Oh yes, the marvel of ingenuity of finding ways to make life easier. This was so true
in America, with the ability of travel by rail across the continent came about
with the completion of the railroad tracks, laid east to west. As more and
more folks started to travel, carpet bags, made of left over carpet, became a
popular "suitcase" of the day. The roomy bags could hold necessaries t…
A beautiful 1800's hand stitched applique quilt in a dazzling Carolina Lily pattern. The lilies are of a solid turkey red cloth with stems in a green dot fabric. The same two fabrics form the sawtooth border and the green dot binds the quilt. There are 42 lilies in the quilt with half of them facing one direction and the other half the other direction. The height of each lily is 9-1/2" x…
Embellishments! The extra touches and accents applied to a dress, be it
appliques, insets of lace, lace trims, both of hand work or machine trim, or
ribbon. All were applied to a Victorian or Edwardian dress, with many used in
conjunction with each other. Dresses from both of these time periods were
elaborately made and embellished. All trims photographed are from the late Victorian…
"Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words." How many times have we heard those words and, yet, pictures do tell a story. In this case, a magnificent Victorian dress from the late 1880's. Made of blue silk velvet fabric, the two piece bustle back dress is lavishly embellished with hand sewn cut steel beads.Breathtaking, isn't it. The front of the bodice jacket show…
Antique silk. How easy is it to wash and should you? Silk is classified as a
natural fiber, so by all standards it can be washed, however, a word of caution,
here, as there are silks that will not hold up when put to water, especially any
of the weighed silks from the mid to late Victorian era. In my experience it is
a hard determination on which items can be washed successfully, and which…
Recently a friend posed a question about wire framed bonnets from the Civil War. She couldn't imagine wearing such a thing as she considered it uncomfortable. This question did make me ponder. Yes, indeed, women from the Victorian era did wear bonnets/hats made from a wire frame, embellished with lace, ribbon as well as a variety of other trims and materials. The one she w…
