Friday, January 9, 2009

Text and Textiles

I’ve been craving textiles this evening, and since I’m snowed in (hurrah!), I turned to the Web.

Selvedge’s site led me to Meg Andrews Antique Costumes and Textiles and I’ve been happily gazing at these delightful pieces.

My phantasy is to have a series of stunningly decrepit cupboards, painted in peeling white, lined with the most sumptuous wallpaper around. Perhaps flocked wallpaper. (Or anything from Cole & Son.)

Then, when the cupboard doors were opened, these beautiful, ethereal garments would be gently displayed on vintage dressmakers forms. (Yes, my cupboards would be enormous. Perhaps the dressmaker forms would even be on little turntables that would discreetly twirl for a 360º perspective.)

Here are some favorites (everything is sweet and pretty), followed by a specially commissioned poem that took hours (OK, 40 seconds) to compose.

Some Puffs:

and Poufs (ohhh--the hem!):






These weeds are perfect for an apres-midi stroll around a pond draped with weeping willows:











Look at the wonderfully eccentric bosom lace! It reminds me of happy lambswool.
Mary had two little lambs . . . :





This is such an Anne of Green Gables ice-cream social dress:





Poem

Miss Cavendish Hubbard went to the cupboard
To fetch her new iPhone.
But when she got there,
The cupboard was rare,
filled with muslin, lawn, and bone(ing).*

*(to fudge the rhyme, you know)

3 comments:

  1. Oh I'd love to get my hand on all that muslin! Those white dresses are just too divine, thanks for featuring them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mary-Laure, I so wish we still dressed like this. . .

    Wendy, I was actually thinking of you when I selected this piece! Glad you approve . . .

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your thoughtful comments!