Antique velvet

This afternoon, I delved into some pretty-much-destroyed boxes that had been caught under a roof leak in Mom's attic years ago. They still contained their treasures: burgundy velvet, black velvet, and so on. I immediately ditched the leatherette and pieces of leather, which were too far removed from their origin that they were not even interesting. There are some small harnesses, which appear to be dog harnesses. I also ditched the metal zippers that had been harvested from garments long ago. There were two new zippers (using the term "new" advisedly; they were still in their original packages), which I kept, as well as a dandy descriptive sheet that showed where to use the new "slide fasteners" in garments.

I especially like the patterns. The packages look much as Simplicity, etc., patterns do now. The charm is in the markings: "Virginia, Spring '44" and "checked 12 '44; 15 pieces, all here". The pictures on the envelopes are simply priceless. So I'll go through them more thoroughly at my leisure, assuming I get some leisure some time in the next 25 years.

Phil is generously allowing me to keep fabric remnants from my mother's projects...I recognize some of the fabric. I'm keeping ALL of the fabric that must have belonged to my grandmothers. Too cool to dispose of right now...it all evokes the poetic in me. Perhaps it's false nostalgia, perforce, because I wasn't there..., but I think it's my inner magpie, fascinated by the novelty of a connection between life a hundred years ago  and life now. Actual, physical life, that is, or the remnants thereof.

Thank you, Minnie and Irene and VIC (Ginny to all of us...). God rest you merry.

Treasure Hunt Continues

This week, we have come across original drawings that *I* had never seen before done by Phil at RISD. There's nothing in the world like drawings IN PENCIL and ON YELLOW TRACING PAPER!

Sure takes me back.