Lovely Linens

On this Show and Tell Sunday, it is my pleasure to share some of my vintage linens with you. Most of the pieces in my collection are embroidered and were made for use at the table, but I use them elsewhere, and especially in my studio. In my studio, I display pieces of Blue Willow, including a stacked teacup lamp I made, on top of a white roll top desk. This long piece of cloth, perhaps a towel for drying dinnerware, anchors the vignette and is embroidered with the word "China" in a variegated blue. Several vintage linens decorate my slipcovered chair. A towel with a blue monogram was turned into an envelope-style pillow. A long bag with a tasseled drawstring and the word "Corsets" stitched in white was also repurposed. The beautiful hand towel came from a retirement home thrift store and someone has witten 408C (probably an apartment number) on an edge in permanent ink. The corset bag had the initials JT stamped on a seam. Although not nearly as pretty as the tradition of stitching initials on linens to identify them at communal laundries, these inked marks served a similar purpose. A blue and white doily is draped over the back of the chair in true grandma style. A tablecloth and napkins wait in a white basket for their next tea party appearance. Here's another tea cup napkin from my collection. I love the sweet little French knot flowers. My most recent find came from an auction. My new blogging friend Beth invited me to go and I found the whole auction process exciting. This towel, with its very fine stitchery, and the Blue Willow plate it rests on came home with me for just a couple of dollars each. This little blue and white piece is a darning sampler. These pieces were done by young girls to teach them how to decorate and maintain the linens they would one day make for their households. In a future post, I'll share the rest of my sampler collection with you. In the meantime, you can click on any picture to see more detail. Thanks again to our hostesses, Cerri and Analise.