Victorian Easter Egg Made of China

Break out the bombazine and horse glue, because it’s time to decorate Easter Eggs, Victorian style!

From one of my favorite antique books comes these fine examples of Victorian Easter eggs. Household Elegancies, by Mrs. C. S. Jones and Henry T. Williams was published in 1877 and is full of amazing illustrations and advice on decorating every part of your home, including the humble egg. Click on the illustrations for a closer look, you may also use these images as Victorian Easter clip art if you wish.

With many it is a curious fancy, to dress Easter-eggs in elegant forms and keep as toilet elegancies, and we introduce several designs showing how this may be beautifully carried out, and result in charming effects.

This china egg is hollow and open at the dull end, so that it can be set up on end, or when given as a present, filled with candy or some valuable article, while it may be closed with a cork decorated with ribbon bows. Such eggs which have the not very poetic but certainly useful mission of helping in the darning of stockings, are generally white, a tempting subject for painting, to those who can skillfully wield a brush. But they may also be procured colored, and when decorated with ribbon bows, make a pretty and welcome Easter gift.

BOILED EASTER-EGG, WITH ETCHING

Example of an Etched Victorian Easter Egg

A very pretty Easter gift is a boiled colored egg, on which, as on colored porcelain, the most various designs, monograms, pictures and the like, may be etched with a fine penknife. As hard-boiled eggs do not decompose, this forms a durable mark of remembrance. The brown color on our model, is produced by boiling the egg in water filled with onion peels.

Victorian Easter Egg Hanging Basket

EASTER-EGG AS HANGING-BASKET WITH FLOWERS

Open a hen, duck, or goose egg at the pointed end; let all the contents run out, and cut the upper, smaller half away with small sharp scissors; fill it almost up with earth, and plant a sedum, which, despite the small space, thrives splendidly and spreads out its little twigs on every side. As outer decoration for this improvised flower-pot, a net-work of crochet suspended by cord made of chain-stitches, and trimmed with tassels, will do nicely. In the model, the net is crocheted of scarlet silk; Fringe is knotted in at the top, and a string drawn through to make the net fit firmly to the egg. Draw the net together at the bottom, and finish off with a tassel.

EASTER-EGG AS BONBONNIERE

This sweet little toy is made of a bonafide egg, cut through very carefully in the middle; the edges are furnished with a narrow binding of soft-colored paper, beneath which, for the sake of strength, a narrow strip of card-board is pasted. A strip of card-board, one-fifth of an inch wide, covered with the same colored paper, is pasted within one of the halves, partly projecting, and serves to close the two parts, as plainly seen in the illustration. The rest of the decoration consists of narrow gold braid pasted inside and out, at the edges of the paper binding. A skillful hand may easily execute a monogram, or wreath of flowers on the outside of the egg. Decalcomanie may also very suitably be employed.

Victorian Easter Egg Gift Basket

EASTER-EGG AS HOUSEWIFE

Materials: Tulle, zephyr worsted, white sewing-silk and crape, colored silk and watered ribbon three-fifths of an inch wide, narrow blond lace. As may be seen in the illustration, our model is provided with the necessary sewing-materials for embroidery. The outer decoration consists of tulle drawn through with zephyr worsted and sewing-silk, beneath which, the tulle is almost hidden, leaving a peculiar sort of net-work. The pattern of this pretty design is worked of worsted and cross-stitches of white sewing silk. We would here mention that this work is very suitable for children’s hats. For each of the two oval halves of the necessaire, work a piece of tulle seven and one-fifth inches long, and five and one-fifth inches wide; round it at the corners; line it with blue or pink silk, and baste it to a piece of card-board. The outer rim is then marked at even distances, into twelve parts; between these cut out points one-fifth of an inch wide, one and one-fifth inches deep. Bind the incisions with silk ribbon; by drawing them together the arched form is produced; tack in the silk lining; wire it on the edge, and finish off with a binding of ribbon. Ornamental stitches of colored silk decorate the outer side; the inner margin is finished off by a narrow blond lace. The piece that covers the rims is to be fastened to one of the perfectly equal parts, and consists of a strip of card-board two-fifths of an inch wide; it is covered on the inside with silk, on the outside with white crape taken four-fold; it is edged on either side with button hole stitches, and decorated along the center with herring-bone stitches. Two pretty bows, one within and one without, conceal the spot where the parts are connected, and ribbon serves to tie the halves together.

