Bears Grease & Tight Lacing: Century-Old Secrets for Health, Beauty & Fashion

Learn more about Amazon Prime. Please try your request again later. Millicent Penrose is one of the foremost experts on century-old secrets for successful relationships, the toilette, fashion and etiquette. Millicent assists romantics and the lovelorn, advises on questions of personal beauty, and offers counsel on perplexing issues of etiquette.

Believing that proper decorum is sadly lacking in modern society, Millicent offers an alternative to the rapid diminishment of importance of "the rules" of social intercourse. Millicent has gathered together some of the best advice available from 19th century self-help books and believes they offer reliable tried-and-true advice in today's world. Millicent's book, Wooing and Loving: Are you an author?

Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography. Learn more at Author Central. All Formats Kindle Edition Sort by: Popularity Popularity Featured Price: Low to High Price: High to Low Avg. Available for download now. Provide feedback about this page. There's a problem loading this menu right now. His remedy is found at St. Domingo, where it is called the gum of the Bois de Cochon. It is produced from a tree, well known in the ci-devant Spanish part of the island.

It procures considerable relief. It is for the faculty to judge of this receipt. An essay concerning the nature of ailments and the choice of them, according to the different constitutions of human bodies by John Arbuthnot. Fashions are continually changing but briefly, during the s and early s, women wore the most amazing items known as false rumps. False rumps were mocked mercilessly by the press and in satirical caricatures the old-fashioned way of breaking the internet! On Sunday evening a very ludicrous accident happened at Henley upon Thames.

A large party from town went after tea to enjoy the coolness of the evening on the banks of the river. The consternation was general; but somehow everyone was surprised to see her swim like a fishing float, half immersed, and half above the water. It seems that the lady had been furnished with an immoderate sized cork rump, which buoyed her up so completely that she looked like Venus rising from the water. The present fashionable protuberances, so much in vogue among the females, have by the adroitness of two dressy fair ones of this capital, been turned to a profitable instead of expensive fashion and gave rise to a laughable adventure: The frequency of their excursions caused suspicion among the officers at the gates, who attempted to touch their garments, but this was resisted by the fair ones with every appearance of affected modesty.

However, one of the officers, having sufficient information of what was going on determined to detect them, and providing himself with a sharp pointed instrument, he slyly pierced what nowadays is usually made from cork, when lo! A fountain of brandy played from the orifice to the great diversion of the spectators, and to no small confusion of the fair one.

What a pity, as there are so few means for females to gain a decent living, that they should not be permitted to dress to advantage when fashion will admit of it. Today they are usually colourful with motifs, some plastic, some cotton. Protection for clothing has been used for centuries so we thought we would take a look at some other uses for the humble apron back in the Georgian Era. We were quite surprised to see just how many accounts there were of aprons being stolen, for example, a report in The News of January 23 rd , when Elizabeth Swann was committed to gaol for stealing a basket and an apron.

Gruesome accounts sadly exist where an apron was used to stifle the screams when a woman was being raped. Others told of how aprons caught fire with disastrous consequences or to help extinguish a fire, but we thought we would look at some more unusual ones. This is a very sad account of its use. He took her harsh words quite literally and was found dead with her apron strings tied to his bedstead. In September , a Barbara Balingal stood bare-headed at the cross between the hours of 11 and 12, with two dozen herrings put about her neck by the executioner no explanation given as to why, unfortunately!

Afterwards, Barbara was remanded to prison until she paid the complainer ten shillings sterling damages. Around mid-October a woman was found dead in one of the new houses in Parliament Street, Westminster; her apron was full of shavings and sticks and it is supposed that whilst gathering them she fell, which occasioned her death. Aprons were also symbolic as can be seen below by the Freemason wearing an apron as part of his regalia of office, the different aprons denoting their position within the brotherhood.

It relates to a dinner given by King George II in for an Indian king, a prince and 5 chiefs of his court. When introduced to the king at Windsor, the Indian king wore a scarlet jacket, but all the rest of the entourage were naked, except for an apron about their middles and a horse-tail hung down behind, their faces and shoulders were painted and spotted with red, blue and green.

They had bows in their hands and painted feathers on their heads. Whatever must the monarch have thought? We end with a story from the newspapers of January and a lovely scene of domesticity in the royal household. The Princess Royal surprised her royal mother with a present, which, though of no great value in itself, was rendered highly pleasing to her Majesty, by the manner in which it was made.

Her Royal Highness had procured some beautiful muslin, which she got made up into four aprons, three of which were for herself, and for the Princesses Augusta and Elizabeth. The fourth was for her majesty. The last had a much richer trimming than the other three. It was bound with ribband and trimmed with a broad and beautiful blond lace, to which was added a rich fringe. When the Queen was going to sit down to breakfast, the Princess Royal presented her with the apron and begged her Majesty would do her the pleasure of wearing it.

The Queen, charmed both with the apron and with the attention of her lovely daughter immediately put it on, and said that in her life that she had never worn an apron which she prized so highly. Nina Mikhaila, historical costumier and her team recreated the outfit including the turban, which proved to be quite a challenge, trying to find the correct fabric and to recreate the style itself.

