The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-11-04
How Southern Women Dressed During
the War.

No part of the story of the self.sacri6ct
with which the Southern people clunl
to their hopeless cause has. excited more
surprise in the outside world than tina
which tells of the difficulties Of dres.
under the blockade. Hunger and cold
ruined homes and hearthstones made
desolate- these were to be expected a.
the legitimate evils of war; but tha
women, nurtured in luxury, should will
ingly submit to wear old clothes and re-
main in ignorance iof the fashions-this
it appears, was heroism beyond belief
A riding dress, which was among the
sensations of Richmond during the last
days of the war, and which cost small
fortune in Confederate money, was worn
the next summer in Central Park-only
once, for it made its wearer unpleasantly
conspicuous. 1t was of fine gray Con.
federate army cloth, with the bodice
trimmed like the coat of Confederate
brigadier, and fastened with Virginia
military buttons.
The bride who was married during the
days of the Confederacy. was seldom pos
sessed of an. extensive. trousseau. The
outfit considered ample for such one
would provoke the co1ltemptuous pity OF
any modern belle. For instance, the
daughter of an old Virginia family,
whose name is too we'll known for publi-
cation, in independent circumstances, for
purchase of whose trousseau in 1864 three
hogsheads Of tobacco were sold, had but
four new dresses-a white muslin we'd
ding robe, silk ,dinner.dress, popinette
trimmed with furniture gimp-a costume
which, by the way, was much admired
and French merino. The tulle for her
bridal veil cost. twelve hundred dollars.
The wreath-far handsomer than any
which could have. been bought within
the Confederacy-had; been her mothers.
The manufacture of homespun, al.
though pursued under many disadyanta-
ges, was carried:to great perfection. The
women of the South were as class by no
means the selfish; self.indulgent creatures
which they are represented to be in mod
ern fiction. The mistress of plantation,
with large number of slaves to care for,
held no sinecure. Among such there
were many notable housewives and good
managers, renowned among their ac-
quaintances not only as good cooks, but
for their homemade linens and fannels,
the blankets and bed-spreads of their
own manufacture which gained prizes at
industrial fairs.
Onevery plantation there was a create,
or less number of women slaves unable
from physical disability to work in the
fields. It was necessary to provide en-
ployment for these, and they we're trained
as seamstresses, as spinners, and as weay-
ers.. Such women took much pride in
their trades, and often became experts.
Besides these there was usually in every
neighborhood some family of poor whites
with local reputation, as weavers, who
earned living by doing fine ork for
the. wives Of the neighboring planters,
either by day or job.
With these persons as leaders, all other
women were glad to follow, and home.
spun garments came rapidly into use.
The blockade runners learned to make
dye-stufs part of their regular cargoes.
The wood and weeds of the South .furn.
ished many respectable dyes, none of
them brilliant, it is true, but by no
means to be despised where dye-stutfs
were scarce.
Necessarily, the most was mede Of
whatever materials were already on hand.
Dresses were turned and returned, pieced
and twisted, dyed and made over again
and again as long!as they could be made
to hold together. They were heightened
under founces or pufings, and black
waists in winter and white ones in sum.
mer was favorite fashion, which made
the skirts of old dresses still available
when the original bodies were hopelessly
worn out. Literally nothing was thrown
away. Carrots were ransacked, old
chests yielded their forgotten boards,
and even the regbag was turned over
again that scraps which had been scorned
in days of plenty might be made use of.
Melon waists became popular because
the many seams in them rendered the
narrowest strips of material available,
and when the fashion of gored skirts was
brought through the lines it was hailed
with delight as requiring less stuff than
those with straight breadths. Sewing
silk sold for $50 spool before the war
was ended, and embroidery silks were
scarce at any price. Small pieces Of EN-
broidery were often executed with silks
ravelled from odds and ends of ribbons.
Female ingenuity, however, did wonders.
Most of the self-trimmings, as dressmak-
ers term them, which. are now in vogue,
figured on confederate dresses, preference
being given to such as required least ma.
terial. Pleatings were little used; but
folds, pipings, shirrings, founces, putting,
shell trimmings, &C., were all more or
less popular. Narrow bias strips of silk,
pinked on both edges, and very scantily
gathered with the finest stitches through
the centre, were favorite style for trim
ming bodices and heading founces. Gilt
braid and buttons, being military goods,
were of course imported, and might be
had at fancy prices.
These were thought handsome for
trimming black bodices, the preferences
being for tiny ronnd gilt buttons set on
in double row down the front and on
the cuffs. Quillings of shirt braid were
used for trimming French merinoes, red
or blue on black being the favorite con:
trast. Fancy straw braids. were used
with black lace on white muslin waists.
Calico dresses were finished off with
collars, cuffs, and bands, button-hole
stitched in scollops on the edges in red or
white embroidery cotton, or perhaps with
black silk. Button moulds covered with
the material were almost invariably worn,
except when others were already on hand
relics of time before the blockade
and not unfrequently the moulds were of
pasteboard instead of wood.
Old black silk stockings were patiently
ravelled for sewing silk. Spool cotton
never rose beyond twenty dollars q spool,
and was therefore comparatively cheap.
But since 'lico served for any occa-
sion on which demi.toilette is admissi-
Bile, new one being considered hand
some dress, the dresses themselves were
not the chief difficulty. The many &C.