Victorian Easter Egg Gift Box

Safety-Pin Holder

For a unique Easter gift idea, take a page from what the Victorians gave as Easter gifts. Let this article from the Victorian children’s publication, Harper’s Young People, be a source of crafting inspiration.

While the article title is a little misleading–I wouldn’t exactly call a flatiron a “toy” and can hardly imagine the look on a child’s face to receive such a thing in their Easter basket (the equivalent of coal in a Christmas stocking, I’d say), they do illustrate how resourceful and crafty young people were encouraged to be over 100 years ago, and most likely these diy Easter gifts were intended to be given to parents and grandparents by children and young adults.

Be creative, many of these ideas can be made into modern Easter presents by adapting them to use what we have available today. Skip the cigar box and simply decoupage postage stamps to an unfinished wooden tray, and you’ll have a thoughtful and unique gift that retains the charm of these old-fashioned craft projects.

Easter Toys

From Harper’s Young People, February 27, 1894

One of the prettiest customs of the year is the giving of Easter gifts. Unlike Christmas, these presents at Easter-time are never supposed to be expensive. They are rather a little reminder of the happy Easter-time, and a sign from the giver to the receiver that the one is thinking of the other.

Of course there are many different kinds of gifts, and perhaps the most conspicuous are those prepared in the shape of eggs. These are not the only gifts that you can appropriately make for this time of the year. The different presents described here are all easily made, with almost no expense, and very acceptable to those you decide to send them to, because they will be the result of your own labor and thought, and that is the best part of giving.

The Flatiron

A handy trifle for the sewing-table, and a most friendly little article to take into the country for the summer outing, is a simple flatiron. Gild the upper part, but leave the face untouched. Wind the handle with a woollen strip covered by a ribbon, or bias strips of fancy silk. In one end of the bow-knot stitch a thimble case, in the other end a place to hold blunt scissors. Choose a heavy iron, and it will be always in use. It will have sewing pinned to the handle for swift running and hemming, or else it will be engaged in pressing sea-moss or flowers, or holding papers together. But very often it will have thimble, scissors, and needles removed, and it will be heated to smooth out ugly wrinkles in cloth, or to dry and pres a sponged spot. It will be absolutely renovate twisted whalebones by dry pressing the bodice or corsets on the wrong side. Use in tailor fashion–that is, bang down the iron firmly, and bear upon it.

Postage Stamp Tray and Pin Holder, and The Egg Basket Bonbon Box

To make a pretty bonbon-box get a small wire egg-boiler and a tall round box with a flat circular lid. This box must fit inside the opening of the egg-boiler, reaching from the bottom to the top, so that the box lid lies level with the top of the wire opening. Before placing the box inside, take a sheet of pale green crimped tissue-paper, cut in in half lengthwise, and tie the strips into the form of a Maltese cross. Fasten the tie to the centre of the bottom of the wire frame inside. Spread out the strips inside, pressing them against the wires lightly with cotton wool; in the centre of the wool put the box. Clip the ends of the tissue paper and paste them narrowly inside the box. Sew a pompom of the tissue-paper on the lid, and finish with a narrow hinge of ribbon. Fill the box with bonbons.

A Stationery Box

The box for stationery is made from a flat cigar box. Take off the lid and front part, fasten them both on in place of the lid, curve off the projecting corners, and sand-paper the box carefully. Set it up on its back, and put in a few lead moulds and sachet powder, covering them with a false bottom of silk-covered pasteboard. Ornament the box with pyrography, or a cluster of postage-stamps varnished, or tie three or four cigar ribbons around the box, fasten their ends with red sealing wax.

