These two pockets joined together on strings came with a lot of very old fashioned linens that I bought at Le Mans fair. The seller told me that he had emptied the laundry room of an old country inn and, as is quite usual, insisted that it was all or nothing! He recognised me from a previous fair at Chartres so was fairly willing to'discuter' the price and luckily my little van was only half full. When I got it home I found many interesting relics of pre-war housekeeping - dainty waitresses' aprons with bands of lace and frilly hems, dozens of long bolster cases (hotels still supply bolsters on all beds in France), masses of napkins and table cloths of course, from the restaurant side, luckily all very rustic, in hand-woven creamy weaves and lots of hand stitched hems. And among the hankies and shirts I found this pair of pockets, deep and heavily darned all round the bottom and openings. Were they used by the waitress to gather tips while waiting or serving at the bar? I know many pockets were originally made thus and were concealed under the skirts - who can tell me more?
I was told of one of my great grand mother who lived in a fishing village in Normandy who carried her money under her skirts in a fabric pocket.She had to lift her skirts to get it when paying groceries.Keeping such little money safe away from drinking husbands,sons and brothers to pay for food was the way for the fishermen wives in my mother s village in the 1920s. Yvette E-C
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