Those Were The Days

I recently came across 2 images from the 1940s and 50s which both tell of very different days in terms of linen, its production and care.

First of all the photo of linen being spread out on a bleaching green. 

The label on the back of the photo reads as follows: 

"Northern Ireland: An elderly worker spreads out fine damask linen on the grass to bleach in the sun."  Dated November 1949. The worker doesn't look that "elderly" to me, but this is how he was perceived in the press in the USA. This photo came from the archives of a New York press agency.

The second image made me laugh out loud. Again from the archives of an American press agency, this one is entitled "Winsome Twosome"! 

Dated November 1957, the label gives us more information on the scene.

"Paris: The 'Blue Flower' of French womanhood, Camille des Ardins, turns her cheek for a congratulatory kiss from an official of the French linen industry in Paris. She was named Parisian winner of a nationwide contest to find the girl having the best qualities for the upkeep of household linen, some of which is prominently displayed during the ceremony at the Eiffel Tower."

The blue flower refers to the flax flower of course, and it was often represented on the selvedge of French linen metreage and sheeting. It is also the emblem of Northern Ireland and was adopted as the symbol for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Poor Camille! I can imagine the hours she must have spent practising her ironing skills, and that was in the days before the steam iron was in use!  And after all that she gets to wear a sash and receive a kiss from an old boy in a suit! A high price to pay!!

This image will come to mind as I tackle the next pile of linen laundry - although it is unlikely anyone will offer me a sash as a reward!! I shan't even think about the chap in the suit!!!

Linen Journey 2015 Part 2

As promised some more about my recent visit to the home of Irish Linen.

Thankfully in addition to the artefacts being preserved in museums, there are one or two individual collectors who are doing a great job of saving important linen-related materials and machinery, which might otherwise be discarded or destroyed.

One such collector is a gentleman near Gilford in Co. Down, who has amassed a huge collection. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit him and be shown some fascinating memorabilia, machinery and documents. At last I stood in front of the type of machine that would have been used by my great aunt, when she worked as a linen yarn winder in 1901 in Belfast.

Her job involved transferring the linen yarn from the large spools to the smaller pirns or bobbins, which were then inserted into the shuttles and passed to the weavers. She would have worked from 6am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 6am to 12.30 on a Saturday! Long hard hours, for sure.

I have talked about point charts before; but I had never seen ones of the size in this collection! 

Below the chart you can see the salesmen's cards showing the style of the tablecloth designs, each one with its design name and pattern number printed to the top.

And then there were pattern books full of beautiful damask cloths and napkins. Each design was stamped with the pattern number and the size. I thought perhaps these too were salesmen's samples, but apparently it was more likely that they were archive records. The quality of the weaving was just stunning and there were 100s of designs!

So there I was in a huge barn in the middle of a field in the heart of Co. Down (an unlikely place for me, as anyone who knows me will tell you!) and I couldn't believe what a great time I had. So many new facts learned and so many stories recounted. I think I need to go back for another visit sometime soon!

Linen Journey 2015

I have just returned to London after almost 3 weeks at home in Northern Ireland, and I spent time with some fascinating people still involved with the linen trade.

It was the end of July and the flax was  in bloom. The pretty blue flowers just about visible here outside the Irish Linen Museum in Lisburn.

I almost feel like a bundle of flax that has been immersed in a retting dam and has emerged after the 2 to 3 weeks of soaking, ready to be dried in the sun and then moved on to the next phase of linen production!

In my case I have been submerged in a wealth of information and anecdotes about linen, and have now surfaced to let the vast quantity of facts settle in my head. After 2 weeks of almost constant rain I could certainly do with some sun to assist the process! 

I was reminded of how precious linen was to the producers. In the days when linen was laid out on linen greens for bleaching, it was not uncommon for the linen to be stolen. Watchtowers were built so that the greens and their valuable contents could be guarded at all hours. I visited one such tower near Banbridge, which has been restored by the Follies Trust.


This small stone hut was one of 2 guarding the Uprichard Bleaching Green at Tullylish. The second one has been removed and rebuilt at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Cultra, near Belfast.

I saw beautiful damask cloths and napkins being woven at Thos Ferguson in Banbridge, the only remaining damask weavers in Ireland.

I took a trip to Co. Londonderry too and had the opportunity to visit Upperlands, the village which is home to William Clark & Sons Ltd. The village owes its existence to the linen trade, a mill was founded there in 1736. Remarkably the mill is still in the hands of the same family after all this time and I was privileged to be shown around by Bruce Clark, a direct descendant of William Clark.

As we drove into the car park I could hear the throbbing sound of the beetling engines.We enjoyed a coffee in the community run coffee shop housed in one of the former mill buildings and then Bruce took me across the yard to the beetling shed. Quite an experience! I met Sam Anderson, the beetler and he explained to me the process of pounding the cloth with huge wooden mallets to flatten it and give it the distintive sheen. Sam is the last commercial beetler in Ireland. 

Click on the image below for a snippet of film of the huge beetling engine pounding the cloth on the roller.

Clark's process is known as wet beetling and gives the cloth a finish not dissimilar to patent leather. Damask used to be finished by dry beetling, giving it that wonderful lustrous sheen which set it apart from unbeetled cloth.

I have lots more to share from my trip, but I will finish here for now.

Summer table settings!

I love nothing better than to play with colour and texture when setting a table in the garden. Our summers are so brief and unreliable that it is great to make an effort when the sun does shine!

Recently I have acquired a couple of lovely white cutwork table cloths and runners and have had fun playing with them to add a touch of freshness to a cerise Revived Damask tablecloth.