The Doll Bonbon Box

When postage stamps are pasted very smoothly, “crazy-quilt” fashion, and varnished, they make a fine enamel-like “all-over” decoration like those on the small try of china from the Young Women’s Christian Association Salesrooms. From the same pretty rooms came the postage-stamp pin-holder. A two-cent postage stamp of the Centennial issue is mounted on a small oblong of cardboard, covered with lavender silk; the front and back are alike. Black pins set off the tints very well.

Will you make another bonbon-box? Take a paper doll’s head and bust, and stitch on a strip of cardboard about five inches high, making the figure about eight inches in all. Cut in half a sheet of crimped tissue paper, gather the crimps together in the middle of each piece, and lay them over each shoulder, hanging even back and front. With a stout thread draw the drapery in like a girdle, just under where the arms belong, stuffing a morsel of cotton under the folds to give roundness. Paste the breadths of the skirt together, paste on the arms, catch the skirt lightly to the fingers, and in a fold or two around the front. The candy box is fastened to the pasteboard strip at the back.

An Iron-Work Inkstand

A new holder for safety-pins is a china doll with two strips of flannel hanging from its waist, stuck with pins; a satin ribbon covers these strips, suggesting an infant’s robe.

For stick-pins and hat-pins a cushion may be ornamented by a china doll fastened to a circular piece of pasteboard. Around the “sitting down” doll is a soft ring of curled hair, and this is placed in the centre of a piece of soft gay-colored silk. The silk is then drawn up lightly and gathered like a Loie Fuller gown around Miss Dolly’s breast.

The iron-work which is now in such favor is really artistic and durable. The big toy-shops and sporting goods shops keep outfits for this fancy work. These patterns are not elaborate. Do not let the curves degenerate into circular curves; keep them “catenary” curves, and you can easily make an inkstand such as is represented in the illustration.

A Window Flower-Box

From The Cottage Hearth, 1876

Window Flower Box

Given fresh mosses or leaves, a few trailing creepers and two or three spikes of flowers, and the effect will be charming in a window box made after any of the following descriptions. These methods are all cheap and feasible for securing the effect desired.

The box may be made of zinc, painted to suit one’s taste, or of common white pine stained and oiled, with a strip of molding or a few lichens and fir cones tacked on by way of ornament. Or prettier still, it may be turned into a rustic affair by covering it withy narrow horizontal lengths of rough-barked wood. Birch bough or laurel, or both alternating, will answer, halved lengthwise with the saw, and cut into sections to fit the box, the shelf which supports it being edged with the same. Or a gaily colored affair may be made with narrow strips of oilcloth, finished off with a wooden molding at top and bottom, a set pattern being chosen of bright solid colors, like the tiles, which are so much in vogue for more expensive arrangements. Or a most unique and tasty box may be made by first painting it white, then lay ferns, green or pressed ferns, upon the sides in tasteful designs, and sift clean brown sand over the whole side, after which remove the ferns, and the fern designs with all their delicate tracery of fronds, will appear distinctly in white.

The box we illustrate here was ornaments with a mixture of acorns and pounded shells. Cut all the acorns in half lengthwise. Cover the box with glue. Make an edge each way of acorns, and then cover the box all over with rows of acorns moderately close together. Sift the pounded shell all over the box thickly between the acorns. The acorns are varied with cone seeds and red berries cut in half.

Whatever style of box is used, unless the window seat is of unusual width, brackets must be put underneath, or a stronger pine shelf must be adjusted in the recess to support the box, and the edge which fronts the room just be ornamented or stained to match.

Figure 1

Those acquainted with the manner of making the “quilled braid,” as it was called in the old days, can apply it to the manufacture of beautiful and serviceable rugs, for parlor or sitting-room floor. The materials required are wide, woolen braid or strips of cloth of two or more colors, a piece of canvas or carpeting for the foundation, and strong thread.

