Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Talented Tuesday: 170 year-old Embroidered Linen

At Christmas 1937, my great aunt Dorothy got a note and a gift from her aunt Lila.
If you wish to preserve it as an antique, I would suggest you put it under glass in a frame or as a tray . . . It must be one hundred years old.  The cloth (linen) was woven by your great great grandmother Laura Potter.  The flax from which it was made was gathered by your great grandfather Thomas Brayton Potter and your great aunt Olive Potter.  She also did the etching on it . . . I hope you like it and preserve it for as long as possible.

The little box with the linen that was sent to Dorothy is now in my possession.  I don't know how old it is, precisely.   Laura Potter was born in 1783.  Thomas Brayton was born in 1820 and Olive in 1833, so if the flax was gathered by them, it must have been done in the 1830s or 1840s.  Olive's embroidery may have been done later.

It must have been quite a process, the creation of this beautiful, soft linen.  Growing the flax, gathering it, combing and spinning the thread, and then weaving such fine cloth.  Laura was clearly a precise weaver, it is beautiful work.  My sister (also a Dorothy) is a weaver as well, so one wonders, as with quilting, about the heredity of such a gift. 

Front of embroidery
Back of embroidery
Lila's letter to Dorothy talks about the other embroidery that Olive had done for her nieces, so it was clearly her love as well as her talent.  As someone who does embroidery, I encourage you to appreciate it not from the front of the piece, but from the back -- that's where you see the real skill, in the neatness and smoothness of the back of the piece. 


So it is probably about 170 years old now.  And (ahem) it is still not preserved, sitting in the box that Dorothy received in 1937.  It's been 75 years since Lila made that request, I am going to get to work on it.  But in the meantime, I wanted to share its loveliness with you all.

13 comments:

  1. What a treasure! How wonderful that you have a note to explain its origin - down to the growing of the flax. Beautiful.

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  2. What a legacy you've received--and what a precious keepsake! Yes, preserving it properly is essential, but not only the embroidered linen, but the letter as well!

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  3. It's such a beautiful treasure to have! I'm sure Aunt Lila would be amazed that her piece of linen is still being treasured and in the hands of a someone that appreciates the true gift that it is. Thank you for sharing it. :)

    Warm regards,
    Liz

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  4. Amazing! A family heirloom made "from scratch". Very cool.

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  5. Thanks for all the great comments - I agree, it is a treasure, with the letter. I posted minutes before leaving on vacation (the Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe, NM is a MUST for those of us with textile and folk art addictions) but I appreciate your kind words!

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  6. Simply gorgeous. What a precious artifact. Plus, I love the photography of the piece. In a sense, you've preserve it through photographs in case the actual piece.... Okay I'm not going to finish the sentence.

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  7. Devon - You made me laugh! You should have seen me sticking all my genealogy stuff in totes so someone could move them out of the house if we got a fire evacuation while I was on vacation . . . Colorado living isn't as fun as it could be this summer.

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  8. It is very fine weaving, perhaps even finer spinning. And the embroider - that back is amazing! I hope you can find a safe place for it, but one where you can also see it. Just imagine: Thomas, Olive, and Laura all touched it so many long years ago and now you can hold it in your hands. I'm always thrilled (but it rarely happens) when I can touch something that an ancestor touched.

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  9. Nancy - I hadn't thought of the spinning, but you're right! I'll let everyone know as I figure out how to preserve/display it. It is thrilling to touch it, though. Thanks so much for your comment!

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  10. I love it. And I concur, the true mark of a good embroiderer is the back of a piece. My mother had the skill to make the back beautiful; I'm not there quite yet. ;)

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  11. Heather - I know what you mean. I'm not there yet either!

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  12. what a wonderful piece of family history. This is so very special. I would love to know the stories of the people involved in weaving and embroidery!!!

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  13. That's a good idea, Diane - maybe I'll tackle that puzzle after I've got my copper plate quest finished!

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