French textiles at Petworth House textile fair

Above are pictures form Linda Clifts stall at Petworth. Linda specialises in lovely vintage /antique patchwork quilts, paisley shawls and French linens.

My next post will feature some French textiles from Elizabeth Baer

Petworth House Textile Fair

The above is part of a stunning hand embroidered bed cover by Sophie Pattinson

http://www.sophiepattinson.co.uk/ . Sophie works with groups of disadvantaged women in Bangladesh to make these stunning pieces.

Sophie was one of the exhibitors at the Textile Fair at Petworth House. The pleasure gardens of Petworth House were a wondeful setting for the textile fair over the bank holiday weekend. We were blessed with beautiful weather. There was a wondeful mixture of textiles old and new and I will be featuring some of these in more detail over the coming weeks.

Hungarian embroidery

As I helped a friend move into a new flat the other day I spotted this sampler on the kitchen wall. Embroidered in 1934 on fine, hand woven linen it shows the embroidery styles /techniques. Most originate from a particular region- more on this later

Decorated brandy bottles

These colourful bottles ares home decorated brandy bottles. Most decorated with discarded electrical wire casing. They are not particulalry old, but I think they are an interesting example of folk craft/art -which traditionally uses available ( cheap or free) materials for the decoration of everyday objects to enhance the look of the home or surroundings .

Brandy is commonly home brewed in Hungary, usually from plums. In the village I stay in in Transylvania there is a village distillery, in the middle of a field on the outskirts of the village. The villagers bring prepared fruit harvested from their gardens and it is distilled into a powerful 52% alcohol brandy.

Textile Fair at Petworth House

Petworth House is a magnificent House and Park in West Sussex. Petworth House Costume & Textiles Fair will be a visual and sensual extravaganza. Textiles, costumes, demonstrators, artists and designers are all being brought together to provide a memorable experience. Renowned dealers in Antique textiles will show furnishing textiles and costumes from around the world. Over the weekend event visitors can also see magnificent textiles in the Petworth House collection. Admission to the fair is £5.