A Red Cross Cape
Yes, here we go - more World War One stuff!
By the time the U.S. entered World War One, in April of 1917, it had been raging for several years in Europe. Even before the U.S. was involved, the American Red Cross was helping out, providing some relief to war torn Europe. Hospital garments, surgical bandages, and refugee clothing were commonly sent from many corners of the U.S.
When the U.S. entered the war, Production Services of the American Red Cross became widespread. The services did not require special training, and included motor corps, and home services. The Red Cross began a massive campaign to have women of America knit wool articles for the armed forces, including socks, sweaters, mufflers, and wristlets. Detailed instructions and patterns were widely distributed. The Army and Navy also requested surgical bandages be supplied, providing yet another way the citizens could join in and help out.
I live in Prescott, Arizona, and we have some wonderful resources for what the ladies were doing here. Besides photos, we have some excellent WWI newspaper articles, and these have been fun to read.
Like this article about all the work being done in the county.
And this, in the paper to tell you what to send, and how to wrap the gifts for the soldiers for Christmas in 1917.
This coming March, our local museum, Sharlot Hall, will be opening a World War One exhibit.
As a part of the opening, some of us in the Living History program are creating clothing that would have been worn by women in our town who were involved in Red Cross work. We will dress as the ladies did, and provide an accurate representation of the women in Prescott during the WWI years. We will be sewing white dresses, with veils. We also want to wear the regulation capes.
We have a uniform guide which was put out by the Red Cross beginning in 1910.
The July 20, 1917 guide described the cape like this:
"Cape--dark blue, lined with red and insignia on left side."
Here are some ladies, and one is wearing a cape.
So, first the good news: I have a wool cape which was given to me, and it is dark blue.
The bad news: the lining is gold!
But, to the rescue - a length of lightweight red wool, also given to me. This is how I turned my gold lined cape into a 1917 regulation cape to be worn for our WWI special exhibit opening in March.
To line my cape in red, I laid it out, and cut out the red wool in three different pieces, to mimic the gold lining of the cape.
I had to hand sew the red wool into the cape.
Then, using the scraps from the red wool, I made a red cross, one inch wide, and hand stitched that on as well.
Done! Ready for work in the Red Cross WWI workshop!
Stay tuned - soon I will share my effort at sewing the dress to wear for the workshop.
