Crêpe (fabric)

“ It is in this room that you happen to make your first acquaintance with some crêpe rubber of a greyish hue. It is made from scraps, which are collected by the tappers from trees, cups, and cans, after they have taken the day’s milk to the factory. The scraps are washed as clean as it is possible to get them, and then put through the crêping machines. Plantation scrap is far superior in quality to wild scrap. ”

“ For Women.—A widow wears for her first mourning dress, a black worsted skirt and waist, made as simply as possible, and trimmed with folds of English crêpe; a small bonnet, made entirely of crêpe, with a long crêpe veil falling in the rear to the knees, and for the first month a veil of equal length covering the face. ”

“ Wrapped tightly round in their kimonos, with the bunch of the obi formed by its folding over at the back, their figures take the graceful bend and curve we see pourtrayed. The loose flowing sleeves, and the soft folds around the neck, and open at the throat, are so pretty. Their underclothing consists of several loose garments of crêpe, which is the material exclusively used by the upper classes, and their hips are so tightly bound that no European woman could stand it. They treat their hips as we do our waists, their object [131] being to be perfectly straight. ”

“ For second mourning, gray or black clothes, black-and-white silk neckties, gray gloves, and white or black-and-white linen are proper.
Mourning for parent, child, sister, or brother is worn six months or a year, according to desire. In these cases, also, the crêpe hat-band is used, but is narrower than that worn by a widower.
The custom of sewing a black cloth or crêpe band on the left coat-sleeve is not to be commended. [Pg 74]
The Box Tunnel. BY CHARLES READE.
Charles Reade was born at Ipsden, England, June 8, 1814, and died in London, April 11, 1884. ”

“ For the cook there is little appeal in the meat that she has tended from its moist and bloody entrance in the butcher's paper, through the basting or broiling stage to its formal appearance on the platter. She saw that Al and her father were served. Then she went back to the kitchen, and the thud of her iron was heard as she deftly fluted the ruffles of the crêpe blouse. Floss appeared when the meal was half eaten, her hair shiningly coiffed, the pink ribbons of her corset cover showing under her thin kimono. She poured herself a cup of tea and drank it in little quick, nervous gulps. ”

“ The lady just stepping from the pansy limousine has chosen yellow for her costume of shimmering crêpe; a rich dull ochre, with a hint of red in its flowing folds. At the neck and wrists are bits of fragile old embroidery, yellow too with age, and that melt into the flesh-tones of the wearer till they seem part of her living self; while at the slim waist-line is a narrow band of dusky rose—the kind of rose that looks faintly coated with silver—and daringly caught up high at the right side, a single mauve petunia. ”

“ Twisting is the basis of the manufacture of the various kinds of crepe. The filling or tram used is given a very hard twist, about sixty-five turns to the inch—either in right or left-hand direction. These threads are later woven alternately and so produce the crinkled effect.
Thrown silk is classified in a similar way to raw silk, except that usually market quotations on thrown silks mention not only the classification but also the purpose for which it is to be used (tram or organzine) , the size in deniers, the number of threads and twists to the inch. ”

“ In practically all these fabrics the lustre is imparted by the warp yarns, which are likely to be of better silk than the filling. The filling yarns are twisted harder than for ordinary cloth. The hard twisting of any yarn will so curl up the fibres that they will not lie parallel and so will not reflect light and give lustre. All-silk Crêpe de Chine fabrics have a width of about 40 inches, whilst all-cotton and cotton and silk mixtures average 27 inches in width. ”

“ The covering of [98] crêpe is always lined, preferably with sheet wadding to give the soft appearance desired. The trimming is of milliner's folds or flat flowers made of the crêpe.98-1 The mourning veils used may have a simple wide hem sewed down by hand or an applied hem. The applied hem is much the handsomer finish.
Applied hem on a veil—
For a hem three inches wide, cut a strip six inches in width and long enough to reach around the edge of the veil plus three inches for each corner. It takes that much extra length to mitre a corner of a rectangular veil. ”

