House Guests

Visit The Gatherings, to see all of the beautiful antique and vintage textiles I have ~ antique clothing, hats, accessories, children's clothing, vintage bed and table linens, antique children's toys, vintage sewing notions, quilts and so much more!

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Living in a muddle of antiques can be somewhat daunting at times especially when it comes to storage . I really try to have organization to my scheme of storing my "for sale" items but even the best laid organizational plans go amiss now and then.

My office, sales room , packing etc room doubles as a guest bedroom so from time to time the "table" alias "the bed" needs to be cleared so we can play host to our house guests. Of course, that means clearing a path around the bed, too, so at the very least they can wiggle their toes and find room to open a suitcase or two!

So with the announcement of house guests coming I have a task at hand which is to ready " the bedroom". But now that I have cleared the bed what to do with the neatly piles of things until our guests depart? Oh yes, there is the problem. Now, if it is put away "too good" I will never find it again but I guess sooner or later all things do turn up. So again, I try to be organized & think out my storage plan. With a little thought I do find a place for every "removed from the bed" item.

Now with the bedroom turned back into a bedroom & no longer a warehouse, cleaned & ready for our guests arrival, I find satisfaction in a job well done. If only it would stay this way!

1911 School Girl Practice Sewing Sample / Sampler

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A school girl practice sewing sampler ~ This practice sewing sampler is a bit different than many you see, although, I'm beginning to see less and less of any of the practice samplers. This one is dated June 1911...Notre Dame (which I assume is the school this little girl attended. The sampler is wrought on creamy woolsy fabric with a number of decorative embroidered stitches & tuckwork at the bottom. All her stitches are done in blue silk embroidery thread. On one end she has completed a darning & mending project. On the 2nd panel (the dated one) she has done a triangle corner patch. The third panel is a waist band, button & button holes...sewn pleats...placket with top stitching, basing stitches and at the bottom a variety of embroidery work. Around two sides of the first & second panel she has hand stitched satin binding. Also between the panels she has done a flat felled seam. She has rendered a variety of sewing stitches with a nice quality to her work. Unfortunately the maker did not sign her work which is sad. This sampler measures 19-3/4" wide x 16" long.

Salesman's Samples Early 1900's Whitework Embroidery Pieces

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I always watch & collect later 19th C - early 1900's lace sample catalogs, sample books and sample pieces and I must admit a fair amount of them have come my way. It is always a treasure to find one of these books or a lot of sample pieces as it provides insight of the type of lace & whitework textiles that were offered. The list and variety does seem endless, too. Here is a wonderful collection of early 1900's salesman store sample pieces of whitework embroidery yardage, eyelet trims etc. Some have the original label yet or printing on the pieces. These would have been samples a salesman would have shown to a store & in turn a store would have purchased the goods to offer to their customer, the consumer. Although there are no indication on any of these samples the country of origin much of this type of goods came from France, Germany, England & Belgium. There are 28 pcs in this lot ranging a few inches long up to 10" or so long. All are machine produced. A lot such as this is always a great resource for researching lace textile available during a time period.

Lesson From The Linen Cupboard - Crochet

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The making of crochet lace is with a single pointed crochet hook in patterns that seem endless. The art of crochet as I read is a very old form of lace making established & known in parts of the world by different name such as pdming (Sweden), pjoing (Norway), shepard's knitting (Scotland) gobelinstch (Germany) and crochet de Bosnie (France). in Scotland the earliest known shepard's knitting was 1812. Most of the examples of crochet lace making here in America dates later 1800's on, although there is documentation of earlier pieces. But for practically purposes we will deal with the later time frame of items that are much more available. This type of lace will be found on household linens, garments of all kinds both for children & adult. Lace was made for trims as well as the entire piece worked in crochet. Pattern books abounded to give the lady working instructions for all types of items. Occasionally one finds sample patterns either stored loose, in handmade book form or even just stitched to a paper backing with the names of the patterns neatly penned beneath the pattern. She would always have at hand a sample of a pattern if she needed to refer. This is only a tiny tiny bit of information. Pictured below is a strikingly beautiful fillet lace bedspread of cherubs / cupids from the early 1900's. The cherubs measure 27" tall. The spread is done in three panels with fringed edge.

Baby's Toy Rattle Of Yesteryear

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Gathering up my grandchildren's toy from a visit I thought how safety conscious we have become in regard to little people's toys. Even safety measures from my own children's childhood toys to now has improved ten-fold and hopefully has saved lives.

What baby of yesterday wouldn't have been amused with this delightful rattle with its whistle & series of clanging bells. Made of rows & curlicues of twisted wire in a wonderful Victorian fashion. Attached small brass bells with a beads for clacking. Whistle in the end of the wood handle for blowing. What a beautiful wonder for its artistic style and purely Victoriana. Ah yes, but was a baby allowed to enjoy the wonderment of this perilous toy?