Homespun Dresses

[Stiles/Akin]

The Confederate union. (Milledgeville, Ga.) 1862-1865, January 13, 1863, Image 3

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Southern women had no choice, poor things. It's here on the forum somewhere, article about underwear composed of table linens. Fabric just could not be found. I'd made the idiotic mistake of trusting a series of newspapers articles on homespun, refuting the whole thing? It was claimed no, it was patriotic rumor that women were getting out their grandmother's wheels.

Then bumped into genuine sources ( would have to go dig for them ), diaries, journals, etc, one by one refuting that. There was just no way to get your hands on cloth- so it had to be made. Now, calling for women to wear it before they had to, just no, please? Itching one's way in homespun through a Southern summer, during a war must have been like wearing an ant colony after moving to H*ll.

 

[LoriAnn]

I've been hunting around, wondering if the majority were wool or cotton? Or was it an even split?
And were full linen dresses ever made? (Cause I'd be in the cotton/linen department, if possible! I'd be all wrinkly, but I'd be wrinkly and happy.)

If I find anything, I'll be back.

 

[LoriAnn]

Found this while doing a little casual searching (because who can pass up the words "A Spicy Letter"). I rather like Jennie.

A Spicy Letter.

Messrs. Editors: I noticed in your paper of the 1st inst., (we take the "Confederacy") an article about hoops, and some of your suggestions thereon. . . .
You certainly don't know how costly homespun is these war times; and then you don't know how heavy seventy-five or a hundred yards of goods are, to carry around one's waist; and the old fashion of stuffing about with cotton is ridiculous.
I can't write all I feel upon this subject; but if it does snow this winter, (and I hope it will) and you ever ride that little black Indian pony near the College, he will have to make better time than usual, or one Southern editor will get snow-balled, certain, hoops or no hoops.
Now, if you have any sense of justice, you will publish this piece, and not burn it, like another smartie. You can do just as you please; it won't hurt.

Jennie Freedom.

Source

 

[LoriAnn]

Also from the same source ~ Cow hair instead of wool?

Austin State Gazette, April 26, 1862, p. 4, c. 1
Cow Hair vs. Wool.—The manufacture of cow hair mixed with cotton has recently been introduced with perfect success. It is said to be quite as warm and durable for coarse fabrics as wool and cotton. It is being manufactured in considerable quantities in Tennessee. One whole company has been uniformed with it.—Ex.

 

[MaryDee]

I reenact a Yankee lady, so I haven't looked into homespun. However, I have read that once supplies of machine-made thread ran out, Confederate ladies had to stop using their sewing machines, because homespun thread tended to be irregular and jammed up the machine (I have enough troubles with modern thread and machine!). Therefore, Confederate dresses in the later part of the war necessarily were hand-sewn.

Of course there was a lot of recycling of fabrics from existing garments. This was done everywhere as an economy measure, and to keep up with the latest styles.

 

[LoriAnn]

Don't mind me ~ having some fun with this. From The Milton, N. C., Chronicle, regarding a lady who was wondering exactly how much to charge for her hard work (some things never change...purple commentary mine):

This industrious lady seems desirous of selling her cloth at a price that will barely pay for the material and labor of weaving (I hear you, sister); she does not desire a big profit (I do! ), for she loathes the name of an extortioner, and wishes to avoid it. Would to heaven that all Southern ladies were like her!—There would be no laziness, no extravagance, no hifalutin tomfoolery, no Miss McFlimseys who think that God created them merely to thumb broken down pianos, screech like right owls, cut fantastic capers (I had to look this up. Apparently it means "frolic") in fancy dances, and "show off" merchants' dry goods and prop themselves up in parlors as pretty toys for men to look at and admire. The best music a female can make these war times is the music of the spinning wheel.

Thanks to CWT, I've been using the term "strumpet" quite a bit. I think "Miss McFlimsey" is about to make a comeback in my house as well. "Hifalutin tomfoolery", I'm happy to say, is already a long-time favorite phrase.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Don't mind me ~ having some fun with this. From The Milton, N. C., Chronicle, regarding a lady who was wondering exactly how much to charge for her hard work (some things never change...purple commentary mine):

This industrious lady seems desirous of selling her cloth at a price that will barely pay for the material and labor of weaving (I hear you, sister); she does not desire a big profit (I do! ), for she loathes the name of an extortioner, and wishes to avoid it. Would to heaven that all Southern ladies were like her!—There would be no laziness, no extravagance, no hifalutin tomfoolery, no Miss McFlimseys who think that God created them merely to thumb broken down pianos, screech like right owls, cut fantastic capers (I had to look this up. Apparently it means "frolic") in fancy dances, and "show off" merchants' dry goods and prop themselves up in parlors as pretty toys for men to look at and admire. The best music a female can make these war times is the music of the spinning wheel.

Thanks to CWT, I've been using the term "strumpet" quite a bit. I think "Miss McFlimsey" is about to make a comeback in my house as well. "Hifalutin tomfoolery", I'm happy to say, is already a long-time favorite phrase.

Ha! Nice finds, Lori Ann! I don't know why more era letters, etc. are not dug up- some of these are fall down funny! You didn't mess with ladies and their dresses. Had an article somewhere on women refusing to wear hoops as a sign of rebellion- which was a beautiful way of one-upping the hand writing on the wall. Not enough fabric to keep up with fashion.

NO idea if linen was used for dresses? @MaryDee would know- thankfully have a few experts on era wardrobes. Being so given to wrinkles, boy, tough to care for? Had gotten my hands on a series of letters describing someone putting together a wedding trousseau- considered so mandatory you almost could not get married without one- where those linen unmentionables were fashioned from table linen. Wrinkled but very comfortable.

Yes, it's like being bilingual, isn't it? Several threads somewhere on terms although we could use another. Thanks to a severe Jane Austin addiction in high school, I was introduced to yet more era authors whose writings were of course heavily seasoned with terms you just picked up through context. Fun stuff.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

I reenact a Yankee lady, so I haven't looked into homespun. However, I have read that once supplies of machine-made thread ran out, Confederate ladies had to stop using their sewing machines, because homespun thread tended to be irregular and jammed up the machine (I have enough troubles with modern thread and machine!). Therefore, Confederate dresses in the later part of the war necessarily were hand-sewn.

Of course there was a lot of recycling of fabrics from existing garments. This was done everywhere as an economy measure, and to keep up with the latest styles.

Had not occurred to me, that machines would not be able to deal with chunky, uneven fabric, thank you! And OH goodness, can you imagine? Tough enough getting needles through a few layers, like in quilting, cannot imagine sewing an entire dress by hand when it's something tough, like homespun. They were so good at it! Have a few hand sewn items from the era. Only on pocket trim or looking closely at basting can you see perhaps an uneven stitch here and there.

 

[GS]

I would have said to him, "Jefferson, why don't you practice what you preach... have your wife weave some homespun cloth, sew, and both of you wear your itchy drawers for the good of your trumped up War! "

 

[MaryDee]

Not the fabric, but the uneven homemade sewing thread was what jammed up the machines.

Two years ago I had the privilege of handling (with white gloves, under supervision) a bunch of original garments, at a workshop in Oregon City, OR. I inspected the teeny-tiny, absolutely even stitches in the older hand-sewn garments (1840s and 50s), and sighed in frustration!