The portrait of Dido is so unusual in so much as that Dido was not a servant but the daughter of Sir John Lindsay. The painting depicts her with her cousin Miss Elizabeth Murray was reputed to have been painted by Zoffany c. Whilst the turban had been worn by men in the UK during the earlier parts of the eighteenth-century, along with oriental-inspired banyans or wrapping gowns, it was not yet a common sight as a fashion accessory for women. There were, as always, a few exceptions, with the likes of Margaret Kemble Gage, sporting a turban in this portrait by John Singleton Copley c. Just a few years later, however, an advert in the Ipswich Journal September , implied that the turban was the latest fashion statement when attending a ball and was linked to the artist, Johann Zoffany.

Loiacon, Ladies Hair Dresser, begs leave to acquaint his customers and those ladies that will honour him with their commands, that he has with him an assortment of powders and pomatums, at 15 shillings each, French powder at 1 shilling. We move on to January when the turban was very much the headgear to be seen wearing for balls as we found at this account. The number and brilliancy of the company attending having never been equalled in this country upon any similar occasion.

The Ladies were dressed with great neatness and elegance. Many of the Ladies of fashion in different coloured satins, ornamented with festoons of flowers, crepe, foil etc. A very prevailing headdress was the turban cap, decorated with feathers, cut steel, pearls and diamonds. The hair dressed in light curls and ringlets, Turban of light blue crepe; bandeau of gold foil, set with diamonds and pearls; the hair turned up, mixed with the turban, and the ends returned in ringlets.

Jacket and petticoat, of muslin; four plaits across the petticoat; the jacket turned on the back with lace; Sash of blue satin ribband; three strings of pearls round the neck; pearly ear-rings; blue satin shoes; white gloves; Swandown muff. At the turn of the century, we find that turbans are no longer the domain of evening dress but are now entering everyday wear from around onwards.

To discover more, we recommend the book by Paula Byrne, Belle: Have you ever wanted to dress like a gorgeous Georgian? It is released here in the UK on 13th December , just in time for Christmas. They have now used their research and experience to complete your outfit and enable you to make the most amazing dresses and accessories to go with those fantastic shoes.

• Fashion & Cosmetics – All Things Georgian;
• The International Travelers Guide to Avoiding Infections (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book).
• 12 Terrible Pieces of Advice for Pregnant Women.

Divided into four chapters, this book takes you step-by-step through making four gowns representing four different eras of the eighteenth-century plus all the accessories you could need to go with them. And, even for a non-sewer, the book is still an entertaining and informative read if you are interested in the period. The book begins with a simple English gown from the s complete with neckerchief, apron, mitts and hat. The last gown to be featured is the s round gown, a much different silhouette from the preceding dresses. This is a book that will be a permanent fixture on our bookshelf.

It is a brilliant reference book on the fashions of the eighteenth-century and the history of dressmaking of the period and, as such, invaluable for anyone who writes about the era and wants to understand more about the clothes women wore. And, if you are an eighteenth-century re-enactor or lucky enough to be attending a Georgian dinner, ball or festival where it is requisite to look the part, then this wonderful guide will ensure that you stand out from the crowd in the latest fashions. Now, where are our needles?

One of the more vibrant fashion colours of the Georgian era was orange as we can see in the following paintings. Soak the white silk in allum alum water like as you do in dying of yellow; then take two ounces of orleans yellow, put it overnight in water together with one ounce of post ashes: Walking in those must have been a nightmare, especially with their long gowns, but we would love to give it a go.

Yes, this is folklore, unless anyone can confirm otherwise, and no, we are not talking about the small furry creature kind of moles! These are often referred to as birth marks or beauty marks and judging back the lack of images we have been able to find depicting people with moles, it seems likely that the artists of the day possibly ignored these. So do let us know if you have a mole and if the statement pertaining to it is true — we would love to know. First it is necessary to know the size of the mole, its colour, whether it is perfectly round, oblong or angular because each of those will add to, or diminish the force of the indication.

The larger the mole, the great will be the propensity or adversity of the person; the smaller the mole, the less will be his good or bad luck. If the mole is round, it forebodes good; if oblong, a moderate share of fortunate events; if angular, it indicates a mixture of good and evil.

Fashion & Cosmetics – All Things Georgian

If it is very hairy, much misfortune is to be expected, but if few long hairs grow upon it, it denotes that your undertakings will be prosperous. We will further remark only, that moles of the middling and common size and colour are those we speak; the rest may be gathered from what we have said above; but as it may frequently happen that modesty will sometimes hinder persons from showing their moles, you must depend upon their own representation of the for your opinion.

A mole that stands on the right side of the forehead or right temple, signifies that the person will arrive to sudden wealth and honour. On the right eyebrow, announces speedy marriage, and that the person to whom you will be married will possess many amiable qualities and a good fortune. On the left of either of those three places, announces unexpected disappointment in your most sanguine wishes. A mole on either cheek signifies that the person never shall rise above mediocrity in the point of fortune, though at the same time he never will sink to real poverty. A mole on the nose, shows that the person will have good luck in most of his or her undertakings.

A mole on the lip, either upper or lower proves the person to be fond of delicate things, and very much given to the pleasures of love, in which he or she will commonly be successful. A mole on the chin, shows that the person will be attended with great propensity and be highly esteemed. A mole of the side of the neck show that the person will narrowly escape suffocation, but afterwards rise to great consideration by an unexpected legacy or inheritance. A mole on the right breast, declares the person to be exposed to a sudden reverse of comfort to distress, by unavoidable accidents; most of his children will be girls.

