How to Make a Hem

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Monday, August 19, 1912: Did quite a bit of sewing today. You see I’m getting some of my things out of the way for when school starts. It rained like everything this evening.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

What was Grandma sewing? Maybe she did some hemming—of a new dress, or to remodel a hand-me-down and make it just the right length.

Here are directions from a hundred-year-old book about how to make a hem. (An aside: I had so much fun with the recent buttonhole post that I decided to do another post using the same book).

A hem is a fold made by twice turning over the edge of the material (Fig. 16). Make a narrow, even turning, and mark the depth for the second turning on the material with a coarse pin, chalk or basting, using as a marker a card notched the desired depth of the hem. Fold on the line, and if the hem is wide, baste at top and bottom.

Hold the edges you are going to sew on, toward you; place the hem over the forefinger and under the middle finger and hold it down with the thumb. Begin at the right end and insert the needle through the fold, leaving a short end of the thread to be caught under the hemming stitches.

Pointing the needle toward the left shoulder, make a slanting stitch by taking up a few threads of the material and the fold of the hem. Fasten the thread by taking two or three stitches on top of each other.

If a new thread is needed, start as in the beginning, tucking both the end of the new and old thread under the fold of the hem and secure them with the hemming stitches. Train the eye to keep the stitches even and true.

The Dressmaker by The Butterick Publishing Co. (1911)

These directions seem awfully complicated and the drawing doesn’t look exactly right–but then, I guess that I probably couldn’t easily explain exactly how to tunnel through the cloth and then take a small stitch every half-inch or so.

Help! I Can’t Decipher Two Words

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Sunday, August 18, 1912: When I woke this morning, it was with the knowledge that it was raining, but that didn’t keep me from going to Sunday School. Don’t let that deceive you though for I’m not a very _____ ____ after all, even if I do go to S.S. rather regular.

diary.8.18.12 — Diary entry for August 18, 1912. (Click on it to enlarge for easier reading.)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

This diary was found in Grandma’s house after she died in 1980. At that time, it was passed around to various relatives so that we would each have an opportunity to read it. When I had it, I made a copy before passing it on.

Sometimes the copy is really hard to read. I can’t decipher two words that Grandma wrote a hundred years ago today.

It looks like it says puatla bona. But I can’t find those words in a dictionary, so maybe I’m not reading it right.

Based on the context, I think Grandma was saying something about not being very religious, even though she regularly attended Sunday School.

But I’d feel more certain if I could read those two words. Any ideas??

Trying to Red Up the House

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Saturday, August 17, 1912: We had to keep house today because Ma and Pa and the kid went to a reunion up at Muncy. Was working all morning a trying to get house red up somewhat.

DSC02315.crop — Recent photo of the house that Grandma lived in when she was writing the diary.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma and her sister Ruth would have been home alone. The probably had to do both household and farm chores.

The kid refers to their 7-year-old brother, Jimmie

I think that “red up” is an old rural Pennsylvania (probably Pennsylvania Dutch) term that means tidy up.

When things are scattered around my house, I’ll say to my family, “We need to red up the house.”

Since my husband and I both grew up in central Pennsylvania he’d know exactly what I meant—though our children would roll their eyes.

Worked in the Field

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Friday, August 16, 1912: Was out in the field a while this forenoon. Didn’t fancy my job any too well. They had a lot of things to do today.

gathering potatoes — Early 20th century picture of harvesting potatoes. (The farm in the picture looks like it was much larger than the Muffly farm.) Photo source: Wikipedia.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

What was Grandma doing out in the field? . . . and why didn’t she like her job?

Maybe she was still leading horses that were pulling a roller over a recently plowed field.

. . . or maybe she was helping harvest the third cutting of hay.

. . . or maybe she was helping to dig and gather potatoes.

(I vote that she was helping harvest potatoes. It would have been dirty, backbreaking wok. It those days families raised lots of potatoes—both for eating and for selling — so the Muffly’s probably had an entire field of potatoes. I’m guessing that potato harvesting was not very mechanized in 1912, and that a lot of labor was needed to turn the soil over, sort through the dirt to find the potatoes, and then gather them .)

A Victor Victrola Machine!

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Wednesday, August 14, 1912: Ruth and I went up to Oakes’ this evening. We were treated to the pleasure of hearing a Victor Victrola. I enjoyed it very much. It being the first time I had ever heard one play.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

The Oakes family lived on a farm near the Muffly’s. They had several children who were close in age to Grandma and her sister Ruth.

What a fun evening! I can almost picture 4 or 5 teen-agers and young adults gathered around the Victor Victrola machine listening to very scratchy music—while thinking that it was absolutely the most awesome thing ever.

The first Victor Victrola machine was produced in 1906—so the technology must have spread relatively rapidly if a farm family in rural Pennsylvania owned one by 1912.

According to Wikipedia:

Soon an extensive line of Victrolas was marketed, ranging from small tabletop models selling for $15, through many sizes and designs of cabinets intended to go with the decor of middle-class homes in the $100 to $250 range, up to $600 Chippendale and Queen Anne-style cabinets of fine wood with gold trim designed to look at home in elegant mansions.

Source: Wikipedia

One of the things that I’ve really enjoyed about Grandma’s diary is when Grandma mentions the first time she experiences various new technologies.

In May, 1912 Grandma rode in an automobile for the first time.

And, in 1911, Grandma used a telephone for the first time and also rode a ferris wheel for the first time;

Had to Do Sister’s Chores

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Tuesday, August 13, 1912: Yes sir,, and I did do the ironing this forenoon. All except two collars. Ruth went up to McEwensville this morning and was a long time coming home. I thought it wasn’t very nice.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Yes sir?? . . . Sounds like Grandma was mad at someone (her mother??).

Since Grandma’s sister Ruth didn’t get home in a timely manner, she apparently was ordered to do her sister’s chore (the ironing).

Why did Ruth go to McEwenville? Was it an errand? . . . to visit a friend?

Took Umbrella, But Didn’t Need It

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Monday, August 12, 1912: Went to Watsontown this afternoon to do some shopping, if such you may call it. Took my umbrella along, but it didn’t rain.

umbrellas — Photo source: Wikimedia Commons

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

The previous day Grandma didn’t have her umbrella when she needed it:

. . . .got a dunking in the rain. Took an umbrella along part way, so it happened that I didn’t have it when I needed it the most.

And this day, she was prepared and carried an umbrella, but didn’t need it. Umbrellas didn’t fold as compactly back than as many do today. It probably was a real nuisance the entire time she was shopping.

Sometimes you just can’t win when guessing about the weather. . .