Make Your Own Victorian Purse

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Jeffrey Scott Thomas

If you have a bit of sewing expertise, this is a great way to have a lovely Victorian style purse for your Victorian Costume that you can be sure no one else will have. This is also a great opportunity to have a purse that matches (or coordinates perfectly) with your custom Victorian costume outfit. There are many steps, but each one is simple, so don’t be intimidated and you will be rewarded with a one of a kind accessory that is your very own!

Gather Materials You will need the following items for your Victorian purse:
~Purse Frame; New or used.

~There are many lovely Victorian style frames available as reproductions. You might already have a Victorian frame from an old, authentic Victorian purse that you would like to use. If the frame has been “crimped” onto the fabric, you might be able to carefully pry the edges of the frame apart, and reuse it. However, a better choice is a frame with either tiny holes to which you can sew the purse body, or a frame with hardware that screws onto the inside of the frame to secure the fabric.

Fashion Fabric:
This is name for the material that will show on the outside of your purse when you are finished. You should consider using natural fiber fabric like cotton, linen, wool or silk, since these are period-correct choices. This might also be a bit of fabric left over from an outfit you have already made for yourself, or that a seamstress has made for you. Be sure to tell your seamstress ahead of time if you would like to have her save the scraps. You will need just a small amount (about a yard) of fabric… perhaps a bit more if the fabric is patterned since you may want to center the pattern (both front and back) on the finished purse.

Lining Fabric:
This is the fabric you will see when you open your purse. Again, it is a good idea to stick with natural fabrics to be correct, but since almost no one will see the inside of your Victorian purse, the choice is up to you. I often like to use something shiny, like a crepe-backed satin.

Embellishments:
Here’s your opportunity to indulge your creative side! You can use beads, braid, lace, embroidery, fringe, ribbon, or whatever else you desire on your Victorian purse. The surface area will be relatively small, so you can take the time to decorate the purse in whatever way you fancy. Tiny ribbon flowers, embroidery, millinery flowers, or silk flowers will work as well. Remember, those Victorians were wonderful at all sorts of “fancywork” involving a needle and thread. You will want to keep your embellishments at least a half-inch away from the edge of your piece, since this area is your seam line. My preference is to sew on embellishments. Please resist the urge to use glue or hot glue on your purse! Glue is not period-correct for this kind of project, and will also not allow the fabric to move with use and could come loose over time, stiffen the fabric or stain. If, after you have sewn down all of your embellishments as firmly as possible and something is still hanging loose, then use a tiny dab of glue just to secure only that tiny bit.

Interfacing:
I like to use heavy-duty interfacing. Either sew-in or iron-on… your choice. Once the interfacing is applied to the fashion fabric, you will have a nice sturdy base for your embellishments. Also, your purse will hold its shape and not be “floppy” when you are done.

Making the Pattern:
Making your own pattern is not as intimidating as it might sound. All you need is the purse frame, and a pen.

Lay the purse frame upon a piece of paper, and carefully trace around the outside edge of the frame. Let’s call this the “frame line.” Make a -.- mark on either side of the frame to indicate the point where the hinge is located.

Next, draw a new line about 1/2″ to 1 inch out from the frame line (This will be your cutting line) and extend it down from the purse frame area to define the shape of your finished purse. You will want to angle away from the purse frame slightly to widen bottom, starting at the top corner as you go toward the bottom of the purse. The wider the angle, the more fullness the finished purse will have. Mark the pattern edge with a notch at the point where the hinge line falls.

Use this pattern to cut out 2 pieces each of your fashion fabric, interfacing and innerlining, being sure to notch the fabric on either side where you made the dash marks earlier for the purse hinges. Sew or iron the interfacing to the wrong side of your fashion fabric.Embellish the front (and optionally the back) of your purse in whatever way pleases you. If you have decided to add a fringe, this will be added after you are done with any surface embellishments. (Remember not to embellish into your seam allowance at the edges, except when you want to catch the ends of Victorian style lace or other trim into the finished seam.) Don’t worry about how the back of your work looks. This will be covered later by the lining. Optional Fringe. You may choose to add a fringe or ruffle all the way around your purse or just at the bottom edge. The application is the same in either case. Pin or baste the top edge of the fringe to the right side of the front at the outside edge of your purse, so that the fringe points “in” (up) toward the body of the purse. Pin the fringe (or try a small amount of low stick masking tape being careful not to touch fabric) if necessary, so that no beaded fringe wants to fall into the seam as you sew. Lining – With right sides together, pin and then sew the lining pieces together. Start at the notch on one side and sew to the bottom of the purse. Leave a gap about two inches long in the seam at the bottom of the purse, and then continue the seam up the other side to the notch. Leave the top edges above the notch open. Clip any curves or corners, if necessary. Clip the notches until they meet the end of your sewing line. Do not turn the lining right side out.
Fashion fabric – With right sides together, pin and then sew the fashion fabric front and back together, starting at the notch on one side, sewing down around the bottom of the purse, and back up the other side as far as the notch. Leave the top edge above the notches open.

