Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Lace, Silk, Satin & Ribbon ~ A Bed Cap From The 1920's Era

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Oh, what a confection of frothy lace, ribbon and rosettes this Edwardian - Flapper era bed cap bespeaks! The entire bed cap is covered in lace, tulle, and more lace. Accented with a double cluster of rosettes on wide satin ribbon.......

Want to read more details on this lovely creation? Read Here

Or are you looking for other antique and vintage lingerie / under garments from gone-by eras? Please visit me at the link above.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Vintage Vogue Special Design Dress Pattern

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My sister is an accomplished seamstress and while still in high school she won many awards for her beautiful sewing projects. Although our father's mother (our grandmother) certainly displayed skill with the needle in the making of beautiful clothing, I was not blessed with this talent but my sister was. So I asked her if she would consider making me a suit from a Vogue pattern I fell in love with. It was so stylish and up to the minute fashion. Certainly very couture! Even though it was a very difficult pattern to work with, she produced this wonderful 2-piece black suit for me. I did feel very stylish plus it was a very special suit. One that I will always remember. And it is still hanging in our mother's closet!

Although many of the pattern companies did produce highly fashionable clothing patterns, it is the Vogue patterns that I have an infinity, too, and I do reflect back on that "little black suit". So it happened recently I acquired a Vogue Special Design pattern. I learned the period for producing these patterns were from 1939 - 1959.

This particular pattern, #S-4270 was introduced in 1941. A very glamorous pattern accenting the small waistline and full circle skirt. Very stylish, indeed and a perfect dress for dancing to Glenn Miller. I can hear the music already in the background......

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Talk About A Beauty! ~ 1920's Hardanger Embroidery Bedspread

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Here is one FABULOUS 1920's bedspread! It incorporates lovely sprays of jewel tone flowers tied with sun gold ribbon bows embroidered on 22-count cloth fabric. Not only is the embroidery work absolutely stunning it also shares the limelight with insets and a complete border of Hardanger embroidery. Still, the show does not stop here, taking to the center stage, is a large round darn net lace inset of two figural ~ pied pipers, if you will. It is glorious with so much artistic expression plied with the needle.

This show stopper does speak for itself. The size is very generous as it could be team with a dust ruffle to fit a king size bed. Or a perfect fit for a double size bed.

The above photo shows just two of the examples of the Hardanger lace embroidery worked on the bedspread. Hardanger is a counted thread type embroidery worked in satin stitch. Hardanger is usually worked on a 22- count cloth which is rather a loose weave fabric making the threads easy to count. This work is characterized by embroidered blocks called kloster. The kloster blocks can be worked into many type of desired patterns.

The center of this beautiful bedspread showing the darn net figures surround by the the garland of flora. I think you, too, will find this bedspread breathtaking. As with many of the textiles from the past the maker's name is unknown but her creative legacy lives on.

Monday, August 11, 2008

A Turkey Red Embroidery Friendship Quilt ~ Dated 1896

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Years ago when I first started to sell antique and vintage textiles I fell in love with pieces embroidered in the turkey red floss (redwork is another term used today). Although there are many types of household items embroidered in this beautiful shade of red thread, and although I love them all, quilts are my favorite. Many of them are very graphic in designs and styles. Some elaborately embroidered.

Red embroidered quilts were in favor from the later Victorian era with the heyday in the early 1900's. By the 1920's the redwork quilts started to wane. Many of these quilts are dated with one of the latest dates I have had was 1931.

Here is a very unique quilt which I acquired some time ago. A turkey redwork friendship quilt dated 1896.

There are many blocks in this quilt in the array of farm animals, flowers, cats, dogs, birds, horseshoe, children, with one delivering the "Herald" newspaper. Now this is neat! Probably the best block and unique to the quilt is "Grandma Bear Aged 86 in the center of the quilt. The signatures are as varied as the blocks themselves with one signed "Your Sister Iva".

Several dates appear on the quilt with the last date of 1896. The two other blocks are dated 1894 and 1895. I assume the quilt was finished and presented in the year 1896.

Please visit here for more details on this quilt or to view other items in turkey red embroidery work.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Pretty Vintage Collars ~ Lovely Needle Work Of The Past

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The ladies of the generations before us were schooled in the fine art of needlework. Of course, there were those girls and young women who did have formal training but most girls (some boys, too) were taught at home by other women of the family. Especially by mothers and grandmothers. The art of mending and darning was one of life's necessity but some leisure time was, indeed, spent on the making of all types of beautiful needle work. Lovely embellishments serve the purpose of beauty as well as function on decorative household items as well as clothing.

Many touches of needle work were added to outer clothing as well as underclothing. Both for women as well as children. This was quite evident as well as extensive at the close of the 19th century into the early part of the 20th century. Collars, cuffs, yokes and dress embellishments were another area where the needle worker plied her skills as seen in the photos below.

A lovely needle lace dress embellishment or neck piece. Dating later 1800's.

Although this fillet crochet lace yoke for a camisole is several decades later than the needlelace piece and although the one above is finer and of more value it does not dimish the beauty of the camisole yoke. Each should be admired for what they are. The love, accomplishment and joy in a job well done by many unknown worker of the needle. We will never know the names of these accomplished ladies but the legacy of their work lives on.

Visit me at The Gatherings Antique Vintage here to admire other handiwork of the past.