SLEEP TIGHT AND MIND.....

This 4 poster has outside pelmet and valance made of pique cotton fabric and Toile de Jouy, with a muslin tambour lace canopy inside

   The old saying, 'sleep tight and mind the bugs don't bite....'refers to the base of the bed where there was often a lattice of heavy rope threaded and knotted to the four sides of the bed to support the mattress - the firmer and tauter the better - not many enjoy a sagging bed!  The bugs were, of course, a universal pest and lived in the crevices of the beds emerging when they became warm.  Their bites were painful and disturbing and it is said drove some to madness.  This was one of the reasons that in the 19th century, iron beds became fashionable with no hiding places and could be stripped down.  There are still a few of the metal campaign beds around which can be quite decorative, fold neatly into three and are on metal castors. and you may have seen the pretty little cots of elaborate metalwork sides which many have converted to garden seats by letting one side down and placing a comfy cushion on the base.  I always thought them extremely dangerous as babies' heads and limbs could poke through the ironwork and get stuck, but then I came across the pretty liners that were made for these cots,  they fitted on the inside of the cot with tapes tied firmly and screened the sides   The material for these cot liners was very often strong white pique, with embroidered scallops all round;  I have bought these apart from the beds, and as I adore pique and the French patterns are varied and beautiful in  hundreds of different small diaper patterns, I have re-cycled them in luxurious bed cushions and canopies for four poster and tester beds.