A mole on the left breast, signifies success in undertakings, an amorous disposition and that most of his children will be boys. Under the left breast over the heart shows that a man will be of a warm disposition, unsettled in mind, fond of ramblings, and light in his conduct; in a woman, it shows sincerity in love, quick conception and easy travail in childbirth. A mole of the belly denotes the person to be addicted to sloth and gluttony; selfish in almost all articles and seldom inclined to be nice or careful in point of dress. A mole on either hip shows that the person will have many children and that such of them a survive will be healthy, lusty and patient of hardships.

A mole of the right thigh shows that the person will become rich and have good luck in marriage. On the left, denotes that the person suffers much by poverty and want of friends. A mole on the right knee, signifies that the person will be fortunate in the choice of a partner for life and meet with few disappointments in the world. One on the left knee portends that the person will be rash, inconsiderate and hasty, but modest in cool blood, honest and inclined to good behaviour in every sense of the word.

A mole on either ankle denotes a man to be inclined to effeminacy and elegance of dress: A mole on the right shoulder signifies prudence, discretion and wisdom. On the left, declares a testy contention and ungovernable spirit. A mole near either elbow denotes restlessness, a roving and unsteady temper, also a discontentedness with those the person is obliged to live constantly with. A mole between the elbow and the wrist promises the person prosperity, but not until he has undergone many hardships.

A mole on the finger or between it and the ends of the fingers, signifies industry, fidelity and conjugal affection. A mole on any part of the shoulders to the loins signifies imperceptible decline and gradual decay, whether of health or wealth. No-one seems quite sure how the colour blue became associated with the feeling of sadness, some say its origins lay back in Greek mythology whilst others say it has links to the devil. So many shades of blue exist, from the palest baby blue to darkest navy blue and everything in-between and the colour was clearly very popular during the Georgian era.

One of these, who was regarded as being amongst the best was Joseph Van Aken. Another was Peter Toms who was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy. The drapery painter is but the lowest degree of a liberal painter; he is employed in dressing the figures, after the painter has finished the face, given the figure its proper attitude and drawn the outlines of the dress or drapery. A portrait painter who is well employed, has not time to cloath his figures, and therefore employs a drapery painter to finish that part of the work.

This workman must have a tolerable notion of painting in general; but his chief skill consists in his knowledge of colours and the mixing of them, to produce proper shades; for the painter generally draws the outline and leave him to fill up the empty space with proper colours. The drapery painters are generally employed in signpost drawing, and other sorts of painting that do not require a masterly hand: Their education may be as low as you please; but as in all other branches that handle the pencil, they ought to be early acquainted with the use of it: A sober disposition and a sound constitution are absolutely requisite.

Following a great deal of discussion amongst our readers, we thought we would add some of the earliest references to a few shades of blue that we have come across in the newspapers. The article does not, however, give a specific date for this, but we did manage to find this article below confirming the existence of such a colour by A lean old woman in night-cap and shift sits in an arm-chair pouncing on an insect on her upraised knee.

Here we have the Duke of York and his mistress Mrs Clarke, neither bearing any resemblance to the actual people however, as you can see from the painting of Mary Anne below. Next we have a satire on Napoleon in , as he sits at a table wearing a night-cap writing his will, with English soldiers on guard, not a very flattering image! This was not going to end well, as history teaches us! During the s pastel colours were all the rage across Europe. Madame de Pompadour below , was at the forefront of fashion, loved the colour pink and whatever she wore, others were bound to follow. Pink at that time was regarded as sexy, although the perception of it changed towards the end of the s after which time it became the colour of innocence.

Until around the middle of the nineteenth-century, both girls and boys wore pink, so our stereotypes of girls in pink and boys in blue to differentiate gender is a far more recent concept. The fashion for wearing pink was in no way simply the domain of women. A corbeau colour striped and pink spotted velvet coat and breeches, and white satin waistcoat, richly embroidered in silver spangles, stones and coloured silks, pink satin and net-work border, lined with pink satin; very elegant and rich. We finish this post with a modern catwalk image which shows that the style and the colour have remained very much in vogue if somewhat modernized for the 21st century!

A crimson satin slip, underneath a frock of three-quarters length made of the silver-striped French gauze; the slip ornamented at the feet with clusters of flowers, and a narrow border of white satin edged with crimson ribbon: The body of the dress has open fronts, with a stomacher, which are severally trimmed en suite: Gloves, French kid, worn below the elbow, and trimmed with a quilling of tull. Pelisse of walking length, composed of blue twilled sarsnet , fastened down the front with large bows of white satin ribbon, and ornamented at the feet with a border of leaves formed of the same sarsnet, edged with white satin: A French hat composed of the blue twilled sarsnet, trimmed with white satin edged with blue, and decorated with a large plume of ostrich feathers.

An Indian shawl of crimson silk, richly embroidered in shaded silks. The pocket-handkerchief French cambric, embroidered at the corners. Shoes, blue morocco, tied with bows high upon the instep. Stockings with embroidered clocks. The silver-striped French gauze is a novel and elegant article, which, fashioned by the ever varying and approved taste of Mrs. Bean, requires to be viewed, before a just idea can be received of its fascinating effect: We list a few of them here. A Prussian blue and white striped satin dress, with a beautiful garniture; above which is a rich broad blond lace, tastefully looped up in the form of shells.

