I haven’t forgotten the plan to keep adding early prints to the Flower Patch collection here at Two Threads Back. I just lost sight of it for a little while. Literally.
Occasionally I get hit by a frantic cleaning frenzy and start to clear out and organize everything, almost compulsively. Yet every time I do, I forget where I’ve moved stuff. Out of sight, out of mind. The “out of mind” part is especially fitting.
Anyway, I opened a box today and there they were, the quilt pieces, waiting reproachfully for some attention. So I selected a wild little print, an early calico reminiscent of an animal pattern: leopard, amoeba, tortoiseshell? Hmm. I prefer the feline. Like the others, it dates to the first quarter of the 19th century, probably c.1810.
But really, what Regency lady would dare to wear it? It’s certainly not for the fainthearted, a milk-and-water miss. Or am I being too…catty?
Happy Halloween!
Two Threads Back 
Meow!
Happy Halloween from us too!
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These patches are so beautiful, and the colours seem a more intense quality to now – must be the different dyes. I have just read a few of your past posts – and as you say, if anybody recognised the fabric and came up with a garment – that would be truly amazing! But of course there must have been numerous garments made from numerous bolts of fabric of those very patches – the mysterious chain of history again.
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I suspect there’s one out there, somewhere!! I’ve just been reading about 18th/19th century silk picture samplers, and how some of the pictures have had their sources identified. It’s clear that the woman who did the embroidery used a print from a book or magazine for a pattern. It’s just sooo startling – can’t imagine what it’s like to be the person to spot one like that!
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With such a heavy glaze, would it have been used for apparel?
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Good question. I have no idea, although I’ve wondered. Most of the fabrics look like new scrap cuttings rather than old garments recycled. Those with the heavy finishes can’t have been washed. They’re all about the same weight, and almost all small figured prints, checks or plaids with still-bright colors. Perhaps a glazed finish was rather common for new material, and would be expected to wash out with first laundry? I know when I’ve washed some vintage glazed linen scraps, the finish is gone. Seriously gone. 😦
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