I'm sorry for the long silence - my health played tricks on me as usually and there was no energy for blogging:-(
But now, much sewing is in the works and in the plans; I've got a nice brown striped cotton that I'd like to make into a simple Regency day dress, I'm finishing up a period Lolita lingerie blouse inspired by the 1890s and early Edwardian era, fussing with a mock up of an 1890s/antique doll inspired Lolita dress and planning a nice lacy underskirt, plus a new black velvet bonnet and a white/cream winter Lolita jacket.. we shall see how it all goes:-)

For now I'd like to thank ABC Lolita once more for the Liebster Blog Award, that's so sweet of you! *hugs*, welcome all the new followers of this blog - and show you the progress on the Lolita lingerie blouse.

Pattern: drafted by my sister.
Fabric: cotton batiste, cotton insertion laces, vintage silk satin ribbons (which you can't see yet)

The laces on the cut out puffy portion of the sleeve.

Except for the placket (that you can't see), it is entirely handsewn so far and probably the rest will be also:-) That's all for now, but stay tuned for new projects that are coming soon:-)))

A little teaser:

   This challenge is a fun one and I enjoyed it a great deal, especially since it gives me an opportunity to show off what my sister has sewn for me as a Christmas present:-)))It was inspired by the ballgowns of the 1860s and the movie Sissi with Romy Schneider and Karlheinz Böhm.

Ready for the ball... I can just hear the Brahms waltz:-)

Blogs participating:

The Bloody Tea Party
Oh Velvetena

So the pillow intended as a gift for a friend I mentioned in the article LBC Week 10: DIY Gift Ideas is finally done!

A Chinese miniature carpet, which I had to start from scratch some 4 or 5 times before I got it rightXD




A while ago I actually made this miniset of baby clothes, but never got around to post it yet... so here it is, in the to-be-finished-one-day wicker cradle:


A bjd Regency dress + white fake leather shoes + a hat (which wasn't meant to be Regency - put there just because I like it together with the dress):



A set of accessories for one of my Barbies: a chatelaine inspired by one I saw in Godey's Lady's Book, a parasol, a necklace, handkerchief and a lace fan. The fan is foldable, yay!


Buns from salt dough:


An openable miniature photo album, two stacks of letters, lavender mini scented sachet, a perfume bottle:


What are you ladies and gentlemen working on recently? Share links, I'm curious:-)

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Hello all, it's been a long time, hasn't it? I hope it's going to get better now:-) Happy New Year to all my dear readers, I hope it treats you all generously!

This is the first part of a series of articles on prices and incomes in the 19th century and I hope at least some of you will find the information useful; it will be periodically updated as I find out more.

This article specifically deals with Victorian period prices as I found them in various publications, websites, 19th century advertisements, women's magazines, household guides, travelling guides and even Old Bailey court proceedings; mostly the prices and incomes apply to a period from 1850s onwards. I will try to mark the years where I remember them.
Various goods including bread, kitchen utensils or clothes were produced in various quality categories; where I know what category it is, I will try to indicate it.
I hope you enjoy:-)

Prices

Food

Bread, 4lbs (1856): 7 1/4 d.
Butter, fresh, in London, per lb (1856): 1s. 6d.
Milk, in London, per quart (1856): 4d.

Coffee, per lb: 2s.
Brown sugar, per lb: 4d.
Eggs, bought in London during winter, per 8-10: 1s.
Eggs, bought at a farm during spring and summer, per piece: 1/2 d.
Cheddar cheese, per lb (1856), best quality: 11d.
Beef sirloin, per lb (1856): 8d.

Mutton leg, per lb (1856): 7d.
Veal leg, per lb (1856): 6d.
Sardines, large box: 1s.
Ham: 8s. 6d.
Tongue: 3s. 6d.
Hare, per lb (1874): 8d.-9d.
Rabbit, per lb (1874): 8d.
Pheasant, per brace (1856): 7s.

Baking powder: 1d. per packet; 6d. per box


Claret, per dozen bottles: 12s.-30s.
Champagne, per dozen bottles: 30s.-42s.

Rough ice, per lb: 1-2d.

