New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-18
CONFEDERATE CLOTHES.

Horu W. Early In The Weekly Times Of PHILADELPHIA
During the war homespun dresses were a good
deal used by Virginia country ladies for everyday
wear, and have seen some of these dresses that
| looked really pretty and jaunty on fresh young
| girls The dyes las well as the cloth were home
| production. Ivy leaves, set with alum made
! pretty gray; sumac leaves and chlnquapin bark
made black maple bark made bright purple
and peach bark made green dye.
| The men of the Confederacy, those in the army.
at least Jared much better with respect to clothes
than the women did, the Government providing
| them with uniforms imported from abroad
| through the blockade. Occasionally. too, woman
would get prize in the shape of a trunk or box Of
| new clothes Struggled through the blockade in
| which case her toilet would be the envy and ad-
| mratiOn of all her feminine friends Persons who
| had friends relatives IN baltimore. Philadelphia
or other Northern cities wonld sometimes he favored
| with boz of store clothes" | remember sucn
box being sent from Philadelphia 10 acqualntar
! OF mine in Richmond, who became IN consequence,
| " the glass ef fashion and the mould OF FORM"
| plaid ribbon in this box was cent oy turns 70
! various friends, who looked on it as issa ana
! dainty ornament, something almost equal TO the
ribbon of the Order OF tie Garter. The writer
wore it to an elegant entertainment in Richmond
the last winter of the war.
Merchants as well as individuals would occasion
ally receive goods through the blockade, but these
were scarcely opened before their eager customers
would seize on them and buy them up Prices rose
almost as high as during the Revolutionary war OF
177G The last winter OF the war the thlnnest
flmsiest silk rose above TlOO yard. dresses Ihat
winter were made with basuue and full PLAIN
skirt. or a bounced one, semlong. Ball dresses OF
sill TX or other heavy material were made aiter the
memorial fashion of Greclan waist WIN iui,
plain skirt IN a train behind, and do not tnlnk
any of the changes caprices OK Iashion nave M
pr0yed upon the beauty and simple elegance OF TINS
costume Muslin dresses were bounced or pulled,
and by dint of being carefully darned and laundred
were made to do coed service. On one occasion
vOung lady of my acquaintance appeared IN very
dashing costume of pink SILK bTOcade, the design
being so large and coarse as to cause suspicion
among her lady friends that she had linpr0vlsed
ball costume out of an Old brocatelle curtain ana
a sprighUly young lady, on the spur OF the moment
composed a parody on Moores Origin OF The
Harp beginning thus:
Tis believed that this dress that now wear for thee
Was a curtain of old"
Rnt tbe rest is too full of personalities for repeti.
ton. Such transformations ana make-shitts were
the order of the day during the war. Numerous
articles contrived by turns double debt 10 pay
like the niece of furniture described by Goldsmith,
" By night bed, chest OF drawers by Day. A
gentleman of my acquaintance had himself a
swellv suit made ont of gray blanket shawis.
and n LADY in our neighbOrhood had an old piano
cover Owed nc was colOred bright purple by means OF
maple bark and cut up into a SUIT ior heI llttie
boy who appeared quite IN royal style III Ills purple
garments - ,. L. -
A very prevalent fashion in Confederate days was
what were called Gar baldi bodies. These were
gathered full on the shoulders beneath Oand, ana
we're generally made of white muslin AMI worn
with cOored silk skirts. Sometimes, however, they
were made of brIght-colored hannel or SILK, with
row of gilt buttons up the front and on the
shoulder straps. The Italian hero, Garlbaldl |
may remark IN this cOnnecto on, was highly esteemed
in the COntederacy. Unfortunately, tle fashions OF
those DAYS called for volumnOus garments and
bOnnets. Cores not worn then, nor had IL
come into fashion to combine two materials in a
costume else we might have combined the irag-
ments of two dresses into one aid thus been some
what relieved of our straits and perpeXltles
The bonnets and hats were large; at one time the
former were immense, prompting one TO eXclaim,
No more on this headw Velvet bOnnes were
mostly worn in winter but IN summer straw hats
and drawn muslin hats (the latter very pretty and
picturesaue we're worn. Toward the latter part OF
hat M AL
much worn in country neIghbOrbOOds, trimming
for the hat being also made of shucks The gentle
men and little boys of the family had to resort TO
homemade or country made hats for common
wear and these hats, shaped by the awkward, IN
experienced fingers OF amateurs, displayed many
curious curves and grOtesque lndentatons that I'M
parted raksh air TO even the staldeSt ola gentle
man or most innocent little boy.
Feather flowers were much in vogue then, not tho
fine, delicate, brilliant ones made OF Brazilian
feathers but coarse ones made of the feathers OF
orr BARNARD fowls while cider and swansdown
were simulated by a trimming mdde Oh goose
feathers. Trimmings were, ot course, as scarce
With us as material to he trimmed, and toward the
close of the war persons appeared quite dTeSsy IL
they cOuld muster a trimming oil dress Oralu; u
outJlinp of this at the bottom OF an alpaca OF
worsted skirt, and three rows or IL ABOVE "eIo
considered "A STYLISH trimming shoes were great
d;iiirnitv with us Many belle had to encase her
dainty feet in clumsy homemade Shoes ana II tne
VAR had gone on much longer perhaps we might
Love had occasion 10 resort to the French saDot or
r,ooden shoe A county cobber in my neighbor.
bood snnnIied the Young ladies' around hlm t0Nard
the close of the war with CATERS made OF an Ola
bIne cloth coat, cut up anu stitched Win yeiIow
silk.