Home Needlework Magazine, June 1909

"My head looks like a pin-cushion..."

My co-worker let me borrow her original 1909 Home Needlework Magazine, which she'd found among her grandmother's things.  I've taken copious pictures, to show the cool stuff inside!  (The magazine is quite substantial, so you'll forgive me if I didn't copy the whole thing!)

If you're looking for more archives of this periodical, the University of Arizona's On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics has some later issues (from 1914, 1915, and 1916).  Google Books has digitized a bunch of issues, too.  And there are scattered excerpts of it on various vintage craft websites, but I don't know of a complete archive anywhere.  I'd be happy to be corrected about that, though! 

THE MAGAZINE

Their own words are sufficient for this section:

Home Needlework is distinctly a woman's magazine, devoted exclusively to art needlework, embroidery, and lacemaking.  It is an authority on home decoration, dress embroidery, and things fashionable.  Each number is profusely illustrated by fine engravings and superb colored plates. 

(I saw no colored plates in this magazine, but since the whole thing is constantly advertising things you could send away for... sewing kits and stenciling patterns and thread... perhaps colored plates were a similar extra.) 

A later notice in the magazine warns unwary readers to beware "a man claiming to be an agent of the Home Needlework Company of Milwaukee, Wis., which concern he claims is a branch of our house".  But he LIES!  He takes money from innocent needlework lovers and then never sends them any magazines, patterns, or kits.  The monster!  Accept no substitutes, dear readers: "We caution all of our subscribers not to give money for HOME NEEDLEWORK patters or designs to any one.  Such orders should be sent only to us at Florence, Mass."

A-hem.  Where was I? Oh yes, this particular issue.  Page numbering starts on 193 and ends on 272.  Curious about the pagination, I look at all the 1902 issues one after another, and discover that the page numbers start at one in the first issue of the year, then simply continue through the next issues instead of starting at one each time.  This makes research and reference easier, since if I say something was on "page 34 of Home Needlework Magazine, 1909", at least there's only one "page 34" in the whole year.  Anyway, this issue has a total of 78 pages, or 39 leaves, all stapled together with two iron staples now gone rusty and tarnishing the paper they pierce.  The paper is not acid free, so it is yellowing and getting brittle.  Both the front and back covers, which are a little heavier paper than the rest, have broken at the spine and fallen off. 

THE ADS

Don'tcha hate ads?  Unless they're vintage or antique ads, in which case they're interesting!

Since the magazine was directed at women, there are lots of baby products in here.  Talcum powder is powdered talc, a mineral found in clay deposits in the ground.  It is smooth and slippery, absorbs moisture and draws it away from the body.  For this reason, it's popular for preventing diaper rash.  "Borated talcum" means it has been mixed with borax or boric acid, presumably for antiseptic reasons? 

Nowadays, people are suspicious of talcum powder because talc is often found in or near asbestos deposits in the ground, and many people claim their cancers can be blamed on regular use of talcum powder, either through skin absorption of asbestos or from breathing it in while using it.  Simple corn starch is a safer alternative to talc! 

But enough about babies (and furniture treated as lovingly as a baby!)... what about The College Boy?

Postum was a non-caffeinated drink made of roasted grains, invented by Charles William Post, of the Postum Cereal Company (now Post Consumer Brands).  His story is that he had terrible health in his twenties, and had tried everything, before going to the Battle Creek Sanitarium, run by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg.  The sanitarium was founded on Seventh-Day Adventist ideas of eating, but when Kellogg was disfellowshipped (because he put sugar in corn flakes!) from the church, he continued his work on non-religious grounds.  Kellogg was a major figure in the "food reform movement", promoting the practice of vegetarianism, on the grounds that man is not really an omnivore, but is best adapted to a diet of fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables.  C. W. Post experienced great benefits from a change of diet, and founded a cereal company to help others. 

Postum, the drink, was popular among health nuts, and religions that forbade or discouraged caffeine use (Seventh-Day Adventism, Mormonism).  Wikipedia says it's still around (or was as of 2013), but I've never seen or tried it.  I wonder what it tastes like! 

The irony is that as obesity research continues today, a lot of people have become leary of a heavily grain-based diet, just as Post became leary of a meat-based diet and advocated for grains!  The processed foods we eat now are hardly pure grain, though; modern processing and additives go a long way toward ruining any health benefits grain may have on its own.  It's amazing that for all we know about the world, science, et cetera, our own bodies still mystify us! 

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Now, how 'bout some sewing ads?  Joseph Horne Co. advertises a kit: three yards of white cotton lawn, with an embroidery design and shirtwaist pattern stamped on it, so you could make it yourself.  Only 60 cents!  The tool on the right, below, is a graduated awl for making holes in cotton when doing eyelet embroidery.  The only difference between this and any other graduated awl is the measurements on there and the little attachment that keeps you from stabbing too far through the fabric.  It seems an unnecessary gadget, since most people can just poke any old awl through the fabric until the hole is "big enough" without needing help. 

MY OBSERVATIONS

As is usual for old handwork resources, the writers assume a high level of basic knowledge in the readers.  I have found this to be true of many antique resources... old carpentry, building, and machinist manuals as well as sewing instructions.  While a modern craft magazine might start a lacemaking lesson with a three-step illustrated guide to threading a needle, a vintage or antique one will say things like "wind the thread around an ordinary lead pencil 10 times, slip from pencil, and into this ring make 20 s. c." (page 219, "Maltese Lace Plate Doily", by Lillian H. Wales).