Clip any curves and corners as necessary. Clip the notches until they meet the end of your sewing line. Turn the purse right side out, and carefully press it flat, you can use an iron if the embellishment permits. The top edge that you left open should now be fairly flat, with the seam edge above the notches completely free, since you clipped the notch to the seam line.

Slide the lining over the purse (so that the right side of the lining and the right side of the purse are facing) until the notches in the lining match the notches in the purse fabric. Pin the top edge of the lining to the top edge of the purse on either side.

Sew the top edges of the purse and lining together, from notch to notch, being careful to stop exactly at the notch, and not sew past it into the purse body. Clip curves or corners. Carefully pull the purse body through the gap at the bottom of the lining. Push your fingers into the top edges of the purse to ensure that the lining and fashion fabric seam is turned out all the way. Press the seam gently to ensure it stays flat.

Carefully stitch the open gap at the bottom edge of the lining to be closed, then tuck the inner lining down inside the purse. Your purse should now have no raw edges anywhere. Your purse is now ready to attach to your Victorian frame.

Attach the purse to the frame.

Crimp Frame- Push the top edge of the purse into the frame, being careful to center the fabric into the frame. The bottom edge of the opening should line up with the hinge on either side of the frame. Crimp the frame closed to secure the fabric.

Sew-in Frame- Being careful to center the fabric in the frame, push the fabric as close to the top edge of the frame as possible. Carefully sew the purse to the frame using a thread that will blend, and making tiny stitches.

Hardware Frame- There will usually be several posts that extend from the inside of the frame where the inside hardware will be screwed in to secure it. Place the inside hardware piece at the top edge of the fabric, and mark the location of each post by marking through the holes in the hardware. Next, use a punch or an awl to open a hole in the fabric so that it will fit over the posts on both sides of the purse frame. Now replace the fabric in the frame and push the posts through the holes you have made. When the fabric is in place, use the screws provided to secure the inside hardware to the frame. This makes a neat, durable finish for the inside of your Victorian style purse.

Attach a chain to your Victorian purse, and you are done. Enjoy your new purse!

Victorian Hats

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Jeffrey Scott Thomas

Throughout the half century, bonnets and hats, apart from sporting styles, were lavishly trimmed, and hair was invariably decorated with flowers, jewels or feathers for evening. Indoor caps were gradually discontinued, by the 1870s worn only, perhaps, with a tea-gown or breakfast jacket and by elderly ladies; servants and country folk wore them well into the 20th century. The variety of millinery styles throughout this period was enormous, and it is only possible to indicate the main shapes, which were dictated by the hairstyles. During the 1850s bonnets became shallower and set further back on the head, developing in the early 1860s into the spoon bonnet, which had a narrow brim close to the ears, rising vertically above the forehead in a spoon-shaped curve and sloping down behind to a very small crown, edged with a bavolet at the back. Bonnet strings (or ribbons) were wide, and often not tied but held by a brooch or pin under the chin, occasionally with a tiny bunch of artificial flowers. A curious addition to the bonnet between 1848 and 1864, appropriately called an ugly, was an extra brim resembling the front of a calash, made of half hoops of cane covered with silk and worn round the front as a protection against the sun; when not in use it could be folded flat. The most romantic-looking hat of the 1850s was a leghorn straw with a very wide brim dipping down at the back and slightly at the front and a high or low crown, trimmed with a lace or tulle veil, ribbons orflowers, or possibly all three; it appears to have been more popular in France and Germany, but was certainly adopted with slight variations in England and America for children’s wear.

