The joy of linen sheets
There is something nice about sheets.
During our last summerholidays in the south of France I was on the hunt.
On the hunt for textiles and esp. linen sheets.
They are hard to get but they can be found when you are lucky at Emmaüs.
And I was lucky at Emmaüs Courthézon.
It was a very sunny and warm saturdaymoring.
The retro department was only open that day.
A charming older lady was waiting in what would be a cave full of textile treasures.
I was expecting a full house but we were there alone for the first hour.
And there they were.
Sheets.
A closet full of sheets and a table with a big pile.
Amazed I was seeing this wall full of amazing sheets.
And for very reasonable prices.
Embroided, with broderie, plain, thick and thin and more.
The feel of linen is so different from cotton.
I love to wear a linen shirt on a summer's day.
Yes, you get wrinkles but who cares.
But back to the sheets.
I bought a few ofcourse.
One beautiful natural grey linen with amazing embroidery on it
An M and A are stitched on top in different techniques.
It seems a thick thread is stitched on top to get an amazing shape for a part of the letter.
The rest is done in different stitch variations.
It must have taken a lot of time to make them.
And they are after all those years still beautiful.
I always think of the woman who might have made it.
Who was the the M and who the A?
Was it made for them by the mother? Or did M or A made it as a trousseau before getting married?
We will never know but there is for sure history in the sheet.
And than there was another find.
With red embroided monograms F and J in cross stitch.
Was it made for Fabienne and Jean?
Or for Francois and Josephine?
We will never know.
But they must have loved them and cherished them over all the years they kept them in their home.
And one day someone -maybe while clearing a house- found them, didn't want them and brought them to Emmaüs.
End of story sofar.
The red colour of the yarn might have faded a little over the years due to washing and using but it is still bright and fresh.
I gave it a wash when I came home and the yarn didn't start bleeding.
This fabric is much rougher than the previous one and the yarn isn't smooth at all.
It could be that the linen is spun on a spinningwheel after carding the rough linen
It also might have been handwoven and afterwards handstitched together.
The seam itself is rather thick and lies up the fabric.
The size of half of it might be the size of the loom it is made on.
And stitched together they make a rather special sheet.
And I bought some plain sheets to make pillow cases out of them or use them in another way.
I keep all my textiles in boxes on top of our wardrobe.
Next to the story of the linen sheets I bought in France is another 'sheet-story'.
A friend of us bought us some sheets in the Dordogne made from linen/cotton.
She told us that they were the best and we believe her ofcourse.
They came last week here at home.
I washed them and this morning I was ironing one sheet and two pillow cases.
Not a job I am used to do.
But the reason was that cotton/linen sheets look much better when the are ironed.
And it is for sure nicer to sleep under ironed sheets than when they are full of wrinkles.
Usually we sleep under a duvet but since last summer we prefer a linen sheet under it.
Made long ago by a French brand namend Métis (they don't exist anymore) and the label says that the quality is superior. The warp is from cotton and the weft is from linen.Their size is 2.20 mtr with x 3.10 mtr lenght. The lenght is rather strange but the reason might be that you have a good length to fold over at the top.
The broderie is done by machine is also written on the label.
There are matching pillowcases with them also with handmade broderie around.
And washing instructions were included.
I am sure sleeping will be good tonight!
Next article will also be on a textile find I did last summer and is now in a house on a small island on the east coast of Sweden.
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