Vintage prettiness
I went out yesterday and trawled a few charity shops and jumble sales, spent £5 and got nine DVDs, a brooch, a couple of vintage traycloths and two books (one of which was Where's My Cow? by Terry Pratchett, for my 33 year-old husband. He was delighted.)
I love and collect traycloths for a few reasons, firstly that they are often exquisitely hand-embroidered, an art that seems sadly lost, or at least diminished, these days. Often I will boggle at the effort and time put into these objects, and it's sad that I have bought all of my collection from charity shops. Some old lady dies, and her collection of beautiful embroidery is given to charity, because it has no value to those left behind. I also love traycloths because often they're tea-and coffee-stained, obviously having been used for decades. I like to think of them as being used to ferry buttery toast and hot tea to loved ones in the morning. I use my traycloths at home, on the beautiful tray that my friends Sarah and Ben gave Steve and I for our wedding present. I set out my Poole tea set or silver teapot and milk jug, and sit in the sun on the floor and read and drink tea. I like to think I'm honouring the skill and lives of those women who have poured such effort into small household things. So here are the three I've bought while we've been here, which I like for different reasons.
Firstly, this one I like because it's so totally kitsch. I mean, would any of us sit around for hour upon hour embroidering a traycloth to celebrate the coronation?! I also like it because the person clearly got sick of doing it halfway through - see the crown? That's supposed to be all coloured in!
This one I love because it's so perfectly done - I've scrutinised it for ages trying to figure out if it's hand- or machine-done, and have concluded that despite the perfection of the stitches, it's probably hand-done. I decided that because there's a tiny area left unembroidered, which a machine wouldn't do. The way you can tell is by looking at the back and by comparing the patterns at either end of the cloth, which will be identical if it's done by machine and will have tiny variations if done by hand.
And this one is the crown of my collection - it's exquisitely done, the back is incredibly tidy and it's stunningly beautiful. Also it's on heavy heavy silky Irish linen, clearly only brought out for special occasions and beautifully preserved. No tea spots on this one!
And this is a 1950s circle skirt I bought in Salisbury, which I love to death. Tricky to find a matching top and shoes, but I do like a challenge.
This is a 1940s Corde bag I bought from a charity shop - a lady had died and her daughter gave her entire collection of handbags to the shop. The metal handle is gorgeous. The Spanish brooch was 50p from a jumble sale.
PS. (Yes Mum and Dad I am eating well -) I went and had a massive roast lunch at the 400 year-old Turf Tavern after church today. I pigged out on roast lamb and Yorkshire pudding while reading (surprise) C.S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table and Other Reminiscences, a book of short essays about C.S. Lewis by people who knew him, lots of insights about Oxford as well. Here's a lovely bit I found today, by Jane Douglass, an account of talking to CSL about the possible adaptation of Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe for TV or radio in 1954:
'He repeated his dread of such things as radio and television apparatus and expressed his dislike of talking films. I said... that nothing would distress me more than that he should think that I had in mind anything like the Walt Disney shows; I hoped nobody had suggested the book to Mr Disney. This seemed to relieve Mr Lewis... and in his usual generous way, Mr Lewis said, "Too bad we didn't know Walt Disney before he was spoiled, isn't it?" '
!! He must be spinning.
I love and collect traycloths for a few reasons, firstly that they are often exquisitely hand-embroidered, an art that seems sadly lost, or at least diminished, these days. Often I will boggle at the effort and time put into these objects, and it's sad that I have bought all of my collection from charity shops. Some old lady dies, and her collection of beautiful embroidery is given to charity, because it has no value to those left behind. I also love traycloths because often they're tea-and coffee-stained, obviously having been used for decades. I like to think of them as being used to ferry buttery toast and hot tea to loved ones in the morning. I use my traycloths at home, on the beautiful tray that my friends Sarah and Ben gave Steve and I for our wedding present. I set out my Poole tea set or silver teapot and milk jug, and sit in the sun on the floor and read and drink tea. I like to think I'm honouring the skill and lives of those women who have poured such effort into small household things. So here are the three I've bought while we've been here, which I like for different reasons.
Firstly, this one I like because it's so totally kitsch. I mean, would any of us sit around for hour upon hour embroidering a traycloth to celebrate the coronation?! I also like it because the person clearly got sick of doing it halfway through - see the crown? That's supposed to be all coloured in!
This one I love because it's so perfectly done - I've scrutinised it for ages trying to figure out if it's hand- or machine-done, and have concluded that despite the perfection of the stitches, it's probably hand-done. I decided that because there's a tiny area left unembroidered, which a machine wouldn't do. The way you can tell is by looking at the back and by comparing the patterns at either end of the cloth, which will be identical if it's done by machine and will have tiny variations if done by hand.
And this one is the crown of my collection - it's exquisitely done, the back is incredibly tidy and it's stunningly beautiful. Also it's on heavy heavy silky Irish linen, clearly only brought out for special occasions and beautifully preserved. No tea spots on this one!
And this is a 1950s circle skirt I bought in Salisbury, which I love to death. Tricky to find a matching top and shoes, but I do like a challenge.
This is a 1940s Corde bag I bought from a charity shop - a lady had died and her daughter gave her entire collection of handbags to the shop. The metal handle is gorgeous. The Spanish brooch was 50p from a jumble sale.
PS. (Yes Mum and Dad I am eating well -) I went and had a massive roast lunch at the 400 year-old Turf Tavern after church today. I pigged out on roast lamb and Yorkshire pudding while reading (surprise) C.S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table and Other Reminiscences, a book of short essays about C.S. Lewis by people who knew him, lots of insights about Oxford as well. Here's a lovely bit I found today, by Jane Douglass, an account of talking to CSL about the possible adaptation of Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe for TV or radio in 1954:
'He repeated his dread of such things as radio and television apparatus and expressed his dislike of talking films. I said... that nothing would distress me more than that he should think that I had in mind anything like the Walt Disney shows; I hoped nobody had suggested the book to Mr Disney. This seemed to relieve Mr Lewis... and in his usual generous way, Mr Lewis said, "Too bad we didn't know Walt Disney before he was spoiled, isn't it?" '
!! He must be spinning.