One of the wonderful things about working with heritage collections is that the word gets out that you love anything to do with heritage textiles. Because of this I am sometimes offered treasures that others no longer want. This box and its contents is one such case.
Inside the box is a collection of threads on wooden cotton reels.
Mercerised cottons, machine twists, and polyester threads, with colour names like: Orange Lily, Light Kingfisher, Sage, and Geranium.
The colours are fabulous, and as I looked at them and wondered about the woman who used these threads, I thought what a vibrant woman she must have been with such a dynamic selection of colours. Then I began to wonder what each colour thread had been used to make.
So I thought my precious darlings that once a week I would pick a reel of thread and find, or design the dress that I imagine would have been sewn with the thread.
The first colour is seemingly not a colour at all, but a neutral, ivory. For me these neutral shades have a subtle and classic beauty.
The dress I have chosen for ivory, is a 1955 Pierre Balmain dress that I believe is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Isn't it dreamy?
It is dreamy!!! What a fantastic blog idea! I request the orange for the next one :P
ReplyDeleteI think we should all participate too :P This is what I imagined
http://ladygagahot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Lady-GaGa-in-White-Lace-37765PCN1.jpg
Wish I could make it come up :(
Okay I will do the orange lily next Saturday night. Love you sweetheart. Hmmmm ORANGE, but its not really that sort of orange is it, its a bit mote tropical, a softer feminine orange, like a bright ripened apricot. Going to be interesting to see what I come up with. What I could do is put up everyone elses ideas that they post a link to in their comment like you did at the start of the next weeks one.
ReplyDeletemmmm :) Kewl! Other people need to post!
ReplyDeleteyes they do
ReplyDeleteOooh! Lucky you! I collect Sylko threads too (well, in the collect-and-use-them way), but I've never seen a whole box.
ReplyDeleteI love that Pierre Balmaine dress, but at the same time feel that it reminds me of doilies and a tablecloth, and that's not a good thing!
A floor length version of this ivory dress for a wedding would be amazing
ReplyDeleteYes it would for a more formal wedding, and Yes I do get the doily table cloth thing, but I think this dress pulls it off and just looks gorgeous.
ReplyDelete