With the massive arrangement of hair at the back of the head in the late 1860s and early 1870s, bonnets had to be worn further forward, the front curving fronijust above the hair-line to behind the ears where the ribbons were attached, the back cut away to allow the hair to flow freely. At this time hats were also perched on the forehead; a pillbox shape is sometimes referred to as a casquette, a name also applied to a hat following the lines of the Scotch glengarry cap. The Lamballe bonnet or plateau (named after the Princesse de Lamballe) might be classified as a bonnet or hat – worn in the same way as the pill-box, it closely resembled it but was more oval in shape and tied on by strings under the back hair or chignon or, when curved down slightly at the sides, would have ribbons tied in a large bow under the chin.

Small-brimmed hats, slightly wider in summer, toques and tiny bonnets set on top of the head above the close, high-dressed hair and fringe, helped to increase height in the late 1870s and 1880s; crowns rose, with a flower-pot shape appearing in the late 1880s. Trimmings, arranged to give a vertical line, could be elaborate and even bizarre: small birds, feathers, feather wings, aigrettes, beetles, flowers, fruit and vegetables intermingled with loops of fancy ribbon, velvet and/or tulle. Fur decorated some winter hats, and toques made of sealskin became very popular. At the same time, for country and sporting activities, plainer and rather masculine hats were in vogue. Boaters, introduced as early as the 1860s, continued to be worn, straight or tilted, into the 20th century. The Fedora felt hat, similar to a Homburg, was named after the heroine in a play by Sardou in which Sarah Bernhardt scored a success. Yachting caps were worn for sailing or at the sea-side. The tam-o’-shanter, for country wear, was a soft, round, flat cap or hat with no brim and a bobble in the centre of the crown; in the 1880s it might be made of velvet, plush, cloth or crochet; a knitted version became usual later.

During the 1890s, bonnets lost favour with the fashionable although still worn by some elderly ladies, even after 1900, and for mourning with a long crape veil. Hats became wider-brimmed, worn high on the head over the fuller hairstyle; even toques were often quite large, draped or ruched in velvet, silk or tulle. Trimmings, ribbons, flowers and feathers still emphasized a vertical line

Victorian Ivory Silk Shoes

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Jeffrey Scott Thomas

These Ivory silk shoes with low heels, ribbon and lace rosettes are from the mid-19th century and were part of H. M. Queen Alexandra’s trousseau. Princess Alexandra of Denmark married Prince Albert Edward, son of Queen Victoria and heir to her throne, in 1863. Together they had six children, including Princess Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria who became the queen consort of Norway. After Queen Victoria’s death in 1901, Prince Edward ascended to the throne as King Edward VII.

Valentines Day Card History

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Jeffrey Scott Thomas

Valentine greetings have been popular since the Middle Ages, a time when prospective lovers said or sang their romantic verses. Written valentines began to appear after 1400. Paper valentines originated in the 1500s, being exchanged in Europe and being given in place of valentine gifts and oral or musical valentine greetings. They were particularly popular in England. The first written valentine (formerly known as “poetical or amorous addresses”) is traditionally attributed to the imprisoned Charles, Duke of Orleans, in 1415. While confined in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt, the young Duke reportedly passed his time by writing romantic verses for his wife in France. Approximately sixty of the Duke’s poems remain and can be seen among the royal papers in the British Museum. They are credited with being the first modern day valentines.

By the Sixteenth Century, written valentines were commonplace and by the Seventeenth Century, it was a widespread tradition in England and other Western countries for friends and sweethearts to exchange gifts and notes on February 14. During the early 1700s, Charles II of Sweden brought the Persian poetical art known as the “language of flowers” to Europe and throughout the Eighteenth Century, floral dictionaries were published, permitting the exchange of romantic secrets via a lily or lilac, for example, culminating in entire conversations taking place within a bouquet of flowers. The more popular the flower, the more traditions and meaning were associated with it. The red rose, for instance, believed to be the favored flower of Venus, Roman Goddess of Love, became universally accepted to represent romantic love. Thus, the custom of giving red roses on Valentine’s Day quickly gained popularity.