A full dress over a rich white satin, ornamented with silver, the garniture silver leaves intermixed with full puffings of tulle; this forms at the bottom a tasteful scallop, above which are large bunches of silver double lilacs, the sleeves striped with silver, and finished at the top with a narrow wreath of corresponding flowers.

A train dress of net, richly embroidered with a beautiful border of roses and buds a quarter and a half deep round the train, the embroidery coming up to meet the waist; body and sleeves richly worked to correspond; the whole dress lined with rich white satin. A beautiful primrose silk high morning dress, trimmed and worked in a most unique style of elegance. An elegant violet and white striped satin pelisse, lined with white satin, trimmed with leaves of violet, and white blond cuffs and collar; bonnet to match, with a beautiful plume of white feather. Very beautiful clear India muslin dress, most elegantly worked in lace work and satin stitch, forming bunches of wheat ears and corn flowers; at the bottom a waved border of the same, finished with very full rows of elegant English lace; short sleeves, composed of rows of satin, and lace body to correspond, made low to meet the waist, with a satin slip, which forms a very elegant dress.

A very rich evening primrose satin dress, with a deep flounce of blond lace, of a very beautiful tulip pattern, above which is a broad embroidery of pearls, in grapes and vine leaves; the top and sleeves ornamented with pearls to correspond. Abdy was reputed to be the richest commoner in the land and his beautiful wife would have ensured that she was dressed in the latest fashions.

She had eloped from her home on Hill Street, Berkeley Square just months earlier, stepping into a gig with her somewhat impoverished lover, Lord Charles Bentinck, and into a new life. By the end of the year she was living with him, pregnant with his child, and awaiting the outcome of the Criminal Conversation case which had been brought by her husband and which had commenced on the 1st December Her fateful decision to elope was to have far reaching consequences, as we detail in our latest book , A Right Royal Scandal: Two Marriages That Changed History , affecting people as far away on the social scale as the daughter of a Romany gypsy and the British royal family themselves.

If you have already read An Infamous Mistress: But A Right Royal Scandal can also be read as a stand-alone book. It is available now in the UK and to pre-order in the US and elsewhere from our publisher Pen and Sword , Amazon and all good bookshops. Readers outside the UK might find Book Depository useful, as they ship free worldwide and have competitive prices.

Green dye could be obtained in a variety of ways such as using plants like grass or nettles for a lively green — common broom, heathers or iris for dark greens. Alternately, a product called copperas also known as could be used, Verdigrease now know as Verdigris or Alum.

Take Bran Water and Alum, a gallon the former to a pound of the latter, and boil them up till the Alum is dissolved; then let your silk or cloth lie therein for about a quarter of an hour, then take more Bran Water and a few handfuls of Woad, and put it therein till it become a dark yellow; then add Verdigrease and Indigo of each half a pound or more or less of the one or the other, as you would have it lighter or darker. Take the herb called Horse Tail, bruise it and add to the juice a small quantity of Verdigrease, Alum and Copperas, and over a gentle fire, make it into a colour, which will prove very pleasant and delightful.

Boil three quarters of a pound of alum, half a pound of tartar, into quarts of sharp ley for an hour, and in it soak the thread for three hours, keeping it hot all the while: After this turn it green with blue dye. You may blue the thread with Woad, else with indigo, being first thrown into the alum suds, and afterwards into the yellow, and you will have a lasting green, so that a green dye is to be dyed several ways. First dye your silk a pretty deep straw colour, rinse it clean and wring it close together with sticks; and then put your silk into the blue dye copper: When it has boiled enough take the kettle off, and let it stand for an hour, after which time you may work it again, and do the same every hour allowing the same interval, but you must be very careful that one handful of silk does not lie longer in than another, and when it is taken out of the copper, let it be very well cooled, rinse and strongly wring with sticks and afterwards dried.

This being something lighter than the other, must be boiled in weaker suds than the other, and, as soon as it is dyed, must be wrung and dried as the other. This must be dyed as the green, only the last suds must be encouraged with a little Provence wood suds, till it is deep enough; then wring it out as above. Like everything in fashion, stomachers came in and out of vogue, but during the 18th century they were very much statement pieces especially those made for the wealthier members of society and the newspapers always deemed elaborate stomachers worthy of mention when describing the outfits worn by the nobility.

By the end of the 18th-century stomachers could be as deep as 10 inches below the waist which would have made them very uncomfortable for a woman to sit down. In this painting, we can clearly see the beautiful stomacher worn by Madame de Pompadour, renown for her love of fashion. They were often embroidered or covered with jewels, none more so than those designed for royalty as shown in this newspaper article.

The rich diamond stomacher for our intended Queen is quite finished, and is the richest thing of the kind ever seen; the capital stone of which is worth about fifteen thousand pounds and the whole piece is valued at one hundred thousand pounds. The robes are very open at the bosom. The girdles are tied either before or behind. His majesty was dressed in a French grey with silver trimming. The top is festooned, and the centre diamond is set brilliant fashion, as are all the others, pendant in rows from the festoon, in the most elegant manner that can be imagined. And finally, we came across this sad story in World and Fashionable Advertiser, Monday, July 16, The following are the particulars of the unfortunate girl who hung herself last Wednesday week in South Moulton Street: She had been to the Haymarket Theatre with her friend and constant companion Miss Edwards; upon the latter intimating a wish to retire, Miss Charlotte Wood requested she would, and said she should follow shortly.

