During the mid-1800s, Sheffield was one of the leading British companies in the field of steel production. It was nothing for them to produce 120-130 tons of steel each week. What was the bulk of that steel used for?

Knives?

Good guess, but wrong.

Some men might think these just as dangerous as knives...

I have two ideas.#1: razor blades?

And moving to your second guess???

Weapons - maybe guns?

Sorry, neither one is correct.

Turn your thoughts to more feminine things.

Dress hoops?

I will say the corset with steel stays [correction - staves].

    ?

Looks like the stove in the Lincoln's Springfield home.

(11-27-2014 10:53 PM)Anita Wrote:  Dress hoops?

Congratulations to Anita for the winning answer! That blew my mind when I read the figures of 120-130 tons of steel each week to keep those fashionistas happy!

This information came from a great book that Betty mentioned awhile back. How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman. Ms. Goodman is British, so it is British Victoriana that she writes about, but the British-American comparisons are easy to make.

She writes of what a typical day was like from the moment one hopped out of bed in the morning to a cold room, the layers of clothing required, hygiene, evolution of the "necessary" (or privy in England), breakfast, modes of transportation to work, types of work, the environment.

Betty and I are always preaching that one must know about social and cultural history in order to understand the rest, and this is a great book for learning this, even if it is based on England. Just keep in mind that factories in the North here produced the same problems as English factories and farmers in America faced the same problems as the English, Irish, and Scottish farmers. Her description of the Potato Famine will leave you with tears in your eyes -- and an understanding of just how deep its effects were on society, politics, immigration, etc.

Thanks for this topic Laurie. I can't imagine walking around in a metal cage much less working in one. How did they sit down?

W. S. Thomson Patents Metal Cage Crinoline http://www.fashion-era.com/crinolines.htm

Women loved the cage crinoline. At the height of its popularity enough steel was produced in Sheffield to make half a million hoops in one week. Ladies were freed from the heavy petticoats that had begun to weigh them down and they were able to move their legs very freely beneath the cage.

The cage crinoline could be awkward in wear and could cause damage to objects, knocking them with a swish in the wrong direction. Even so, it was a welcome alternative to restrictive petticoat layers. Pottery workers found crinolines difficult to work in, but they persisted in wearing them despite causing breakages. The fashion was everywhere and reached small towns quicker than ever before after the railway spread ideas more rapidly from town to country."

Quote:How did they sit down?[in a hoop skirt....]

Hoops collapsed, one ring upon another. They are fairly easy to sit down in; but you don't want to try and sit in a chair with arms; the hoops will fly up in front usually! One could take out an entire small room, so housewives typically worked in a dress with multiple petticoats; not hoops. Likewise, lady nurses during the war wore multiple petticoats and no hoops - they were usually not allowed.

Since the advent of corsets, it had been difficult for ladies to sit comfortably in an armchair because such seats forced people to lean back somewhat at an angle, thus causing the corset stays to be uncomfortable. The proper young ladies were taught from an early age to perch on the front part of side chairs while reading or doing their sewing lessons. Therefore, when the hoops came along, it was not that difficult to adjust to sitting prim and proper.

I have also read that proper middle- and upper-class ladies who chose to not wear hoops while doing housework had their work dresses constructed with enough yardage that they could dash upstairs and slip a hoop underneath if unexpected company (such as a cleric) came to visit. That's when the back stairways in many homes came in handy - dash upstairs while not being seen by anyone in the main entrance hall.

And, speaking of petticoats, I need to verify this, but Ms. Goodman states in her book that the word "crinoline" is derived from a French term ('crin u lin") for horsehair. I had seen references to horsehair petticoats before, but the way she describes at least the English variety, they were standard petticoats but fashioned with "pockets" encircling the skirt at various lengths into which horsehair was stuffed and the pockets closed. This gave the same effect as the later and larger metal hoops. Imagine rows of these pockets similar to the top of a curtain where the curtain rods run through. Perhaps that curtain image gave inspiration to dressmakers to insert smaller steel bandings in petticoats instead of horsehair that would disintegrate (and itch). Anyone remember the Carol Burnett show where she imitates Scarlett O'Hara and her green dress made from draperies?

I'll post little tidbits from the book as I go along. The author is especially well-versed because she has spent a good deal of her time doing living history in some of the great National Trust properties (manors and farms alike) in Britain.

Finally, now that I have caused our male readers to doze off or find a football game, I have to say that my hoops at Surratt House helped save a school tour from being ruined by a frantic fourth-grader years ago. Unfortunately, I had a group whose teacher had told them that Surratt House was haunted! Most of the kids took it in stride, but one young lady flew into a screaming fit when I opened the door and invited them in.

The only way that I could get her under control was to assure her that I would run too if I saw a ghost. I asked her to be my lookout. I proceeded to grasp one of the hoops that was about mid-thigh under my skirt and asked her to hold onto it throughout the tour. If she were to spot a ghost, she was assigned to tug on that hoop and we would both run. I set a pattern where, at the end of each room tour, I asked if anyone had seen a ghost. The answer was always "no" (spoken with a little disgust by the brave ones in the class), and we proceeded from room to room for ten rooms without further hysterics.

The young lady actually became the envy of the class because guides are allowed behind the ropes, but visitors aren't. She had become an extension of me via the hoop holding and got to walk around the interior of each room while I pointed things out.

P.S. It's also fun to deliberately demonstrate sitting in a chair with arms and having your hoops fly up to expose your underpants (which come just below the knee)! We tease some of our guides about being hussies because they like to show their underwear to visitors.