Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-09-27
CONFEDERATE DRESS
HOW THE PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH
CLOTHED THEMSELVES.

rials-SpiHning, 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 at random prove the general
rule. In August, 1884, 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 cIavats; 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, 1866, the material for 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 un-
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 a charm the less and a pang
| she more. Any feminine garment in the
shape of cloak or bonnet or dress which
,hanced 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 We're necessarily much
relaxed in the southern Confederacy so far
as practice went when even such articles as
pins brought through the blockade sold for
Sl2 paper, and needles for SO, with not
enough of either.
The superstition expressed in the couplet,
| See pin. and pick it 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 go 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 clank of the loom treadle
were the martial music with which the
women at home met the fierce attacks of the
egions 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 the cotton fields and the spinners ir
the loom shed worked on contentedly, with g
seemingly sublime Indifference to the mighty
struggle that was CONFUSING a continent fol
their sakes. OF this dusky people it may
here be said that, no matter what philanthro
pists, politicians, or philosophers have saiG
Of them in the past or shall prophesY o.
them in the future, they were true to every
trust reposed in them; and with a most tire
mendous power for direst evil in their pos
session. the negroes of the south in the dayl
Of the civil war did neught but good.
the "colored troops" of the Union army
fought nobly," the slaves of the southern
plantation so bore themselves in those stirring
times as TO merit no smaller need of praise
nd faI cr,fn ,,,I r,,l
stantial texture were woven, cut and fash
ioned into garments for whites and blacks
Plentiful crops of fax REINFORCED the ARA,
of wool and cotton and many little fla,
wheel which in the days of peace has sine
moved north to adorn in its newly gilded an
beribtoned state the boudoir of some astht
tic girl might tell pathetic tales of its forme
place of residence if the tongue of its tin
spindle had but speech.
The dyes of the forest wood barks, of tn
sumac, OF the Carolina indigo and of the COZ
peras from the numerous copperas wells wer
utilized to color the cloth thus woven. W
4 read in the current newspapers that "a hanC
some brown dye" is made by combinatio
of red oak bark and blue stone in boilin
water; and that "a brilliant yellow" may
obtained by pouring boiling water upo
other component parts of 'sassafra
swamp bay and butterfly root.o The san
]. authorities tell us that "vivid purple
reds and greens" were produced from
:. composition of coal oil and sorghum, tinte
with the appropriate tree bark; though
coal oil for other purposes there was all tt
little. If a great similarity of quality al
texture existed in the homespun cloth, Il
enumeration of the foregoing means of dyaiI
clearly demonstrates that there was at lea
opportunity for as great diversity of color
distinguished the famous coat of Josep
though the reader of today is aptto look wi
some suspicion on the conspicuous forwar
ness of the adjectives vivid" brilliant
splendid" which always accompanied the
talismanic recipes.
Strong thread for sewing was evolved fro
the little fax wheels. For any unusual
handsome work, if by any odd chance su
!, work should happen to be demanded, sewi
silk was procured in an emergency by raw
ing the fringes Of old silk shawls or picki
to pieces silk scraps which had surviv
|. times touch, and carding, combing, a
twisting them into fine threads. These lit
s silken "hanksn were sometimes so prett
-. colored by means of the dyes that have be
ed described, as to become in the eyes of I
ar, womankind of that generation almost
nj. beautiful as the many shaded, dainty filosel
a Of the present are to the women Of today
ng, C. Gordon in The Century.