Skirted Parasol Canopies from c. 1870

Well, never say never! In my previous post (Restored Parasol, c. 1900), I mentioned that I hadn't seen extent parasol canopies with a "skirt" like I put on the canopy of that parasol. Now I have, and on two antiques from my own collection!

Extant canopy on an 1870s parasol. The blue
arrow indicates where the rib tip is. The fabric
is silk faille.

Extant canopy from another 1870s parasol.
The fabric is something like silk taffeta.

Both these frames are from 1870s or later (they have metal ribs, so it's not likely that they date to earlier than the late 1860s, at the very earliest). The frames both happen to be folding frames (also called carriage frames) with tilt hinges. The canopies are prototypical: black silk, with pinked edges, lined with something like china silk. The silk is shredding to bits, of course, so eventually the canopies have to come off and be replaced.

The first canopy has a tiny skirt, extending only about 1/2 inch past the tip of the rib. The second has a slightly longer skirt, about 3/4 inch past the rib top. On the first, the rib tips are wrapped with thread, which has kept them from punching through the canopy fabric (this was hard to photograph, because the lining is in the way). The second doesn't have anything on the rib tips, so they've worn through the fabric in a few spots.

The second canopy, with the shredded top flipped out of the
way. The blue arrow indicates where the rib ends.
The canopy extends down from there about 3/4 inches.

These two parasols do date to several decades before my restored Edwardian-ish parasol, so they aren't exactly hard evidence that supports the skirted canopy style I went with. But at least I can say it was done somewhere, sometime. :)