Category: Sampler Books

Not in Kansas Anymore

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Dorothy’s sewing book.
Eliza’s sewing book.

Well, one never was in Kansas and the other isn’t now! Here are two sweet sewing books. The one made by Eliza is American, from Kansas. The one made by Dorothy, who reminds me more of Glinda the Good, is from England. Besides the Wizard of Oz connection (I admit that was a stretch) they have other things in common.

TIME. Eliza’s book is dated 1912-1913, and was compiled during her Home Economics Housekeeper’s Course at Kansas State Agricultural College. Dorothy’s book isn’t dated, but assuming the photo is of her and taken around the time she attended the class, it was probably made soon after Eliza’s. It seems they studied sewing at different ages, however. Dorothy was obviously still a young girl, while Eliza was over 30 when she completed her course, as census records show she was born in 1881.

TECHNIQUES. Both cover the basic hand sewing stitches and seams, and they included samples of them in their books. They also learned patching, darning, and making plackets. Dorothy’s work is all done by hand, but Eliza has samples made by hand and machine.

Dorothy obviously put effort into her work, but compared to others I’ve seen, I don’t think sewing was her favorite subject.
Eliza’s work is more precise. However, she was older and likely more experienced when she took her course.

TEXTILES. Thrift was a virtue! Learning to make clothing economically was considered an important part of their education. Students needed to be familiar with fabric types and know which ones were appropriate for different garments. Truth in advertising could often be … well, elusive. And illusive. (For how to promote sales the right way, you can see some extravagant 1892 marketing here.) Textbooks practically encouraged suspicious shopping, and gave hints on how to distinguish good goods from bad goods. Both Eliza and Dorothy included swatches of fabrics in their books, a feature that became common after 1900.

Dorothy noted prices and purpose. Some of the fabrics are the same, or at least they go by the same name, today: georgette, shantung, taffeta.
I wonder if Dorothy was allowed to sew with any of these? I suspect not.
Eliza’s book has 3 pages of cottons, in addition to wool and silk!

The fabric samples are my favorite part of early 1900s-era sewing books. “Extinct” (or nearly) names appear in catalogs, journals, and books from those days, and while research and historians provide helpful descriptions, there’s nothing quite like seeing and touching a tiny bit of the textile for myself. Tarantulle is longcloth – who knew? Not me. A dictionary defines nun’s veiling, and yes, you can still buy it today (I checked), but it’s so much more fun to see a pink snippet from 1915. Textbooks tell me that albatross was wool, but Eliza had a nice cotton specimen. I can’t imagine asking for albatross at a fabric shop today! Well, if there were any fabric shops left today. There aren’t any near me. Maybe they’re still in Kansas?

About 1849

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“About 1849.” Except for the owner’s name, that’s really all I know about the history of this particular little sewing album. It’s bound with marbled paper card stock, edged with silk ribbon, and the colorful pages have the feel (and unfortunately the quality!) of children’s construction paper. Written inside the front cover is “made about 1849 by Mary M. Quiston, later Mrs. Reid, later Mrs. Porter.” (The “M. Quiston” might be “McQuiston.”)

Samplers of cross stitch (marking), embroidery, or darning skills have a long history in Britain, America, and Europe, but the popularity of books containing specimens of plain sewing stitches began in England in the 1810s. They were developed as part of the “monitorial” education system where pupils who had mastered a skill instructed the ones who were just learning it.

This system of “mutual education” was originally applied to basic reading, writing, and arithmetic, then to plain needlework since it was an essential part of female education. Understanding sewing instruction techniques was much easier if you had a small sample to see. Books with samples of hemming, stitching, seaming, marking, etc., were originally intended to help a teacher follow “the system” in her classroom, but also developed into treasured collections preserved by the girls who had worked them in order to demonstrate their accomplishments.

This is one of two caps included in the 1816 British and Foreign School Society manual, a book intended as a guide for educators who were using their monitorial system. It’s attached to the page so I can’t fold it out to show it well, but there’s a tiny number “1” marked in red cotton barely visible on the left. The other cap is marked (surprise!) “2.”

The earliest books might include a miniature shirt, cap, or apron, but it wasn’t long before they added other items like stockings, sleeves, dresses, trims, etc. to the classes. Educators appreciated the savings in time and expense that using small samples offered (and heaven knows charity schools needed to economize!) but maybe they had another reason as well: it was fun making tiny garments that were just like doll clothes! Here are some of my favorite pages from Mary’s book.

This dress is a simpler style than the sheer one above and it’s made of printed cotton.
Mary sewed this child’s dress with nine tucks in the skirt, gauged gathers, and trim she (probably) made herself.
We can’t forget the MOST important garment in the Plain Sewing repertoire: The Shirt. No course in plain sewing was complete without this accomplishment!
Here’s an example of the practice cuffs or wristbands that would have been worked before she advanced to making the above shirt. Knitting was also an essential needlework skill for women, and most 19th C sample albums included examples. There was a single full-sized stocking tucked into the book also.
Plain and fancy! Mary did all the hemming, seaming, and making buttonholes in her earliest lessons, but she obviously got to learn some fancywork as well. If you get a thrill looking at daguerreotypes of that time (Pinterest is sooo addictive) you might recognize the vandyke collar pattern that was so popular then.
Nope, it’s not a walrus mustache. It’s some pretty (or not!) wool trim, useful for Victorians who didn’t know the meaning of restraint in decor. Mary also made a hexagon quilt patch and worked a scripture verse on punched paper. I don’t understand why 19th C needle workers seem so untroubled by words that run out of roo– m. Why???
Two pairs of undersleeves were kept with the book. I assume they were Mary’s work because they have her initials marked in cross stitch. I’ve circled them in the photo to show how small they are. The sleeves show wear, so I don’t know if they were part of her sewing instruction or later work that stayed with her album.
The marked initials are less than 4mm tall. I never cease to be amazed at the tiny stitches they could make. The letters look like M B Mc to me. McQuiston?

I wish I knew more about Mary. How old was she when she learned to sew? Did she have daughters who wanted to take the dresses for their dolls? I would have! Did she use her skills for the rest of her life, or pack them away, back “around 1849”?