French Affairs

Agroup of my tickings all sold to a Californian decorating business

 Above portrait for World of Interiors Magazine, several years ago!



      I have had a wonderful long love affair with French antiques and textiles - I was first hooked on the dashing, striped tickings used for the old feather beds that kept the French, and many other nations,warm in bed. Tough, closely woven, down proof, in jolly stripes, they were filled with feathers, and also straw, maize shucks and horsehair, two underneath the sleeper on the rigid planks of uncomfortable slatted beds, and one on top, like a tea cosy! The French had very conservative and traditional colours; mostly indigo blue in wide and narrow stripes and a few in red/beige combinations. Other countries, especially Germany, wove them in brilliant colours in hundreds of different combinations, although green was thought unlucky and a difficult dye to fix. Some covers were made with a long slit so the contents could be stirred and plumped up and easily removed when soiled or bug infested, but feathers had to be sealed in with very tiny stitches. In the North of France they are known as Kelsches.