A View of the Past

Looking backwards to the glory days of buying from the copious armoires of France when they were being cleared for modern and easy- care textiles and much was, either thrown away, burnt or bundled out to the local brocanteurs, I am thankful that I was in at the beginning of a great time for discovery, buying and then selling to a willing clientele. Things were very cheap and by selling them on quickly at very reasonable prices, I was able to dash back for lots more and fill a van on every trip. Now, you can travel hundreds of miles and find the depot has closed since the last visit, the fairs are full of retro furniture and fairly tasteless bric-a-brac, amd most things have gone up hugely in price, compounded by the wretched Euro exchange rate for us Brits. The buttons are all sewn on, the linen smock shirt has gone on Safari to shield a lady from the tropical sun, and the tickings are highly treasured by their new owners;   however. new doors do open and we can find new uses for some of the current linens still available - grain sacks, nappes de vendange (harvest cloths, red stripes) working aprons, old rolls of metis union cloth for furnishing, corona drapes for beds, voile cafe curtains and much, much more. We have to move on and use a bit of imagination for an original result, there is still a lot left in that rich country!