Lucy Locket Lost Her Pocket

Or making a pair of embroidered pockets for a young girl.

I constructed this pair of pockets for my daughter L, who has grown enough in the past 3 years to need a larger pocket than the first I made. She also needs more room to carry her ever growing collection of 18th century trinkets.

The pockets are sized right between her original "small" pocket and the size I use for my own, measuring approximately 8" by 13". The front opening is 6 inches long, scientifically measured by having her lay her hand out on the pocket before cutting. The pockets themselves are made from 5oz linen, found in my scrap basket and dutch linen tape from Wm. Booth, Draper. The body binding was dyed using just a pinch of "baby blue" fiber reactive dye. Not a period choice, but what I had on hand and needed to use up anyway. Since my intention is for these pockets to last until L is a young woman I constructed them on 2 separate lengths of tape. This way they can tie both in the front & back, allowing the waistband to grow as she does.

The embroidery is worked on 5oz linen from my endless collection of scraps using the beautiful woad dyed wool from Renaissance Dyeing (available through Reconstructing History). I used these as a practice pieces, since embroidery is still a rather new hobby of mine. The design consists of stem stitch, back stitch, french knots, seed stitch & wrapped running stitch. I varied the colors used but kept the stitches the same in each piece. The finished work is them layered with the working portion of the pocket and bound around the edges. This protects the back of the embroidery & makes the pockets a little more durable. For my readers who have seen just how filthy L gets at events, it's pretty clear why they need the extra layers!

The embroidery design is not a historical recreation, just "historically inspired". I saw a similar design sometime last year while searching for 18th century motifs. Sadly, I can not remember where I initially found it. It was most likely one of the endless pile of library books. My one complaint is that her initials are so hard to embroider! After several tries I finally had to settle for an only slightly lopsided "W".

Up next, my (entirely) hand sewn shift!

On fortune's cap we are not the very button.

In lieu of a complete tutorial on the construction of deathshead buttons I give you, my faithful readers, this photo collage of the process and a few interesting observations regarding the buttons themselves.

In researching for this article, I had a difficult time finding many references to "deathshead" buttons. It was only by a happy accident that I learned why. The proper 18th Century term seems to have been death head, two separate words with no "S" in-between. These buttons could also be called by any number of other names; thread buttons and mohair turning up the most frequently. In fact, thread & mohair turn up in reference to this style of button noticeably more often than death head does.

The Virginia Runaways Archive lists only two matches for the term death head button. One of the advertisements is for a Scotch servant man who had on when he went away "a cloth coloured frieze coat with white metal death head buttons". Clearly these metal buttons are not the same as the thread covered buttons we commonly associate with the term. I would speculate that the design on the button itself matched the cross design on thread “death head” buttons even though the material itself was different.

When we then turn to The Proceedings of the Old Bailey for reference to death head buttons, we find only one listing; the case of Mr.s Robert Roberts and Willaim Blann. These two gentlemen were put to death for a robbery in Feb of 1785 which included "1 pair of stuff breeches" with "horn buttons put to the waistband, and the flap, and the pockets, and death-head buttons... put to the knees." It seems in this case the death head wasn't only on the buttons, but on the thieves themselves.

If we then use the same archives, yet change the search terms, we find a wealth of additional listings. The Virginia Runaway Archive lists 5 runaways with "mohair buttons" on their clothing between 1752 & 1773. Two of these listings, from 1768 & 1773 respectively, specify the buttons as "Mohair Basket Buttons", perhaps a variation on the wrapping technique commonly employed in the button construction. The Proceedings of the Old Bailey adds 3 instances of mohair button theft and one unlucky highway man by the name of Silas Dowling, who wore a drab colored fustian frock with matching mohair buttons.

To widen the search even further we can look to the Old Bailey for references to thread buttons. Most of the 8 listings specify metallic thread, either gold or silver, leading me to believe these are also thread wrapped over a button mold in the same style as death head or mohair buttons. It is also interesting to note that all the button thefts, both for mohair & thread buttons, are for large quantities, usually several gross at a time. Although few can rival the grand larceny charge against Patrick Cockhall, who went before the Judge in January of 1782 on charges of stealing 3420 dozen of thread buttons valued at 22 l. 16 s. Mr. Cockhall was fortunate though. As an "old offender" he was only sentenced to hard labor, 2 years in raising sand and gravel upon the river.