“ The heat of the driers causes a surface stickiness, which is got rid of by rolling several thin layers together to give one thick one. This rubber vulcanises at about the same rate as ordinary thin crepe, for the relatively high temperature of drying does not appear to influence the rate of cure. The rubber is generally softer than air-dried crepe, and is easily “let down” in naphtha; it is, therefore, suitable for some solution work. Generally speaking, the properties of blanket crepe do not differ materially from ordinary thin crepe. ”

“ On many of the fragments of the large pans in my collection the impressions of the cloth are perfect delineations of the fabrics used. Though differing greatly in pattern and in fineness of texture, they are all, with one single exception, made woven in the same manner—that is, by twisting two threads of warp around the single thread of the woof, precisely as the wire faces of laid moulds for forming paper are now made. The coarsest fabric that I find the impression of has warps about one and a half inch apart, with about five threads of woof to the inch. ”

“ At each place have a tiny heart-shaped cup of cherry crepe paper, holding a little bunch of snow-drops. The ices are in the shape of hearts with a candied cherry in the center of each. Heart-shaped cakes can be iced in pink, and mingled in the salad have tiny hearts cut from slices of red beef.
When all are assembled in the parlor give each guest a square white envelope enclosing a card having a knot of snow-drops in one corner with cherry ribbon, and containing a verse and numerous pin pricks. Each one must guess from these the name of his companion for supper. ”

“ THE FINISH FOR HOUSE DRESSES must be suitable for hard wear and frequent laundering. The seams may be finished with flat-stitched seams (Chapter 17, page 87) or with French seams (page 86) .
Armholes should be finished with flat stitched seams (page 87) or overcast (page 82) . The finish of the edges and the trimming of house dresses change from lime to time as new ideas are introduced. The Deltor gives the newest finish for this type of garment.
NEGLIGEES, KIMONOS. ETC.
MATERALS. Crêpe de Chine, Georgette crêpe, lace, wash silk, wash satin, silk mull, silk and cotton crêpe de Chine. ”

“ Next for some flummery mixture, or else the matter won't hold;
Stir it about with sugar, then pop it into the pan,
And out comes a crêpe for the marshal—or—any popular man."
The people around him laugh,—"There's wisdom in that!" they cry ”

“ The materials for making face and dish cloths are: cheese cloth cut bias, darning or knitting cotton, or candle-wicking. Those made from cheese cloth resemble the Turkish rags. Cut and splice the cheese cloth according to directions on page 83. The face cloth in the illustration is made from white cheese cloth, cut bias. String the warp 3/16 inch with white twine. It being desirable to have face and dish cloths as soft as possible, do not push the woof threads too closely together. When the cloth is removed from the loom, conceal the ends of the warp strings as previously [Pg 100] directed. ”

“ Those lovely, soft, crisp, textiles, in rose-pink, coral, lilac, blue, and silver-grey, in sea-green, mignonette, and chrysanthemum-yellow, shades that you can find in no other country, because the secret of these heavenly dyes is known only to the Japanese. Oh! they are things to make your coveteousness strong, your heart ache, unless your purse is full and deep. Then there are the common washing crêpes, with their graceful running designs so artistically disposed, their harmony of colouring, and of which [195] I order kimonos for dressing-gowns for all the children of the family. ”

“ A silver crumb scraper is still seen occasionally when the tablecloth is plain, but its hard edge is not suitable for embroidery and lace, and ruinous to a bare table, so that a napkin folded to about the size and thickness of an iron-holder is the crumb-scraper of to-day. ”

“ Cretonne.—This fabric is essentially a printed cotton fabric woven either with a plain twill satin or oatmeal weave. The weft is generally made from waste and is not very regular. Cretonnes, being used mainly for curtains, hangings, or furniture coverings, are generally printed with large, bold, and highly coloured designs. It is woven with a bleached or grey cotton warp and filling in widths ranging from 25 to 36 inches, and for curtains in widths [20] up to 50 inches. ”

