Dolly needs a hospital!

A young lady came up to my stand at the American Museum Fair last year and scooped up a dismembered doll that I had found in a mixed lot of chateau stuff, at the bottom of a big box. Not very pretty and needing lots of attention, I was delighted to part with her for a triffling sum. It transpired that this girl was going to open a doll's hospital in her mother's shop in Pewsey and I phoned her the other day and was pleased to hear it had got off the ground and she is in business - could be a useful address if you have battered members in your toy cupboard. Sophie Patterson is at 16 River Street, Pewsey, Wilts, phone 01672 772 146 (not always open so check before travelling.).

Warren Hastings and Daylesford.

Daylesford Barn. organic produce and clothes

Ages ago, I read about this wonderful classic Georgian house, the home of Warrren Hastings in 18th C., in Country Life magazine. Lord Rothermere (great newspaper tycoon) had bought it and he got Colefax and Fowler to restore and decorate it. The walls were scraped to find the original colours, furniture known to have belonged to Warren Hastings was bought up, mostly beautiful and costly ebony furniture with ivory inlay from India, and magnificent silk curtains made in classical style for the morning room and the evening room. There was a story about the wonderful drawing room curtains which had patterns in hand-sewn sequins in exotic oriental style and these were eventually found bundled up in the attics and so could be copied afresh. I kept the magazine for many years as I thought it was all so beautiful and could not understand how Lady R. left her husband and this wonderful house which seemed like part of heaven to me! It is, of course, now in the capable hands of Lady Bamford who is herself a very dynamic and artistic chatelaine and it is good to know it is all flourishing under her care. It was writing about the lace table cloth in a previous post, A really special piece of lace, from Hasting's family, that reminded me of one of my pin-up houses, and as a second-hand curtain dealer, how I would love to see those ravishing curtains! Where are they now?

A really special bit of Lace

I furnished my first village house largely from auction room buys. The best fun was to go to an old country house where the back quarters, servants' rooms, potting sheds and old larders were stripped and the motley family belongings of several generations were rapidly sold in a marquee on the lawn - and the catalogues were brief and not always very accurate. There was often no 'in the style of',' description, you were on your own against the dealers, pictures were unlabelled and porcelain and glass were knocked down at silly prices, in mixed lots. If you stayed till the end, the auctioneer rushed through some unlisted numbers, filling in as he saw the porters wearily carry stuff into the tent or yard, and you could sometimes get a great bargain (or buy yourself a 'pup').
I went to one, a remote country house in Cambs. which had belonged to two lady descendants of the famous Warren Hastings, who helped to bring India into the British Empire, while he was the first Governor General there. I spied 2 useful lots - one was the contents of a little glasstopped sewing table and was full of delightful little ivory and boxwood boxes, with screwtop lids, for pills and snuff - real 18th C. personal accessories, possibly souvenirs of Warren ? and the other was a little pile of linen with some nice 'embroidery' which I hesitated to open in case there were other needlework enthusiasts around - both were knocked down to me with my first bids and inside the little pile I found a remarkable Bedfordshire lace tablecloth.It measured 5' square, was solid linen lace, with no cloth borders and absolutely perfect, I still
have it and would like to find a lace collector. A real treasure!
I was told that the snake-like pattern round the edges was inspired by the River Ouse which winds through Bedfordshire in endless wavey loops through the fields. Maltese lace is rather similar to this Beds. lace and it was introduced by an Englishwoman to give employment to the poor people of Malta, and they added the Maltese Cross to identify it.

All about Sheets

Old French linen and hemp sheets are usually made to fit a 4ft bed, so they are often a bit narrow for English double beds which are from 4'6 to 5'6 wide or American Super King up to 6' wide. The main bedrooms in France often had two 4' wide beds, even for married couples . For the grand and enormous beds in some of the chateaux, the sheets were specially woven on extra large looms and were normally decorated with lots of elaborate monograms and embroideries. The very best also had fine lace and were washed by hand very carefully . Older sheets are often extremely long by our standards - I have had them up to 15 ft long - this was because they were laid over the massive bolsters and pillows of the Georgian beds when people actually slept sitting upright 'for health reasons'. I have a big stock of every type in my stores; hemp. linen, metis and fil, ranging from a Princess's dowry to the rough 'porridge' hemp from the peasants' ancient lits clos, (cupboard beds,) in Brittany. More about Buying Sheets, Care for Sheets, etc. on later Blogs.Click on my website http://www.elizabethbaertextiles.com/ for views of my present stock.

BONNET LADIES, May I introduce......

