The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1888-09-19
CONFEDERATE DRESS
HOW THE PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH
CLOTHED THEMSELVES.

HOW The PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH
CLOTHED THEMSELVES.
Interesting "Reminiscences of the Days of
the Civil war-Feminine Ingenuity in
Fashioning Garments from Crude Mate
rials-spinnine. Dyeing, Weaving.
"Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy"
was a maxim of necessity in the hard times;
for there was no raiment the subject of bar
ter or sale which was inexpensive. Sporadic
instances taken atrandom prove the general
rule. In August, 1854. private citizens
coat and vest, made of five yards of coarse
home spun cloth, cost $3.50 exclusive of the
price paid for the making. The trimmings
consisted of old crayats; and for the cutting
and putting together, a country tailor
charged $50. 1t is safe to say that the private
citizen looked veritable guy in his new
suit, in spite of its heavy drain upon his
pocketbook.
In January, 1865. the material for o lady's
dress which before the war would have cost
SO could not be bought for less than $500.
The masculine mind is unequal to the task of
guessing how great sum might have been
had for bonnets brought through the lines;n
for in spite of patient self sacrifice and I'M
faltering devotion at the bedsides of the
wounded in the hospital, or in ministering to
the needs of relatives and dependents at
home, the southern women of those days are
credited with as keen an interest in the fash
ions as women everywhere In civilized lands
are apt to be in times of peace 1t was nat
ural that they should be so interested, even
though that interest could in the main not
reach beyond theory. Without it they often
would have had charm the less and pang
the more. Any feminine garment in the
shape OF cloak or bonnet or dress which
CHANGED to come from the north was readily
awarded its need OF praise, and reproduced
by sharp eyed observers, SO far as the scarcity
OF materials would admit.
But fashions rules were necessarily much
relaxed in the southern Confederacy so far
as practice went when even such articles as
pins brought through tho blockade sold for
$12 n paper, and needles for $40, with not
enough OF eitheN
The superstition expressed in the couplet,
See pin, and pick il up
All the day you'll have good luck,
gained its converts by the score; more, how
| ever, as can be readily imagined for the sake
of the pin itself, which it was stroke Of
other good luck that was to accompany the
finding The broken needle of Confederate
times did not go into the fire or out of tho
window, but was carefully laid aside until
| the red sealing wax of the ransacked desks
and secretaries lent it a head whcrewith TO
appear as a handsome and useful pin. To
obtain the bare materials out of which to
| fashion garments for the family and for the
| servants soon became a serious question The
house carpenter and the blacksmith were
| called into service to this end, and cotton
| once more became king, though OF n greatly
| diminished sovereignty Cardinc combs Of
rough pattern were constructed for the
purpose of converting the raw cotton into
batting, and thence into rolls of uniform
| length and size for spinning. The hum of
the spindle and the clank of the loom treadle
were the martial music with which the
| women at home met the fierce attacks IF tine
legions Of cold and nakedness.
Spinning wheels, reels, bobbins looms, and
all the appurtenances for the weaving of
cloth were made and used at home; and the
toilers in tina cotton fields and the spinners In
the loom shed worked ON contentedly, with q
seemingly sublime indifference to the mighty
struggle that was convuising continent for
their sakes. or this dusky people 1t may
hSAS bS atAih AitAts tto iiihbNcA
pists, politicians, or philosophers have said
Of them in the past or shall prophesY of
them in the future, they were true to every
trust reposed in them; and with II most ire
mendous power for direst evil in their pos
session, the negroes of the south in the days
of the civil war did naught but good. If
the ''colored troops of tho Union army
thought nobly," the slaves of the southern
plantation so bore themselves iisthose stirring
times as to merit no smaller need OF praise.
Cotton and wooden fabrics of firm and sub
stantial texture were woven, cut and fash
toned into garments for whites and blacks.
| Plentiful crops Of fax REINFORCED the array
of wool and cotton and many little fax
wheel which In the days of peace has since
moved north to adorn in its newly gilded and
beribbonad state the boudoir of some msthe-
tic girl might tell pathetic tales Of its former
place Of residence IL the tongue of its tiny
spindle had but speech.
The dyes OF the forest wood barks, of the
sumac, OF the Carolina indigo and Of the cop
peras from the numerous copperas wells were
utilized to color the cloth thus woven. We
read in the current newspapers that "a hand
some brown dyen lis made by combination
Of red oak bark and blue stone In boiling
water; and that "a brilliant yellown may DO
obtained by pouring boiling water upon
other component parts of ''sassafras,
swamp bay and butterfly root" The Same
authorities tell us that vivid puppies,
composition OF coal oil and sorghum, tinted