Fluting Machine
This fluting or goffering machine, dating from the 1870s was donated to the museum in 1969.
A fluting or goffering machine is a hand-cranked machine used for pressing pleats and frills into fabric. A hot rod would be inserted into each of the hollow rollers and the fabric would be slowly passed through the crimped rollers to create a crisp, even pleat. The Victorians used fashion as a way of demonstrating their social status and the level of decoration on a woman’s dress was a key part of this. By the 1860s and 1870s there was an abundance of “frills and flounces, loops and draperies, of cascades and chutes and ondulations” on
women’s dresses.[i] It was also said that;
“a mere flounce is a considered no trimming at all; it must itself be
trimmed with flutings, pipings, bias bands, fringe, lace, etc”.[*]
The use of heated devices to create pleats was not a new phenomenon. Goffering irons had been used for many centuries; for example, they were used to pleat Elizabethan ruffs. These irons were basic rods that were heated in a fire and used to create individual creases by wrapping the fabric around them. However, in the mid-to-late 1800s, fluting irons and machines were developed, which could speed up the process. Rocking fluting irons, such as this one were heated on the fire and then rocked on the crimped base plate with the fabric sandwiched in between.
The first patent for a fluting machine was granted in the United States to Henrietta H. Cole in 1861. Over the following two decades further changes and improvements were patented by various individuals. The manufacturer of the museum’s fluting iron is not known. It contains all the main elements seen in the patented designs: two hollow crimped rollers create an even pleat pattern and the pressure on the rollers can be increased or decreased depending on the thickness and type of fabric. The hand-crank meant that long sections of fabric could be crimped in a single pass.
Wrestling an enormous Victorian dress, skirt or underskirt through this small machine would have been impossible so the ruffles and trimmings on dresses were all detachable. They would be washed in cold then hot water, starched, clapped or beaten to remove excess starch, and then passed through the fluting iron. Finally, the trimmings would be re-attached to the clothing. This may seem like a time-consuming and costly process to us but the middle and upper classes in the Victorian period thought it was worth it.
Up to 80 yards of trimming could be used on a skirt so new methods were needed for looking after all this fabric. Laundresses and ladies’ maids would traditionally have used a flat iron to press clothes but this could be a difficult process: the iron could scorch or burn the fabric and soot could easily be transferred. For more delicate work, such as creating pleats, it would also have been a time-consuming task.
The trend for pleating and ruffling continued well into the 1880s, as you can see from this evening dress from 1882. However, the manufacture of fluting machines ended sometime in the 1920s, as technology and fashions moved on.
*Quoted in English Women’s Clothing in the Nineteenth Century, C. Willett Cunnington, 1956
This fluting or goffering machine, dating from the 1870s was donated to the museum in 1969. A fluting or goffering machine is a hand-cranked machine used for pressing pleats and frills into fabric. A hot rod would be inserted into each of the hollow rollers and the fabric would be slowly passed through the crimped rollers to create a crisp, even pleat. The Victorians used fashion as a way of demonstrating their social status and the level of decoration on a woman’s dress was a key part of this. By the 1860s and 1870s there was an abundance of “frills and flounces, loops and draperies, of cascades and chutes and ondulations” on
women’s dresses.[i] It was also said that;“a mere flounce is a considered no trimming at all; it must itself be
trimmed with flutings, pipings, bias bands, fringe, lace, etc”.[*]
The use of heated devices to create pleats was not a new phenomenon. Goffering irons had been used for many centuries; for example, they were used to pleat Elizabethan ruffs. These irons were basic rods that were heated in a fire and used to create individual creases by wrapping the fabric around them. However, in the mid-to-late 1800s, fluting irons and machines were developed, which could speed up the process. Rocking fluting irons, such as this one were heated on the fire and then rocked on the crimped base plate with the fabric sandwiched in between.
The first patent for a fluting machine was granted in the United States to Henrietta H. Cole in 1861. Over the following two decades further changes and improvements were patented by various individuals. The manufacturer of the museum’s fluting iron is not known. It contains all the main elements seen in the patented designs: two hollow crimped rollers create an even pleat pattern and the pressure on the rollers can be increased or decreased depending on the thickness and type of fabric. The hand-crank meant that long sections of fabric could be crimped in a single pass.Wrestling an enormous Victorian dress, skirt or underskirt through this small machine would have been impossible so the ruffles and trimmings on dresses were all detachable. They would be washed in cold then hot water, starched, clapped or beaten to remove excess starch, and then passed through the fluting iron. Finally, the trimmings would be re-attached to the clothing. This may seem like a time-consuming and costly process to us but the middle and upper classes in the Victorian period thought it was worth it.
Up to 80 yards of trimming could be used on a skirt so new methods were needed for looking after all this fabric. Laundresses and ladies’ maids would traditionally have used a flat iron to press clothes but this could be a difficult process: the iron could scorch or burn the fabric and soot could easily be transferred. For more delicate work, such as creating pleats, it would also have been a time-consuming task.
The trend for pleating and ruffling continued well into the 1880s, as you can see from this evening dress from 1882. However, the manufacture of fluting machines ended sometime in the 1920s, as technology and fashions moved on.
*Quoted in English Women’s Clothing in the Nineteenth Century, C. Willett Cunnington, 1956
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