CHAIRS TO SUPPORT YOUR BACK

The French furniture makers have always produced many different shapes and styles to suit every kind of house and room, from cottage to palace. They seem to have had a gift for designing the most comfortable easy chairs that were good to look at and a joy to sit in, all during the second part of the 19th century. There

was plenty of horsehair and wool to provide a warm and well stuffed seat and in the 1880s the back often featured a deep bulge known as the 'lumbar swell', which fits neatly into the small of your back and gives wonderful comfy support! I buy them in pairs as often as I find them - I think I have had about 25 of them in the last 8 years. My super upholsterer strips them down, renovates them completely and then re-covers them in some interesting, attractive traditional French textile, ready for sale - above models available now SOLD One is black/white ticking with buttoned back, the next a striped oxen coat from the Pyreneese area, SW France, and finally a copy in linen of an old French print by Robert Kime. now SOLD. They sell for about £500 each. A small pair in the pipeline - will show their new overcoats when they are done! They are to be covered in a Sanderson type linen in pretty floral mix that will go with any scheme and resist wear and dirt.(All now SOLD this week. early Sept)

MUSICAL CHAIRS

A lovely roomy pre-war  armchair with feather cushion and carving on back, arms and legs in original pinky red velour fabric.   Top quality workmanship and fine patination on the woodwork. £345

              

    At our fair here in Bradford on Avon last Saturday, we had a very good crowd of eager buyers, trade was good and there was a pleasant buzz of conversation as old friends met each other as they did the round of the old Mason's Hall and checked through the wide range of goods on offer.  We had Olga Verschoor here from France and you may have missed her big 18th century damask tablecloth - a rare item, or on another stall, a really beautiful country smock in excellent condition, both snapped up by canny trade visitors!  I myself had a happy first shot at my new business, Chairs for Seniors, and was able to sell some to people wanting just such useful, attractive chairs at reasonable prices - luckily I have quite a wide selection of all sizes and shapes, but all with good back support and good traditional covers, to carry on and help people find what they need.   I am pleased to have a new interest and outlet and can see my old friends again rather than shutting up shop completely.

A small cosy nursing chair

Sackcloth from the Ukraine

CURTAINS UP - PRICES DOWN

N.Y. designer, 4 extra long

6 pale blue with borders

C. & F.   7 curtains,

French vintage print

Now is the time to th7ink about keeping warm next winter and making your rooms as cosy and draught-proofed as you can.  Avoid the rather horrendous prices of new materials and their making up, and consider the economy of ready- made good second hand curtains which can give a lift to the rooms and, if properly made with interlining, can cut out those chilly areas of windows and doors.   I am selling, at truly knock-out prices, the remaining stock from my travels through France and I can assure you that they are all in good condition, ready for use (with any adjustments to size, of course.)   Examples:  6 unlined pale blue curtains with pretty borders, 8'10" drop, £50.  Pr. interlined  birdcage design 4'6 drop, £75. Some are almost new and all are either good vintage designs from the grand chateaux in France or designer- made from this country and the U.S.. INCLUDING SOME VERY SMART ONES FROM FIFTH AVENUE,N.Y.  Bring your window measurements and grab a bargain!--  PIERRE FREY, COLEFAX, GREEF, to name a few!

 Tweet, tweet, pr. £75

       Above is one piece of a whole group of vintage French print drapes for  a canopied four poster bed.  Very charming with pink and blue ribbons amongst the flower bouquets. £75 the lot.

  All these curtains and many others will be on sale at the Mason's Hall, Church Street, Bradford on Avon on Sat. 14th. Sept next  Find me in my garage next door and look at my new Chairs for Seniors (previous Blog)

CHAIRS FOR SENIORS

cane and tapestry Now SOLD

damask and show-wood now SOLD

                  

velvet, buttoned

This is the new business |I have started up.   It is quite difficult to find the sort of chair that
is comfortable, supportive and attractive enough to mix in with traditional country house furnishing.  I have finished with soft, spongey easy chairs for my own use - too low and very difficult to heave out of without a helping arm and hand!  If you know what I mean, you might be interested in the collection of traditionally upholstered armchairs I have collected during the last few months, either late Victorian with good springs and horsehair under, or others, more elegant, often with polished show-wood and a little inlay, from the Edwardian period.  All have been up-graded, dry cleaned, polished and re-upholstered where necessary and are ready for use.  The colours range from pinky red to deep wine, or pale Spring green to deep bottle velvet, with plenty of newly designed cushions in traditional heavy materials for constant use and support. The prices range from £150 upwards and the new cushions will be £30, so if you have been looking in antique shops for these sort of chairs, you will realise that these prices are very reasonable.  I can have chairs covered bespoke with your own materials by my very skilled upholsterer who only uses traditional materials - no foam!.  Those who know me well, know that I like turning over my stock as fast as I can and my interest and pleasure is to find more!.  ~All chairs can be seen in 2 very cosy welcoming showrooms carpeted and with fires, so you can get a good impression of how they might fit in your own sitting/dining/drawing room.  Just give me a phone call  01225 866136 to make an appointment to view at Bradford on Avon. nr. Bath.  If you visit my garage next to the Mason's Hall, Bradford on Avon on Saturday, Sept 14th, you can see, and sit in, a good selection, and view a big batch of period chateau curtains, the last remains of my textile collection which I am closing down as |I can no longer travel to France to get new stock. Very sad!!

PASTRY NAPKINS

              ?                             ?                          ?



