Archives for “19th Century Fashion”
The Montgomery Ward catalog has been called one of the most influential American books ever published. One such nominating committee, the Grolier Club, stated: “The mail order catalogue has been perhaps the greatest single influence in increasing the standard of American living. It brought the benefit of wholesale prices to city and hamlet, to the [...]
The History of Bolo Ties I was writing a ranch wedding scene in the 3rd. book in the Big D Dad – The Daltons series the other day and decided to do a little research on the history of bolo ties. I found some interesting material on the Internet. The matter of where and [...]
A feisty widow; a dashing outlaw– something’s definitely afoot. The Widow Beautiful Maggie Turner was the soul of respectability, determined to earn an honest living for herself and her town children in rough and tumble nineteenth century California. The Outlaw Dominick Sanders was shrouded in mystery, known to Maggie as the notorious Kissing Bandit—a man [...]
The Fillies welcome . . . . Lisa Richardson Through the ages women’s fashions have been the object of great interest by many, and great scorn by others. The scorn has generally been reserved for those fashionistas who wear the extremes of the style. And any fad can be taken to extremes. From French [...]
If you want to get ahead and get noticed, get a hat The gold rushes of the nineteenth century are familiar to us all, but have you ever heard of a plume rush? The craze of avian hats begun in 1870 became so widespread that by the middle of the 1880s, five million birds [...]
Little did I know that when writing Jackson Worth’s story that he’d have a weakness for a woman in boots. Enter, Sammie Gold, just your normal run of the mill wholesome girl, who is a good friend of the Worth family. Not only is our Sammie, Callie Worth’s best friend, she is a [...]
A recent study by Anytime Fitness showed that more than 70 percent of Americans would rather go to the dentist, do taxes, sit in the middle aisle of an airplane or visit in-laws than go shopping for a swimsuit. Agree or disagree? I just got back from Laguna Beach, California, which explains why bathing [...]
Last time I told you about visiting the Arabia Steamboat Museum. During the tour I was enchanted by one tiny item. Not gold or diamonds or beautiful venetian glass. Discovered wrapped in wool and tucked at the bottom of a carpenter’s tool box was a porcelain or china doll only three inches tall – a [...]
While most of us associate bonnets with the 19th century and earlier, I remember my mother wearing them in the 1950′s when she had to work outside which was a lot because she picked a lot of cotton back in those days to help the family out. Her bonnet was a slat variety [...]
Women have always been drawn to fashion, and the Texas frontier was no different than any other setting. From wealthy ranch wives to schoolmarms to women working on the farm, females shared a common thirst for fashion. Practicality won out for slopping the pigs or hanging out the wash, but for church, a picnic, or [...]
From a distance, you might think one cowboy looks pretty much like another, but on closer inspection, you’ll find that though their gear contains the same staples, a cowboy finds a way to make his equipment truly his own. From the type of horse he rides, to the tool work on his saddle, to the [...]
Besides the trademark hat and boots, the item of clothing that says Cowboy more than any other has to be his chaps. Evolved from the chaparejos of the Mexican vaqueros, chaps were originally designed as part of the saddle. Made of animal hides, these armas, or shields, attached to the horn of the saddle and wrapped around the rider’s [...]
I’m a huge tennis fan, and this weekend the finals of the last Grand Slam tournament of 2011 will be going on in New York at the US Open. I’m always amazed at the athleticism and power of the top contenders, but I wonder how they would fare if someone turned back the clock 120 years [...]
Last month I went with a friend to the Texas Tech Museum in Lubbock. The newspaper had advertised that they were displaying their extensive collection of old wedding dresses and I couldn’t wait to see them. They certainly didn’t disappoint. I learned that the museum keeps a ton of things in their basement and [...]
Okay. I admit it. I waited eagerly for the royal wedding and stayed up all night watching it, with pots of real London tea and my English porcelain teapot. I even made scones. Kate’s wedding dress was gorgeous (as well as her reception one) but I found myself intrigued –and in some cases LOL, alarmed— [...]
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there. The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads. [...]
Quilting is a lost art … or is it? Although Mama sewed ever since she was tall enough to peddle Grannie’s treadle sewing machine, she didn’t get interested in quilting until she retired. Yet, much like the pioneer women, she saved every scrap of material no matter how small. I inherited that trait. At [...]
I remember when women wore aprons over their dresses as they did their daily work. Nowadays, I don’t think our kids even know what an apron is. The following essay was on this site but also on a number of other sites: http://theopenpantry.blogspot.com/2009/01/history-of-aprons.html “The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath, [...]
(Note from Winnie: Our guest blogger today is Janét Vincent Lee - an actress, singer, costumer, western re-enactor and most importantly, my friend. She and I go way back (I won’t say how many years :) ) to our high school days and have just recently reconnected via facebook. She very generously agreed to cover for me [...]
I’m right proud to be here at the Junction. Thank you for having me. I’ve been writing romance since 1984, and I’ve been fortunate to have several books published. I love what I do. I also love to share with other writers what expertise I have learned about this crazy business. Most people have heard [...]
When I wrote my first novel, my love for Gone With the Wind (both book and movie) led me to set my story in the Civil War South. Over the course of the next ten years, I explored many other settings: Medieval England, Regency England, Victorian England, the high seas (pirate books), the Titanic, the [...]
We’re going to start and end this week with research books. On Monday, Winnie gave us a wonderful look at a book containing information and recipes from San Francisco in the late 1800s. Now I want to share a really cool book I discovered a couple of years ago. I mentioned it during our [...]
Linore Rose Burkard Those who enjoy the excitement of a western romance, with all its shoot-em-out pistols and gunsmoke, may not realize that regency romances might also feature a fair amount of weaponry. While the rules of engagement (for fighting, that is, not matrimony) were vastly different than those in operation during the years of [...]
Once again I was trying to come up with some activity or thing the children in my current WIP could use to amuse themselves. One idea I thought of was paper dolls. But how common were they in 1894? So off I went to do some research. And here is a summary of what [...]