Housing - rent

Renting a house in Bloomsbury, per annum: £120
A semi-detached house near New Cross-road (1881), per annum: £40-£60
A house in Granville Park (1881), per annum: £60-£65
A large and handsome house in South Hackney (1881), per annum: £75-£100
An old mansion with garden by the Clapton-road [sic] (1881), per annum: £75-£150
An unfurnished house in Kensington, Argyll Road (1881), per annum: £130-£140
A house in Holland Park (1881), per annum: £340 +
Ditto in Brunswick Gardens (1881), per annum: £100-£150
Ditto near Regent's Park (1881), per annum: £70-£90    (Source: The Suburban Homes of London, 1881)

Utility bills

Telephone subscription, per annum:  £20

Household items

Porcelain dinner service: 1-100 guineas
Dessert and tea service: 8/6 - 50 guineas
Toilet set: 3/6 - 20 guineas
12 cut wine glasses: 3/- - 3 guineas
2nd hand silver tea set: £15+

Japanese curtains, per pair: 5s.+
Palmitine ornamental candles, per 1 lb. box: 1s. 6d.
Note paper and envelopes, per box: 2s.+
Mourning note paper and envelopes: 6s.
Pens, per box: 1s.
Carpet sweeper: 12s. 6d.
Washing machine: £6 6s.
6ft kitchen range: £35
Gas cooking stove: £5 5s.

Suite of drawing room furniture: 12-20 guineas

Sewing machine: £3 3s.+
Billiard dining table: £28+
Harmonium: £6+
Pianoforte: 25-85 guineas
Cornet: 30s.+

A good quality doll: 1s. 6d.-2s.

Clothing, shoes, accessories and fabrics

6 pairs of drawers: 12s. 6d.+
6 chemises: 12s. 6d.+
3 nightgowns: 12s. 6d.+
Woolen dressing gown: 12s. 6d.
Flannel dressing gown: 1 guinea
Corset: 7s. 6d.+

Dress shirt: 2s.- 2 guineas

Quilted silk slippers: 3s. 6d.+
Male walking boots: 28s.
Umbrella: 10s. 6d.+
Spectacles: 3s. 6d. - 10s. 6d.
Lady's hat: 5s. 6d.
Lady's boots: 10s. 6d.

Lady's trousseau: from £50

Mourning dress by Jay, plain: 10s. 6d.
Mourning dress by Jay, fancy trimmings: 14s. 6d.+
Garibaldi blouse: 6s.
Harrod's silk tea gown (all the Harrods prices are from 1895): 4.5 guineas
Harrod's silk blouse trimmed with lace: 25s. 9d.
Harrod's silk skirt: 5.5 guineas
Harrod's lady's hat: 2 guineas
Harrod's little girl's sailor frock: 12s. 11d.
Harrod's little girl's lacy hat: 25s.
Worth gown (the simpliest one, 1868): about £64 (1600 francs)

Wolfskin pelisse: £7 10s.-£9 10s.
Sable fur, per skin (this and the following fur prices are taken from a 1911-ish article, I included them here just to give a general idea): £70-100
Sable coat, of esp. fine skins: £3000
Ditto, average skins: £1500
Sable coat collar: £200-£250
Large sable muff of 8 skins: £560
Ermine coat, best quality: £250-£300
Ditto long stole: £100
Ditto short tie: £8-£14
Ditto big muff: £15-£25
Chinchilla coat, best quality: £2000
Ditto three-quarter coat, best quality: £1000
Ditto muff, best quality: £500-£650

Black silk, per yard at 24 inches (61 cm) of width: 2s. 11d.-12s. 6d.
Irish poplin, per yard: 5s. 6d.-5s. 9d.

Beauty products

A bottle of Irish perfume: 2s. 6d.
Kalydor (toilet) soap: 4-6d. per tablet
Hair cream: 1s. 6d.+
Beetham's extract from glycerine and cucumber (to make skin white and soft), per bottle: 1s.-4s. 6d.
Atkinson's Essence of White Rose perfume, a small bottle, per dozen: 16s.
Ditto, a large bottle, per dozen: 28s.