Figure 2

The accompanying figures clearly show the modus operandi of plaiting the braids, if any are unacquainted with the simple performance.

Scarlet and black, green and brown, or a row each of various colors, will all be found beautiful for these braids, which, when finished are sewn on the foundation which has been cut to proper form; a tasteful one of which is shown in Fig. 1. The form of arranging the braids, which are shown in one-half size in the diagrams 2 and 3, is plainly marked in the illustration of the rug.

Figure 3

Where such rugs are made of old cloth, (which, by-the-way, will be found a most useful manner of utilizing old fragments or pieces of discarded garments) they must be cut into strips and run together along the edges, thus making long inch-wide pieces, of which the braids are plaited. The edge is finished with cloth pinked-out on the edge, or perhaps merely cut into points and sewed around the foundation beneath the first and outer row of braids.

From “Beautiful Homes,” 1877

German Christmas Angel

This Victorian era article was originally published in The Cottage Hearth, December 1876

The popular custom of preparing Christmas trees for the delight and amusement of young and old, increases yearly; and the question, “How shall I trim one?” is often asked. In the Country Gentlemen, “Daisy Eyebright” tells how to do this. I shall try to answer it. If you can obtain the tree from some pine woods near at hand, select a finely shaped fir balsam or spruce, with firm branches, and about nine or ten feet in height. Then spread a large sheet over one end of the parlor carpet, and put a good-sized tea chest in the center of it.

The lower limbs of the tree must be sawn off so that it can be firmly fixed into the box; and any small heavy articles, like weights and flatirons, can be put in for ballast, to keep the tree firmly in place. Then fill up the box with hard coal. The chest must be concealed with some pretty material; old curtains will answer the purpose, or the American flag; and a white furry robe is also suitable. Drape these articles close to the tree, and let them trail a little on the floor, to make a graceful sweep.

Now the tree is planted, and we must proceed to decorate it. Make chains of popped corn, strung together with needle and thread; at least a dozen yards will be none too much for a large-sized tree, and the pure white festoons entwined amid the dark green branches of the tree produce a fine effect.

We must also have chains made either of glazed scarlet, gilt or silver; cut the paper into small strips, four inches long and not half an inch in width; fasten the two ends of each strip together with flour paste, and make half of them into rings; then take the rest and make into similar rings, but first slip each strip through two of the dried rings before joining the ends. In this manner all the slips of paper are interlaced, and we have a chain of rings which will greatly adorn our tree. They must be festooned in long, graceful loops from limb to limb, and the effect is very charming.

All this work the children can do, and it will add greatly to the entertainment of the long evenings at this season. They can also assist in covering English walnuts with tinfoil, or gilt paper, and in filling small apples with cloves, which will serve to keep moths from the drawers of our bureaus, and therefore make inexpensive but acceptable presents.

If we posses a cracked mirror we must take it to the glazier’s, and ask him to cut it into two inch squares. Around the edges and across the backs colored paper must be pasted, and long ribbon loops attached to the backs by which to suspend them behind the tiny wax candles, where they will do duty as reflectors.

Fancy glass balls of all colors can be purchased for a few cents each; and several dozen of colored wax candles, with tin rests to attach them to the tree, can be bought. Self-balancing candle holders can also be found at most toy shops, and need only to be placed on the branches. If these cannot be obtained, common copper wire can be heated a little way, and the other end can be twisted firmly about the branch. If the wicks are brushed over with a little kerosene put on with a camel’s hair brush, they will light very quickly.

The light, showy gifts can be suspended upon the tree, but the heavier ones must be laid upon the piano or table, or else wrapped in paper and arranged around the base of the tree. A pair of scissor must be in readiness to cut the gifts from the branches. When such a tree is trimmed, filled with gifts and lighted, it is indeed a beautiful sight — a graceful green pyramid, with the numberless little jets of flame, trembling and flashing mirrors, garlands of bright hues — all brightness, sparkle and color. Try it, fair friends, and see for yourselves how lovely it is.