The latest auction purchases - Old Bleach to Paisley

Last week took me back to Yorkshire for the Vintage Costume, Textiles, Dolls and Teddy Bears sale.  I don't buy dolls - I hope the doll collectors out there forgive me if I say that I find old dolls a bit scarey.... I think it's the eyes that seem to follow you about and they often have a very self-satisfied smile on their faces. However, I was very glad that I am not a doll buyer as this sale had some very expensive ones....

This Jules Steiner doll  was estimated in the catalogue at £400 - £600 but actually sold for £4900.. when commission is added on that will be £5780!

These 19th Century Miniature Dolls were estimated at £120 - £180 but sold for £2100. 

This German wooden toy laundry set, including mangle, clothes stands, wooden buckets, in a pine box did appeal to me - I'm glad I have an automatic washing amchine to wash all my linens now however! I need it to wash all the white linens that I bought. Several unused linens with the original paper labels

I also bought a box with a number of Christening dresses and a beadwork and tapestry screen

And an antique paisley shawl and other shawls including the edging from a paisley shawl - perfect for crafts. 

And finally, two Durham quilts... one plain pink and the other a pink patchwork one

  

First auctions of 2012!

So it's back to the auctions for the first time this year - 2012!  As is the way, there hasn't been an auction for around three weeks due to the Xmas period and then this week there are six - some held on the same day so impossible to get to them all! So, I have had to decide which ones to attend, which to leave commission bids and which to avoid all together!

The first purchase this year was a box of Victorian baby clothes.

They don't look very inspiring in the box however now that they have been washed and pressed........

A great improvement!

At the bottom of the box was a lot of lace and Swiss embroidery trim. As the dresses all came from the same family (Alexander family)and were all hand stitched presumably the lace had been saved from other baby clothes and was awaiting use on more garments.

So now it's ready and available for you crafters out there to use to embellish and create something new.

Another auction tomorrow so I'll get the bidding paddle ready!

Getting ready for (dare I say it?) Xmas!

 Every year I have to tidy up the "sitting" room so that it can be used for Xmas. From January to the end of November it is called the "linen" room and the chairs and sofas are hidden under piles of sheets, tablecloths, doilies and quilts. In fact, my husband forgot the colour one of the sofas as he hadn't seen it for months!  This means first of all trying to find the time to get as much as possible washed and ready for selling.  (I do have baskets like the ones below but I don't have a room this large unfortunately!)

                                      If only we had the weather to hang it all outside like they do in India!

Then the remainder is stashed under beds, in the attic and in the garage. One day I dream of having a garage that looks like...................

Instead of like................................(actually this is tidy compared to our garage)

However, the trip to the garage today did unearth a box of linens that I stashed away last year and forgot about. Inside was a quantity of long white linen surplices that will be ideal for a choir or even more seasonally as costume for the angels in the Nativity play!  So now, back to the washing machine and the ironing board!

Off to windy Scotland for linens!

Last week I went off to Scotland - Dundee - for an auction. Yes, I know it is a long way to go ...165 miles in fact.. but the catalogue showed a large number of lots of linen and the deciding factor was that one of my daughters goes to University there so I had a free bed for the night!

Dundee is a city known in the past for the three "J's" - Jam, Jute and Journalism. So maybe it is not surprising to find linens - in Victorian times it was renowned for it's textile mills - most of them now have been converted into student accomodation!

 Dundee is also known as the sunniest city in Scotland but I happened to make this trip on one of the windiest days of the year......

The turbines at the wind farms were whizzing around like toy windmills. I like the turbines..I think they have a sculptural look but I know that many people think they detract from the landscape.

So into the auction and it took me a good hour or more to look at all the linens..why do auctioneers insist on putting boxes of linens and textiles under tables, behind sofas so that it is a) hard to find them and b) hard on the knees to look at them.

The best lot was in two old trunks - they were full of unused sheets, pillowcases, damask tablecloths and napkins.

As you may be able to make out from the photos, a real mixed bag of textiles. Many of them from a Miss Campbell who, like the lady in the previous post, liked to leave notes to her family about who should have what  .... the family obviously didn't heed her words!

