{"id":6297,"date":"2010-04-06T03:01:28","date_gmt":"2010-04-06T07:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=6297"},"modified":"2015-01-19T23:01:52","modified_gmt":"2015-01-20T04:01:52","slug":"alice-camisole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/06\/alice-camisole\/","title":{"rendered":"Alice Camisole"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"zAlicewhole2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BACKGROUND:\u00c2\u00a0 The tatted yoke on this camisole is at least 90 years old.\u00c2\u00a0 What a testimony to the sturdy fruit of the shuttle!\u00c2\u00a0 I had sentimental reasons for\u00c2\u00a0my appreciation of this yoke (detailed below in HISTORY)\u00c2\u00a0and made a camisole for my daughter.\u00c2\u00a0 Miss Alice, the previous owner, was especially fond of my children and they grew up\u00c2\u00a0knowing\u00c2\u00a0her as an exemplary\u00c2\u00a0model of Christian womanhood.\u00c2\u00a0 In 1996, this garment was featured in my series\u00c2\u00a0entitled \u00c2\u00a0Antique Textiles<\/em> in Creative Needle<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE: The\u00c2\u00a0project\u00c2\u00a0was a challenge.\u00c2\u00a0 I needed a way to attach the yoke to the gathered fabric\u00c2\u00a0without detracting from the intricacy of the tatting\u00c2\u00a0pattern.\u00c2\u00a0 Commercial entredeux just seemed too new and joining it to the gathered fabric would be bulkier than desired.\u00c2\u00a0 Also, white entredeux was too bright and\u00c2\u00a0ecru was too dark.\u00c2\u00a0 Machine made entredeux was the perfect solution but just how to do that on a diagonal line across the gathered straight of grain fabric made me ponder long and hard.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"zAliceyoke\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whether or not this was the best way, it was the only way I could conjur up.\u00c2\u00a0 First, the yoke was heavily starched and pressed.\u00c2\u00a0 Tatting thread is dense and takes time to absorb the starch completely.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Then it takes a good bit of time to dry.\u00c2\u00a0 I pinned\u00c2\u00a0the yoke\u00c2\u00a0to\u00c2\u00a0my gridded cardboard cutting board, which\u00c2\u00a0is covered with clear plastic.\u00c2\u00a0 The grid allows the piece to be pinned symmetrically and dry properly shaped.<\/p>\n

A\u00c2\u00a0favorite nightgown pattern, Lydia, by Becky Summers, was used for basic measurements and the armhole curve.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Mary<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While the tatting was drying, \u00c2\u00a0rows of gathering threads were stitched every 1\/2″ on a block of\u00c2\u00a0 finella, the\u00c2\u00a0ultra sheer batiste.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The block was the desired length of the finished\u00c2\u00a0camisole plus 5″ for margin or error.\u00c2\u00a0 The width\u00c2\u00a0of the block was twice the width of the yoke, plus several inches to allow for the armhole curves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"entredeux\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A day later, when\u00c2\u00a0the yoke\u00c2\u00a0was dry, it was pressed, placing all the little loops and extensions in place.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0With the yoke stiff and flat, the bottom lines of the V shape were traced onto paper. That was cut out and placed over the gathered batiste.\u00c2\u00a0 I traced\u00c2\u00a0the V shape\u00c2\u00a0with water soluble marker onto the batiste and then with a wing needle, stitched entredeux along the line.\u00c2\u00a0 The gathered fabric inside the V was cut away, close to the entredeux stitching line.<\/p>\n

The\u00c2\u00a0fear of cutting the aged tatting with a machine needle led me to\u00c2\u00a0conclude that handsewing the two pieces together was the wiser choice. So as taught in French handsewing classes, I hand basted the entredeux edged batiste and the tatted yoke to paper (blank newsprint), \u00c2\u00a0with the edges\u00c2\u00a0butted\u00c2\u00a0snugly one\u00c2\u00a0against the other.\u00c2\u00a0 The two pieces were hand whipped together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Alice<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vintage tatting from the same source as the yoke was joined to the hemline.\u00c2\u00a0 A casing was made for elastic and silk ribbon was threaded through the beading in the yoke.\u00c2\u00a0 The finella had been chosen\u00c2\u00a0specifically because it matched both the blue flowerettes in the tatting and the wide silk ribbon in my stash.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The finishing touch was a cluster of three silk ribbon rosebuds at center front.<\/p>\n

HISTORY:\u00c2\u00a0 I love tatting.\u00c2\u00a0 To the best of my knowledge, as late as 1985, it was not available commercially.\u00c2\u00a0 Now it is made in great quantities in China, is reasonably priced and readily available, but only in yardage in a limited number of patterns.<\/p>\n

Before that, it was made\u00c2\u00a0on front porch swings in the deep South by mothers while children took afternoon naps, by grandmothers\u00c2\u00a0rocking to the warmth of a\u00c2\u00a0winter fire, by aunties taking a rest from the day’s chores.\u00c2\u00a0 Old tatting, therefore, always has a history. Some is known, passed down through family recollections.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Some is not.<\/p>\n

In the earlier post about the Day grandchildren’s Easter garments, I mentioned that\u00c2\u00a0 the tatting on the bishop dresses was made by their great, great\u00c2\u00a0 grandmother.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0She never could\u00c2\u00a0have known that\u00c2\u00a0four generations later it would be the finishing touch on Easter finery.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, I know at least\u00c2\u00a0part of\u00c2\u00a0the history of the\u00c2\u00a0beautiful\u00c2\u00a0tatted yoke\u00c2\u00a0on\u00c2\u00a0 this camisole.\u00c2\u00a0 But in order to tell the story, I have to go back some distance in time.<\/p>\n

