Of Turkeys and Whales

I found  some more collar supporters like the ones I wrote about in this post. 

This one is from 1914 when collars were large and stood up in the back.  Following are two sizes of thread-wrapped wire from the Edwardian period.

Michigan Maid was another product of the Warren Featherbone Company.  I have featured other products from this wonderful company and have lots more, so lets look at them a little closer.  The founder, E K Warren, was Michigan-born, as was a former blog feature Jeanne Miller.  Michigan State University has a nice write up here of the Warren Featherbone Company.  Here is an article that appeared in Michigan History Magazine.  Lots of pictures of products and ads.  You will notice a product, Girdelin, for making waistbands for skirts.  I have a roll of this in brown.  It's 3-1/2 inches wide and has a bone every 4 inches.

The Warren Featherbone Company has morphed into the Warren Featherbone Foundation.  Read about it here.  There are lots of patents for this company, which you can find by going to Google Patents and typing in relevant words.  Here is a collar support somewhat like the Gladstone.  They may have crossed over the line with this one.  Here is the one for Girdelin.

A link for a wonderful 1888 informational booklet that shows the process used to make featherbone.

Here is a cloth-covered stay of either bone, celluloid, or something else.  I couldn't find anything about Invisibone on Google except some World of Warcraft stuff. ??  It certainly looks like this Warren Featherbone patent, and the illustration is in the style of their company.  There was a Warren Featherbone company here in Grand Rapids which morphed into the H H Cutler Company, a children's clothing manufacturer, which has since been bought out and moved away.  Interestingly, one of the patentees of a Warren product was Henry H Cutler.  I could not substantiate that this was the same Cutler.

And finally, something for the men.

I couldn't find anything about this company, either.

Follow Up to I Need Support!

After I posted this I found some more items.  For your enjoyment:

Doesn't everyone dance around the house and listen to records wearing only a bra, girdle, hose, and shoes?

Bored with plain old hose supporters?  Try something entirely modern--Inviz-A-Grips by Gemco.

And here's how you use them.  Check out this ad from 1937.  Oh Boy!  Here's the patent.

So what do you do when you develop a run and you don't have any clear fingernail polish in your purse?

The Realsilk Mending Kit

Use an Arrestor Wand.  No, you don't wave it at the run.

Here's a neat ad from 1941.  It seems the company went out of business in 1999.

I Need Support!

This post will cover support from top to bottom.  First up:  the brassiere.  In the 'teens and 'twenties these garments were for flattening, not enhancing and were mostly just strips of cloth with hooks or buttons, shoulder straps, and sometimes a hook to fasten to the front busk of a corset to hold it down.  The chemisette went on over this to hide it and provide coverage under the mostly sheer blouses of the time.  There were also slips--either colored to go under same color dresses, or white.  These sometimes took the place of the brassiere and chemisette if they were of sturdy fabric and you weren't too buxom.  Later on the bra developed (ha!) into more of a support garment when the full corset went out of fashion and pretty slips started to get some shape into them as well.  Elastic was still being developed as a woven fabric and there was no spandex (thankfully!--I hate spandex!), so these garments were made of non-stretchy fabrics, as well as the straps.   When they wore out you just made or purchased a new pair and buttoned them on.   That's the "adjustable" part on the card below.  You sewed several buttons on the straps and had matching buttonholes in the slip.  Someone used the straps from this card, but didn't need the buttons.

Here's a modern set made of oooooohh  Nylon!  And a buckle.

These straps are "Perfection"!  You sew them on and they are adjustable.

Heading south, here are some elastic hose garters.  I think they are for a woman, as the men's version is usually more complicated.  These went on either above or below the knee and could become quite uncomfortable if too tight and you were on your feet all day.  I have some elastic roll garters that I have worn, but don't know where they are right now.

Here are some Trolley Supporters.  Trolley Supporters?  That sounds so British!  I am not totally sure why they are called this except for the fact that they hang from the bottom of the corset like a trolley hangs from its electric wire.  If anybody knows the origin of the name, let me know.

These sound more American.  Hose Supporters.

This is a Stickup

From 1914-1916 it was fashionable to have collars that were high in the back which complemented upswept hair held up with combs.  This was made possible by little items like this which were sewn inconspicously into the collars to hold them up.  Collar supports were not new, having been used for years earlier to support Edwardian lace collars, but these were the longest they would get.  See some examples below from the American Woman magazine of June 1915.