I had some lace that my father brought home from Belgium & France after WWII that was probably the same color as yours. I wanted to use it on my wedding gown (Edwardian style). We went into New York and scoured the garment district, thinking an off-white/cream/candlelight silk would be perfect. All of those were hideous! What was absolutely gorgeous was a pale pink (rather unheard for a wedding dress in 1982 where I was). We washed the lace in the stuff they use to wash horses -- starts with a 'c', can't think of the name.
Kate -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Wanda Pease Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 2:01 AM To: Historical Costume Subject: [h-cost] Browned lace Edwardian? Collars I just opened a box of my mother's which must have been put away by her mother not long after she married in 1900. It has several lace neck pieces. There are collars, both stand up and smooth around the neckline, one gorgeous one that is a high neck with points across the shoulders and one down the front. Two that are attached to dickies/partlets and must be to fill in the front of a deep V neck. Being totally ignorant about lace... were they ever supposed to be white? The most beautiful three are ecru (?) or a coffee with lots of cream shade. I'm not silly enough to put them in a bleaching solution. I thought putting them out in the sunlight maybe? Are they supposed to be that color? If they are how do you wear them? On a plain necked white blouse? How about the two that are on a dickie/partlet (sleeveless sheer that is just long enough to go under the arms with the decoration at the neckline and throat). They can't go on over a shirt if the shirt is to be seen. Something like a deep V vest? One of the partlet's seems to be almost elastic in that the mesh stretches enough so it will go over my front without pulling. They aren't Perfect in that they have been worn and used but they are all in very good shape for being over 100 years old now. I'd like to be able to wear them for special occasions, or even know how they looked and were worn when my Grandmother owned them. I never knew her, she died 15 years before I was born. In the same box was the little gold (not expensive I'm sure) fob watch she had been given as a college (!) graduation present. She had spent 2 years at Normal School after graduating from High School and received a teaching degree. The watch must have been precious to her because it came with her when she married, trekked west from Wisconsin to homestead in South Dakota (you still could then), lost everything (don't try and homestead in South Dakota = ever!), and followed by grandfather with their two little girls around the West working at whatever they could (this isn't the first economic downturn with hints of the Great Depression!. They finally wound up in Oregon where the oldest daughter, after being a maid for a year, decided she was going to College (in 1925!) and they moved to Corvallis, Oregon and everyone worked to put her through a degree as a Dietician. Sadly she died while doing her internship in California - appendectomies were touch and go then - she died on the table. My grandfather was run down by a Model Tee car he was cranking and that left Grandmother and my mother alone. My mother decided that she was going to college too since they lived right at Oregon State College. She and my Grandmother went to work to make it happen. Mother said that whenever anyone told Grandmother that her daughter should forget this silliness and get a job they would be told "No!" in no uncertain manner. Mother graduated as a pharmacist in 1934. I wish I'd known Jenni Mae Horn (or Horne as her guardian insisted on spelling it). She wasn't born to wealth, but she was born to comfort. She made it through some very hard times and kept her family together and going when it would have been easy to simply quit. I'm getting that watch fixed and passing it to the Great Grand-daughters of Jenni Mae Horn-Gilbert. I may give it to their mother, my nephew's wife and ask her to wear it and tell them the story so they will associate it with her as well as family history. Wanda > _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
