Tuesday 15 September 2015

Those Were The Days

I recently came across 2 images from the 1940s and 50s which both tell of very different days in terms of linen, its production and care.


First of all the photo of linen being spread out on a bleaching green. 


The label on the back of the photo reads as follows: 

"Northern Ireland: An elderly worker spreads out fine damask linen on the grass to bleach in the sun."  Dated November 1949. The worker doesn't look that "elderly" to me, but this is how he was perceived in the press in the USA. This photo came from the archives of a New York press agency.

The second image made me laugh out loud. Again from the archives of an American press agency, this one is entitled "Winsome Twosome"! 


Dated November 1957, the label gives us more information on the scene.

"Paris: The 'Blue Flower' of French womanhood, Camille des Ardins, turns her cheek for a congratulatory kiss from an official of the French linen industry in Paris. She was named Parisian winner of a nationwide contest to find the girl having the best qualities for the upkeep of household linen, some of which is prominently displayed during the ceremony at the Eiffel Tower."

The blue flower refers to the flax flower of course, and it was often represented on the selvedge of French linen metreage and sheeting. It is also the emblem of Northern Ireland and was adopted as the symbol for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Poor Camille! I can imagine the hours she must have spent practising her ironing skills, and that was in the days before the steam iron was in use!  And after all that she gets to wear a sash and receive a kiss from an old boy in a suit! A high price to pay!!

This image will come to mind as I tackle the next pile of linen laundry - although it is unlikely anyone will offer me a sash as a reward!! I shan't even think about the chap in the suit!!!



Friday 4 September 2015

Linen Journey 2015 Part 2

As promised some more about my recent visit to the home of Irish Linen.

Thankfully in addition to the artefacts being preserved in museums, there are one or two individual collectors who are doing a great job of saving important linen-related materials and machinery, which might otherwise be discarded or destroyed.

One such collector is a gentleman near Gilford in Co. Down, who has amassed a huge collection. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit him and be shown some fascinating memorabilia, machinery and documents. At last I stood in front of the type of machine that would have been used by my great aunt, when she worked as a linen yarn winder in 1901 in Belfast.



Her job involved transferring the linen yarn from the large spools to the smaller pirns or bobbins, which were then inserted into the shuttles and passed to the weavers. She would have worked from 6am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 6am to 12.30 on a Saturday! Long hard hours, for sure.

I have talked about point charts before; but I had never seen ones of the size in this collection! 


Below the chart you can see the salesmen's cards showing the style of the tablecloth designs, each one with its design name and pattern number printed to the top.




And then there were pattern books full of beautiful damask cloths and napkins. Each design was stamped with the pattern number and the size. I thought perhaps these too were salesmen's samples, but apparently it was more likely that they were archive records. The quality of the weaving was just stunning and there were 100s of designs!

So there I was in a huge barn in the middle of a field in the heart of Co. Down (an unlikely place for me, as anyone who knows me will tell you!) and I couldn't believe what a great time I had. So many new facts learned and so many stories recounted. I think I need to go back for another visit sometime soon!