The Industrious Lady

Hygiene In the 1860's: Part 1 Teeth Amy Lola private collection,  mid to late 1850's .    This is going to be a series of posts about hygiene in the 1860's. There are so many inconsistencies and rumors as to how people of the period actually cared for their selves. Granted, all we have are the suggestions of period sources, what an individual decided to do was their own prerogative.  We will be looking at certain period books and magazines and seeing what was suggested in them to encourage good hygiene practices. bone teeth toothbrushes, Philadelphia Museum.  1. 1860's people encouraged brushing teeth every day or even after every meal. They thought plaque and food between teeth were just as disgusting as we do today! As well as protecting their "pear Godey's 1864 included in their Reciepts for the month of  "Horace Walpole says, use a bit of aluni twice or thrice in a week, no bigger than half your nail, till

Halloween Sew Along: Part 3 OH dear, where to start, where to start. Well. This is one of those projects where I get to be pushed to be a better seamstress, especially in the hand sewing department. This dress easily has 10+ hours of just hand sewing. My mom would be so proud!  From In the Swan's Shadow, attributed to 1860.  From the New York Public Library, Attributed to 1860 as well and a good example of how short fancy dress costumes could get. I think the plates of fancy dress ballgowns also show how the myth of seeing an ankle was so scandalous that one would have to marry the lady if he caught even a glimpse of it. The white dress might even reveal the knee if the lady turns just right. This plate also gave me the idea of where I wanted the dress to hit. I needed to shoot for somewhere between below the knee, but above mid calf. And for such a length, one of my poor loaner hoops was going to have to be sacrificed and mutilated, but its all in the name of fas

1860's Peterson's Tri-color Scarf: Part 3 The pompon Take a debit or similarly sized card  Holding the one end start wrapping the yarn around the card I counted a good 24 complete wraps, which once cut will make 48 strands coming out of the tassel. Try to keep the wraps in the middle as it will make it harder for them to come off and will also make for a neater tassel I like to take an item through the loops so when I pull it off the card and I hook my fingers through it none of the loops are lost.  I take a string and run it through all three of the braided strands in the middle.  Taking this strand and and I also used the leftover strands from the scarf endings, I pulled it through the loops and made a knot  If done correctly it will look something like this Take the loose strand from that should be left hanging from where you started your loops. Take it over the rest of your loops about an inch from the top.

1860 Peterson's Tri-color Scarf: Part 2 So after knitting until callouses formed on my fingers, the points on my needles had become nubs, and I swore that I would never knit another item again, the body of the scarf was finished. I took the 3 four foot long pieces and pinned them to the edge of the ironing board. I then braided them together, and made sure that it was even on each of the turns and braids. The colors really looked good together,  it kinda reminded me a bit of patriotic colors but the red is a bit duller, and it had grey instead of white. It turned out kinda short by the time it was braided. Getting all of the strips the same length was a bit of a trick as the different fiber contents had a bit of varying stretch to them. If I did it again I would probably make it even longer and try to make it so it wraps around a few times. Now on to the pompns

 1860 Peterson's Tricolor scarf: Part 1 One of my favorite activities is reading, especially period magazines. this little gem popped up in the 1860 Peterson's magazine January issue. I've been needing a way to keep the front of my neck warm while wearing my knitted opera hood, and this scarf is the perfect solution especially with its simple design, yet elegant presentation.  Cost: $15 Time: 3 hours for this project, exact price is unsure as most of the yarn was already in my stash. The red is a skein of wool from a friend"s sheep, while the gray and the blue came from a thrift store haul. The first color I went with was the grey and umm, there was quite a few times that it was redone and unraveled until I found the stitch size and combo I liked. It ended up leaving the yarn looking like a pile of fluffy spaghetti. The final stitch, needle combo that I ended up settling on, was 7 garter stitches like the pattern calls for, on size 10  needl

Halloween Sew-Along Part 2 For this project, I chose the night and day dress. I had seen it years ago while researching what fancy dress ball gowns looked like. Unfortunately, the origin of this lovely dress is a mystery. It is all over pinterest, yet  following link after link only leads to a twitter account that is no longer active or a picture on tumblr.  http://www.rmgandco.com/cms/?option=com_k2&view=item&id= 204:nightday-dress-by-cf-worth-1858&Itemid=244  was another link attributed to this dress, but the link must be broken or non-functioning. The url says it was a night/day dress by CF Worth in 1858. If the date is correct, this dress would have been during the first year of House of Worth being started. Wherever this dress came from, it absolutely stunning, and would turn any lady into the belle of the ball. To recreate this dress, I had to break down the many different part of it. From the top layer to  the bottom.   The dress is divided into two sides,

The Halloween Sew-Along For the month of October The Industrious Lady is teaming up with Jennie from the Ugly Dame to host an October sew along. Not only do you as readers get to see what we  are up to, you get to participate!  For complete rules and information, check out the link to the Ugly Dame blog https://theuglydame.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-halloween-sew-along-with.html Anything post 1900 will go on the Ugly Dame while pre-1900 will go here. Get creative! This is the chance to celebrate fall and  all things October or Halloween! Is there something so far out there you've been reluctant to try it? or maybe had a  project that you've thought about doing but always held back? Now is your chance! No projects is too wacky, nothing too far fetched, too small, or too large. Show us what you got!