Firle Place Garden Show this weekend

 We will be the the Firle Place  Garden show tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. 

We will have some new and unusual stock including  some lovely antique clothing  and  a lovely range of vintage linen

A fine country estate  in the historic village of Firle stands in an area of outstanding natural beauty, at the foot of the South Downs National Park in Sussex, nr Lewes and   around 60 miles to the south of London.

There will be daily talks, guided walks, a rare chance to visit 'The Secret Gardens of Firle Place" as well as  a wonderful selection of exhibitors.   

Selvedge Spring Fair

Please come and join us at the Selvedge Spring Fair. The Sevledge team have hanpdicked 30 stallholders and as usual at the Selvedge Fair there wil be a wonderful selection of products in a beautifully decorated church Hall.

Susie will be runing the parna stall with a superb selection of our vintage linen and artisan made products.

We have a number of free tickets which will be for offer on our facebook page next week

Hungarian vintage linen and hemp

We have just sourced a number of long vintage linen rolls with blue stripes. All hand woven in the 1920s-1940s on narrow home looms. The second roll down is probably Slovakian and has very unsual silver grey and some brown threads making for an interesting and unusual overall effect. We have 30+ metres of this one and have been lucky to source such an unusual fabric in such a long roll, this one is heavy and close woven and would be super for upholstery.

Some of this blue striped linen has an antique French look about it , being very similar to antique French linen which is now very difficult to find in decent quantities. This blue striped vintage linen is always popular in Sweden and looks good with painted white and grey furniture.

Matyo embroidery

This distinctive Matyo embroidery , characterised by densely embroidered colourful flower designs on a black background, originate from a small area, the centre of which is Mezökövesd, a town in Northern Hungary. Usually in bold colours, often with long fringes, most commonly used as cushions, small table cloths. These antique embroideries date from 1910-1940s. The top image is a cover for a baby grand- absolutely stunning!

British Red Cross Christmas Fair

We will be at the British Red Cross Fair
British Red Cross London Christmas Fair
on 16 & 17 November 2011
at Kensington Town Hall.
Tickets are now onsale at www.redcross.org.uk/fair

From rags to riches

We have had a stock of rag rugs for a while now and have finally got round laundering them and deciding what to do with them .... cushions seemed a good idea and those pictured above are the first in the range.
The weaving of recycled cloth to make floor coverings was once common place in many parts of the world. Old, worn clothes amd textiles were torn or cut into thin strips and kept to make rugs, wall coverings and even table mats. The woman who uses the loom above weaves rugs using cuts offs from local garment factories
In Hungary traditional floor coverings include rag rugs and rush matting, both woven on a loom.

Fine cell work

Fine Cell Work trains and pays prisoners in the UK to produce professional quality embroidery, tapestry and quilts. They do wonderful work in helping to rehabilitate prisoners, giving offenders a sense of purpose, building self esteem and self confidence and providing the incentive and financial means to stop re-offending .