With the addition of some Wisteria coloured Rainbow Damask napkins I was ready to have a friend round for a cup of coffee in the sunshine. The good china mustn't linger in the cupboard so I mix some of Mum's collection of Royal Crown Derby with a couple of mugs from Zara!

A couple of days later a few friends popped in for a cool drink and some fresh summer berries on their way through London. I had just enough time to throw the cloth back on the table and hey presto, great clashing colours of orange and pink were ready to welcome them.

I heard there was going to be a prosecco shortage, so I am doing my bit to indulge while it is still available! Who needs an excuse to have some bubbles on a sunny Sunday evening?!

A lovely hand embroidered runner and some pretty whitework napkins complete the table. My neighbours must think I am very odd, running around with a camera when waiting for guests to arrive! But it's good to capture the moment and hopefully inspire you to use your linens, not leave them folded in the cupboard.

And if you'd like to buy these very pieces then they can be found on the website. Not the pink cloth tho', I've kept that for me!!

www.mcburneyandblack.com

An Inventory of Linen 1852

An amazing find this week. While working my way through auction catalogues, I stumbled on a wonderful leather-bound journal entitled "Inventory of Linen" and inside the handwritten inscription "Hawnes Park, Inventory of House Linen made in 1852 by A. C. Thynne". With Gold leaf tooling to the leather title label and hand marbled paper to the front and back end papers, this has been a beautiful item in its heyday. Now rather battered and dogeared, but the pages inside make for interesting reading.

I am no historian, but I do find the social history associated with this type of document quite fascinating. This journal gives the most interesting snapshot of life in a fine country house from the mid 1800s to 1929. The house later became known as Haynes Park and in 1929 became a girls' boarding school. 

Before that, however, it had been the country estate of the Barons Carteret. On the death of the childless 3rd Baron Carteret in 1849, the Barony became extinct and the estate passed to his nephew, Rev. Lord John Thynne, the Sub Dean of Westminster. (There is a monument to him to be seen in Westminster Abbey).

He had married Anna Constantia Beresford, and as was the custom, the household was run by the lady of the house, so it was she who compiled this record of the household linens up until her death in 1866. I imagine the records were kept updated by the housekeeper after that.

Each double page has columns showing the date, quantity, description, marks or monograms, size and number at a table. Lots of pencil written notes are added and items crossed out, so this document was kept regularly updated. Think of it as an 1800s spreadsheet!

An example from 1861 tells us there were 4 Irish linen cloths carrying the mark J T 1861 each 6 yards in length and 2.5 yards wide, which would be used for a party of 18. They had been purchased from Dickens and Jones at a cost of £6 and 6 shillings each!

Some of the entries in the "marks" column show a drawing of a coronet, denoting that these had belonged to the house when it was owned by the 3rd Baron. There are notes, such as "all worn out 1902" or "2 cut in half 1907". Nothing was wasted and cloths were cut and reused in smaller sizes until totally worn out.

The coronet motif can be seen to the top right. 

The variety of linens is remarkable. One page is devoted to napkins which are described as Fish and Pastry and Thumb napkins! Also waiting napkins, some cut from tablecloths in 1902. And Layovers, a term I had not come across before, but I presume them to be what we call table runners as they vary in length from 4.5 to 6 yards  and some have been cut into sideboard cloths. 

Then we move upstairs to the bedrooms - Sheets Fine, Sheets Coarse, Pillow Covers, Pillow Covers Coarse, Towels and Toilet Covers!

The list of Sheets Fine.

The Coarse sheets are noted as being for men, upper maids, footmen and servants, the Fine sheets of course were reserved for the family of the house and their guests. 

Of 6 fine pairs of 4 yard sheets with a blue coronet and dated 1843, set 6 is noted as being "very much scorched, the parts taken out and repaired with fine cloth, 1853." I do hope the laundry maid didn't get into too much trouble for her carelessness.

The variety of Coarse Cloths for the house and kitchen is fascinating. Obvious things such as glass cloths, dusters etc but also Stable cloths, Cook's cloths, Slop Pail cloths, Hearth cloths, Knife cloths and China cloths, the list goes on! I wonder how on earth they could tell the difference. It is noted that many of these were taken to London in 1888, which I presume to be 67 Eaton Place, the London home of Francis John Thynne, who inherited the estate on the death of his father.

From 1897 onwards the record keeping is much more scant and it appears to stop in 1907. The very last entry is in 1929 with just 2 pages. So life in this beautiful house was about to change and the copious quantities of Irish and Scottish linen fall of our radar. I wonder what became of it all??

More tales from the laundry!

Been absent for too long - apologies! There's been lots going on including my giving a talk to an embroidery workshop in Diss in Norfolk last week. A really interesting couple of days with a delightful group of creative ladies.

Whilst there we popped into the local auction house and of course there was a box of linens to be bid on and I was pleased to win the lot and bring it back to London with me!

Well at least I was pleased until I began to unpack the box!! The condition of some of the pieces was pretty bad, lots of pale brown mould and I honestly didn't think I could remove it.

I hadn't seen this type of marking before but lo and behold a good overnight soak and several cloths and a wonderful petticoat flounce were sparkling white again, plus lots of beautiful sets of Madeira stitched coasters. 

One of the worst pieces was a gorgeous cutwork cloth. I was so keen to get working on it that I forgot to take a "Before" pic, but it was covered in the same brown mould as shown above. A friend dropped in that day and insisted on taking a picture of me admiring my handiwork!! I must say I was pleased with the final result!