Lizzie Borden Society Forum

There's always been something that I considered a flaw in Lizzie's story about her sewing a tape on one of her dresses that morning. Since the murder bedroom had always been the area where the women had the sewing machine and equipment it would seem that Lizzie would have had to go in there to get needle, thread, scizzors, etc. before she started her little chore. She couldn't have missed Abby's body lying there. Lizzie's room was just a few feet away from the murder room, so it doesn't seem she would have kept extra stuff in her own room to do sewing. So her story seems made up.

Lizzie certainly wouldn't have needed to keep the sewing items in her room if all of the sewing equipment was only one room away. If she had exactly what she happened to need that particular day stored in her room, we might wonder why. The only way around it I can see is if Lizzie had retrieved the items needed before Abby was killed and she then interrupted the sewing project to be somewhere else while Abby was being murdered. Somewhere coincidentally well out of earshot of Abby hitting the floor and a methodical muffled thump, thump, thump as the hatchet was applied to Abby's head against the floor.

She probably didn't think that one through very well....as it was, I doubt she sewed anything at all.

Well, I don't know. Ladies often had (and still have) a smaller sewing kit handy for mending jobs separate from bigger projects. Needlework was often kept in the parlor. I don't think Lizzie lied about this.

Both my mother and her mother had sewing machines stocked with all the supplies needed for big projects but they also kept a small tin can filled with needles, thread, thimbles, etc., for small repair projects so maybe Lizzie kept one in her bedroom too.

-1bigsteve (o:

I guess a good question might be how much of a sewing project was it? I know absolutely nothing about sewing, so I don't know if what Lizzie needed was minor odds and ends which might have been kept separately in her room, or if it was somewhat of a larger undertaking. I also remember a small tin my grandmother kept with needles, thread, etc. but she kept it in her sewing room. I guess it's also possible Lizzie and Emma stashed a few sewing items in their rooms for the odd occasion when Abby needed the guest room at the same time they did for sewing. They could avoid her that way.

This is just a thought, if the article she fixed was hers, she could have gotten the sewing needs she needed before she threw it in the laundry. So when it came time to be put away she could sew it before putting it in the dresser or closet. For some reason I just can't see Lizzie sewing.

I've never really understood what Lizzie actually did. This is her Inquest testimony (p60):

"Q. Did you go back to your room before your father returned?
A. I think I did carry up some clean clothes.
Q. Did you stay there?
A. No sir.
Q. Did you spend any time up the front stairs before your father returned?
A. No, sir.
Q. Or after he returned?
A. No, sir. I did stay in my room long enough when I went up to sew a little piece of tape on a garment."

Then on p61:

"Q. What were you doing?
A. As I say, I took up these clean clothes, and stopped and basted a little piece of tape on a garment.
Q. Did you come down before your father was let in?
A. I was on the stairs coming down when she let him in.
Q. Then you were up stairs when your father came to the house on his return?
A. I think I was.
Q. How long had you been there?
A. I had only been upstairs just long enough to take the clothes up and baste the little loop on the sleeve. I don't think I had been up there over five minutes."

I'm under the impression that a "baste" is temporary. Why bother? If it is a small job why not sew it fully? How much longer would it have taken to fully sew it than just basting it? She had no other urgent task to perform.

And what is the "little piece of tape" or "loop" on the sleeve for?

It's been along time since I've made anything. To baste something is temporary, alot of times to hold something in place so you can see how it looks, or to sew it by machine. The only tape I can think of is the seam tape. I don't know if they still sell it but it was a long piece (like tape) made of cotton. You sewed on side of it to the raw edge of a garment and them sewed the other side to the garment itself. When pressed it would be a flat, neat seam. (of course you're talking a long time ago)

What Lizzie would be referring to, when she mentions basting a loop on the sleeve, would be a button loop. A button loop was used instead of a buttonhole, to button a button. It would be a more decorative button closing, rather than a simple buttonhole.

The little buggers do have a tendency to come loose, for some reason. If she did sew it back in place, it would take 3 or 4 stitches to firmly anchor it. That's a tiny sewing job and doing a proper job of it would not nescessitate using the sewing machine.

As far as what she would need; a needle, matching thread (to the dress fabric), small scissors, perhaps a small container of beeswax. When I do hand sewing, I usually run my thread through the beeswax to not only strengthen it, but to keep it from twisting and knotting.

Threads, needles (stuck in flannel to keep them sharp and retard rust), tiny scissors, beeswax, and a darning egg were the basic sewing needs for a lady. She would keep them in a small basket. (I have my great-grandmother's sisters small round, flat basket.)

This item would more than likely be kept in Lizzie's room. She could have very well done a bit of sewing that morning...but, personally, I don't think she did. I think she had bigger fish to fry than a button loop.

partial quote--

Yooper @ Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:11 pm wrote:The only way around it I can see is if Lizzie had retrieved the items needed before Abby was killed and she then interrupted the sewing project to be somewhere else while Abby was being murdered. Somewhere coincidentally well out of earshot of Abby hitting the floor and a methodical muffled thump, thump, thump as the hatchet was applied to Abby's head against the floor.

It's an interesting thought so we should examine the timeline:

When Lizzie might have been sewing was around the time Andrew came home, if she was caught on the stairs. Abbie would have been dead a long time. Lizzie says the guest room door was closed, so that would explain her not seeing the body.

But Lizzie doe settle on the fact that she was in the kitchen when Andrew came home, and that she had taken the clothes up and did the little sewing job after coming up from the cellar, after she first came down. Since Abbie was last seen in the dining room by Bridget and by Lizzie (according to them), it's possible Lizzie went to her room before Abbie was killed. That would mean that Abbie came back down after Morse saw her leave the sitting room to enter the foyer (where she proceeded upstairs, most probably.)

To re-cap: So Abbie would go up just before Morse left, then come down and see Bridget and Lizzie in the dining room, then go back up. It may be that is the period when Lizzie went upstairs, because she does say her father had not yet left the house.(Inq 67/24) That would be just before 9. That would account for the murder of Abbie being committed more like 9:20 am, which most authors surmise, rather than the 9 am that might be expected (because we have no witness to see Abbie after 9:05 or 9:10 am.).

Regardless of when Lizzie went up, the door to the guest room was closed- according to her- so she would not see anything, and I doubt the killing would proceed if she was in the immediate area to witness it (if she had nothing to do with it.)