For the Love of Textiles

Because this is the last day of the almost never ending holiday....it seems.. There is still time now to write blogposts....which I really like to do as you have noticed this last month... The coming weeks will be busy and often hectic when work starts again.. Preparing lessons..meetings etc... And when things come inbetween as the stair-elevator which will be placed next week.. So... Here is another story of a remarkable book I bought some weeks ago at the Antiquariat from Jos Wijnhoven... Nieuw.... van Oud..... New....from Old .  by Th. Staalenhoef. From: Moeder-Bibliotheek Publisher: Gebr. Zomer & Keuning, Wageningen A very trendy topic nowadays... With Crisis all around us.. But this book is different... Probably written in the Crisis between the 2 Word Wars...or maybe within the 2nd One.. It is not a sewingcourse, but inside are ideas how to make garments for the whole family out of used garments... Very practical..and it did save money

Our Dear Friend Janneke has a little antique textile collection inherited from her family who originally came from Groningen (the province we stayed this summer). This week she did unpack an old trunk to give all the garments some fresh air..and to check the condition. She phoned me up and invited me to have a look at it. She know I am always interested in everything textile related... On the table and on Clothes Horses was a big selection of linen vests. Spread out they would look like this: For Men. For Women. They used to be worn under the daily garments. They are long, which has to do with the fact that underpants were not invented at that time, so the underside was slipped between the legs to form a kind of...pants. They are made of linen and one could see differences in structure.. I am always intrigued in those kind of garments (many have been saved in textilecollections), because they are worn by a person. Who this person is can be figuered out by the monogr

Years ago I got a big pile of an old French Fashion Magazine (or maybe similar to Life-Style Magazine nowadays) . Not all in very goods condition..but they all come from the 19th Century. The name of the magazine is: And this one is from the 25th of february 1866. La Mode Illustrée was first published in 1859 in Paris and of course was in French.   La Mode Illustrée was one of the most important French magazines of the late C19th that carried on well into the twentieth century.  La Mode Illustrée was published weekly on Sundays, with illustrations and description of Victorian fashions and the latest must have accessories.  There was always a fashion plate.  La Mode Illustrée set the standards for a circulation of 20,000 fashion conscious stylish women.   It showed the ladies of that time the latest: Fashion.... How your house should look like.. How your little girl should look like... And how your little boy should l

A few weeks ago -while on Facebook- I checked the Men who Knit group.  Daniel MacBride from Perth (a Spindle maker with his own firm named: Whorled Domination ) offered some of his old patternbooks with patterns for Men. I was lucky to get one from Patons. They show typical 1950's garments for Men. For Work, or maybe when coming home:  For Sport: This one is for Skiing... Complete with chart ofcourse...   And this one....My favourite in Fair isle technique. I could see myself wearing this one, because I have something similar.... I think at that time the influence for Men fashion came by one of the great fashion icons of that era: The HRH Prince of Wales. As can be seen on this painting by John St. Heller Lander. The painting is made earlier, but this man made Fair Isle garments really fashionable. What is interesting of those kind of magazines is that all patterns have a name from a person. In this magazine they are named: Hugh, Clive,