Crape mourning veil

[madamekat]

This weekend I scored an antique crape mourning veil. It's 17" wide and has a 2" hem at the bottom. Seems kind of short...I always seem to be reading that veils were a yard long with a hem a foot wide! The longer the veil and the deeper the hem, the more respect was shown the dead. I wonder for whom a person would mourn with such a scanty veil

Comments

[ghost_girl]

Oooh pretty! Maybe it was a children's veil? Or a veil for a tiny lady! :D

[madamekat]

I know that putting children into serious mourning was frowned upon in the mourning literature, but who can say what was actually practiced? But in poking around I did find a photo of Queen Alexandra in mourning for Queen Victoria in the early 1900's, and she's wearing a chin length veil with a narrow hem and a gown every inch covered in crape. So interesting!

[sadievale]

oh, cool!

[dark_phoenix54]

Maybe it was a mother in law veil.

[madamekat]

Bwaa haaa haaa!

[sewloud]

not to be all technical and boring but...is it hemmed unevenly or folded in half and hemmed only on the left side in the picture...the right side looks unhemmed...I'm such a nerd

[madamekat]

Yeah, because it was to be pinned and tucked onto a mourning bonnet, they only did the hem where it would be seen - sides and bottom. The "raw" edge isn't raw, though. Don't ask me how they made a 1 cm hem...I'm thinking with heat somehow. Must have been done during the "crinkle" process? I'll show you next time you stop by!

[sewloud]

Hmm they could have slipped stitched it. I've done 1/8" hems (yards and yards and yards of them during my internship). I figured it was that, but the picture almost looked doubled. I don't know i they could have done anything with heat, usually fabrics you finish with heat are synthetics. But now you've got me intrigued...yet another great way to waste time on the interwebs :-p like I needed more of those lol

[standgale]

perhaps a yard long veil with a foot hem was like the "high fashion" veil and this was worn by a normal person, or a person who had some kind of work to do and a long veil would get in the way. Or maybe the the mourning wear prescriptions were like those "how to wear this style" sections in modern magazines - you read it and then ignore it and wear what you can afford and already own, and ditch the impractical heels cos you have to walk 20 minutes to work, etc.

Anyway, a genuine antique mourning veil eh? That's pretty cool! It must be interesting to actually see and feel what the crepe is really like - descriptions of textiles are seldom really very useful compared to 2 seconds with the real thing!

[madamekat]

Very good point!! What the magazines stated and what was actually practiced could very well have been two different things.