A Lost Skill

When I was purchasing this wooden darning egg at the retirement community thrift store this weekend, my cashier commented that he hadn't seen one of these in years. It's true that the art of darning has largely been lost. When our fabric was homegrown, homespun and hand stitched it was very valuable and darning samplers like this one prepared girls to mend the household linens and clothing. My mother was a child of the Depression (as well as a New Englander of Scottish descent), so I remember moments of frugality in our household. She would stretch the heel of my father's socks over a lightbulb (same shape but much less charming than this darning egg) and attempt to darn them. She must not have mastered this skill because I remember my father complaining that they felt lumpy to walk on. I don't darn or even stitch very much, but I can't resist collecting vintage needlework tools like this one that remind me of a time when women shaped their lives with a needle.

Scarlet Letters

This is the latest addition to my small sampler collection. I usually don't even look at samplers on ebay because my budget is pretty small and I hate being outbid! This one had a very low starting bid and no one else even bid against me. What luck! The really old samplers are silk on linen. After 1840, the number of samplers being stitched and their quality declined. Later samplers were more likely to be stitched like this one, with wool on a coarse open weave canvas. Many wool samplers fell victim to moths, but this one seems to have fared well. My new sampler, with its ornate letters, is similar to one in the book that got me interested in collecting samplers. It's called a Sampler of Alphabets and I just happened across it on a remainder table one day years ago. I found the samplers so breathtaking that I bought the book and began my study of this form of needlework. At one time, I maintained a website about samplers and co-founded a sampler guild here in Kansas City. I have also been lucky enough to study samplers in the archives of several museums and to attend a sampler symposium in Colonial Williamsburg. I'm not as active with them now, but I still love samplers. Here's a French sampler I own. The red and white combination was quite popular in that country. Unfortunately, someone washed this and the red binding bled, causing the linen to be stained. It's always ill-advised to wash old needlework because the dyes were not colorfast. Here's the sampler with a similar one in the book. And here's a different kind of red and white sampler--a knitting sampler. M really put herself through the paces practicing all kinds of techniques. (You can click on any photo to see more detail.) In a previous post, I showed you my favorite sampler which I thought had been stitched by a girl named Martha Lord. Now I know much more about it thanks to Susan at Miss Maddie's. Susan is a vintage textile appraiser in Canada. She did some research and was so kind to share it with me. A twelve-year old Martha Rod appears in the 1841 census of Raleigh Parish, Essex , England. This is exactly the right age for a samplermaker-- so her name was probably Martha Elen Rod and the word Lord was a religious reference which was very common in samplers. Susan also found a listing for a Hanker's Hall that was a branch of the Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire Banking Company listed in 1852. So now I know more about the stitcher and the building she chose to memorialize. Thanks, Susan!

My Favorite Thing

Cindy, who has the beautiful blog, My Romantic Home, has invited us to share our favorite thing. This sampler, which was stitched in 1840, is definitely it! I collect antique textiles, and especially samplers, and this is the oldest piece I have. Did you know these were stitched as part of a girl or young woman's education? There are certain things sampler collectors look for in a piece and this one has just about every one of them. There are trumpeting angels and a female figure, which are overshadowed by a huge butterfly. This lack of perspective in sampler art is common and gives them a folksy or whimsical feel. There are birds and trees and flowers. There's a verse--it's a version of one which was stitched frequently-- and the sampler is signed and dated by the stitcher. (You can click on the photos for more detail.) There is also a wonderful building with its name stitched underneath. It could be the girl's school, a prominent building in her hometown or possibly even her home. The sampler is probably English, but at this point in time I have been unable to document that. When I purchased this sampler about 10 years ago, I reframed it myself using museum-quality archival materials because I want it to last another 168 years. Thanks for letting me share something so precious to me with you, and I look forward to seeing your favorite thing!

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.