According to A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain, by Daniel Defoe, Macclesfield & Congleton were well known in the mid 18th century as having "thriving manufacture(s) of mohair buttons". However, The American Museum, or, Universal Magazine of 1789 by Mr. Mathew Carey, suggests that in absence of foreign manufacture, which by this time includes Britain, we should turn to items made at home. It is "therefore to be hoped that the expenfive article of foreign buttons will be omitted in making up our winter clothes". It is further suggested that "Inflead of the silk twift button, called death head, a button covered with cloth, or a firm taffety, of the colour, would be neat, modeft and genteel".

Of course, one could also become too modest & genteel and risk being called a "mohair" by the local thugs. A mohair, according to Captain Grose's 1796 edition of A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, is "A man in the civil line, a townsman, or tradesman: a military term, from the mohair buttons worn by persons of those descriptions, or any others not in the army, the buttons of military men being always of metal: this is generally used as a term of contempt, meaning a bourgeois, tradesman, or mechanic."

Perhaps that silk ditto suit covered from head to toe with matching 8 sectioned silk polychrome death head buttons is a little too much after all.

~~~

Works Cited:

Fuss, Norman H. 2005. "Death Head" Buttons, Their Use and Construction. Williamsburg, Virginia. Burnley & Trowbridge Company.

Wooded Hamlet Designs "Instructions for Making the Deathshead Thread Button". http://www.woodedhamlet.com/howto_advice/deathshead_instruc.htm (accessed March 21, 2009)

Virginia Runaways “Runaway Slave Advertisements from 18th-century Virginia newspapers”. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/subjects/runaways/search.html (accessed March 21, 2009).

Proceedings of the Old Bailey "London's Central Court from 1674-1913". http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/ (accessed March 21, 2009)

Defoe, Daniel. 1748. A tour through the whole island of Great Britain: Divided into circuits or journeys. S. Birt and T. Osborne.

Carey, Mathew. 1789. The American museum, or, Repository of ancient and modern fugitive pieces [afterw.] The American museum, or, Universal magazine.

Grose, Francis. 1796. A classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue. Hooper and Wigstead.

Tempus Fugit Award

The Doctor has lately granted Slightly Obsessed the first Tempus Fugit Award. My thanks go out to him for both his support & for his continued blogging on various 18th century subjects.

"The TEMPUS FUGIT Award is given to writers & living historians whose journals represent the best aspects of the 18th Century. These writers aim to inform and entertain the public with tales from events, historic research & experiments and highlights from 18th Century arts and culture. It is the hope of TEMPUS FUGIT that this award will forge a web of friendship and knowledge that will aid in creating a tight community of reenactors and living historians on the internet and beyond. Winners of the TEMPUS FUGIT Award should pass this award along to six other 18th Century blogs that meet the above criteria, and include this text with the Award, as well as a link back to the TEMPUS FUGIT blog."

Now I am taxed with the job of nominating 6 fellow 18th century bloggers with this wonderful award. The trouble comes in that we are a rather small circle, who all already follow each others writings. While I would gladly re-nominate all of the others the Doctor has already bestowed with the award, I will attempt not to do so & instead to include a few new, less known faces. I'm afraid however, that my attempt will fall short of the requested six.

18th Century Cuisine I have nominated Carolyne before, and as long as she continues to share such deliciously tempting food photographs and their corresponding recipes, I will continue to do so.

Dr. Johnson's Dictionary I recently stumbled across these daily word postings, in celebration of the good Doctor's 300th birthday, and now anxiously await the daily addition to my 18th century lexicon.

Tinkering With the Past Max is not only a personal friend, but a wonderful tinsmith. I especially enjoy the comparison photos of original works and his modern reproductions.

Miss B Forts Up Miss B is a relatively new blogger, and a new reenactor. I was once in both her shoes & it's refreshing to follow someone else as they enter this world of history we live in.

I'm afraid that's as far as I can go right now without repeating other nominees. My thanks to all the other 18th century bloggers out there who have created such a wonderful little circle of like-minds.

Busy as a Bee

Posts here on Slightly Obsessed have been slow recently and I will confess it's not because of a lack of projects but a lack of project completion.

Generally, I complete one project before starting on another. I simply have trouble focusing with too many irons in the fire and will forget things when I attempt to do to much at once. However, I find myself currently somewhat deeper than my knees in projects. Since more than one of my faithful readers has commented on the lack of posting, I will share little glimpses of the work currently in progress. Each will receive a full treatment, should I actually finish any one of them. So, dear readers keep your eyes open for the following posts in the coming weeks.

