Closing the Sampler Museum

Last week I asked Barbara when she could go to the Sampler Museum in Celle.  We've been there before, separately, but we wanted to do it together.  We found a date and I wrote to our friend Lorraine there.

Sharon!! Important !! Lorraine wrote back.  The museum is closing FOREVER on Friday.  Come now!

EEK! Barbara couldn't make last minute changes, but Ursel was willing, so off we went for my last visit and Ursel's first and last.

Lorraine was there giving a tour to some women from Munster.  The woman who collected all these wonderful pieces was guiding a couple from the Netherlands.  Later, we gave a ride to the city center to a visitor from Hamburg. Ah, they should have all come last year and the year before and more often.  Now it is too late.

But one last look.

Intricate traditional patterns from an area near Hamburg.

Various examples on how to finish the placket for a shirt front, and buttonholes at the bottom.

How to darn,
 

Michelle will recognize this piece.  This is the original from which the pattern was made for Hannah's sampler.

More placket details along with hem stitiching.

And here a sampler on finely woven cotton.  The smaller letters in the middle are less than 1/2 inch high, with many fine stitches to make them so clear.

And a showcase with lots of samplers.

Oh we sighed and admired and were amazed at the wonderful handwork that was done by farm girls and orphans and ladies of leisure in days gone by. 

For now the collection will be stored in another museum. We hope one day it will be on display again......

 

Craft shows are a lesson in pride and humility.  You put your best effort into creating a product that is pleasing.  You set up a stand that is welcoming and attractive.  And you wait for the public to show.

And they come. And they look and they react. Here are the reactions in order of frequency:

1. They glance and walk by.
2. They glance and make negative comments.  (I can do that myself. I can do that better myself.  Can you believe she's asking money for that?)
3. They stop and look and say something nice.
4. They stop and look and ask what it costs.
5. They stop and look and actually BUY something!

Since I'm new at this, this order of things is just becoming clear.  And I'm getting to be OK with that.  The question is, how long I'm willing to be OK with that!  I don't have the answer yet.

Today the show was at the Ökologiestation - the place here in an urban forest in Bremen where kind folks show school children what is going on around them in nature.  They do a craft show twice a year and have only 10 stands.  It's friendly and intimate and low pressure.  Perfect!

And Werner is of course the perfect helpmate and the best partner for getting it all set up. 

But I was nervous!  Have I made enough?  Will the first ten people buy all the irresistible egg warmers and then none will be left for the next 5 hours?  Will I have to stand there with few offerings for most of the show?

Am I crazy?  (Don't answer that :) )

Well, I made enough, that's the truth.  I was happy with the number of pillow covers that I sold and so disappointed that my sweet and cute and irresistible egg warmers were so resistible. Wouldn't you want these on your table??

If you do, just let me know.  They're available.

Re-Purposed Ties

Barbara, my dear fellow-sewer and lover of old linens, had asked if we might bring back a few silk ties from the US.  She's working on a quilt, from old ties that she has been collecting over the years.  But she cautioned, If you go to the Goodwill, watch out!  Don't pay more than $2.00!!  OK.  I can do that.

You can imagine, I'm sure, that it takes a lot of ties to make a quilt.  And you may be thinking at the same time, who wants to do that anyway?  But creative people just see things differently. (I seldom put myself in that category of persons, sigh...)

But back to the ties. I had a hunch that between my various male in-laws, there would probably be a little stash of no-longer-used, no-longer-wanted, slightly out-of-date or soiled ties in Barbara's color - primarily red.  And I was not wrong!  Larry and Barry, seldom needing ties in their retirement, had some lovely ones to donate.  Joey, since he's trying to get rid of the banker-as-a-guy-always-in-a-tie image, also had a few he was more than willing to part with. So we had quite a collection to donate.

And so we went to visit.  Back to the site of my accident!  Barbara and Charlie were forever saying Watch your step!   I do. I did. I will. After the obligatory Kaffee + Kuchen (yummy homemade treats from last summer's fruit) we looked a the quilt-in-progress. 

It's basically a log cabin pattern, but done with strips in the stripes and continuing on and on - it's one huge log cabin block.

She opens the ties and presses them and adds iron-on backing to stabilize the silk and then sews them together to make the longer strips.  There are a few ties with some history of course.  And interestingly, she's saved all the labels which will become the binding for the finished quilt. 

Then we had a painting lesson.  I had already done some fabric "printing" after our first visit, but having a lesson was useful.  She gathered some flowers and leaves and then we helped make a "sampler" to take home for reference.  Even the sampler is pretty!