Just after the Civil War, our little\u00c2\u00a0community was\u00c2\u00a0settled, mostly by families from the northeast who came to plant citrus and pineapples.\u00c2\u00a0 In 1884, the Glenwood Community church was established and\u00c2\u00a0shortly thereafter\u00c2\u00a0served as the schoolhouse and center of all local activity.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The young Van Cleef family with their four children were in the midst of\u00c2\u00a0these events.\u00c2\u00a0 Alice, the youngest, was born in 1906 in the large, 2 story family home.\u00c2\u00a0 Her mother, Nina, was an accomplished needleworker and tatted this yoke.<\/p>\n

A few years before\u00c2\u00a0Alice’s birth, a poor young girl began working\u00c2\u00a0for the family, helping in the kitchen and with the children.\u00c2\u00a0 When she was 13 years old, \u00c2\u00a0Mathilda was asked to launder all the baby clothes, which puzzled her as there were no babies in the family.\u00c2\u00a0One morning a\u00c2\u00a0week later, she came to work\u00c2\u00a0and met baby Alice, born in the night.<\/p>\n

Mathilda was a working fixture in the home as Alice grew up.\u00c2\u00a0 Even after Mathilda married and had a home of her own, she took in laundry and always did Alice’s wash.\u00c2\u00a0 She liked to say that she had been doing Alice’s laundry since before she was born.<\/p>\n

When I bought this yoke, it was attached to worn fabric which\u00c2\u00a0had been\u00c2\u00a0badly mended.\u00c2\u00a0 In Alice’s hand,\u00c2\u00a0her name\u00c2\u00a0 was inscribed\u00c2\u00a0in black Sharpie pen along the hemline,\u00c2\u00a0 apparently to help Mathilda keep track of Alice’s clothes.<\/p>\n

Alice was a rough and tumble girl, then a high school science teacher.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Miss Alice, as she was called by anyone more than 10 years\u00c2\u00a0her junior, \u00c2\u00a0had been proclaimed Unofficial Mayor of our little community.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0In an effort to\u00c2\u00a0 reduce expenses to free up funds for mission work, our church posted a list of chores for which members could sign up.\u00c2\u00a0 No one volunteered to clean out the gutters.<\/p>\n

One day, 81 year old Miss Alice was discovered up on the roof doing just that.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Our\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0young pastor\u00c2\u00a0gasped and\u00c2\u00a0scrambled up\u00c2\u00a0the ladder to help her down.\u00c2\u00a0 But\u00c2\u00a0she tried to shoo him away,\u00c2\u00a0saying she was not yet done!\u00c2\u00a0 She\u00c2\u00a0then admonished him to get back to sermon preparations.\u00c2\u00a0 He helped finish the\u00c2\u00a0gutters and assisted agile Alice, unnecessarily, down the ladder.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0That was the last time roof work was put on the volunteer chore list, but shamed younger members who saw to it that the gutters were always clean.<\/p>\n

Miss Alice\u00c2\u00a0called on\u00c2\u00a0every new family in town, invited them to church, carried meals to the sick, visited shut ins, drove\u00c2\u00a0neighbors to\u00c2\u00a0doctor appointments, served as a Pink Lady at the hospital, taught Sunday School for most of her life and in general lived the life of a saint, which is the level of regard in which she was\u00c2\u00a0held by all.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Unmarried, she lived in the Van Cleef family home until she died\u00c2\u00a0at 94, \u00c2\u00a0loved and mourned by all.\u00c2\u00a0 But Alice could not sew.\u00c2\u00a0 Or embroider.\u00c2\u00a0 Or knit. \u00c2\u00a0Or tatt. But she was extraordinary in every other field.<\/p>\n

She saved everything related to family, including her parents wedding clothes and all other garments with historical merit.\u00c2\u00a0 When she died, the family donated most of these items to the church\u00c2\u00a0to be sold.\u00c2\u00a0 Among\u00c2\u00a0a\u00c2\u00a0 variety of \u00c2\u00a0items, this yoke was one of my purchases.\u00c2\u00a0 Others\u00c2\u00a0showed further evidence of \u00c2\u00a0Alice’s clumsy attempts at garment repair\u00c2\u00a0as well as her\u00c2\u00a0lack of\u00c2\u00a0interest in any form of needlework, except for saving it.<\/p>\n

I thought of Nina Van Cleef as I examined this camisole yet again and photographed it. Just like Judy Day’s grandmother, Nina could not have known that her tatted yoke\u00c2\u00a0would appear in a magazine and\u00c2\u00a0be in use almost 100 years later.\u00c2\u00a0 And as I so often do, I think of dear Miss Alice.\u00c2\u00a0 I believe\u00c2\u00a0her legacy of\u00c2\u00a0service and Christian witness will live on in the lives of all she touched.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  BACKGROUND:\u00c2\u00a0 The tatted yoke on this camisole is at least 90 years old.\u00c2\u00a0 What a testimony to the sturdy fruit of the shuttle!\u00c2\u00a0 I had sentimental reasons for\u00c2\u00a0my appreciation of this yoke (detailed below in HISTORY)\u00c2\u00a0and made a camisole … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,28,36,38],"tags":[836,833,835,832,834],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6297"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6297"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33360,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6297\/revisions\/33360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}