For the Love of Textiles

After the purchase of the linen sheets (see previous post) there was time for more searching in the cabinets and drawers at the Retro department of Emmaüs. I found a beautiful piece of linen embroided with two bouquets of summer-flowers. I didn't had a close look at it, but it looked so fresh and bright. It was almost for nothing (about € 2,-), so it ended up at the pile to be taken home before leaving this 'Alladin's Cave of Textile Treasures". And this is the piece. It is a rectangle of white linen cloth and on both sides are bouquets of flowers embroided in different kind of stitches.  Red poppies, blue cornflowers, white daisies, ears of corn, green leaves. At least that is what you see at first. But after a closer look (and a very clever look of my husband Jos) suddely you see that he piece isn’t finished. And that both bouquets are very different. White daisies on one side and strange yellow ones on the other side. The poppies aren’t finished...

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 mo...