Friday Coffee Break with Antiques and an Early Needlepoint

My love of textiles has new things showing up at the house...  New to me, that is.  This piece arrived a few weeks ago and is my new favorite treasure.   It is a wonderful needlepoint with incredible detail.

It a period piece, dating from the early 1800's.   I show it sitting in my living room, so you can see the how wonderful the colors are.  There is something about an old textile.  The colors are so vibrant even though it is covered with 200 years of grime.

It's not perfect, it has been restitched onto linen, thank heavens somebody rescued this rather than just tossing it out, or cutting it up.  Again, it's the patina that an antique has, it adds character to a room.

 Don't you love the couple in period clothing, with all sorts of animals around them.  I just love the way these old pieces stitched the background with layers of green.  It seemed to be a common technique that thankfully kept some color.  There are pieces that I find that didn't keep alot of color, the old vegetable dyes can fade terribly.  Think about a piece left across from a window for 100 years or so.  My chintz drapes are faded to nothing after 30 years.

Look at  the details.  There's a snail to the right, a bird on a branch... love that cow!

The back even has a scrap of wallpaper attached. 

I will have to check my stock of old frames.  You know you are in trouble when you have a "frame closet".  (Oh dear.   I fear one day I will be featured on "hoarders".)   I will hang it up unframed for now--it is important to keep unframed items safe from damage.   On the wall it won't fall over, get bumped into, or hit by a vacuum cleaner.

This morning my husband comes home with a Starbucks for me (isn't he nice to me!) and says we have an estate sale in the neighborhood.  We jump in the car and head over...and find a lovely sale.  Not alot of stuff, but just enough to have some fun.

Lately I seem to be fascinated with fashion prints from 1800-1820.  They tend to be Ackermann or des Modes.   I found a few at the sale today.   

Hand-colored print of two brides.  The dresses are large, but note the date is 1861.
That is too Victorian for me.  However they were in a stack of earlier ones, so they came home with me.

The prints below are a bit more what interest me.  The skirts are slimmer.   These two below are more ornate than the Ackermann prints, but are a very nice size and color.

The print below looks more like a regency fashion print.  Did you know that these would be printed up, and then there was a cottage industry of women who hand colored these at home.  You sometimes see variation of colors from the same magazine issue.  Quality control was a bit of an issue.

Doesn't this have more of a Jane Austen (1775-1819) feel to it,  it is dated 1794.  Charming.  I love the lemon gold color frame.

To think, I wasn't expecting a single estate sale because it is a holiday weekend.

Have a great weekend.  Go antiquing for a few hours.

Who can resist an old book?  I can't.

Forget about your problems and go rummaging.  You never know what you'll find.  It will give you something to wonder about.  Research your new find.   Have fun!