Now to make some of my own for the craft show at the end of March.  I'd better get busy - there's not much time!

Underwear

Ha!  Bet that got your attention!!

But sexy it is not.  It's old-fashioned underwear, hand made of woven fabric, specifically slips.  I don't think form-fitting was part of the vocabulary when these were made.

There were several older ladies who came by our stand at the-not-successful-show and offered me their linen goodies they no longer wanted.  Frau S. left her name and number so we called and made a date to pick up the linens.


It was one of my early outings after the cast was removed. The weather was cold, but not unpleasant and it was such a treat to get into town and see something other than my four walls and the back deck!

We arrived at Frau S. about tea time so of course we had to accept their offer of tea.  Then came her son and family unexpectedly so we all sat around the table and talked and enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere in their small apartment. I congratulated myself a bit that finally, finally, I have mastered this difficult language enough to engage in small talk with total strangers.  I still make mistakes, and people are of course gracious, but it is such a relief to be able to just have a little chat.

After a bit she brought out the linens.  One doesn't reject gifts, and (in my mind) who would want to?

Some damsel with the initials "EP"  (Elsa?  Elke?  Elfriede?) did these up for her trousseau:  cotton, with cotton lace trims, all seams fully enclosed, for sure sewn on a treadle machine and each one with a hand-embroidered monogram.

I don't quite know what to do with these treasures.  They are in such good shape that it would be a shame to cut them up.  And I won't.  On the other hand, can you sell something you were gifted?

Cleaning Up

Between the foot and the sewing, but mostly the sewing, the upstairs has been in perpetual disarray for the last two months.  Actually, it's a wonder there wasn't another broken something with all the stuff to step over and around.  But now it is finally time to clean up and re-organize the space. 

And with cleaning up, I get distracted.  This time in was my old pincushion.  I have no idea how old it is but I think it might be the second one since 1966.

I know I replaced it once because I took it apart and found a trove a needles.  Naturally, I had to look again.  And there it was again - a trove of needles!  All sizes and sorts, including three sewing machine needles and two tapestry needles.  Total:  51.  Amazing.  I think in earlier times the woman of the house kept better track of her needles.

Next time, I think I'll use one of my own pin cushions.  I seem to have some left over!

The Show

Ursel and I got to show our stuff last weekend at the "Quality of Life" show at the SwissHotel in downtown Bremen.

Friday night, we set up the stand that my neighbor lent us - how great is that!  He sets up huge sets for congresses, so this was small potatoes for him but a huge help for Ursel and me.

Herr Zoellner's son was a helper, too, so obviously, set up is child's play!

Saturday morning at 9 we got busy filling the shelves and the table with all our wares.  Looking good!  Ursel and I..

and with her nieces Ilke and Christina who made all the felted bags.

Pretty necklaces,

  and lovely linens.

Yeah, well, it obviously looked a lot better to us than it did to the folks who came to the show because we didn't sell much at all - at all !!  It was the wrong venue for us; everyone else there was a professional with shops of their own and commercial goods for sale.

But it was an experience and we'll consider a different venue in the future.  Meanwhile, I have a pile of pillow covers and assorted stockings.  Thursday I'm off to a shop in the little artists' village of Fischerhude to see if the Christmas things at least could be sold there on commission.

Getting started in selling is not so easy, we've found.

A Belated Thank You

I am late in telling my mother "thank you" for teaching me how to sew -- I think about 55 years late.

I'm not sure exactly when I started sewing, but it seems I began by just playing. What a great way to learn! The first machine I used was electric  - probably a Singer - in its own cabinet, though I am certain there was a pedal machine before that. Unlike today's electric machines, though, the on/off control was with a knee pedal, not a foot pedal so it was a bit of a stretch for my little legs. But what an array of attachments!  There was something to make gathers that went clicky-clicky-clicky. And a hem roller.  And a pleater - it clackity-clacked, too.  I remember playing with the machine and trying out all the attachments.  What fun!  Can you imagine having fun with sewing machine attachments?  But I did.

For a long time Mother didn't have an attachment to make button holes.  That was a totally different tool that cost extra bucks but made finishing blouses a whole lot easier; before that, Mother did all the buttonholes by hand with - you know - the buttonhole stitch (called a blanket stitch, too).

And I remember Ginny trying to adjust patterns and trying to match plaids.  What a challenge.

And I remember embroidering dish cloths for Ginny as a wedding gift.  She saves everything, and she still has these drying cloths 50+ years on!


