Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-06-21
Confederate Clothes.

Confederate Clothes.
Mary ". Early in the Weekly Times of Philadelphia.
During the war homespun dresses were q
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 Gas well as the
CLOTH were home production. Ivy leaves,
set with alum, made pretty gray; sumac leaves
and chinquapin bark made black; maple bark
made bright purple; and peach bark made a
green dye.
Tie 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 frem
abroad, through the blockade. Occasionally,
too, a woman would get a prize In the shape OF
trunk or box of new IDlothes Struggled
through the blockade. In which case her toilet
woald be the envy and admiration Of all her
feminine friends. Persons who had friends or
relatives in Baltimore, Philadelphia or other
northern cities would sometimes be favored
with box of ''storer Clothes" 1 remember
such box being sent from Philadelphia to ac-
quaintances of mine In RichmOnd, who became.
mould of form" A plaid ribbon in this box
was lent by turns to various friends, who looked
on 1t as a rare and dainty ornament, something
almost equal to the ribbon Of the Order Of the
uaFCeF. Inc writer wore" IL TO an elegant
entertainment in Richmond the last winter of
the war. en 81
Merchants as well as individuals would occa-
sionally 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 1776. The last winter
of the war the thnnest, filmsiest silk rose above
800 yard. Dresses that winter were made
with basque and a full, plain skirt, or founced
No c0Yoi.l Roll drocc r,f Glib 9TH
heavy material were made after the memorial
fashion Of Grecian waist, with full, plain
skirt, In train behind, and do not think any
OF the changes or caprices of fashion have i'm
proved upon the beauty and simple elegance Of
this costume. Muslin dresses were f1ounced or
pulled. and by dint of being carefully darned
and laundried were made to do good service.
On one occasion young lady of my acquain-
lance appeared in very dashing costume of
pink silk brOcade, the design being SO large and
coarse as to cause suspicion among her lady
friends that she had mprOvised a ball costume
out OF an old brocatelle curtain, and sprightly
young lady, on the spur of the moment. COM
posed parody on MOore's "Origin Of the Harp"
beginning thus:
"'Tis believed that this dress that now wear Sur
thee
Was a curtain Of old"
But the rest is too full Of personalities for re-
petition. Such transformations and make-ShiftS
were the order OF the DAY during the war. Nu-
merOus articles "contriyed by turns double
| debt to pay" like the piece OF furniture de-
scribed by Goldsmith, "By night bed, chest
hsd himself suit o my made
| out of gray blanket shawls, and lady in our
neighbOrhOOd had an old piano-cover dyed Git
was colored bright purple by means of maple
BARK and cut up into suit for her little boy,
who appeared quite in royal style in his purple
garments.
very prevalent fashion in confederate days
was what were called Garibaldi bodies. These
were gathered full on the shoulders beneath a
band, and were generally made of white muslin
and worn with colOred silk skirts. Sometimes,
however, they were made of brght-colOred
flannel or silk, with row of gilt buttons up
the front and on the shoulder straps. The
Italian hero, Garibaldi, l may remark in
in the confederacy. Unfortunately, the fashions
OF those days called for vCluminous garments
and bonnets. Cores were not worn then, nor
had 1t come into fashion to combine two mate
rails IN costume, else we might have combined
the fragments of two dresses into one and thus
been somewhat relieved of our straits and per-
plexities. The bonnets and hats were large; at
one time the former were immense, prompting
one to exclam 'NO more on this head!" Vel
vet bOnnets were mostly worn in winter but in
summer straw hats and drawn muslin hats (the
latter very pretty and picturesque) were worn
Toward the latter part of the war hats made of
pleated Shucks were very much worn in country
neighbOrhoods, trimming for the hat being
boys of the family had to resort to homemade
or countrywide hats for common wear, and
these hats, shaped by the awkward, inexpe-
rienced fingers of amateurs, displayed many
curious curves and grotesque indentations that
impaired a rakish air to even the staidest old
gentleman or most innocent little boy.
Feather flowers were much in vogue then not
the line, delicate, brilliant ones made OF Brazilian
feathers, but coarse ones made of the feathers of
our barn-yard fowls. while elder and swansdown
were simulated by trimming made of goose
with us as material to be trimmed, and toward
the close of the war persons appeared quite
dressy if they could muster a trimming of dress
braid; quilting of this at the bottom Of an
alpaca or worsted skirt, and three rows of it
Shoes were great difficulty with us. Many
belle had to encase her dainty feet in clumsy,
homemade shoes, and if the war had gone on
| much longer perhaps we might have had occa-
| sion to resort to the French sabot or wooden
SHOE country cobbler in my neighborhood
| supplied the young ladies around him toward
| the close of the war with CATERS made Of an
old blue cloth coat, cut up and stitched with
| yellow silk.