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.

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.

A Little Shaker Today ~ Southern California Rocked

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Well, Southern California rocked today. Not in the way of music or dancing but in the way of an earthquake. It did decidedly bring back memories of that fateful day of October 1987 when our little town of Whittier laid claim to an unknown fault and shook with a 5.9 earthquake. The damage to this Quaker town especially in the uptown area of old buildings was devastating ...and very sad to see.

So with the quake today centered in the Chino Hills area it was good to hear there was very little damage. Just many rattled nerves!

Antique Small Parasols ~ Child or Adult?

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I have read articles regarding the small size of a parasol being not necessarily a child's but may have been used by a lady riding in a carriage. She would want something to block the sun but not so large to hamper her view. I am sure this is a true statement, however, on the other hand I feel some small parasols were actually used by children.

Case in point would be this small parasol with its decidedly motif of children playing at the seashore. Certainly one that would have been carried by an young girl for a summer stroll perhaps on the broadwalk.

The fabric is a cotton printed with the figures. Much on the order of handkerchief fabric. I have never been able to find any history on this type of fabric used for parasols and certainly would like to learn more about this type. In the past I have had two others. Both were larger and definitely for a lady. One was a creamy white background printed with brown figures. The other was a red with white figures. All of the parasols were purchased over time in the New England states so a possibility a company located in the in one of the states manufacture this type of parasol.

Certainly not a fancy one of silk, satins & razzle dazzle but still one to delight. In my opinion, a bit unusual.

Update On Handmade Maltese Bobbin Lace

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I have been admiring a collection of silk handmade Maltese Bobbin lace doilies or mats and have written a post on my blog regarding a set of four a week ago. One single doily from this collection did catch my attention. It did not appear to being damaged but looked to be join as I could detect a loose silk thread interwoven in the piece. I am aware, as many who love and study old lace that indeed pieces are made in separately and then joined to form the whole unit.

So an email was sent off to my lace guru to give me answers to my question. Here is a photo of the doily in question.

If you notice at about 2:00 o'clock a faint thread line works its way from the edge towards the center. Below is her reply

"Handmade Maltese Bobbin Lace. Traditional peach silk. Yes it is made in sections joined. This lets more than one person work on a single item, to share the work, speeding production. There are three pieces in this one mat. The center cross and its ring of tiny leaves is one piece. They've hidden the join very well. The ring with large leaf motifs is made in a circle with the join at 2 o'clock in the center of one leaf. The outer ring of flowers is made as a curved edging with the join at 2 o'clock position. Well done! Each of these pieces takes a "few" bobbins. If the mat were made all at once, it would have all the bobbins working at once, slowing the process. It can be done of course, but time is money, and quickness is important. One person, one week production, vs one day, three people."

I would also like to give recognition to this special lady. Should you have questions regarding lace please send her an email. She would be happy to send a list of fees for her service. You can reach her at dankate at xvi.net