Textile Surface
This is the fourth in a series I am doing in which I look at my own textiles in the light of Mary Schoeser’s book Textiles: The Art of Mankind. Two more sections to go after this one!
The subheadings in the Surface section are easy to follow:
- Yarns
- Stitch (and this is where Schoeser includes embellishments)
- Painting and Printing
If you have read the other parts of this series, you may wonder why Schoeser includes “yarns” here, when she has had a whole section on “Ingredients.” Well, one of the things that interests me about the way this book is set up, is that the categories don’t seem hard and fast. Each section contains a variety of works from every segment of the textile world: ancient, modern, utilitarian, useless, ritual, comical; accessory, garment, container, toy, sculpture, installation. You could unbind the book, shuffle the photos, and reassign them to the categories, and end up with a different, but still fantastic collection to inspire new thinking.
There is unbelievably intricate embroidery in this section, epitomized by artist Nadia Albertini and the British company Hand & Lock. The actual pieces from the book are not at these links, but you get an idea of the stunning work they do.
But since I haven’t talked yet about surface design in this series, today I am going to choose just a tiny segment of that area to focus on, printed fabrics from the 1950s. Here are two that were in the book:
Iliad by Vincent Malta (1953), in the collection of the American Textile Museum. Warriors, rulers, and horses are depicted in a multicolor swirl of lines on a black background.
Cottage Garden by Mary White (c. 1955), in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The one in the book is in a colorway of acid green, pale blue-gray, and teal on a cream background, which I prefer to the rust, gray, and olive version at the V & A. But I love the sense of motion in the simple shapes of the trees. ( I had never seen this fabric before, but apparently it is all over Pinterest!)
There is another 50s fabric in the book that I love – silhouettes of women in New Look dresses in green, red, and yellow, on a pale blue ground. It is by Langfield Fashions and GOOGLE NEVER HEARD OF THEM! (Have you ever put a search term into Google and gotten back the response, “0 results found“? It is a little discombobulating.) So you will just have to get the book yourself and look at page 355.
I find 1950s tablecloths unfailingly cheering, and thanks to the saving habits of my family, I have a nice little group of them.
What?? You have this tablecloth TOO? I think everybody does! At least, every vintage linens booth at Quilt Festival seems to have it.
This is the Royal Rose pattern by Weil and Durrse. It has the “Wilendur” label, which means it was made prior to 1958. This is the only one of the bunch whose producer I can identify.
Wary roosters keep an eye on the pot.
Suspiciously-colored fruits and vegetables make it easier to diet.
Back in my youth, the colonists on the right still had visible faces! Now they are just hats, coats, and feet. And why are the fruits as big as the people?!
My favorite tablecloth celebrates the era when hearty pioneers drove oxen…
…every woman knew how to churn…
…and chickens showed up at every barn dance.
In my own work, I have not spent much time on printing, painting, or embellishing any of my pieces. You might say I have barely scratched the surface of these techniques. 🙂 I would like to do more printing, but I am also very happy with all the commercial prints that are available, and for me it is fun just to combine them and stitch them together. I love the look of heavy embellishment, but usually I am making utilitarian objects that I want to throw in the washing machine, so I have not added much in the way of beads or charms.
But again, the lesson that I draw after really thinking about all these options, is that I would like to consider all the factors that go into a piece more carefully, and choose the ones that will help that piece make a complete statement.
I felt a ghost had walked over my grave when I saw those tablecloths. I remember ironing those darn things. It’s because of that type of surface design that I fell for Scandinavian design in a big way – so clean, so non-kitschy, so classy. On the other hand, you could make some interesting quilts by cutting up those tablecloths.
I am shocked, SHOCKED, that you think they are kitschy! I am typing this in the company of ceramic smiling daisy planters and tiny Southern belle vases that my grandmother left me. I love a dollop of kitsch, and I even love ironing!
Schoeser does not have a whole lot of kitsch in her book, but she does tend toward very colorful or ornate surfaces. Not a lot that I would call Scandinavian design there.
So what I meant to say, is that maybe you would not like this book. But from what I have seen of your work, you have a lot of interests, and I think you would find a lot to pique those interests here.
My grandmother had wonderful tablecloths – just like the ones you show. We didn’t use them in our family, and I always thought it was special to eat at her table with the colorful tablecloths. However, she didn’t use cloth napkins. That may have been some ironing she didn’t want to do. 🙂
Yes, I love the thought of cloth napkins, and I always say I am going to use them, but then I just end up thinking they’ll get stained. Maybe if I ate more ladylike meals like clear broth and cucumber sandwiches, I could use them. 🙂
The funny thing is that I always used cloth napkins when I was single and living in an apartment. I love them.
Forget about ladylike meals. Look for Zout the next time you shop. It’s like Shout – only better. I’ve used it to remove grease stains from t-shirts even after I missed seeing them before washing and they went through the dryer. I use Zout on them, wash them again, and the stains always come out. (I am in no way associated with the product – just a fan.)
I will certainly try it! Thanks!
Now you’re singing my song! I COVET that last tablecloth–what a wonderful set of images! And those nutty roosters are fun–I wonder what the appeal of roosters was in that era–there seem to be a lot of them on vintage linens!
If you look up Covered Wagon tablecloth on a search engine, that last tablecloth is one of the top images, so it must still be available somewhere!
I agree with ZOUT taking out everything! but I am still stunned by the exhibit of Pharmacopoeia…………….Gawd, spare me!!
I know! I never thought of how it adds up.
I also love 50s tablecloths. So colourful and stencil-simple. Jane