The first book of "Hows"

The first book of  'Hows'

This most interesting little needlework booklet came into my possession, due to the tattered condition it was in, and the fact that it was meant as a self-teaching manual for children I presume it must be a rather rare copy.

It is a rather fascinating peek into what was considered important and basic skills which every girl should learn at the turn of last century.

Button holes, turning a Dutch heel, cross stitch embroidery, basic tailoring, and more.

The booklet is in a very poor state, and my scanner is not much better, so I’m offering the scan of the booklet for just a small contribution fee.

I hope you will find it useful both as an historical educational document, but also as a way to maybe go back to the basics of traditional sewing.

The scan is available here: The first book of Hows - ETSY 

The booklet was tucked inside another cover, with a simple brown cloth cover.

I'm interested in knowing what those 'Frames and boards' were like ?

Note the 'Teacher's note'.

La mode illustrée - 8 March 1868

I have a stack of old French ladies weeklies from the late 1800’s, and much like modern magazines they include stories to be continued, recipes, household tips , fashion guidelines, and craft projects.

If I had more time on my hands I would go through them meticulously and re-chart  all the patterns, then try out the designs and recipes. But, alas I do not think I will ever have that kind of extra time even if I lived to be a hundred years old! But, I can try to chart the most interesting patterns and share them with you. 

In the issue for the 8^th of March 1868 there was a beautiful Angel's trumpet posy originally designed to decorate a small table top screen, as well as a decorative cross intended for a priest's chasuble.

These are available in a combined PDF both on etsy and the website.

I did try out a simple cookie recipe from that particular magazine, which you can find here: Cookie recipe from 1868

La mode illustrée - 8 March 1868

Needlepoint cross design for a chasuble

Angel's trumpet posy

Cookie recipe from 1868

I’m working on re-charting some patterns from an 1868 French magazine called ‘La mode illustrée’, at the end of the weekly edition there are some recipes and I thought it would be fun to give them a try.

Typical of the time period the instructions are rather vague, and leave a bit to the discretion of the lady of the house and the cooking facilities she had. Most household still used wood burners which could be unpredictable, gas stoves would not make it into most homes before the 1880’s, but it would be another 40-50 years before electric stoves would become the centerpiece of the modern kitchen.

Here is the direct translation of the recipe:

 “Tea cakes – 50 grams of nice flour, 50 grams of sugar, one egg, of which the white will be beat into snow. Grease a paper which you will put on a metal plaque, place the dough dumplings which you will have shaped as a circle or oval, cook it in the oven of stove or under a country oven.

So I gave it a try like this:

Makes 6 cookies

- Beat the white of the egg until stiff

- Cream 50g of sugar and the egg yolk

- Add 50 g of flour

- Fold in egg white

- Drop on cooking sheet and bake at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes (or until the corners start to get brown)

- Cool on cooking rack and store in an airtight container.

I tried this recipe three times. In one batch added a little bit of vanilla sugar, while another I baked at 160 degrees for about 18-20 minutes; the results were the same as when I baked them at 180 degrees.

If you try this recipe or a variation let me know how yours turned out. 

Tea cakes (cookies) from an 1868 recipe

The original recipe - In French

Photos of Easters long ago.......

Edwardian girl and Easter eggs

Toddler in extravagant Easter cart

Easter morning

Lady with Easter egg, dated 1913

Italian photo postcard

Little girl in large Easter egg

Antique French Easter postcard

Little boys from the 50's at Easter time

Little girl from the 40's with her Easter bunnies

Grandma taking baby on an Easter walk ? 1910

Antique and Vintage Christmas photo collection

Here is a little collection of antique and vintage Christmas photos..... all items are available on etsy.com

https://www.etsy.com/no-en/listing/222749258/vintage-photo-christmas-wheels-snapshot

https://www.etsy.com/no-en/listing/254368266/vintage-photo-christmas-dinner-snapshot

https://www.etsy.com/listing/171134368/vintage-photo-1934-christmas-mom-and

https://www.etsy.com/listing/179863727/winter-1919-little-boy-sitting-outside

https://www.etsy.com/listing/240906299/vintage-photo-christmas-dinner-home

https://www.etsy.com/listing/213755271/double-exposure-trick-photography

www.etsy.com/no-en/listing/228913810/children-around-the-christmas-tree

www.etsy.com/no-en/listing/257914971/spirit-of-christmas-circa-1930

 www.etsy.com/no-en/listing/258019958/christmas-tree-1930s

Antique armchair embroidery patterns

    I recently won at an online auction two hand painted Victorian era seat cover patterns.... Like I too often do, I looked at the photo and skipped reading the description.
  