Jewellery

Man's silver pocket watch:  £3 3s.+
Lady's silver watch: £2 2s.+
Man's gold watch: 12-20 guineas
Lady's gold watch: 10-20 guineas
Queen Victoria's emerald parure:  £20 000
Ditto, but made of diamonds: £15 000

Imitation gold jewellery:
                                    wedding ring: 1s.
                                    brooch: 3s.
                                    earrings: 3s.
                                    cross: 1s. 8d.
                                    locket: 1s. 6d.
                                    shirt studs: 1s. 3d.

Miscellaneous

Music lessons by a fashionable master: 1 guinea per lesson
Photo portrait: 2s. 6d.
Portrait by Millais: 2000 guineas +
Opera ticket during the Season: 1 guinea for the stalls, 2-12 guineas for the boxes
Book of Millais's Illustrations: 16s.
A copy of The Times: 3d.
Flowers (a bouquet?): 2s.
A bouquet of violets: 1d.

1st class funeral: £28 10s.
Turkish baths ticket: 2d. 6d.

A drachm and a half of laudanum: 2d. (2d. worth is a large quantity, even for a person who is constantly using it, according to a chemist in 1877)

Incomes

Matchbox maker, per 100 boxes: 2d.
A doll dresser working at home, per dozen doll outfits of cheap quality: 1 1/2 d. - 8d.
A doll dresser working in a company, per week: 10-14s.
West End shopgirl, per annum (1895): £25 + £3-£6 commissions monthly; however, this is the higher figure and less than £15 a year is more likely
A male shop assistant (apprentice) in a grocery shop, per annum: £26
Junior clerk at solicitor's office, per annum: £52
A certified teacher in village school (1840s): £30-£40
A teacher in a London board school (1890s), woman: £85, a yearly rise of £3
Ditto, man: £95, a yearly rise of £5
Butler (in a family with £1000 a year, 1856): £30-£45
Housemaid (1856):10 to 16 guineas
Cook (1856):10 to 24 guineas
Lady's maid (1856): 18 to 25 guineas
Young lady's maid (1856): 12 to 18 guineas
Maid-of-all-work (1856): 4 to 10 guineas.
Lady clerk in the Assurance Company, per annum: starting salary of £32, increases yearly to final £100
Lady accountant, per week: 15s. in her first position, then 18-25s.

Clergymen: That rather depends. The father of the famous Brönte sisters earned £200 a year; in 1881, the Greenwich parish church gave living of £700 and in the same year, the church of St. John in Blackheath yielded £600 a year, while St. Paul's in Hamstead yielded £1026.

A word on governesses

   According to Angeline Goreau, the most a governess could hope for was £100 a year; the usual upper limit however seems to be some £30-£45 pounds. The lower is as little as £12 - for comparison, that is how much a kitchenmaid would make. The fictional Jane Eyre earned £30 per annum; as Goreau states, Charlotte Brönte in her last governess post earned £20.

   How about the expenses though? Agnes Grey, the eponymous heroine of Anne Brönte's novel estimates she might need £20 to cover them if she is very frugal; the Fraser's Magazine estimated £27 of expenses to be the bare minimum.
   The breakdown in the magazine is thus:

£16 for clothes
£6 for washing
£3 for postage and stationery
£2 for casualties

Medical and traveling expenses were not put into account in this estimate. (Source: Agnes Grey, Introduction by Angeline Goreau)

   For one of my planned Lolita dresses I'll most likely need a bustle pad, so I found a tutorial on Youtube by the lovely Traybuff and tried my hand at it.


    What should have been a pretty quick and straightforward craft turned into a matter of 8 days, when I decided to embellish it with wheat embroidery and lace insertion.

   The embroidery pattern from La Belle Assemblée, 1815:

   My first ever attempt at circular lace insertion. Or any lace insertion, for that matter:-) Kind of feels like magic to make, even though I have not quite figured out yet how to force the lace to lie down perfectly smoothly.

   I didn't mark the edge of the smaller circle and as a result it is uneven, ah well. We learn from our mistakes.

   I had no wadding at hand, so I stuffed it with white old rags - they serve well, but I wonder if wadding would have produced a smoother result?


   But overall, I'm quite happy with it:-)))

Fabric and notions used:
A piece of old cotton sheeting
A vintage ribbon (I think it is a silk taffetta, but I'm not sure)
A vintage French insertion lace

It is entirely handsewn.

