THAT SWEATER COULD NOT BE WORN by Marisa Masterson

 JC Penney, Sears, even Old Navy. They are the end result of the changing face of a dry goods store. I wonder if a person from 1875 would recognize what, for her, would have been a fabric shop?

Why do I go to Hobby Lobby for fabric instead of JC Penney? Ready-made clothing. The availability of garments purchased off the rack by the 1930s changed what stores carried. And before that? Keep
reading to learn about the sweater.

Women especially needed to be aware of fabric names. They would watch the local paper for advertisements highlighting what new shipments had arrived in either the mercantile (in a rural area) or the dry goods store.

In my Uncertain Sweethearts series, a small town grows over the five years spanning the series. The Transcontinental Railroad, in part, makes that happen. As new residents arrive, they increase the demand for goods in the area. 

In the last addition to the series, I've added a dry goods store. Rather than be in competition with O'Hanlon's Mercantile, the owner focuses on fabrics and notions. 

Can he sell ready-made dresses? Probably not. A local seamstress could be hired to sew a dress if a woman could not sew. Bachelors would go to her for a shirt, if they needed one.

In Aggie Ambushes the Rancher, my main female character dreams of being the seamstress for the small Kansas town. From the book:

With a twist of her head, she cast a longing glance at the open doorway. It represented freedom, a chance at something new. She would go with Aggie, and she would not return to Topeka.

Alice Mackenzie would help her stay in Fox Creek. She could set up a business there, repairing garments and sewing new ones. After all, women could not go to the dry goods store and simply buy a dress. They needed her to create those for them, as Fox Creek had neither a seamstress nor a dress shop.

And she had saved her wages. It would be enough to get her business started. Probably Paul O’Hanlon, the mercantile owner, would give her a discount on fabrics or at least extend her credit to buy what she needed. He understood the importance of a fresh start. After all, he had been a drunk and womanizer until he came face to face with God’s grace and forgiveness.

“Yes,” Ida whispered. “I’ll travel with her to Fox Creek.”

How would this be different in a city? This is where the sweater becomes important.

https://victorianweb.org/painting/
holl/paintings/4.html

 Females known as needle women worked at home, sewing loose-fitting garments and being paid pennies for each piece at the start of the ready-made clothing demand. The sweater assigned them the work and gave them the fabric. Basically, he was a contractor. No doubt, the name came from the root word 'sweat'. The man made the needle women sweat for very little pay, thus his moniker. The pay was so poor that many hardworking families still relied on charity or starved, no matter how hard the adults worked.

No wonder people were willing to escape to the unknown and little in soddies on the prairie. There, they could at least grow their own food. 

 

A woman has a chance at a new life—one she did not know she wanted.

Ida Parton never expects to fall in love with the man she intends to protect her charge from marrying. As a chaperone, it is her duty to save Aggie from marrying the notorious drinker, Clint Evans. But upon returning to Fox Creek, Ida discovers Clint is not the man she remembers. He is a rancher with a heart that speaks to her own, making it impossible for her to fulfill her duty. But with Aggie set on marrying Clint, Ida show her that marrying Clint would be a terrible match.

As the tension between them grows, so does the risk of losing Clint to Aggie. But when Clint's prized horses disappear, Ida realizes she may need more than just her love to save him. Can their secret love overcome the obstacles in their way? And what will happen to Aggie if she doesn't marry Clint?

With the help of the tough rancher, Ida must navigate a twisted path to protect her heart and the man she loves. Fans of western romance will be swept away by this tale of love, duty, and danger. Buy now!

• Strong Heroine
• Rugged Cowboy Hero
• Secret Love
• Unexpected Twists
• Small-Town Setting
  

The Art of Darning Socks by Jo-Ann Roberts

 

It's no secret that I enjoy handicrafts (quilting, sewing, and crocheting). I am okay with sewing on a button, turning a hem, or adding a binding around the perimeter of a quilt. I am, however, grateful that I don't need to darn holes in our socks or clothing, particularly, socks.

