Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-10-03
CONFEDERATE DRESS.
HOW THE PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH
CLOTHED THEMSELVESt

Fashioning Garments from Crude Mate
rials-spinning, Dyeing, Weaving.
"Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy
was 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, 1864, a 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 cravats; and for the cutting
and putting together, a country tailor
charged $50. It is safe to say that the private
citizen looked veritable guy in his new
suit, in spite OF its heavy drain upon bis
pocketbook
In January, 1865, the material for a lady's
dress which before the war would have cost
SO could not be bought for less than $780,
The masculine mind is unequal to the task Of
guessing how great sum might have been
had for bonnets brought through the lines
for in spite Of patient self sacrifice and IN
fal5ering 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 a 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 the blockade sold for
s12 paper, and needles for SO, with not
enough OF either.
The superstition expressed in the couplet,
See a pin, and pick 1t 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 a stroke Of
happy fortune TO find and seize, than of any
other good luck that was TO accompany the
finding. The broken needle OF Confederate
times did not 90 into the fire or out of the
window, but was carefully laid aside until
the red sealing wax Of the ransacked desks
and secretaries lent it head wherewith to
appear as handsome and useful pin To
obtain the bare materials out Of which to
fashion garments for the family and for the
servants soon became serious question. The
house carpenter and the blacksmith were
called into service to this end, and cotton
once more became king, though Of a greatly
diminished sovereignty. Carding combs Of
a 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 clauk Of the loom treadle
were the martial music with which the
women at home met the fierce attacks of the
iegions Of cold and nakedness.
Spinning wheels, reels, bobbins, looms, and
ali the appurtenances for the weaving of
cloth were made and used at home and the
toilers in the cotton fields and the spinners in
the loom shed worked on contentedly, with
seemingly sublime indifference to the mighty
struggle that was CONFUSING a continent for
their sakes. OF this dusky people it may
here be said that, no matter what philanthro-
pists, politicians, or philosophers have said
Of them in the past or shall prophesY Of
them in the future, they were true to every
nendous 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 the Union army
fought nobly," the slaves OF the southern
plantation 50 bore themselves in those 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 6ax REINFORCED the array
Of wool and cotton and many a little fax
wheel which in the days OF peace has since
moved north to adorn IN its newly gilded and
beribboned state the boudoir of some aasthe-
tic girl might tell pathetic tales Of its former
place Of residence if the tongue Of its thy
spindle had but speech
The dyes Of the forest wood barks, Of the
Eumac, 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 dye" is made by combination
of red oak bark and blue stone III boiling
water; and that "a brilliant yellow" may be
obtained by pouring boiling water upon
other component parts or ''sassafraS,
swamp bay and butterfly root" Tbs same
authorities tell Us that vivid puppies,
reds and green's were produced from 9
composition OF coal oil and sorghum, tinted
with the appropriate tree bark; though OF
coal oil for other purposes there was all too
little. II great similarity of quality and
texture existed in tire homespun cloth, the
enumeration Of the foregoing means Of dyeing
clearly demonstrates that there was at least
opportunity for as great diversity OF color as
distinguished the famous coat Of Joseph;
though the reader Of today is aptto look with
some suspicion on the conspicuous forward
hess Of the adtectives 'vivid,n ''briIlians,"
Splendid which always accompanied these
talismanic recipes
Strong thread for sewing was evolved from
tee little fax wheels For any unusually
handsome work, IL by any odd chance such
work should happen 60 DC demanded, sewing
six Was procured IN 81 emergency by ravel-
ing the friageS OF Old silk shawls OF picking
70 pieces six scraps which had survived
times touch, and cardipg, coznbiHg, and
twisting them into fine threads. These little
sllken 'hanSsS were sometimes 50 PRETTY
eoiored by means Of the dyes that have been
described, IS 70 become il the eyes Of the
wouiankind Of that generation almost as
beautiful SIS the many shaded. dainty floseIlss
Of the present are to the women o. today.-A
{. Gordon in TIE Century.