Category — About Vintage Linens

French Linen Sheets as displayed in our store

We have worked feverishly to update the glossary and the results are wonderful (thanks Chez!).  Visit here to find out all about vintage linens from Europe:

Vintage European Linens Glossary

Pillow Wall in Store

Piles of creamy linen sheets in an armoire, softly scented and begging to be touched and stroked. Anyone who loves linens, will know what we’re talking about here!

Linen presses holding these stacks of linens, often monogrammed and very ornate. An old tradition in France and many European countries. Prior to the 14th century, linens were usually held in chests that could be transported more easily when changing residences. These chests became ornate pieces of furniture as people became more settled, and did not move around as much. The actual linen press as we know it today appears in 17th century paintings from Holland (linen country by excellence) showing the armoires with their white stacks.

The tradition of the ‘wedding armoire’ or marriage trousseau appears later. The armoire would be sculpted with abundance and fecundity symbols and hold the entire trousseau of the bride. Such an abundance was more than could be used in one lifetime, explaining how so many linen pieces appear to never have been used.

The word trousseau evokes images of a whole ceremonial preparation of embroidered linens (sometimes with an inventory number) with the future couple’s monogram, adorned with symbols (wheat for fecundity, roses for love etc). The trousseau was also a way to show wealth and was meant to be displayed to guests.

A lot of linens from Europe are made of linen rather than cotton, mainly because these countries (France, Belgium, Holland, Germany) are big producers of linen. Cotton is not grown in those countries, and was harder to come by and more expensive at the time.

Early 20th century catalogs from show lists of what any young woman had to prepare for her wedding. She could order the stencils she would use to draw her monogram, and run down the list that would include 12 dozen towels, 2 dozen sheets and so on. Down to the very last detail including nightdresses, but also nightdresses for pregnancy and nightdresses for breastfeeding. Even the poorest girl would start accumulating linens from the age of 8 onward. In some areas of France, tradition dictated a trousseau had to represented about 5% of the dowry! And the trousseau did not just include the linens for the bride, but also for her servants (rougher sheets for example!).

The monogram is a whole story in and of itself. It can be the monogram of the future husband (if the embroidery is done during the engagement). Or it can be the monogram of the young girl if done long beforehand (she did not usually know the name of the husband yet!). Today, it is a matter of personal preference. If you find your own monogram, that’s wonderful. A combination of husband and wife names works well also.

The embroidered monogram on a linen sheet is usually on the turn-down part (the part visible when the sheet is turned over the blanket), about 12 inches from the edge. It is most often done in heavily padded satin stitching, and adorned with flowers, leaves, curlicues and such. Only fine linen sheets and blends lend themselves to be embroidered, heavy homespuns and hemp are too thick to be handled easily. Every day sheets and bottom sheets were simply often done in red and in cross-stitch. Wedding sheets were made of the finest linen (lawn), and regular sheets of a thicker and more durable fabric. Later, cotton and linen blends were also used (called metis in French). Hemp and heavy homespuns were for servants.

There are countless books and pattern books about monograms, with designs, explanations and more. It is possible to actually see the evolution of styles through the pattern booklets offered to future brides.

We posted earlier about monograms, see this entry.

If you want to learn a lot more about French and European linens in general, by far the best book on the subject is Francoise de Bonneville’s ‘Le Livre du Blanc’. It is out of print, and most often can only be found in French but the illustrations and photographs alone make it worthwhile. There are paperback smaller editions readily available in English. The English Title is “The book of fine linen”.

This wonderful German invention essentially works like a small duvet and/or coverlet.  The baby is placed on the inside and the lower part is brought up over  the body.  The coverlet is secured to the ‘mattress’ part with ties – often decorative.

The nice thing about the wrap is that you can insert a blanket or thin duvet pillow to make it more comfortable, and to keep the baby warm.  These wraps were therefore very common in the Northern part of Germany, especially in Winter.

Today it is often used for baby carriages or dolls, for display.  But of course you can also always use it for the intended purpose, a Christening wrap! The more modern ones you can buy new today usually zip up, but the older ones have a special charm of their own with buttons and/or ties.

Arriving in Texas for Round Top Antiques Week is always exciting. We were lucky enough to have 2 days to wander the fields, admiring the displays already set up, talking to friends and generally taking it easy before the hard work began.

This show was probably the hottest one yet. We struggled for the first 2 days as we unloaded a gigantic truck.

The booth starts as a big empty space – almost 1,000 sq ft. In an old building with a corrugated metal ceiling, wood walls, beams, and wood floors. No air conditioning, sadly. In Spring not an issue but in Fall we’d probably sell our mothers for some cooler air indoors….

Here is the space as we prepared the ‘bones’

[Read more →]