The threads that bind us

1700s silk - embellished with tiny hand stitched darns.

The dealer laughed when I started taking photographs - she turned the textile over to show me the other side, the 'real' side, an incredible Indienne print.

"This is the 'vrai coté" she informed me with a smile.

I was photographing the silk and wool underside of the bed cover, which had been worn threadbare with wear and age.

I can appreciate a beautiful intact antique textile but I'll choose to fall hard for something worn and darned and falling apart every time.

Perhaps it is in seeing these tiny little stitches - either to embellish or repair something  - that binds me to its maker.

Rather than buy a new designer dress to wear to a party - I will fall hard for a crumbling remnant of a forgotten dream. Fragments plagued by “inherent vice” and “glass-bead disease” ....intrigued you must read more here.

The further down this rabbit hole of antique textile discovery I delve - the more intrinsically connected I become to the humanity behind the textile; to the hands that once sewed; embroidered; mended; dyed; worked the loom; and darned.

1800s workers trousers... Turn them inside out and behold a tapestry of mending stitches.

And woven into the fabric is life itself, the makers dreams; love stories; layers of history; frivolity; a story of colour, heritage and knowledge....a tangible link to the human story behind a garment

A time machine.

A love letter.

An accidental work of art.

An embroidered indigo cape worn by a Vendean Rebel in 1700s

A vessel for lost dreams, for battles fought and won and lost again.

Best of all - I'm not alone, I've met so many wonderful kindred spirits - some are even more nuts about the tiny stitches than I.

We share a joyful secret. We are all connected by these threads.

I always like to ask my favourite dealers, women who have been collecting for 30-40 years, what makes their heart flutter. Their answers always differ and fascinate me. For some it is embellishment, beading and lace, for others white-on-white intricate boutis and then there is Francoise who loses her mind over workers garments (socks, long-johns, shirts) - turned inside out they reveal their true selves, each year a different mend, using a different colour of thread until they all fuse to create a symphony of stitches.

Here is to making 2016 a wonderful journey of discovery. A year of  beauty, friendship, passion,  kindness and love.

I have so much more to share with you here and on Instagram - so do follow along on our journey in 2016

xx