Antique Victorian Cuffs and The Attic

Hello!

I recently bought these two burgundy velvet and lace cuffs on eBay, and I thought that you might enjoy seeing them.

Here are the two. 

The velvet portions are lovely with very slight wearing,

and the lace has aged to a beautiful ecru color.

They don't really fasten closed,

so I am thinking that they were just sewn to the bottom

of the sleeves, and hung loose...

They are embellished with these lovely

sparkly pieces,

which appear to be some kind of metal...

...seen a little bit better here...

...and here...

These would be lovely incorporated into a Valentine's Day project,

don't you think?

*********************************************

Hubby decided that it was time to clean out the attic.

It's always been kind of dark up there,

so right before the holidays he put in some

fluorescent lighting and shelving units.

I should have know what was coming.

I've already begun pulling out items that I can live without

and pricing them,

since we have a community yard sale coming up in the spring.

Wow.

I would so much rather be cleaning an attic

than making art.

Victorian Mourning Dress Fragments

Friends, by now you must certainly think that I am fixated on Victorian mourning. I assure you that is not the case, and this will likely be almost my last post on this subject, at least for a while!

I just wanted to share with you some lovely finds that I will be incorporating into some fabric collage at some point.

This first one is a small piece of antique Victorian

velvet trim, or fabric, measuring about

7 by 9 inches at its widest points.

It may or may not have been used on

a mourning dress, 

but I can only imagine the beautiful dress

that it once was a part of...

There is only one motif on this piece,

but that's enough to let my imagination

run away with me...

The best part is that it incorporates

several tiny black jet beads and sequins

(see my last post),

 which have been

embroidered onto the satin flowers,

leaves and stems...

All the embroidery was completed by hand,

as you can see in the photo of the reverse.

Dressmakers of that time period

were really extraordinary,

weren't they?...

The other piece is a triangular shaped

fragment that is about 22 inches long

at the longest section.

It is an antique silk embroidered piece, 

also from the Victorian era...

The embroidered portions have faded to a brownish color,

which I think lends to the overall charm.

The lace portion is stunning...

...and I can only wonder what the dress

that it embellished, or was part of,

looked like...

I actually have a plan for these two pieces,

and some of the others that I have recently purchased,

but that may have to remain a secret for a while!

Thanks for coming by!

Victorian Fashion: Black Jet

Hello. I hope that you had a great weekend!

During my recent curiousity about Victorian mourning fashions, I came across black jet, which was popular from the mid 1850's to the early 1900's. Jet is considered to be a minor gemstone and is a geological material derived from decaying wood under extreme pressure. Since black jewelry was worn during times of mourning, you will see it often in cabinet card photos of ladies wearing mourning clothes. And, not only was it used in jewelry, but it was also made into buttons, beads, and sequins. If you would like to find out more about it, you can read about the differences between jet, French jet, and onyx here.

I did find a few jet items to use in some future art projects, and thought they were very pretty.

I bought 30 of these for for a very reasonable price from Etsy.

I agree with the seller in that we are not sure what they are.

They are made of small wooden bases with a wrapping 

of black jet seed beads and added thread loops at the top.

She thought that perhaps they were used as loop closure buttons

on clothing or accessories,

or added as design to lamps, or perhaps shawls.

You can see the little loop...

Here are some small buttons with jet beads set

into them.

You can see that jet is not overly shiny,

but does pick up some light

(especially when the photographer doesn't know

how to control light! Ha!)...

OK.

My word of the year is LEARN.

I feel smarter already!

Have you learned about anything new so far this year?

A Victorian Mourning Blouse

An antique mourning cabinet card

Happy Sunday dear friends. I hope that you're having a great weekend!

For Christmas my son and daughter-in-law sent me an Etsy gift certificate. They know me too well I think! In any case, I decided to randomly search for something that was a little special and something that I just wouldn't normally buy myself. In honor of my son, who when he last came to visit thought my art studio was a good source of "props" for photo shoots, I decided to by a Victorian mourning blouse. Why? I have no idea. I don't even know how I found it. And I can't really say that I personally like to wear black clothing. Nor am I a fan of  goth or steam-punk fashions. But when I stumbled upon this beauty for a rather-low-on-sale price, I just couldn't resist. So, I now have one more "prop" in my studio. And although I don't really have any morbid curiosities, I did become fascinated with Victorian mourning dress and customs after purchasing this item. I guess I just love all fashions from Victorian times. You know that I like to use some black in my photo collage work, so I also ended up buying some other items which I will share in future posts.

Here she is. 

She likely dates from the 1890's to 1910 or so.

I am sure that this piece,

which is totally hand sewn and

made of silk with velvet accents,

started out as black.

Over time the silk has faded to a 

gun metal-taupish color, 

but the velvet still looks black.

Considering its age,

its in perfect condition,

with only a button missing in the front.

It still even has the boning sewn inside!

Isn't it gorgeous?...

Here is the back.

I love the button detail down at the waist...

...not to mention the lace at the collar

and the velvet inset with the velvet-

covered buttons used on the entire piece...

Here are some detail shots of the

back at the waist...

And I practiced with one of my new

Canon lenses.

Not the macro lens that I told you about

the other day,

but my 50mm fixed lens,

one that has a very short fixed focal length.

"Real photographers" call it 

The Nifty Fifty!

Since you can't focus it

you must move your body to where

you need to be to get the shot.

It's great for closeups and blurring

the background, very lightweight,

and pretty cheap!...

A shot of one of the velvet cuffs...

I found myself wondering who the lady was that had worn this lovely blouse. 

Who did she mourn for, and how old was she?

The waist on this garment is tiny, about 21 to 22 inches.

Was she very young?

Did she mourn for a child? A parent? A husband?

I read that it was considered bad luck to keep morning clothes in the house after mourning ended.

Is that why you can still find these?

We can only wonder about those that have gone before us.

Though I am a little late,

I am linking to Wen's Simply Neutrals Tuesday link party,

and you can find her wonderful blog here.