I have to say that the porters were very friendly and very helpful and carried everything out and packed them into the car for me.

Then the long drive back home to sort, wash, and take photos ready for selling. I love the point on the drive home from Scotland just after Carter Bar when, apart from the road that you are driving on, there is no evidence of human habitation - just hills, moors and maybe a sheep or two

  

Scrap bag embroidery and lots of antique lace

I buy most of my linens at auction and as with all bulk purchases of antique and vintage linens it is inevitable that there will be tablecloths and other textiles with some damage. And I am incapable of throwing away damaged items if they are nicely embroidered or have pretty lace. For a number of years I have kept several embroidered "patches" in the hope that one day I will find time to do something with them! I had harboured the grand idea of a patchwork quilt with every other patch having an embroidered motif. However, I have decided to cull the stash........hence the new listings on eBay of "Scrap bag collections" of embroidered patches and lengths of lace.

Most of the embroidery squares are relatively small  but ideal to mount as a greeting card or in a lavender heart.  Lace and broderie anglais trim makes a pretty addition too.

This is a photo of a lavender heart sent to me by a buyer of some of the fabrics - if you make anything from my scrap bag collections send me a photo and let me show it on here to inspire everyone else!

Textiles auction fever!

I've spent the last two days going back and forward to Yorkshire to Tennants auction house - yesterday to view and today to go to the actual sale. An absolute feast of textiles and very well attended (too well maybe as I was out-bid on several lots!).  There does not seem to be much evidence of a recession in the auction world - lots of high prices paid for items so I was pleased to be successful with the lot below -

There is a lovely quilt made up of padded hexagons all in gorgeous pink roses and lilac floral fabrics and the rest of the lot is lace trimmings, lace flounces and ribbons.  Perfect for all those crafts.

I was tempted by the lot below - I love "rooting" around in mixed lots like this and coming across unexpected finds.  It had needle cases, thimbles, old perfume bottles, old tins

Another temptation (if only they would fit!) were the Yves St Laurent suit and the Panache dress and matching jacket. Clothes make up a large portion of the sale; everything from hats to shoes, mens clothes to baby's, 1800's to present day.

I resisted the suits and went for the collection of baby clothes and bonnets. Now I have to sort them all, wash them, repair if necessary and then list them for sale.................I may be some time!

Flowers & butterflies, linen vs garden

My garden is full of flowers at the moment - mainly pink and purple. Not by design, I have to say, it just turned out that way! My family and friends would say that these flowers must be the ones that do well with the least input from the gardener as I rarely find time to get out there and weed, prune, deadhead etc,etc!

Hand embroidered florals on linen continue to be popular - those needlewomen of the past taking inspiration from nature with plants and insects - butterflies are also a very popular motif. These two above just some of the many feasting upon my Butterfly (Buddliea) bush this weekend. 

Below are just some of the flowers and insects that keep me from the garden! All that sorting, washing ironing and preparing linens for sale (at least that is my excuse for not doing the weeding). How did the women who worked these pieces of art find the time? They had no labour saving devices, shopped daily, no cars to get them places......but also no T.V. to watch and no internet to distract them!

 

Antique bedspreads for the summer

Antique linen bedspreads are very popular at the moment. Perhaps it is to do with the summer arriving and being able to put those winter blankets away for a while! These three are currently listed for sale and show the variety of designs and styles that the Victorians and Edwardians used in the home. I bought them at an auction in Dundee, Scotland when I was there helping my daughter move into her new flat. It's always good to go to new auctions, watch the dynamics of the bidding and who buys what! And often the prices in one part of the country are very different to those in another

 The one above is all hand embroidered and then set with inserts of bobbin lace with a lace border.

The one below is in Pina "linen"  - fabric very like linen but made from the fibres of the Pineapple plant and not flax. Beautifully hand worked needlelace infills and drawnthread - hours of work!

And finally this last one below is more unusual as it is in a creamy yellow - most bedspread from this era are white. This one also has drawnthread work and uses Tenerife lace infills - very elaborate work