- The 3rd and final chapter in my ongoing tutorial on stay construction; Stay the Course.

- Revamping my sewing kit to include a cross stitched needle book & pin cushion.

- A tutorial on adding pockets to a man's coat.

- The finished workman's jacket for J, which I've been picking away at since August.

- A child sized quilted petticoat, complete with growth allowances for L.

- An embroidered child's sized pair of pockets also for L.

- A new, larger sign for Black's Coffeehouse.

- New tools for the coffeehouse, including a coffee roaster, ledger book & new coffee pot.

- A video tutorial on the construction of deaths-head buttons.

- A finished pair of strapless stays for K.

- A tutorial on cloak construction & the resulting cloaks for both myself & L.

- Event reviews, as they start merely 6 weeks from now!

A Malignant Sore Throat is a Danger; a Malignant Throat not Sore, is Worse.

Late winter is sore throat season here in the upper Midwest. For the obsessed reenactor, a sore throat isn't a drawback, but another excuse to try 18th century receipts. To begin treating our sore throats in the more period correct manner we have many choices. They don't all include toxic chemicals either, a particular bonus if we don't want to die in a period correct manner as well!

E. Smith in the 1739 issue of The Compleat Housewife or, Accomplished Gentlewoman's Companion suggests both a stay and a plaster for sore throats. Both of these are very similar to the home remedy that my own mother used: a warm wash cloth safety pinned around a painful throat.

Stay to prevent a fore Throat in the Small Pox. Take rue, fhred it very fine, and give it a bruife, mix with it honey and album-greacum, and work it together; put it over the fire to heat, few it up in a linen stay, and apply it to the throat pretty warm; as it dries, repeat it.

(P. 90)

For a fore Throat. Take a plaifter of Paracelfus four inches broad, and fo long as to come from ear to ear, and apply it warm to the throat; then bruife houfleek, and prefs out the juice; add an equal quantity of honey, and a little burnt alum; mix all together, and let the party often take fome on a liquorice ftick.

(p. 3)

In his 1764 The General Practice of Physic Extracted Chiefly from the Writings of the Most Celebrated Practical Physicians, Richard Brookes suggests the use of black currant for so called "inflammatory distempers of the throat". Even a simple sore throat sounds better when said in 18th century English. Black currant lozenges & teas are commonly used today as natural remedies for throat complaints, proof that our home remedies haven't changed much even in 200 years.

In the Philosophical Tranfations, the Jelly of Black Currants, fwallowed down leifurely in fmall Quantities, is afferted to be a Specific for a quinfcy; and in the Winter, a Decoction of the Leaves or Bark in Milk, when the Jelly cannot be had, ufed as a Gargle, is faid to cure all inflammatory Diftempers of the Throat

(p. 174)

Popular cookbook authoress Hannah Glasse agrees with Mr. Brookes, offering a receipt for black current jelly in The Complete Confectioner, Or, Housekeeper's Guide to a Simple and Speedy Method of Understanding the Whole Art of Confectionary. She goes so far as to specifically mention the jelly is only used for the treatment of sore throats.

To make Black Currant Jelly. Make it the same way as the red currant jelly, only with this difference, make it with the coarsest lump sugar. Note.-- This jelly is never used in a dessert, but is a very good thing for a sore throat.

(p. 90)

The Complete Confectioner offers several options for making currant jelly, both white & unspecified in color. The easiest involves creating a simple juice from the berries & preceding with a standard jelly process. Either hartshorn or isinglass, available from Deborah Peterson's Pantry, could be used when duplicating this soothing jelly or modern unflavored gelatin may be substituted.

To make Currant Jelly. Wash your currants well, put them into a pan and mash them, then put in a little water, boil them to a mummy, strew it on a sieve, and press out all the juice of which make your jelly.

(p. 89)

If the preceding wasn't enough, Francis Penrose offers an entire book on the subject. A Dissertation on the Inflammatory, Gangrenous, and Putrid Sore Throat: Also on the Putrid Fever, Together with Their Diagnosticks and Method of Cure, published in 1766, promises to answer just about every possible question regarding the throat, at least from an 18th century physicians perspective.

Here's to our health!

~~~
Works Cited:

Longhi, Pietro. The Apothecary. 1752. Oil on canvas. Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice.

Smith, E. 1739. The Compleat Housewife: or, Accomplished gentlewoman's companion. J. and J. Pemberton.

Brookes, Richard. 1765. The General Practice of Physic: Extracted Chiefly from the Writings of the Most Celebrated Practical Physicians. J. Newbery.

Glasse, Hannah and Maria Wilson. 1800. The Complete Confectioner, Or, Housekeeper's Guide to a Simple and Speedy Method of Understanding the Whole Art of Confectionary. J. W. Meyers, for West and Hughes.

Penrose, Francis. 1766 A Dissertation on the Inflammatory, Gangrenous, and Putrid Sore Throat: Also on the Putrid Fever, Together with Their Diagnosticks and Method of Cure. London. D. Prince; and W. Owen.