“ The cheaper grades of Crape have the crinkled effect produced by suitably prepared rollers through which the cloth is passed, and the crinkled effect in cotton Crapes is not always the result of true Crape weaving, which relies on the irregularity of the interweaving of threads to produce the Crape effect. In width Crape seldom exceeds 30 inches, but is made up in pieces of varying length. ”

“ Beat 3 eggs separately and stir into the cream. Bake in a quick oven in 3 large saucers. When brown, place one cake on top of the other and spread jam between. CRÊPES SUZETTE
Mix well 1 lb. of flour, 5 ozs. of powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, 10 eggs; add 1⁄4 pint of cream, 1⁄4 pint of milk, 2 spoonsful of whipped cream, a liqueur glass Curaçoa and a few drops of essence of mandarines. Three or 4 tablespoons of this mixture are enough for one pancake. Cook in a pan and when brown on both sides put in a hot covered dish. SAUCE FOR CRÊPES SUZETTE
Cream 1⁄4 lb. ”

“ From the fact that the fabric is reversible, i.e., shows a design on both sides, it has sometimes been called a Reversible Cretonne, but the true Reversible Cretonne is the result of printing on a woven fabric and not on the warp threads only prior to weaving. The blurred effect, resembling that of a fabric which might have run in the washing, is at times intensified by the introduction here and there of yarn-dyed warp threads of solid colour. They are not always an all-cotton fabric ”

“ Egg shell porcelain.
Another variety consists in cutting or punching out pieces of the paste or body of the ware in patterns before it is baked; the pieces so cut out are small [Pg 294] ovals like grains of rice placed in more or less numerous stars, rosettes, &c. The vase thus ornamented is dipped into the glaze which fills up all these small holes, and then placed in the kiln. The pattern, being much more transparent than the body of the ware, is distinctly seen, but especially so when held to the light. ”

“ On any other matter M'sieur would probably have taken his wife's decision as final, but he had a consuming passion for crêpes, and was moreover a diplomat.
"La vie chère!" he said sadly; "it cuts at the very vitals of hospitality. With what pleasure I could have presented myself to our amiable neighbours, the Sergeant-Major Coghlan and his estimable wife, and said, 'It is the custom in France for all the world to eat crêpes on Mardi Gras. ”

“ Put the meat into a bowl and mix carefully with it an equal quantity of fine bread crumbs. Work the butter to a light cream, mix the mustard well with it, then stir in very carefully, a handful at a time, the mixed crabs, a tablespoonful of cream and crumbs. Season to taste with cayenne pepper and salt; fill the crab shells with the mixture, sprinkle bread crumbs over the tops, put three small pieces of butter upon the top of each, and brown them quickly in a hot oven. They will puff in baking and will be found very nice. Half the quantity can be made. ”

“ Measuring cups and spoons, a spoon for stirring, and a knife are, of course, essential in making confections. Then, too, it is often convenient to have a metal spatula and a wooden spoon or spatula. When these utensils are made of wood, they are light in weight and consequently excellent for stirring and beating. If egg whites are used in the preparation of a confection, an egg whip is needed. When candy must be poured into a pan to harden, any variety of pan may be used, but generally one having square corners is the most satisfactory. ”

“ This brings the story of the development of Wedgwood's cream-ware up to modern times. And the same chain of development might be traced in the history of some of the other great potters whose descendants still carry on the manufacture. Cream-ware at first painted, then transfer-printed in black or red, then painted in blue under-glaze—which was killed by the blue under-glaze printing—finally emulated the rich colours and gilding of porcelain. ”

“ A scraper with a handle is best, as a brush is not often enough washed; always use a pudding plate—a clean one, of course—to scrape the crumbs into. First bring a fork to take away the pieces of bread with, and then scrape the cloth very carefully, for nothing stains damask more than breadcrumbs, if the cloth is screwed down in a press with crumbs left in it. Never bring a dessert plate to the table until you have quite cleared it of crumbs. Spread out your dessert dishes, and fill up the spaces with others, that you have kept on the dinner waggon. ”