If I had known how charming - and how rare - these French 'bonnet ladies' were I should have started colleting them 20 years ago. They are called 'marottes' and were used to display bonnets and coifs in little millinery shops in France. The best are made of papier mache and are hand painted with doll-like faces and simple hair styles. They have been dug out of attics and store-rooms and have often suffered damage to their pert little noses but their eyes are fixed towards you in a naive stare and demand attention. I have seen them in museums of folk art, and did once own one but it did not stay long with me. The folk museum at Laduz not far from Auxerre in Burgundy has several, and these are from the Regional Art Museum at Saintes in the Charente. They now fetch several hundred pounds - if you can find one!

MAKE AN EXHIBITION OF YOURSELF

I have just been reading an interesting piece on making a success of a stand at an antique or other Fair, and thought I might pass on a few hints. First, arrive in good time so that you can park near your 'goods' entrance, be it house, hall or marquee. When booking, remember that most people go round clockwise, so a stand near the entrance is good, also corners can be useful if you want to display hangings, curtains and long pieces of linen.

Find your place and mark it out well with table(s) and chair - sometimes your neighbours have adjusted things a bit to your disadvantage so check size with what you have paid for. Spread your cloths over tables and bring your containers in so they can sit either behind or directly in front of tables and display furniture. Then remove your car to exhibitors car park which is a courtesy to other stallholders waiting to park and unload. If you have a lot to show, make a good square or semi circle so that everything is within reach from the front, except stuff which is hung back of your stand on rails or screens. Do not set up a table across the entrance of your stand, as your aim must be to persuade buyers to come into your 'shop' and linger and discover, and to discuss things with you. Remember good lighting is a huge bonus, but be careful that spotlights cannot be touched and burn - and textiles are highly inflammable.

Finally, give yourself time for refreshment before the opening and time to dress yourself as attractively as possible (after all, you are selling good taste and style) and do not think of reading a paper or book sitting on a chair with your back to the customers; they then feel that you are not interested in them and will not disturb you. Eye contact and a smile give a much better impression! Have a good supply of printed trade cards with details of goods and services available, offer one to every person who passes, saying they might need to contact you in future.

Personally I have always found it very effective to have a large basket or other attractive container, really full of something small and inexpensive, price clearly visible, not available elsewhere, whether it be bundles of scraps for quilting, little jam jars full of buttons, little pill boxes or any old haberdashery items like wooden cotton reels, lengths of tape or ribbon, which intrigue children, and tempt the grown-ups, and give you the chance to engage in conversation.
Everything you do on your stand must be to encourage the public to stop and look - passers-by are of no use to you and your sales results.

THE VERY FIRST and last THING

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A VERY SAD PICTURE - A POOR KOREAN LADY LOST EVERYTHING SHE HAD IN A FLOOD-PRONE AREA AND SAVED ONLY THIS PICTURE OF HER SON.

And then I wondered about the shocking pink textile background - was this well known British photographer, Martin Parr, trying to tell us something - that the country she lived in could produce a joyous and startling burst of colour among all the detritus of wars, floods and misery? and then I wondered AGAIN, what would I save if I could take only one thing - should my house catch on fire, the River Avon, only one street away, should the river burst its banks and I had to climb out of a window? What would I clutch? It all seemed so futile and hopeless that I decided there and then to tidy my house up from top to toe and that's what I have been doing for the last week - finding good homes for surplus furniture, charity shops for excess clothes, books and kitchen gadgets - in between I have rounded up all the sewing, mending jobs, hoovered behind and under every lump of furniture, cleaned every hanging light, got my showrooms into apple-pie order (and made some apple-pies with the last of the harvest apples) so thank you, Mr. Parr, for sparking my re-formation of house and belongings and I do hope that the sad lady in KOREA HAS MORE THAN ONE PICTURE TO LOOK AFTER AND HAS SOMEWHERE TO HANG THE PRECIOUS MOMENTO!

TRUE BLUES

Checking out the bathroom.

A blue-eyed boy .

Mr. Blue and White, otherwise the late well-known and admired decorator, Roger Banks-Pye of Colefax and Fowler, had a 'thing' for everything striped, checked and shaded blue. His lofty Belgravian flat was clad from top to toe with patches and remnants, fringed and frayed, in every shade of blue. The curtains, which may well have been the famous pair invented by his hero, John Fowler, made from blue and white tea towels or possibly large handkerchiefs, hung at the windows and the bathroom had small squares of all different blue/white combinations with edges trimmed and frayed, stuck to the walls chequerboard fashion, with Spray Mount. If you have enough different shades of blue, it all melds together in a pleasing way, a pile of tickings, ginghams and voile casually arranged on a chest or sideboard always catch everyone's eye. Add some cornish blue striped kitchenware and a blue enamel bowl and you will be on to a good scheme.

Simple, effective, cheap and witty!