Upon her friend retiring, she sent the maid to bed, and bolted the dining room door. So far as finding ways to generate much-needed revenue the government of the day were completely unstoppable. We came across an article in the General Advertiser May of in which Alderman Sawbridge put to William Pitt the Younger another possible tax that had been bought to his attention, the idea of taxing shoes as an alternative to the planned shop tax. It was made on a supposition of there being eight millions of persons in this country, and that four millions of them were either children or poor persons, whose shoes were under the prices meant to be taxed; then, the remaining four millions were calculated as follows: A week later it appears that this proposal had initially been suggested to Mr Pitt by a Dr Jones, who made it quite clear at the time to Pitt that he wished to.

Well, that went well, as his name was plastered across the newspapers as the potential instigator of yet another levy on the public who were already struggling with all the other taxes that had been imposed. For some reason it took a further 18 months before implementation but sure enough on 26 th January the shoe tax was implemented courtesy of Dr Jones how popular must he have been with the average person, one wonders? If anyone can shed any light on this we would be most interested in hearing from you. We finish with an observation made in which just about sums up the taxation that was taking place at that time:.

The head is to be washed with this lye three days successively, the part having been previously well rubbed with honey. Powder your head with powdered parsley seeds at night, once in three or four months, and the hair will never fall off. Take juice of white lily roots and fine honey, of each two ounces; melted white wax, an ounce; incorporate the whole together, and make a pomatum. It should be applied every night, and not be wiped off till the next morning. Heat an iron shovel red hot, throw on it some Powder of Myrrh and receive the smoke on your face, covering the head with a napkin to prevent its being dissipated.

Repeat this operation three times, then heat the shovel again, and when fiery hot pour on it a mouthful of white wine. Receive the vapours of the wine also on your face, and repeat it three times. Continue this method every night and morning as long as you find occasion. Drain it quite dry and put it into a new-glazed earthen pan with two or three Pippins, quartered. Boil the whole together in a vapour-bath for four hours, then with a strong cloth squeeze out your pomatum into an earthen dish placed upon hot ashes: Stir the pomatum well with a spatula till it becomes cold.

Why pay for those expensive teeth whitening kits when you could use this method? Sadly, this recipe fails to explain how you actually use the product. Take gum tragacanth , one ounce; pumice stone two drachms; Gum Arabic, half an ounce; and Crystals of Tartar, finely powdered, and adding to it the powder, form the whole into little sticks, which are to be dried slowly in the shade, and afterwards kept for use.

We are always being advised to protect our skin from the harmful rays of the sun, clearly those Georgians were ahead of us with this idea and to assist they devised this product. Infuse in clean water for three days, a pound of Lupines, then take them out and boil them in a copper vessel with five quarts of fresh water. Whenever you are under a necessity of exposing yourself to the sun wash the face and neck with this preparation. At night going to rest, bathe the face with the juice of strawberries and let it lie on the part all night and in the morning wash yourself with chervil water.

The skin will soon become fair and smooth. A liniment to promote the growth and regeneration of the nails , given that this recipe contains arsenic we would strongly advise against it. Take two drachms of Orpiment , a drachm of Manna, the same quantity of Aloes and Frankincense and six drachms of white wax. Make them into a liniment and apply to the part with a thumb stall. Take twenty pounds of Lee made of the ashes of the Bay tree, three handfuls of Bay leaves, a handful of Sweet Flag, with the same quantity of Calamus Aromaticus and Dittany of Crete ; boil the whole together for some time, then strain off the liquor and add two quarts of wine.

Steep your feet in this bath an hour every day, and in a short time they will no longer exhale a disagreeable smell. Roast a clove of garlic or an onion, on a live coal or in hot ashes; apply it to the corn and fasten it on with a piece of cloth. This softens the corn to such a degree as to loosen and wholly remove it in two or three days. Foment the corn every other night in warm water, after which renew the application.

The Toilet of Flora. So, just how did those Georgians cope with cleaning delicate fabrics? These are removed by holding the linen, where they are, round a silver or stone mug containing boiling water, and by rubbing them with a slice of lemon. In the middle of summer, when the sun is very hot, the soaping them on both side will take them out; and if the linen be soaped all over it will be very white.

Rubbing the stained places with juice of sorrel, or dipping them in the hot juice will take out the spots. The same may be done by rubbing them with salt and vinegar and squeezing; or by dipping them a few times in sharp vinegar boiling in an earthern, tin or silver pipkin over the fire; after which they should be well rubbed with soap, dried before the sun or fire and washed. Boiling milk will take the stains of fruit out of linen. Stains of that kind are extracted by rubbing them over with butter, hanging them in the sun, or before some heat to dry and then washing them.

Let them have two lathers and a boil, having blued the water well. Turn the wrong sides outwards and fold them very smooth and even, laying them one upon another and a board over them, with a weight of press them smooth. Let them lie thus about a quarter of an hour, after which hang them up to dry and when thoroughly so, roll them up tight without ironing by which means they will look as new. This is performed by taking some Talk, finely pounded and moistened with the spirit of wine, and then rubbing it with a brush over the lace every way.

