The Industrious Lady

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 fro...

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 dre...

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!

**** yes my sister wrote this, I have added in citations. There are three different writers that contribute to this blog. Myself, Holly. and a friend who wishes to remain anonymous. Any plagiarism was unintentional, new in-text citations and picture citations have been added per mla format. She's only 19 and thought the links at the bottom were sufficient citations, which has been corrected. Thank you.**** Bobbinet Fabric, A Fabric Gone with the Wind King, Kenneth D. “Dior Extended the Boning over the Bust. To People Who Say Never to Do This, My Response Is, If Dior Did It, It’s Good Enough for Me.”  Threads , The Taunton Press, 9 Oct. 2017, www.threadsmagazine.com/2017/10/09/an-inside-look-at-vintage-dior-strapless-gowns-from-the-1950s. What Is It? Bobbinet is a fabric made of small hexagonal honeycomb shapes, and was used as the base for many different types of laces . (Brennan, 2018) All lace prior to the early 1800's was created by hand using multiple bobb...

Victorians were not always the prudes that we take them for, they loved a good laugh. Magazines from the era and newspapers are filled with funny jokes and comics poking fun at all aspects of life. Nothing was safe, including a certain aspect of women's undergarments called the hoop. Even the original cast thought they were quite ridiculous! Enjoy the following images of  self depreciating and satirical humor from the era.  The troubles of being a gentlemen! This image is so passed around that I had issues finding out any information about it. Wikipedia simply refers to it as satire. It was part of a series of stereo graphs. Secondary sources claim is it was sold in a set with theater images, but I have not found any evidence of that The above is a reference to the perfect shape of a hoop That's actually genius!  Warning to the future, what we wear today will be weird to the next generation