    Once again, it was one of those sellers who take bad photos, but from what I could see the patterns were faded, and damaged.... so I put a low bid, and won ! Yeah !
   
    A week or so later I come home from my day job and am told by my oldest son that he had to sign for some mail that the postman delivered to the door. And there it was waiting for me on the living room table,  a huge flat package. I opened it and was surprised to see how big the patterns were.... The largest being 46 x 69 cm !

    Now I have a new problem, where to store them !  Antique, hand painted patterns cannot be folded, rubbed against other items, and certainly never bent, or exposed to humidity !

    How old are the patterns ? I can't say for sure, but this style/quality is what you would find at the end of the Berlin wool work craze - late 1800's... the quality of the colours, details and workmanship is lower than the earlier models. They were by this time considered 'mass produced', and William Morris of the arts and crafts movement did not approve of them.

Imagine how much patience it would take to stitch such large patterns

Notice the little numbers on the painting... probably colour marking.

Detail in all its faded glory

    I was a bit impatient to start charting them... even though I have several other projects in the waiting queue.... so I chose to chart the little rose vase from the first pattern.

   

     The pattern is available here: https://www.etsy.com/no-en/listing/256399919/rose-vase-cross-stitch-pattern-instant?ref=shop_home_feat_1

Gleaners pride cook book 1897

     A few weeks ago I commented in an ETSY forum thread in regard as to whether or not  people are interested in old cookbooks.

     Anyone who knows me will answer that if you have a curious ( or rare ) item of Victoriana daily life.... I am most certainly interested ! To the point where I have received personal mail from total strangers inviting me to participate in online auctions of rare items... but alas, my purse does not stretch that far... just think about the import tax..... Norwegian import tolls are not collector friendly......

   Anyways, I was contacted by a lady who sells vintage on ETSY who had an old cook book in a terrible state and she was wondering if it could be something I would fancy.

   Here is part of her convos :

    'My mother-in-law was born in 1895 and I believe she had relatives in Fort Atkinson and obviously would have gotten this at a later time in her life. Bill's family moved to Whitewater in 1933 so maybe she got it then...'

    'I almost threw that recipe book out because of the condition, but glad I didn't....because as my husband says...it is going to a good home...'

  I purchased the little book from her, and received it very quickly. The cook book is a compilation of recipes from the Gleaner society congregational church, each entry has the name of the lady who shared it. But what I like the most in old books are the handwritten recipes, those are tried and proven, loved, and probably something that was often on the household menu.


     Sadly the pages are dirty, torn, and the recipes written in pencil are faded. But I did make out a couple of them and will be giving them a try, sharing with you my readers the results.

   Here are a couple ' Hints taken from best authorities'

- Do not put glasses that have held milk into hot water, as this causes the milk to penetrate the glass and can never be removed.

- A silver spoon put into a glass jar, will temper it so that it can at once be filled with anything hot, even to the boiling point.

- Nothing but silver or wood should be used in mixing salads.

- To improve flavor, add a dozen nasturtium buds to the vinegar in your vinegar cruet.

- Cotton batting is impervious to all life germs. Draw it carefully over a full jar of preserved fruits, and it will prevent mold and fermentation.


Be sure to visit  Edna's etsy shop for more fabulous finds :
 www.Ednascloset.etsy.com

Gleaners pride cook book, missing the cover.

Add caption

An odd to dining.

Hand writen recipes

Every spare space is covered in handwriten notes.

The back of the little book.