The same will do also for gold and silver stuffs highly raised, but lace turns black, if rubbed with Talk by itself. Having wetted a quarter of a pound of starch, mixed with a little Powder Blue, so as it will bruise, add it to half a pint of water, and then pour them into a quart of water boiling on the fire. Stir well, and let the starch boil at least quarter of an hour, for it cannot be boiled too well, neither will the linen iron or look well, unless the starch be thoroughly boiled. After the starch is strained, dip the linen into it and then squeeze it out.

Dip first those things you would have stiffest, but do not rub them in the starch; and as you want the starch stiff or thin, add or diminish. A kettle of Bell-Mettle is the properest vessel to boil starch in. This is done by wetting it with a cloth dipped in clear water, and then wiping it, till the stain is out; then rubbing it first with a wet cloth, and next with a dry one and afterwards rolling it up dry in another clean cloth; but no air must come to it, for it would change the colour or crumple it.

If the pieces of dirt be thick, they should be let dry and then shaken off; after which the silk should be rubbed with crumbs of bread and then with a clean cloth. If it be stained with coffee, rubbing with milk and then with fair water and a cloth will clean it. Let the spot be covered with French chalk, scraped and then rubbed well with a clean cloth. Pure spirit of lemon, without the essence, will extract any stain; but spirit of Sal Ammoniac is though preferable; for although the silk be all over stained with oil, it will take it out, at least on the second application if the silk be dry.

A suit of these may be cleaned by rubbing them with the crumb of a three-penny loaf, two days old, mixed with a quarter of an ounce of Powder-Blue. However, according to the Ipswich Journal 25 th January and the Society of Arts, it was a constant and worrying hazard. The following uncommon circumstance is authentic.

He desired to know the reason of her being thus alarmed, when she told him, she felt something in her hair behind alive. On searching, a poor innocent mouse was found, who, it is supposed was invited there by the amazing quantity of powder and pomatum. The mouse made its escape, and no dangerous consequences ensued; which was very fortunate for the Lady, as she is very far advanced in her pregnancy.

Mr Moses Martingo, a silversmith from New Bond-street, came to the rescue.

The present demand for these articles is incredible, Mr Martingo employing no less than 40 hands in that branch only. The caps if made of plain silver wire, are sold at 3 guineas each, but the ton have them of gilt wire, from six guineas to ten. Perhaps Mr Martingo and the Society of Arts felt that these were not protection enough against the nocturnal activities of nibbling little rodents? We believe the advert is a fake and poking fun of the elaborate hairstyles of the day but if there really was a Mr Martingo, then fair play to him for cashing in on the fashion.

So, Georgian fact or Georgian fiction? The tippet was an item of clothing worn that today we would refer to as a stole or scarf but was largely made from fur. The fashionable colours are scarlet, purple, puce and Mazarin blue. The fancy article generally adopted are blends of various colours, as amber, scarlet, pink and rose; plain and figured, feathers of all kinds, flowers, gold and silver trimmings.

Weymouth tippets instead of long tippets. We have yet to find out what a Weymouth tippet was and how it differed from the long tippet — maybe one of our readers will know. The cold weather has begun to make an extraordinary change in the dress of the Ladies of Haut Ton: We were quite interested to find out the cost of such items and thought you would be too, even then they were using fake fur rather than the real thing.

Muffs, Tippets, Trimmings of fur of every denomination: Very handsome bear muffs at 12 and 14s such as have always been sold at 18s and 21s. Fox muffs at eight shillings.

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It was a cylinder of fabric or fur which was open at both ends but provided a way of keeping the hands warm. The concept dated back to the s and was used by men and women. Muffetees were a type of shortened muff, worn not only for warmth but also to protect the wrist ruffles when playing cards. There were also small muffs which were closed at one end with a thumb section. Have times changed, probably not! We always find that our research leads us in the most unexpected directions and this time we ended up in the law courts.

At the Old Bailey, we came come across quite a few cases of theft of muffs and tippets. Ann Ward was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 24 th day of November, a red fox fur muff, value 20 shillings, the property of Joseph Thomson, a haberdasher in Oxford Street. Ann stole a red fox skin muff. Amelia Morley, alias Amie Lovel, was indicted for stealing, on the 3d of February, one muff, value 18 s.

Verdict Guilty, Sentence imprisoned for 6 months. Our final newspaper article is a somewhat sad one, someone had gone to a great deal of care to ensure that the infant was well dressed. So, with that in mind, we thought we would take a look at this fashion statement outfit. The outfit would consist of a tailored jacket or redingote, possibly one of the most glamorous garments a woman could wear, so much so that even today fashion designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier use it for inspiration.

With a long skirt, tailored shirt or chemisette, a hat, low heel boots, glove and a necktie or stock, based on the male coat and waistcoat of the day. Needless to say, though the breeches would have been totally unacceptable. As you can see in the portrait though of Lady W, she was clearly sporting a very elegant pair of shoes, hardly suitable for riding in. I was lately, in a beautiful evening, admiring the serenity of the sky, the lively colours of the fields, and the variety of the landscape everywhere around me, a little party of horsemen passing the road almost close to me, arrested my attention, and a fair youth, seemingly dressed up by some description in romance.

