Caldwell County MO Archives History .....FANCY WORK IN THE SEVENTIES AND EARLY EIGHTIES ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mo/mofiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Karen Walker khw4@yahoo.com September 4, 2008, 1:03 pm FANCY WORK IN THE SEVENTIES AND EARLY EIGHTIES Narrators: Mrs. Maud McBrayer and Mrs. Helen Booth Both these ladies were interviewed on this subject, both having done much of it in the periods listed. They had similar tastes, both had come from eastern states into the same part of Missouri for their married life. Both said that in the 70s and 80s, the making of cotton quilts, crocheting and knitting were types of fancy work left for the grandmothers, or older mothers: the younger women as they were knew little of it. Of course, there was a rage for knitting wonderful yarn scarfs for men, in bright borders, but older women generally did it. The older ones too, were still in the 70s and early 80s doing crewel work on chair tidies and rugs of different sorts. Both spoke of the various fads which came out. Both said that silk quilts were a leading fad in that time. Every one was saving pieces for one or begging them. Mrs. Booth has a hexagon silk quilt made by her when 14 years old (hexagon is the old name for French bouquet of today) and each small piece was backed on a piece of paper to hold it stiff. Mrs. McBrayer had a silk crazy quilt of the early 80s which was a very great fad. It has fancy stitches galore. Mrs. Booth did not make a crazy quilt but her daughter Lizzie did and it took a prize at the Old Hamilton Fair. Each could spend hours telling where each scrap originated. The silk floss used in this work came on little spools much like twist spools, it was of heavy grade and you bought it at the millinery stores. Both recalled the days of arrasene embroidery, this being thread almost as broad as baby ribbon, used with a special needle. Mrs. Booth still has a dark red silk velvet piano scarf, worked with cream arrasene floss and dark green leaves. Combined with arrasene, the women often used ribbons, using wider ribbons to fashion rose petals and narrow ribbon for daisies and forget- me-nots. Such work appeared on velvet table covers, sofa pillows, wall banners. Fancy work of that era was rich and expensive, everything was made of plush or velvet, and lined with silk of some grade or other. Then Mrs. McBrayer recalled the fad for sea-foam work, covering old bottles or dishes with a mixture of salt and water and alum, a portion being colored light blue or green to make background, while figures were fashioned on the background of white, a sort of cheap Wedgewood effect. Another fad was for paper flowers, which caused the drug stores to order large amounts of French tissue paper. At this period in the 80s, paper flowers were in fine taste, and not at all tacky. A popular use was in wall panels. You took a piece of paste board, size of a medium size picture, covered it with cotton batting, put over that a sheet of black tissue all crumpled up to make it crinkly, and on that you arranged a bouquet of wonderful paper flowers of all types. This was used in your best room. Macreme cord was in good style for crocheting chair tidies and piano stool covers. Contrasting ribbons were run through the slits. This was a very heavy cord and was quick work. Mrs. Booth still has her piano stool cover. On the backs of chairs, you could see tidies of various sorts or even a bag made of silk handkerchiefs which the men of the family had probably turned down as too bright for use. On the corner of the store oil paintings, you would probably see a picture throw, made of silk with a border embroidered or painted on bolting cloth. It was quite the thing for women to embroider velvet cloths for the front of the church pulpits as a gift. Mrs. James Cowgill gave such an embroidered cloth to the Baptist church in Hamilton, and Miss Effie Dodge (daughter of Mrs. Dwight) gave one to the Congregational church. Hair wreaths belonged rather to the 70s, and were somewhat commemorative in nature, being the hair of relatives and friends, often dead. They were framed in a deep box frame and hung in the best room. Wax wreaths belonged in the same time and were likewise framed. Some women wove hair watch chains for their men. Another fad of the late 70s was making bead baskets, a very tedious and costly fad, yet worth it all when you saw your finished bead basket hung from a stout hook in the middle of the parlor ceiling. It had no function except decoration. The work was done in a big square, with fringe at edges, and when finished, bead ropes were fastened midway on the four sides; tassels were fastened at the four corners and the middle, and the basket was ready to be hung. Another hanging type of fancy work was the cardboard balloons popular in the early 80s, sewed together by wool yarn. Both women remembered the prevalence of cardboard mottoes, worked with yarn, framed with glass and hung over door ways. "God Bless Your Home" was a common motto. These were always panel size; but few survive now. Foot stools might be made of tomato cans covered and sewed together around an inner can. Pillow cases were ordinarily hidden under pillow shams, worked in red cotton thread with outlined pictures and appropriate words, like "Good Morning" and its companion "Good Night." Or longer remarks might be written on by the needle. Mrs. Booth recalled that she got her red thread for this work by buying some cheap turkey red table cloth and unravelling the thread. It would not fade. Bolster cases and bed turn backs over the sheets were also made to match these shams, if one was desirous. The shams were a single breadth and just laid on the pillow. Another foolish fad, as Mrs. McBrayer recalls, was the use of very small rolling pins, which were covered with velvet, the ends gilded with gold paint, small hooks put into the rolling pins, and from these you suspended button hooks and glove hooks. This rolling pins hung by ribbons from the wall near the bureau. Of course, there was no end to variety of your pin cushion for the best bureau or dresser, which was not intended to be used for pins at all. One of the best sources for unique fashionable fancy work was the Delineator, which did not at all resemble the present fiction-fashion form of that magazine. However, the most common way of getting the latest fancy work was from a friend who had been to the city or "East," and on their return to the little town would spread the newest fad. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mo/caldwell/history/other/fancywor181gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mofiles/ File size: 7.0 Kb