What is an "s. c."?  I don't know.  The article doesn't tell me.  The only picture is of the finished doily, looking a little like tenneriffe lace, but apparently made by different method.  

Some vocabulary choices are interesting, like "conventional” being used as an adjective for needlework designs, but not in a bad way. Apparently people wanted to be conventional?  Roses, the magazine assures us, are "conventional".  Butterflies are "very popular this season . . . but they are prettiest when combined with floral or conventional figures" (page 217, "Suggestions for Embroidered Waists").  "Effective" is used quite often, but I'm not sure what it's meant to convey; a stamped pattern for cutwork embroidery of trees is labeled "an effective table runner".  Effective at what?  Table runners have no purpose or effect... they are decorative!  "Simple and Effective Embroideries for the Home" is the title of another article (page 223).  Perhaps the "effect" is an emotional response in the viewer? 

And now, just for fun, some amusing quotes which all share two features: they come at the beginnings of articles or ads (like topic sentences or theses), and they have the tone of someone saying "of course we all know this". 

• "Saint Distaff's Day, January 7, found us engaged in industriously patching, piecing, and mending this year, and as one's occupation on that day is a prophecy of what one will be doing throughout the year, we decided to make the best of it, and like the ancient English housewives, be 'vertewous and thrifty'." (Page 206, Some Dutch Collars, by Martha Genung Stearns.)
• "The making of Pretty Underwear is very comfortable work for summer.  One has generally by this time attended to the more urgent demands in the way of summer sewing, and can afford to indulge in some dainty undergarments for herself or to give to friends later on." (Page 209, Pretty Embroidered Underwear".)
• "One always finds time for embroidery for the little ones even in these days of hurry and bustle." (page 228, "Simple Embroideries for Little Tots".)
• "Baby is first --- of course!  But next to him--or her--the Pride of the Home is the Furniture.  It is like the baby in one respect--it is at its best when it is clean." (Ad for Ivory Soap.) 

Positioned and phrased thus, they serve as propaganda: media meant to persuade you to adopt certain values.  Depending on the values you currently hold to, they may seem quaint, or they may seem like guilt trips disguised as affirmations.  Sort of like if you walked into my immaculate house and I said "Sorry for the mess!  You know how it is when your cleaning toothbrush breaks halfway through scrubbing the baseboards!"  (You know how that is, right?  Because we all scrub our baseboards regularly.  Us girls, 'm I right?)  That statement cannot be neutral, nor can your response be; either you say you agree with me and so affirm and share my values, or you say you don't clean that way, and so open yourself up to condemnation. 

(No, I don't clean that way.  Yeesh!)

SILK'S REPUTATION

The same ad, with slightly different kerning, in Good Housekeeping, 1909.

Reading through this magazine cover to cover, I find two opposing stories emerging about the qualities of silk.  On page 194, M. Montrose MFG. Co. advertises a made-to-measure petticoat you could order by mail ("You don't pay a penny in advance"; "Send back the petticoat, or send $2.00, whichever you prefer, within two days of receipt"... I wonder how well that business model worked for them?).  This petticoat was made of "Taffeta Loraine", touted thus: “it has the richness and 'rustle' of silk. But mark this: you will find it far firmer and stronger than silk, far more durable. It won't crack, split, nor 'fall to pieces'”. But later in the magazine, an ad for Corticelli silk thread (remember Corticelli?) says their real silk thread is superior because it is “too strong to break”: “seams will not rip, each stitch will hold secure.” So which is it? Is silk prone to cracking and falling to pieces? Or is it super strong?

The “Needle Helps” article on page 262 sheds light on the question:

TRYING BEFORE BUYING. – It is a good plan to put a piece of silk through a series of tests before spending much money for it, or for making up, even if you have to buy an eighth of a yard to try it.
Black silk is subject to many frauds ; the dye may rot the threads or it may be weighted to make it seem handsome and firm, when it is really very sleazy.
To test it, tear both ways ; it ought to be firm enough to resist your strength.
Rub the threads with your thumb nail ; if they separate easily the weaving is done poorly.
As the last test burn a bit of it. Good silk will catch and burn slowly and make black ashes. Adulterated silks light quickly and smolder away, and cotton will betray itself by the odor.–M.

(And so I learn a new [old] use of the word "sleazy"!  Before continuing, read the etymology of "sleazy" to understand how it could relate to bad fabric.) 

Remember learning how "raw" silk has gummy sericin on it that must be washed off so the fibers can be spun and woven?  Well, apparently the silk with sericin is sold by weight to the wholesalers, who then de-gum it and in the process lose a bunch of the weight they just paid for.  So they try to add the weight back in before selling it on.  The weighting process involves soaking the fabric in a bath of metallic salts (tin, iron, lead), which bond to the fibers and make them heavier.  This makes the silk fabric have a stiffer hand and feel like it's higher quality, but eventually it degrades the fabric.  The fibers "shatter" (Vintage Vixen has a nice article about shattered silk).  Nowadays, if the silk has been weighted more than 10% (or 15% if it's black, though I don't know why the difference), it has to be labeled as "weighted silk". 

Incidentally, I have been unable to discover what kind of faux silk "Taffeta Loraine" might be.  Rayon was just on the horizon (invented 1846, but not produced in the US until 1911), nylon didn't come along until 1935, and polyester wasn't invented until 1941.  Maybe it was an early rayon, imported from another country, and given the name Taffeta Loraine because there was no consistent nomenclature for rayon yet. 

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Anyway, I have more pictures, of the articles themselves, but they'll have to wait!  It's time for me to put my laptop under my bed and get things accomplished!