Sontags, in Three Original Patterns and a Collection of Period Photographs

I've gathered here numerous period photos of sontags and maybe-sontags, and some not-quite-sontags, as part of my research as I knit one for myself.  I remember some historical costumers sighing over the fact that all of the sontags they saw at re-enactments were knitted to the same pattern, again and again, but it's pretty obvious from these photographs that there must have been as many different versions as there were knitters, so that unless the modern knitter is actually re-creating a period pattern, there is no reason why you need to stick to the basketweave one from Godey's.

The version worn by the lady above might be knitted in a honeycomb stitch, to which she has added a two-color crochet edging.  She also appears to be wearing fluffy netted sleeves.

Here are three original patterns --

the earliest one from the 1860 Godey's,

 another one from the next year's Godey's (1861),  (A "habit-shirt" was a sort of dickey, or as Chambers' dictionary has it, "a thin muslin or lace under-garment worn by women on the neck and shoulders, under the dress", which sort of makes sense but not quite here, as of course the sontag is worn over one's dress.)

and a third by Mrs. Weaver, in Peterson's Magazine of 1862.  The two Godey's patterns are very similar in effect, especially with the faux ermine trim (!), but the first one will result in a definite U-shaped piece, while the second will give you a V-shaped piece, since you not only start with only five sts but you also don't cast off any sts at the back neck.  There is no mention at all in the second one of closures, whether ties or button.

Mrs. Weaver's is different yet again, as while she does use the U-shape (which would certainly sit better on the wearer's neck), her front points appear to be a little squared off, and at least in the illustration don't wrap around the wearer's body.  She is unfortunately rather non-committal about how one secures it, which might explain the solution of these two ladies --

which appears to be to simply to tie it together with a cord over the wings at one's waist.

The photographer has with his highlighting unfortunately obscured the details of this lady's sontag, but it has a very similar crocheted border to that of the lady in the top photograph, though here the shell stitch is in a single color.

This one appears to be entirely crocheted, but is not perhaps strictly a sontag either, since the ends don't seem to go all of the way around the wearer's waist and attach to the back of the garment.

This lady's sontag has a deeper and frillier border than most, which make it come further down the upper arm than the previous ones.  Her ties are also longer than the others, but also end in pom-poms.

 

This lady has chosen a very striking three-toned stripe for her sontag.  It's too bad that her arms are in the way, as it looks like the points of the sontag end in the front, presumably with ties that wrap all of the way around and back to the front.

This is I think the most "famous" example of a sontag now, as it's the one you see most often if you Google "sontag bosom friend".  It appears to be entirely crocheted, and unlike the 1860 Godey's pattern, has ties that wrap all of the way around and back to the front.

This lady's is quite vivid with its checked two-color pattern!

This is the only one I have seen that does not have a contrasting border.  It's too bad the image isn't bigger, as it looks like she might have used a ripple or feather-and-fan edging.

This lady shows up in a collection of sontag photographs, but I don't think it really can be called that, as while it is clearly related, it doesn't wrap around the wearer, who has instead attached it at the neck, perhaps with a chain, and left the points to hang free like a short tippet.

I am not sure that this can really be called a sontag, either, as it doesn't wrap around in the same manner.  This looks to me like she heard about a sontag and thought it was a good idea, but hadn't seen the illustration.  (Or perhaps made it according to the pattern in the book and found out, like so many of us do, that it was too small, and just made do.)  I do like the lacy border, though!

Oh, I wish this image was bigger!  It looks very like the Godey's basketweave.  The "wings" on this one are rather short, perhaps not even making it to the wearer's side -- which is just what the 1861 Godey's one does, where "the ends cross over the bosom".

In summary, the definition of a sontag or "bosom friend" seems to be a U- or V-shaped piece which lays over the wearer's shoulders, with the wings being long enough to either just meet at the waist (with straight ends) or, far more usually, to wrap around the waist, sometimes to the extent of meeting at the center back.  Strings or cord of some sort are usually used to secure the wings, with those that are long enough being secured also with a button where the points meet at the back.  There is always some sort of edging, often crocheted but sometimes knitted (perhaps also with a narrow crochet edging); the edging is usually in a contrasting color.  The crucial element of a sontag, if you want to be a stickler (and don't we?!) seems to be its U- or V-shape, otherwise it is a variant of a hap or similar shawl (triangular or square folded cross-wise) that wraps around the waist and ties at the back.

(I doubt, by the way, that it was ever called a "bosom buddy", which I have seen lately.  The word "buddy" first appears in print, according to Merriam-Webster, in 1850, just a little earlier than the sontag shows up, but I suspect that it would have been thought too slangy for ladylike use.  The phrase "bosom buddy" first appears, according to Dictionary.com, in the 1920s, much too late for the sontag.)

Comments

[Toffeeapple]

An interesting article about something that I was totally unaware of. It did remind me, though, of the way Welsh women used to use a large square shawl to wrap themselves and their babies, indeed, as my Mother would have carried me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xumDOeVw2gs

[Jeanne]

I would think it’s definitely related, in the need for convenience, and its simple ingenuity! I find that having to deal with shawl ends around the house, certainly in the kitchen, is a problem, so the sontag seems a perfect solution. The Welsh carry-wrap, especially the hands-free one, is much the same idea.