Yet, when I began my research for this blog, I was surprised to learn that the art of darning socks is still alive, particularly for those hardy souls who maintain a sustainable way of living or create intricate embroidery technique designs, popular in Northern and Eastern Europe, India, Japan, and Mexico.

A hundred years ago, could anyone imagine that darning tools would now be unrecognizable except to antiques or craft enthusiasts? There always used to be a steady supply of darning in the family mending bag. A woman sitting darning was a common sight, and so was a darning egg. Inside a stocking or sock with a hole, the "egg" or darner made it easier to stitch a neat repair.

Darning is a sewing technique for repairing holes or worn areas in fabric or knitting using needle and thread alone. It is often done by hand, but it is possible to darn with a sewing machine. The darning stitch is a simple running stitch in which the thread is "woven" in rows along the grain of the fabric, with the stitcher reversing direction at the end of each row and filling in the framework.

Darning is the traditional method for repairing fabric damage or holes that do not run along a seam, such as on the heel of a sock.

Darning Tools

A darning egg is an egg-shaped tool, made of stone, porcelain, or wood which is inserted into the toe or heel of the sock to maintain the proper shape for repairs. 

A darning mushroom is a mushroom-shaped tool usually made of wood. The sock is stretched over the curved top of the mushroom and gathered tightly around the stalk to hold it in place.

A darning gourd is a hollow dried gourd with a pronounced neck. The sock can be stretched over the full end of the gourd and held in place around the neck for darning.

Often, darning eggs opened to reveal neatly stowed sewing accessories.

There's something about a clever design with small things unexpectedly tucked inside a well-crafted piece of hardwood.

Glove Darner

When a glove needed darning, little darning eggs were pushed into the fingers. Some glove darners had different-sized balls on each end of a handle. With big sock darners, the handle itself could sometimes be used for glove repairs. Not all glove darners had a handle. Some were single egg shapes dropped into the finger. 

Upcoming Release!

Years ago, Lily Sutton was drawn to the new orphan boy in town. Unfortunately, she soon became the target of Grady Walsh's mischievous deeds in school.

Lily is back home in Harmony, Kansas for good. It appears history is about to repeat itself when the first person she sees when getting off the train is Grady. Everyone says he's changed but is she willing and able to forgive the boy who made her childhood unbearable.

Grady Walsh lost his heart to the sweet girl the day she made him a quilt. Can this man, now well-respected and liked by the townspeople, make up for the reckless actions of his youth?

Or will another steal her away before they have a chance to discover a kind of love that might just heal the pain from the past?

Bustles and Bustle Benches ... Oh, My!

Don't we love these gorgeous old dresses with their yards and yards of fabric and ruffles and flounces and yes, bustles? One of my favorite pictures when I was a little girl was found in my set of Little House on the Prairie books and showed Mary getting ready to go to college, and she wore a dress that looked somewhat similar to the one on the left. Hers wasn't quite as full, though, since Pa was a farmer and couldn't afford all that fancy stuff.

I've often imagined what it would feel like to wear a dress like this (aside from hot and stuffy). Would I feel taller, more elegant, more refined? I think I'd enjoy for about an hour, and then I'd be ready to be done. In addition to the heat and the stuffiness I just mentioned, a dress like this would just be too inconvenient. Can you imagine trying to get in and out of carriages, or for that matter, in and out of chairs?

Last summer, I toured a house that was built in the 1800s, and in the ballroom of that house was a chair they said was specifically designed to be used by a lady wearing one of these huge dresses. My own pictures seem to have disappeared, but this chair is somewhat similar. It's made with just one arm so her voluminous skirts can drape off the other side.

It's a little amusing to me that they'd need to build special furniture to accommodate the fashions of the day, but hey, I can't really judge. 

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Amelia C. Adams is the author of the Kansas Crossroads series, the Nurses of New York series, the Hearts of Nashville series, and others. She is an eater of chocolate chip cookies, especially those that are warm, and sees no reason to apologize for that. You can learn more about her at www.ameliacadams.com.