Sprucing Up for Spring

Sprucing Up for Spring

Every magazine I have read this past month has had articles on cleaning the house and redecorating or remodeling.  Visit my blog,  “Spring Cleaning”, April 15, 2013 for care of your vintage textiles.  One tip, for now, is please check your collection every couple of months for proper storage.  Take your textiles and refold them in a different pattern or, better yet, roll them. When textiles remain folded the creases become difficult to remove.  If there is pressure on the folds (by stacking the textiles atop each other) the fibers will weaken and may, in time, break.

Now for the remodeling.  We recently remodeled our kitchen and are very pleased with the results.  But you don’t have to completely redesign or remodel to create a new look for your rooms.  Of course, the designers would love you  to consider new paint, new furniture, maybe remove a few walls.  There are many ways to freshen your living quarters without going broke or winning the lottery.  Naturally, I’m talking using textiles to express your design personality. 

Tip #1  Start with what you already have.  While you are refolding your stored fabrics, linens and other textiles, consider using them, in perhaps a different manner than they were first intended.  When you put away your heavy, winter bed coverings could you exchange them for an embroidered sheet and shams from the 1930’s?  Do you have a lace curtain panel that could be placed at the foot of the guestroom bed?   How about a 1940’s cotton tablecloth for your eat-in kitchen table? 

Tip#2  Consider when to purchase new fabrics or use vintage.  For kitchens, linens from the 1940’s and 50’s are entirely appropriate and easily found in thrift shops.  These textiles were made from cotton and are actually very durable.  They have been washed many, many times throughout the years and are found in cheery patterns and colors.

However, if you are looking for fabric to upholster a reading chair for your great room, new fabric is a better choice, as it needs to be strong, stain resistant and pet friendly.  If you like the look of vintage, reproduction fabrics are readily found,

Tip #3  If you are planning a new look or are decorating a new home do your homework by visiting high-end furniture and design stores.  They will display various vignettes  using coordinating styles .  You are no longer required to style your home depending upon your location.  Quilts are not only for New England, pastel palettes not only for Florida.  One suggestion I always offer: go “ethnic”.  This style is definitely in favor right now and very, very easy to introduce into your room décor.  In my home I have Indian dhurries as floor covers, Indonesian batiks and ikats as throws and table covers and African Kente cloth for pops of color and interesting, geometric patterns.  These all cohabitate with southwestern pottery and tribal art.  Many ethnic fabrics and textiles can be found , whether vintage or modern reproductions.

Tip #4  It is your home or apartment or dorm room.  Your surroundings should reflect your interests.  Some prefer a minimal approach, some like to display collections.  To keep from creating sterility or chaos include meaningful objects. More is not only more!!  More is confusing.  Complete absence of texture, color and form is not only boring but does not reflect your personality.  Decorating is a talent that requires some degree of experimentation.  If, at first, you are not entirely pleased with your efforts, try again and be open to new ideas!!!

This is one of my favorite references.  

The Textile Art in Interior Design, Melanie Paine, Smon and Schuster, NY 1990

Gods and Kings - McQueen and Galliano

Galliano and McQueen

This is one of the best biographies I have read in a long while.  The story of two young British designers who rose from humble beginnings to become major forces in the revolution of fashion in the last decades of the 20thC is told by fashion writer, Dana Thomas.

Gods and Kings - The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano,
 Dana Thomas,
 Penhguin Press, New York, 2015

The major fashion houses, Dior, YSL, Givenchy were relatively small, privately- owned couture operations. The changing dynamics of mass marketing and branding resulted in the inevitable entrance of the “men of high finance”.  These entrepreneurs  were money men, not fashion men.  By combining small fashion houses under  one umbrella, their power proved to be insurmountable.   They retained the famous labels, moved into the ready-to-wear markets and encouraged designers to retain their brand names, not only on clothing but branching into accessories and cosmetics.

This is the story of the transformation of couture into mass produced, affordable fashions.  The journey takes the reader into the culture of the period, from the seedy gay bars to the fashion runways.  Travelers in this journey included the rich and famous, the shakers and movers, and the up-and-coming celebrities such as Boy George and Madonna.

The meteoric rise the these young designers, who were only a few years off the dole, was so astonishing that they were referred to as the “Kings ”.  Reveling in their fame, they could not imagine their catastrophic demise at the hands of the “Gods”, the men of power and finance.  As Thomas notes, their problem was recreating fantastic, complicated designs, which would be able to be manufactured on a large scale.  They believed in their own “myth”.  

Also by Dana Thomas: Deluxe: How Luxury Lost  Its Lusture

Mile-High Sanurai

Samurai Exhibition

Illustration of Samurai Warrior

March 6 is the opening of “Samurai: Armor From the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection” at the Denver Art Museum. 140 objects will be on display.

Samurai were Japanese fierce warriors, the military elite.  They served Japan from the 12th through the 19thC. Under their robes they wore armor made from iron, copper, fur and other animal materials.  The armor was elaborately lacquered and decorated with gold, braids and tassels. Even the horses they rode wore protective armor.

