitches.  On the last stitch, work the 1st point of the last leaf in with the last stitch to attach them.
     Row 9: *Ch 7, sl st in the center of the 2nd point of the leaf, ch 12, sl st in the center of the 1st point of the next leaf.  Repeat from * across.
     Row 10: Sc in every stitch across.
     Row 11: 2 sc, *3ch, sc in the next 3 stitches.  Repeat from * until you get to the big (middle) point of the 1st leaf.  Sl st in the middle stitch, ch 6, sl st back in the same stitch.  Repeat with the 3 ch, sc in the next 3 stitches until you get to the next leaf's middle point.  Repeat across.
     Row 12: Sc in all of the previous sc on the last row but work the chains as such: 1 sl st, 4 sc, 1 sl st.

     Row 13: Sc in 1st stitch, *ch 3, skip 2, sc 1.  Repeat from * across.  When you reach the end, start working up the side of the collar the same way.  I slip stitched across the neckline to do the same on the other side of the collar.

I also made a linen handkerchief to match the cuffs.

The only thing that was left was to make up the pelerine.  I added a bit at the shoulders to give myself some more wiggle room and added a bit more across the fronts as well to make it meet in the front.  Other than that, I made it up exactly as the original.  The pelerine is trimmed in antique silk fringe I found online.

This is the 4th 1850s gown that I have, and I am so happy to add a little variety in color and style to the wardrobe!

Enjoy!

An 1830s Sewing Box

This was an incredibly fun pet project of mine these last few months.  It took a while but ended up being gorgeous!

So I needed some type of sewing box to be Sarah.  Being from an incredibly wealthy family, I know she would have quite the sewing box of her own.  My goal was to create something similar to what she may have owned (alas, we have no record of where she kept her sewing implements) without breaking the budget.  I was determined to create a period-correct sewing case that looked like it belonged to someone who could afford the absolute best, while still being able to afford such an article on a modern day teacher's budget.  This was the result.

It started with a box.  A sad little box that was in need of a LOT of TLC.  But hey, I bought it for $30 off Etsy so I suppose I couldn't complain.

The exterior was in decent condition.  There were two deep cracks on the top of the box as well as a pretty significant one on the bottom underneath some lovely poly-cotton fabric that was glued to the bottom.  The interior was far worse.

Oh, yes.  Take in all that glorious reflective green paper coverage.  And the lovely, complementary orange paper on the top.  I don't know who made these choices, but I have to question their sanity.

On the bottom of the tray insert was some marbled paper, perhaps from when the box was first made.  I opted to leave it there even though I would be covering it in silk.

Underneath the orange was white paper and underneath the green was silver paper.  The white and silver papers were very difficult to get off.  It took about 12 hours of continuous work to get all the scraps torn away.  But finally, I was left with a blank slate to work with.

The tray was missing a side so I took it to my dad who added a back and also stabilized the cracks in the wood.  Then it was ready to be recovered.

I chose a lovely aqua blue silk taffeta for the new interior.  I tested a lot of different glues but found that Elmer's school glue worked the best and was least likely to leave stains on the front.  I still have a few stains-I have decided that I will blame them on Sarah's then 8 year old son, John Austin.  I shall also be blaming the cracks on the box on him as well.  After all, what good is a fake son if I can't blame all my project flaws on him?

The tray ended up being a bit tight once I put the silk in, but it still works so I opted to leave it.  It was then time to look into how I wanted to organize the tray.

Hygra.com has so many wonderful antique sewing boxes (and other boxes, too-I used them when looking for a portable writing desk) from the early 18th century up until the 1870s.  For this project, I pulled only the boxes with good photos of the interiors and only sewing boxes dated from 1820-1835.

1835

1835

1820

1820

1835

1825

1825

1835

1835

1830

1830

1835

1835

1830

1830

1820

1835

1835

1820

1830

1830

So many options!

I decided to have ten spools of thread, five on each side.  One side for cotton thread and the other for silk.  Most period sewing references include 2 thimbles, so that was a must.  I also wanted a needlebook, a tape measure, an emery board, a pincushion, a thread waxer, and a place for hooks/eyes and buttons.

The resulting shape from my compartments looks similar to the first original with the purple velvet lining.

Now came the fun part.  Filling it!

For basic sewing tools, I opted for mother of pearl pieces as they matched the mother of pearl detailing on the actual box.  I bought plain silver scissors, as frequently seen in the original boxes but bought mother of pearl button hook and awl.  I couldn't find a mother of pearl bodkin so I went with bone for that piece.

Thimbles were easy.  I used a silver one and a mother of pearl one.

I found an antique tape measure made of mother of pearl.  I would have preferred it to have a blue ribbon, but beggars can't be choosers.

The pincushion is basically a circle filled with emery sand and sawdust.  I put a little pendant on the bottom to create a sort of stand.

The thread waxer and emery board/needle sharpener were made to mimic several originals I have seen.

Hygra, original spools, thread waxer, and needle cleaner

The spools were made to mimic originals.  I used mother of pearl pendants in a sunflower pattern for the tops and bottoms (larger versions of the pendants used in the thread waxer, emery board, and pincushion) and glued a long, thin glass bead on half (to mimic mother of pearl) and a thicker bone bead on the other half of the pendants.  These two halves fit together and you can put a wooden spool in between them.

I made some buttons out of the spoons for the handles on the button and hook/eye compartment lids.

I added a large pair of dressmaker's sheers to the inside of the box as well.

Underneath the scissors compartment, I put my needle case.  I made a beaded one with glass beads and perforated paper.  I lined it in the same silk as the rest of the sewing box and used the same color silk ribbon to tie it off.  The interior is wool felt.  I love how it turned out!

Hygra, original 1830s beaded needle case

Overall, I am extremely happy with the finished product!

Enjoy!