Rickrack
{{Short description|Braided zigzag trim used in clothes or curtains}}
File:Red and Cream Rickrack.jpg
Rickrack (also ricrac and variants of both with a space or hyphen) is a flat piece of braided trim, shaped like a zigzag. It is used as a decorative element in clothes or curtains.{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Pickett, Joseph P. |encyclopedia=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |title=rickrack |url=https://archive.org/details/americanheritage0000unse_a1o7/page/1498 |access-date=2019-09-14 |edition=Fourth |year=2000 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |location=Boston |isbn=0-395-82517-2 |display-editors=etal |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanheritage0000unse_a1o7/page/1498 1498] }} Before the prevalence of sewing machines and overlockers, rickrack was used to provide a finished edge to fabric,{{cite book|author=Lee, Linda|title=Sewing Edges and Corners: Decorative Techniques for Your Home and Wardrobe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vP9O9lbWkiEC&pg=PA121|year=2000|publisher=Taunton |isbn=978-1-56158-418-5|page=121}} and its popularity was in part due to its sturdiness and ability to stand up to harsh washing conditions.{{cite news |title=Rickrack Trims |url=https://www.bhg.com/decorating/do-it-yourself/accents/rickrack-trims/ |access-date=2019-03-05 |work=Better Homes & Gardens |publisher=Meredith Corporation |date=2015-08-26 |language=en}} Rickrack is produced using a variety of fibers, including cotton, polyester, wool, and metallic fibers, and is sold in a variety of sizes and colors.
Invented in the mid-19th century, it took its modern form and current name around 1880.{{Cite Merriam-Webster|rickrack}} Rickrack's popularity peaked in the 1970s and is associated with the Little House on the Prairie. Several designs of formal and up-market girls' dresses with it on as a decoration became popular in the 1950s and 1960s.{{citation needed |date=March 2019}}
Some modern sewing machine companies use the name "rickrack stitch" for a heavy decorative zigzag stitch, from its resemblance to the trim.{{cite web |last1=Banko |first1=Joanne |title=How To Sew The Rick Rack Stitch |url=https://www.brother-usa.com/blogs/stitching-sewcial/options-for-sewing-the-rick-rack-stitch? |website=Brother USA Stitching Sewcial |access-date=28 March 2025}}
History
File:Rickrack_lace_collar_pattern.png using Hutton's waved lacet braid]]
File:Ricrac industrial loom.jpg creating rickrack and the Museum of Crafts and Industry, St. Etienne, France]]
In the 1860s, rickrack was known as waved crochet braid or waved lacet braid.{{cite web |title=Waved Crochet Braid (aka ric-rac) |url=https://www.gcv.org/Our-Blog/entryid/354 |website=Genesee Country Village & Museum |date=2012-07-14 |access-date=2019-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624074502/https://www.gcv.org/Our-Blog/entryid/354 |archive-date=2016-06-24 |url-status=dead}}
During the 1890s, American home sewists used imported European rickrack as decorative edgings for dresses, aprons, and lingerie. Rickrack was also stitched into lace elements, which were then used to decorate bedding and other home linens. Between the 1890s and 1910s, rickrack experienced a decrease in popularity.{{cite magazine |title=Brisk Movement in Art Embroidery Field |date=April 1916 |magazine=Notions and Fancy Goods |volume=50 |issue=4 |publisher=McCreedy Publishing Company |location=New York |pages=40–41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QOxYAAAAYAAJ |access-date=2019-01-16}}
During the 1910s, rickrack experienced a resurgence in popularity, and American manufacturers began producing rickrack to supply to the domestic market. Among other uses, this rickrack was incorporated into crocheted lace. Books of designs, such as Nufashond Rick Rack Book, helped to popularize the craft.
In rural America in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, rickrack was used to decorate feed sack dresses. These dresses were worn as everyday attire, and were constructed from the large cotton bags that flour, chicken feed, and other goods were shipped in.{{cite thesis |title=Feed-sack fashion in rural Appalachia: a social history of women's experiences in Ashe County, North Carolina (1929–1956) |last=Buckel |first=Natalya Rachael |date=May 2010 |publisher=Appalachian State University |url=https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/f/Hopper,%20Natalya_2010_Thesis.pdf |access-date=16 January 2019 }} Since the food had to be shipped in fabric bags anyway, the flour mills competed with each other by using attractive, colorful fabrics that the buyer could either resell or upcycle into dresses, aprons, nightgowns, dishtowels, and other clothing and household items.{{Cite web|last=Onion|first=Rebecca|date=2017-07-21|title=How Depression-Era Women Made Dresses Out of Chicken Feed|url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/07/how-depression-era-women-made-dresses-out-of-chicken-feed.html|access-date=2020-03-20|website=Slate Magazine|language=en}} Adding trim like rickrack was a way to reduce the stigma around needing to use whatever fabric was available, rather than buying it from a store.
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