HAND-EMBROIDERED ANTIQUE LINEN SHEET TOP

Every sheet brings delightful new ways of working flowers and points — the little raised circles of perfect satin stitch, here surrounded by miniature examples. A real treasure. So much you could make from this piece, not to mention the inspiring flower and leaf trails which could be reinvented in different ways.  I used to make cushions by overlapping the decorated  edge over the plain, either on the front or the back. I first discovered antique French linen sheets through the truly wonderful Elizabeth Baer, an energetic and indomitable lady who, with her darling husband, Derek (an ex-investment banker), travelled around France hauling linen and hemp sheets and fabrics out of barn lofts and cowsheds long before they became common at brocantes. She supplied hemp and linen to costume designers and interior designers and was definitely one of the people who first inspired me to work with antique textiles. Her blog is still available to us as a fabulous resource and I often turn to it, hearing her voice as I read. She loves to find out about the fabrics she sold and tell you about them. I cannot describe the excitement I felt every time I visited her cellars, first at Freshford Manor and later at the big house in Bradford on Avon. Here is an excerpt 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.’