His hair, well curled and powdered, hung to a considerable length on his shoulders, and was wantonly tied, as if by the hands of his mistress, in a scarlet ribbon, which played like a streamer behind him. He had a coat and waistcoat of blue camblet, trimmed and embroidered with silver; a cravat of the finest lace; and wore in a smart cock, a little beaver hat, edged with silver, and made more sprightly by a feather. His pacing horse was adorned in the same airy manner, and seemed to share in the vanity of the rider. As I was pitying the luxury of this young person, who appeared to be educated as an object of sight alone, I perceived, on my nearer approach, a petticoat of the same with the coat and waistcoat; and now those features which had before offended me by their softness, were strengthened into as improper a boldness; and she, who in appearance was a very handsome youth, was in reality a very indifferent woman.

These occasional perplexities, and mixtures of dress, seem to break in upon that propriety and distinction of appearance in which the beauty of different characters is preserved, and would, if much more common, turn our assemblies into a general masquerade, the model of this Amazonian hunting-dress, for ladies, was first imported from France, and well enough expresses the gaiety of a people who are taught to do anything, so it be with an assurance; but I cannot help thinking it fits awkwardly on our English modesty. There is so large a portion of natural agreeableness among the fair-sex of our island, that they seem betrayed into these romantic habits, without having the fame occasion for them with their inventors: All that needs to be desired of them is, that they would be themselves, that is, what nature designed them; and to see their mistake when they depart from this; let them look upon a man who affects the softness and effeminacy of a woman to learn how our sex must appear to the men , when so near approaches are made by us to their resemblance.

We thought it might be nice to finish with a few of the portraits painted during the Georgian era depicting women in a riding habit, we hope you like our choice. Everyone loves stylish shoes and needless to say those lovers of fashion, the Georgians, were no exception. The manufacture of shoes required great skill, no mass production existed in the Georgian Era, and each pair would have been crafted by hand.

For many shoemakers, it was a relatively solitary life, working in their own workshop, for others they would have a large shop in which to exhibit their work. The work involved in making a pair of shoes required the shoemaker to cut out a leather upper to a pattern. A small weight would then be placed on the skin to keep it from slipping; a hammer was then used to beat down any rough parts which lay on the inside of the shoe. Then using a pair of pincers the leather was stretched.

The upper was then joined to the sole of the shoe. The parts were then sewn together and waxed. He would then use an awl to make holes for laces to fit through if required. The best and strongest thread being that made from hemp. Women were employed to bind shoes of all kinds and sew together those made of silk and satin.

These shoes were unusual in so much as they were straight and therefore there was no right or left shoe — would this have made them easier to wear?

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With the advent of the Napoleonic Wars, huge quantities of boots and shoes were required and this saw the advent of methods of mass production. Handcrafted boots and shoes continued to be manufactured, but obviously, a premium price would have been paid for them, much as is the case today. Our final offering is one of the usual caricatures courtesy of the Lewis Walpole Library, this young lady, however, appears to be showing off slightly more than just her new shoes!!

The Book of English Trades. Given the length of the Georgian era we thought it might be fun to take a peek at how the Georgian ideas of what was fashionable and how it changed over the period. The comments have been taken directly from English Costume, Volume 4 , by Dion Clayton Calthrop — so here goes. The ladies were little lace and linen caps, their hair escaping in a ringlet or so at the side and flowing down behind, or gathered close up in a small knob on the head. The hair is very tightly gathered up behind, twisted into a small knob on the top of the head and either drawn straight back from the forehead or parted in the middle, allowing a small fringe to hang on the temples.

Nearly every woman wore a small cap or a small round straw hat with a ribbon around it. Now the lady would puff her hair at the sides and powder it; if she had no hair she wore false, and a little later a full wig. She would now often discard her neat cap and wear a veil behind her back, over her hair and falling over her shoulder. This was period of immense change in fashions both in terms of clothing and also hair styles. Those piles of decorated, perfumed, reeking mess, by which a lady could show her fancy for the navy by balancing a straw ship on her head; for sport, by showing a coach, for gardening, by a regular garden on flowers.

Heads which were only dressed, perhaps, once in three weeks, and were re-scented because it was necessary. Monstrous gatherers of horse-hair, hemp-wool and powder, laid on in a paste, the cleaning of which is too awful to give in detail. With the fashion of came the broad brimmed hat and the turban. Young ladies wear their hair well arranged … the curls again appear in numerous clusters around the face; and some young ladies who seem to place their chief pride in a fine head of hair have such a multitude of small ringlets that to give what is a natural charm all the poodle-like appearance of a wig.

We often take our feet for granted until we suddenly find that we have corns, bunions or hard skin and it was no different in Georgian times. We all know what corns are and how painful they can be and clearly they are an age old problem and those clever Georgians found their own way of treating them. During our research we came across a fascinating little book written by a chiropodist in who agreed with this theory to a certain extent, but also added that the wearing of high heels and the use of hard leather also contributed to the problem.

Maybe this is a good reason to take plenty of exercise. Apparently he also understood that people could predict the weather by how painful or otherwise their corns were. Easy, take a penknife or razor and remove them … NO that never was a good idea, even in Georgian times, and the writer of this book strongly advised against such self-treatment of the condition.

After writing at length about the perils of such treatment the author strongly advises that the only solution is to seek medical help from a qualified professional person. The Art of Preserving the Feet. The Georgians were no different, the bolder the better in many cases. There were certain items of jewellery that were designated for certain times of the day.

Eighteenth-century gents would display their status by wearing shoe buckles and buttons studded with gems such as these. Evenings required a completely different type of jewellery — diamonds were the order of the day, the bigger and brighter the better, usually set in silver. To be at the height of fashion you would wear Girandole earrings.