Project start date: 27. 10. 2013
Project end date: 4. 11. 2013

   Once upon a time, there was a discussion on the egl about wearing Lolita when you are sickly or/and disabled. I've lost the bookmark to that discussion since, but it got me thinking. How to salvage the feeling of beauty, elegance or cuteness, when your nose is running, eyes watering and your organs seem to be bent on murdering you?
   As any sickly Lolita knows, it's not an easy task, at all. During infirmity, comfort and practicality of stuff we put on or use are usually prioritized; much as a girl could want to, spending feverish days on sickbed in a 400 USD (or even 50 USD or 40 USD, depending on where you shop) dress is simply not good for either the girl or the dress. But, certain things can be done that can uplift your spirits and make you feel like a Lolita, despite you haven't left your bed for weeks or months.
   If you have got any tips on your own, please feel free to leave a comment - I will add them, with a credit to you.



1. Sew or buy a nice set of pyjamas, or a pretty nightgown - flannel one for example is great for the cold winter weather in the Northern Hemisphere, as it's warm, sturdy and the potential ruffles and pintucks on it would not only brighten your day and night, but would also withstand even rather violent bouts of sickness.A cute dressing gown is also a great idea!





2. Wear a headbow, cute barette clips, or stick a rose pin onto your nightgown when the worst stage is over; if you get cold feet, it's easy to find cheap and cute socks with frills, strawberries or butterflies (I've got quite a number of them to cheer me up). As Zipzip suggested, pearl necklaces are great to enliven a dull sick-wear too!



3. Get some flowers to put near your bed, if you can. Potted ones are the best in my experience, since they last the longest - a hyacinth bought not-yet-bloooming is an especial pleasure. It gives out a lovely scent and watching it slowly open its blooms day by day, when you need a bit of tranquility and hope that you, too, one day will bloom into health again, is rather... soothing and cathartic. Especially if you are ill through winter - a flower is a promise of spring, and spring is a promise of new strength.



4. Cutefy your medication holders and the cups from which you drink your herbal teas. Because the plain old medication bottles and plates can be rather depressing after a time, getting a nice little pillbox with a cute picture on it might add a splash of colour and style to eating your daily share of pills. I've got three so far:


5. If you use crutches, you can turn them into candy canes with coloured tapes, or deco them with a band of rhinestones and cold porcelain roses or plastic hearts - anything is possible! Let your imagination go wild!



6. Watch cute movies - Disney, Studio Ghibli movies, anime, anything sweet, nice and well-ending to keep your spirits high; Deka Wanko or Spirited Away anyone?


7. Cute bedding might make it better too:

   To every ill person out here, Lolita or not:

   I remember once watching some make-up expert claim women in Victorian times didn't use make-up at all in Victorian England, basing this claim on - if memory serves well - the fact that no make-up from this period survived. Somehow this kept bothering me, since I've previously come by an article showing as a supporting evidence an excerpt from a book by Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, where make-up practices of some girls were revealed:

"Half the girls do it, either paint or powder, darken their lashes with burnt hair- pins, and take cologne on lumps of sugar or belladona to make their eyes bright."

                                                                                            (An Old-Fashioned Girl, L.M. Alcott, 1869)

   So I went digging through several Victorian women's magazines and watching BBC's Victorian Farm Episode 3, et voilà, look at what I found:

Bow Bells, 1866.

Godey's Lady's Book, August 1864

   So far, so good. The red lip salve functions like a sort of red lip gloss, according to Ruth Goodman; the recipe for the powder itself states it is for the purpose of concealing pimples. But it was the following article which made my beginner researcher's heart flutter:

   PAINTED FACES, transcribed from the April 1876's issue of Frank Leslie's Lady's Magazine:



 

   Still, there is much to explore yet. Onto the research, I will keep you updated if I find anything!


   What's brewing: I've got an article about Polish castle Książ in the making, plus two photoreports from Adršpach-Teplice Rocks stone town and from Turnov Museum, as well as a bustle pad walkthrough and several project dumps; I'm researching 1876's petticoats. For now I'd like to wish...