Some time after 1723, the popularity of valentine cards in America began to grow with the import from England of valentine “writers.” A “writer” was a booklet comprised of a vast array of verses and messages which could be copied onto gilt-edged paper or other type of decorative sheet. One popular “writer” contained not only “be my valentine” types of verses for the men to send to their sweethearts, but also acceptances or “answers” which the ladies could then return. Late Eighteenth Century and Early Nineteenth Century valentines were often religious in nature and it is possible that the “Sacred Heart” often depicted on these cards eventually became the “Valentine Heart” with the customarily accompanying Angel eventually becoming “Cupid.” It is believed that the earlier versions of these religious valentines may have been made by nuns who would cut-out the paper lace with scissors. It is thought the process probably took many days since the cards had every appearance of being machine-made.

One popular style of early American card from 1840 to approximately 1860 was the “Daguerreotype,” a photographic process using old-time tintype in the center of a card surrounded by an ornametal wreath. Another was the “Mirror Valentine,” which contained a small mirror placed in the center to reflect the face of the recipient. However, the sending of valentine greetings in America did not become a true tradition until around the time of the Civil War (1861-1865) when valentine cards often depicted sweethearts parting, or a tent with flaps that opened to reveal a soldier. These were known as “windows.” In peace time, the “window” would be a church door opening to reveal a bridge and groom. Another Civil War valentine novelty was for the card to have a place for the sender to include a lock of hair. By the early 1800s, valentines began to be assembled in factories. Such early manufactured valentines were rather simplistic, composed of black-and-white pictures painted by the factory workers. Fancy valentines comprised of real lace and ribbons were introduced in the mid-1800s. Paper lace began to be introduced to the cards later in the 1800s, These valentines also contained delicate and artistic messages with pictures of turtledoves, lovers’ knots in gold or silver, bows and arrow, Cupids and bleeding hearts.

During the Victorian Era and its printing advances, Valentine cards became even more popular and the modern postal service of the age implmented the “penny post,” which made it easier to mail written valentines. (Prior to that time, postage was so expensive that most cards were hand-delivered and usually left on doorsteps.) Known as “penny postcards” (because they were mailed with a one-penny postage stamp), these valentine greetings were very popular from around 1890 to 1917. During this time, it was also considered “proper” to collect and display collections of postcards and trade cards in the Victorian and Edwardian parlor. Friends and guests would be invited to sit for hours, leafing through albums while they visited. This custom gained so much popularity that photographers, studios, printers and business continually strived for new and exciting subjects to satisfy a public which was anxious for innovative items in order to impress their acquaintances. To make their cards stand out, people often sought for real photographic postcards. As opposed to mass-produced lithographs, these were actual photographs made with a postcard-printed back. The photography studios frequently employed women to hand-tint and color the black-and-white images. Some of the best of these cards came from Germany…famous for its detailed and colorful lithography. Popular subjects included women, children, flowers and couples, posed and arranged in an effort to portray the idealized virtues of the Era. Indeed, it was in England that the first commercial-type valentine was produced on embossed paper, later perforated to make a lace-type design. Some of these cards contained tiny mirrors with the message: “Look at my Beloved,” while others were called “Cobweb Valentines” because the center could be lifted by a tassel to reveal a cobweb effect of paper and underneath, a picture of a couple or a romantic message.

Although pre-Victorian valentines are virtually unavailable today, but cards have survived over a century due chiefly to the fact that they began to be mass-produced around 1850. However, the majority of early Victorian valentines were customarily made by hand from honeycombed tissue, watercolors, paper puffs, colored inks, embossed paper hearts and exquisite lace. These were truly beautifully-created small works of art, often adorned with silk or satin (in addition) to lace, flowers or feathers and even gold leaf. Such fragile honeycomb designs remained the vogue until around 1909. Some of the most unusual valentines were fashioned by lonely sailors during this time…unique cards sporting seashells of various sizes employed to create hearts, flowers and other designs, or to cover heart-shaped boxes. Sailors also sent what were known as “Busk Valentines,” rounded long sticks fashioned from ivory or wood, somewhat resembling a tongue depressor but approximately five time longer. Upon these sticks, the sailor would carve hearts and other loving designs. The “Busk Valentine” was worn by the sailor’s sweetheart inside her corset. It was not unusual for a manufactured valentine of this era to cost as much as a month’s earnings, particularly the “proposal valentines” which were very popular and might contain the depiction of a church or a ring. In keeping with Victorian etiquette, it was considered improper for a lady to send a valentine greeting to a man.