Thanks for the link – I did a little more research and found this page with photos of the manufacturing process for the shawls, which is in itself interesting --

http://www.davidmorgan.com/nursingshawls.html

I like the thought of granddad taking the baby out on Sundays, to give the parents a little time off.

I used a sling with my girls, and loved it – it was not only convenient but comfortable.

[Mary Lou]

So interesting. But I must confess when I saw the title I thought it was related to genealogy and you were related to Susan Sontag... Mette doesn't blog any longer but has Danish variations on this type of garment http://knitforwardsunderstandbackwards.blogspot.com/2010/07/shawl-1845.html

[Elizabeth]

Your sontag article has some lovely images - are they yours?

[Jeanne]

Elizabeth, I'm not quite sure what you mean. Do I own the photographs? alas, no. Have I scoured the internet for hours looking for historical images of mid-Victorian clothing called in (modern) descriptions a "sontag" in hopes of showing that there is more than one way of knitting (or crocheting) a sontag, and hoping also to define what exactly is (or isn't) a sontag? yes!

[TL Schmidt]

The instruction for a knitted Bosom Friend is found on page 20 of the publication
"Knitting, Netting, & Crochet Work", by Elizabeth Jackson, published 1845, London.

[Jeanne]

The book that the previous commenter refers to can be found here --

https://archive.org/details/krl00394023/page/n25

[Sigourney]

I'm Spanish. Here we have three types of clothing that are kin to the Sontag. The first one would be the Dengue, has the same shape and is tied around the body in the same way. The oldest one to be found dates back from XV century. Then there would be the Toca, which would have more of a squared back, and cover the breasts, but didn't cross in the front. The last one would be the Parlamenta, which was sort of a capelette and is clearly a XIX century fashion. All of this could have been knitted (in the ancient Greek style of knitting, with short kneedles with crochet and knit points), or boiled afterwards, then embelished with ribbons, velvet, embroideries and cristal embroideries.
Many of those pictures, given the poor fitting of the garments, look to me as a proposal of the photograph to let the ladies look more in fashion. Photographers used to have garments to lend their clients for the photo, and some of this seem the case (unfitted, poorly worn, etc...).

[Sigourney]

This knitted fashion trends were in the middle of the 'folk' discovery of the upper classes. They usually push garments, recipes and even habits of the rural people into the Burgess and upper classes. Since everything would have pass through the ignorant eye of the magazines and the 'discoverers' many stuff would arrive distorted and lacking the original purpose to the final clients of the magazines.
Just keep that in mind and proceed with caution when searching through magazines and books of the era. Best regards.

[Jeanne]

Sigourney, it's always interesting to hear from someone who knows their stuff, especially one from another culture who can give a different perspective.

I think, perhaps most importantly, that the definition of a "sontag" was never really clarified even in the 1860s, and the lines have been blurred even more since then! In my mind, a triangular (or folded into a triangle) shawl that has its ends wrapped around the waist and tied at the back is just a shawl, one that the wearer has decided to tie around her waist (for extra warmth, for practicality, etc.). It's hardly surprising that many cultures do this -- e.g. the Shetland hap, the Scandinavian bindesjal -- as most working women would not want the ends of their shawl dragging in their dinners, getting caught in machinery, catching on fire, etc. etc.!

For me, a true sontag is the type of shawl that does not simply have the ends tied together but has *some kind of specific method of securing the ends* -- tasselled cords, say, or buttons as in the 1860 Godey’s pattern -- *and* is specifically shaped to fit around the wearer’s neck, either in a V- or U-shape.

I couldn't find online images of the toca or the parlamenta, but I did find one of a dengue -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joaqu%C3%ADn_Sorolla_-_Asturiana.jpg. This looks to me more related to the hap and bindesjal, as it doesn't appear to be shaped around the neck, but please let me know if that isn't the case!

Clearly, though, the sontag (in my definition!) is related to the tied shawl of multiple cultures.

I have, by the way, heard that photographers sometimes supplied garments for their subjects to wear, but have always assumed that those photographers were recording what they felt were cultural markers and traditions, and/or specifically photographing for the tourist industry, as these Welsh women were photographed -- https://mathomhouse.typepad.com/bluestocking/2015/05/welsh-women-knitting.html. But note that these Welshwomen were not being photographed for their own families, but probably getting paid for sitting. I have the feeling that any woman who had enough disposable income to follow fashions would tend not to want to be photographed for posterity wearing a) someone else's clothes, or b) something that didn't fit properly!

[Jo Ann]

Nice article and pictures. I wonder if some of the short sonntags (made of wool) have shrunk when washed and the ladies wore them anyway. Many things were scarce in those days and what people had was kept for a long time, mended or used as they were.

[Jeanne]

Jo Ann, I would expect that most women who washed their own clothes would know how to wash wool, since many of their own clothes and those of their menfolk would be made of wool -- though it is certainly possible that some of these sontags have shrunk! It might be also that the fashion for short bolero-type jackets (like this modern re-creation https://antiquesewist.blogspot.com/2016/05/1860s-bolero-zouave-jacket-with.html) influenced the shortness of a woman's sontag.