Gradually I learned how to use the machine for real sewing.  And how to do the hand stitching that goes along with the machine - hemming and trimming.  The first dress I made all by myself was the one I wore for my last day of school in Baltimore - 1960, still age 14 - the same year Ginny and Barry got married.  I think I made half of my wardrobe that I took to FSU in 1962 when I was 16.  I made clothes for Michelle and for Lee (though they didn't always love them!) When he was just 2, Hunter needed a scabbard for his sword, and later Hannah needed dresses for herself and her dolls.  I've made lots of "clothes" for our furniture, too - slipcovers and bedcovers of all sorts.

This week I have started in earnest to get things ready for the craft show in November.  And then there is Dylan's birthday coming up, so of course she gets something homemade (poor kid - the other grandparents get to provide the store-bought games and toys!). A dress for her and a dress for the American Girl doll.

And so, I have been sewing a lot, And I have been thinking back about how I started to sew.

So I just wanted to say "Thanks, Mother!"  

And so it begins ...

After the editing and translations, it's time to get down to business, meaning getting ready for the show.  Ursel has us registered for the craft fair and she of course has a back-log of lovely necklaces.  I am just getting started and I have no idea what I am in for.  How many to make?  How much to charge? 

But here is the beginning.  One is a pillow cover of two types of old linen in my most favorite log cabin pattern with a lace embellishment.  And, since I like them and they're small and I think people will think they are oh-so-charming and gobble them up like chocolate, two egg warmers. 

More of each to come.  I'm thinking 50 pillows and 20 sets of cosys.  I welcome advice.  And I think I had better get busy!!

More Recycling

Use it up

Wear it out

Make it do

Or do without

That is of course what all our grandparents did. They didn't throw away anything they thought could be useful. I remember visiting an old farm house museum here. Up in the attic was a big rolled ball of the narrow hems torn off the shirts/sheets/towels/dresses, saved to used later in a rag rug or something similar. Frugal doesn't begin to explain the folks a couple of generations ago. It is fascinating.

I love old linen, old embroidery, crocheted trims and window treatments. And I seem to have a penchant for things that others want to throw away (see the previous post!). When we go to markets, the linen stands always draw me to them and I ususally have some idea of what I might do with a little bit of lace torn from a pillowcase that fell apart or a linen sheet that was just too worn for the next generation to use -- but good enought not to throw away!!

Sometimes it takes a while to get to the finished product.

Our visits to Aunt Mary and Aunt Ruth got me going. Actually, I'd wanted to get this done BEFORE the trip but that didn't happen. Now it has happened: I made some lavender bags.

Here's the recipe: Find some old linen, the older the better. Find some old lace, the older the better. Grow some lavender (or buy it from the market). Make some bags, fill them with the lavender. Done.

Here's the finished product. I only did the sewing; the artists did the work. Aren't they nice?

Happy Birthday, Dylan Rose

One year old today. Wish we could be there to share the day (and some cake and company), but we did send a present.

Here it is: a dress and a doll.

The fabric has little rosebuds all over - how appropriate! And the pattern was the same one I used for the dress Hannah wore to Lee and Crissy's wedding. Little connections.

Looking for a baby doll is actually harder than sewing a little dress! It has to be small enough and big enough and soft enough and sweet enough. I hope this one has enough!

I made the baby a dress (almost) like Dylan's, so they can play dress up together.

A Passion

Most of you know already that I'm a little nutty when it comes to old linens. It started with the large, 80 cm (30 inch) square "European" pillowcases with crochet inserts or various types of embroidery. I found them here and there at antique shows and shops. When we moved here, they were everywhere and so much more available than in the US. I got pretty picky and then bought them for others and then stopped buying them altogether. But I still look and occasionally buy something.

My favorite things have a history, a story or something family-related.

Before we left for our US visit, Werner visited Mutti and brought back some table linens. I said How nice, and put them away; at the time, there was no time to do more. So, finally, the other day, I got around to sorting them.

Here's one:

I recognized immediately its age and the handwork, so I called Mutti to ask about it. Oh, she said, I did that when I was 16 or 17, I'm not really sure. Yow. Hand woven linen with white work hem stitiching. To be honest, it isn't all that sophisticated - Mutti was a farm girl after all - but it is so special.

Here's another view on a red background that shows the stitching better.

The other two pieces are later, kitchen towel linen with crocheted inserts and edging so that it would cover the table. She appreciates that I appreciate them. Actually, I think they're priceless.