 Have you ever come across pastry napkins?  or got any info. on them?   I have had a query from an historian who has come across this description in a stately home inventory of a kitchen - She would be very grateful for any help in identifying them and hearing how they might have been used.  Despite having dealt in many hundreds of fine linen ones for dining tables from France, I have never heard of them, by this name.  To me, it sounds as if they were used for pre-war  'le 5 o'clock' as it was known in France, and they had probably moved from the pantry where they were kept with the porcelain tea sets and tea-knives all in the care of the house parlour maids who passed the sandwiches, Victoria cake and little scones around and looked after the silver kettle and teapot! Thank You.
I have now heard from two readers who both think these were probably tea-time napkins, small and dainty.
I now remember that I once had 24 tiny squares in  Basque linen and I did wonder, as they were in fairly coarse linen, whether they were used by wine drinkers!  I also had 8 very pretty white damask squares with a border of blue ribbons and bows and deep silky fringes,  and I used them to make soft little bedroom cushions, backing them with plain striped damask and a zip and filling them with a pad of soft white pure down, removed from my grandmother's old drawing room sofa .  I could even make good use of the fringe. No waste there!

                                                       Sweet slumber!

RETURN OF A TEXTILE CELEBRITY+

 We are holding our usual autumn fair at Bradford on Avon, in the Mason's Hall, Church Street, on Saturday, September 14th.  Amongst those showing textiles of all kinds and sourced from many countries is Olga Verschoor, a highly respected dealer from France where she had a long career selling top quality fabrics and decorations for many years.
  I met Olga a long time ago, dealing in her special things, in London at the Little Chelsea Fair on Mondays and Tuesdays at the Chelsea Town Hall.   She stood with Olivia Dell at the front of the stage with an amazing selection of long curtains and drapes, fine lace and exquisite bed and table linen which she brought all the way from the Loire where she lived.  She was very expert, and the London decorators and dealers gave her a great welcome and her stock soon disappeared.  I once bought the entire decorations from a grand chateau bedroom;  hangings and drapes for two tester beds, covers and valances, and five pairs of curtains all festooned with fringes and cords and tassels, all in a rich silky mulberry fabric, too much to carry up to the Town Hall gallery and hastily transferred from her estate car roof rack to mine.   We were not supposed to do any dealing outside the selling rooms.Those were the days when everything seemed very affordable and it was not difficult to find buyers for good quality French decorations!
     Later on Olga joined Olivia and me in Tetbury to start the very first show of Talent for Textiles, and was an inspired organiser who went on to run prestigious fairs at Le Mans in France.  Olga was a very successful business woman and her name was passed on by the chateau owners who had surplus to get rid of and did not want to deal with indiscreet  local dealers.  Her charming husband Eric was a great asset and at the Fairs at my house in later years, he doubled as an excellent host and sommelier when it was time for a little celebration!  Olga published an excellent book about the dowries of the French brides, Les Trousseaux, showing fine examples of the many textiles which were part of them, so if you have any enquiries about your own treasures, bring them along and she will explain.  Welcome Olga, it will be so good to see you!

These sheets are typical of the beautiful fine linen sheets that Olga Verschoor used to sell

HINTS AND WRINKLES No ll

Part of a large set of linen/silk mix 19c. chateau curtains, lined and interlined, with heavy silk cord trimming.  For Sale..

Curtains hang much better and keep out the cold more efficiently if they are interlined.  You can use thin blankets, or flannelette sheets instead of the usual Bump cloth and it does a good job and the odd repair, hole, stain cannot be seen!   Old sheets will do for linings and you can always do a washing machine Dylon dye if you like, this can an quite a good touch in the right colour scheme.  If you do 'piece' good remnants of other old curtains together, try and line up the pattern by ironing the seams exactly to match on the repeats and they will not show so much.   When it comes to rails for hanging the curtains, any pipe or pole will do as long as it can carry the weight, and plumber's copper pipe looks rather good, or old brass or iron rods.  You can make finials by painting tennis or other balls and pushing them on to the ends after making an X cut.  Big old French butchers' meat hooks will make brackets to hold the poles.
Tool and ironwork stalls at the larger antique fairs often have useful bits, together with window fittings and door furniture and can be very useful for matching up oddments.
Good brass fittings are quite expensive now and the cheap ones from India do not wear well.

Back to Work

  On my last visit to Brittany, some time ago now,  1  found what I was looking for, really fine and large embroidered linen sheets and plenty of very rough (porage look) hemp sheets. Since my previous visit in 2008, both had become extremely difficult to locate - so, in a way, as I had to travel 100s of kilometres, stay in a lot of different areas to be there for early opening times of the Fairs, you could say that was quite hard work - but to me, the thrill of the chase is still there every time I walk through the gates and wave my trade card to get in for free. When I gag at the new higher prices, there is always a good excuse - it is too late in the season and the best has gone, you cannot replace good stuff during the summer months because everyone's stock is so low - even ordinary plain linen sheets with minimum drawn thread borders are hard to find in good condition and no one wants worn out stuff or small sizes.   So you have to be persistent and dig deep!
    In fact I came across one huge stall where everything , in great white heaps, in white cotton and linen, clothing and bed and table linen, was priced at 10 Euros per item, or less - but every single item was a reject and I was told this dealer buys it all by weight from all the other linen ladies who are pleased to get rid of very unsaleable items. But if you sew and design, this is a good cheap source and you might find interesting costume, underwear, lace to re-use and hand embroidered borders if you love to 'chiner' i.e. trawl the markets. You need time and luck.