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For those who chose not to have pierced ears, the Georgian era saw the advent of the clip-on earring. During the French Revolution many women chose to wear a red ribbon as a choker in support of friends and family who had died during the revolution, or as a sign of their own close call with death.

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For those more affluent then rubies would have been the equivalent, both indicative of the blood shed at executions. This item from the British Museum was too fascinating not to include. Heart shaped pendant locket with a lock of hair, traditionally said to be that of Marie Antoinette, set under glass or rock-crystal with an inscribed card and mounted in a gold filigree setting. A small gold padlock is suspended from the base with a key on a chain attached to the suspension loop.

Lady Abercorn is given as Lady Abercrombie. For more information about this item use the highlighted link to the British Museum webpage. Moving on to possibly the most macabre items of jewellery, we take a brief look at mourning rings. The idea that he should wish to do such a thing was frowned upon, so he commissioned Cosway simply to paint only the eye to preserve anonymity.

With that in mind, we thought we would take a peek at the fires caused by the fashions of the day. We had no idea that there were so many incidents reported in the newspapers about hair and fabric being set alight by the open fires and so many deaths resulting from these incidents, so here are just a few. We hear from Dundee, that a few days ago, as a young lady was writing, the candle set her head-dress on fire. It burnt some time before she was aware; the then wrapped a handkerchief round her head to smother the flame, but it also catched fire; it was, however, extinguished with having scorched the lady much; but the fright affected her so much that she died in two days.

Last week a very melancholy accident happened to Miss Vane, daughter of the Hon. Mr Vane of Bielby , in Yorkshire; being sitting by her fire she dropped her keys within the fender and, stooping to take them up her head-dress took fire, and she was burnt so dreadfully before it could be extinguished, that she expired in a few hours. Lady Elizabeth Pratt is out of danger from her late unfortunate accident, which very deeply affected the venerable Earl, her father.

Her Ladyship had her head scorched by her head-dress catching fire while she was reading. An evening paper has the following whimsical article: Her two companions screamed with horror, but so stupefied with fear and astonishment were all parties that not one had presence of mind to remove her from the shelter of the tree into the rain. As soon as the storm abated, she was bought to a house in Spring Gardens, where our correspondent saw her.

All her hair was burnt down to a black crumbling stubble and her face was singed with the flopping of the flames over it, that she cut a most shocking figure. It being intimated that she lived in Threadneedle Street, a coach was called, and she was conveyed home to her family. The writer of this article cannot dismiss it without earnestly requesting his fair countrymen would drop, at least for this summer, so dangerous a fashion as high heads.

Clearly as these instances of hair or clothing being set alight were not rare as a very a sensible couple advised their daughters to how to cope with such an event: Her muslin dress, being touched by a candle; caught fire, and the flame instantly blazed above her head. The flame, had scorched her face and neck, so as to be very painful for some hours; but not even a blister had arisen. All the sisters had previously received complete instructions from their parents in what method to proceed in such a dreadful emergency, if their muslin dress should catch fire.

They united in fervent thanksgivings to Providence for this wonderful deliverance from so dreadful a calamity. A Magazine of Literary and Miscellaneous …, Volume 5. Annual Register, Volume The most fashionable stays were designed to pull the shoulders back until the shoulder blades almost touched.

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The resulting silhouette, with shoulders thrown back, very erect posture and a high, full bosom, is characteristic of this period and no other. They were originally made from thick linen on to which cane or whalebone was sewn, thereby making the garment extremely rigid. Not something we would advocate doing in polite society today, but apparently, it was not unknown for women to expose part of their breasts.

It was socially acceptable to do this at that time, but to expose your calf could have had you expelled from polite society. By the s steel was being used in stay to increase their strength, but this, of course, made them even more rigid. This combined with tight lacing began to cause concern amongst doctors and others who voiced their concerns about this fashion — does that sound at all familiar? These were less boned and much softer and comfortable to wear. They laced up the front but still provided support for the bust making them far easier for a woman to put on herself without assistance.

These became very fashionable and were more accepted by the medical profession. His article written , described how the fashion had changed over recent years with the petticoat getting larger and larger to the point where it makes it impossible to sit close to a woman as her petticoat had taken over all available space. Men are bigger about the chest and more slender about the waist than women: English or French court dress, with wide panniers.

Taken at the Fashion Museum, Bath. We know from our research into the life of Grace Dalrymple Elliott , one of the fashion icons of her day, that she spent a considerable amount of money on clothes, hats and finery. Looking at some of her receipts we noticed that stockings featured on them, so with that in mind we simply had to do some more investigating into stockings of the day. Clearly not a subject not to be discussed in polite society, but how else should a Georgian lady keep her legs warm? A glimpse of the calf was regarded as shocking and tantalizing. There was no such item in the 18 th Century, so how were stockings worn and supported?

For those who are not aware, neither did pantaloons, drawers, knickers, pants etc. Pantaloons first put in an appearance in The Georgian era saw both men and women wearing stockings, usually brightly coloured, especially for the men as generally theirs were on show whereas respectable women kept theirs covered. The garter or ribbon would have to have fastened fairly tightly to stop the stocking from sliding down the leg as she walked.

This portrait by Francois Boucher seems to demonstrate that the stocking was worn just over the knee.