 This exhibition originated from the collection of Mr. Barbier-Mueller, founder of Harwood International, amassed over 25 years and housed in his family owned Dallas museum.  Since 2011 the traveling armor, including weapons, has visited 8 cities, including Paris, Boston, Portland.

Hairpin Lace

Hairpin Lace

Hairpin Lace (also called hairpin crochet, fork crochet and Maltese lace which is not to be confused with Maltese bobbin lace) is an open lace strip or braid.  It is made on a U-shaped pin and worked with a crochet hook.  It is easy too work and useful for edgings, collars and cuffs.

The forks could be held with the opening up or down as the pattern required.

19thC women used their hairpins (hence the name). Commercial pins also called “forks” (or staples) were available.

Advertisement - Simplex MFG.CO., Bridgeport, Conn
Home Needlework Magazine, January, 1916

Eventually, by the 1930’s adjustable, rectangular forks made it possible to make fine, narrow strips using cotton threads or heavier, wider bands using wool.

Also available were forks with three or more prongs, which enabled the maker to create loops of various lengths within the same strip.

While this type of lace-making has gone out of style there are still patterns and forks available.   Examples of the hairpin edgings are most frequently found  on vintage handkerchiefs ,

Home Needlework Magazine, June, 1916

Learn New Crafts, Book No. 408, J.&P. Coats LTD., Paisley, Scotland

Textile Art of Hawaii

Hawaiian Quilts 

Hawaiian Quilts, Stella M. Jones, Honolulu Academy of Arts and Mission Houses Museum, 1973

This unique textile art is characterized by large designs of one color, usually floral as it was thought it would be unlucky to use animals or birds in the design.  The design is cut from one large piece of fabric, which had been folded into eighths and appliquéd onto a background cloth. 

One section of my quilt, ready to be quilted

  Parallel quilting lines (called “kuiki) form intricate waves (“humu lau”)which follow the applied pattern.  Historically, Hawaiian quilters did not use patterned fabrics, so as not to detract from the design.

one section, partially quilted

They called their quilts “kapa” which also refers to the cloth made from the beaten bark of the mulberry tree.  They believe that their “kapa” contains their spirit (“mana”).  Their patterns were closely guarded secrets to use another’s pattern was to steal her soul.

Vintage pattern , note the fold lines

Vintage pattern, apparently cut from a brown paper bag

One can purchase Hawaiian patterns for quilting.

Poakalani's Hawaiian Cushion Patterns, ,!972

Poakalani pattern "Lilia O Ke Awawa

"Lily of the Valley"

This textile style was introduced to the islands by New England missionaries in the early 19thC. Initially the missionaries taught the method of piecework quilting, that of using small scraps of fabric to form abstract patterns.  The Hawaiians were used to using whole lengths of cloth for making their untailored garments and chose to use large pieces of cloth instead of the small scraps.  The New Englanders also taught the art of paper cutting, as we learned as children to make snow flakes, by folding paper, cutting the design and unfolding to reveal an intricate, one piece pattern.

These quilts were not necessary for warmth.  They are considered objects of art, important to their culture.

Kauai Museum Quilt Collection, Christine Faye and Margaret Lovett,, Kauai Museum Publication, 1991

This type of quilting is seen throughout Polynesia.  In Tahiti, these quilts are known as “tifaifai”.  In the Cook Islands they are called “tivaevae”. See my blog: Cook Islands Tivaevae, 1/18/15.

When I last visited Hawaii I sought traditional handmade quilts.  I found that those for sale on the retail market had been imported from the Philippines as few quilters on the islands continued the tradition and those that did could not compete with the low prices of the imported quilts.  

What's in a Name? Plaid versus Tartan

Mad for Plaid

I recently read an article written by Leanne Italie for the Associated Press entitled “For the Love of Plaid”.  In her article, Italie describes the focusing of this pattern not only for apparel and footwear, but also as a newly emerging design trend for home furnishings.

This has led me to address several questions I had received regarding the distinction between the designation “plaid” and “tartan”, following my blog “Tartan, Plaid By Any Other Name”, Mar, 15 2015.

So I have gathered my dictionary and textile encyclopedias in an effort to resolve this issue.  The results were not at all definitive. 

1.  Webster’s New World Dictionary:    Plaid: (gallic plaide) : a long piece of twilled woolen cloth with a checkered or crossbar pattern worn over the shoulder by Scottish highlanders.                                                                                           Tartan: a woolen cloth with a woven pattern of straightlines with different colors and widths crossing at right angles, worn in the Scottish highlands.

2. Callaway Textile Dictionary:   Plaid: a pattern consisting of colored stripes or bars crossing each other at right angles, similar to a Scottish  tartan.

                                                       Tartan;  a kind of woolen cloth with a 2/2 twill in checks of various colors, worn chiefly by Scottish highlanders.

3. Encyclopedia of Textiles, Judith Jerde :  Plaid:  the word plaid is used to describe a particular pattern, but in actuality it does not refer to a pattern at all but rather, to a type of highland Scottish dress.

                                                                  Tartan : a plaid fabric that originated in the Scottish highlands, derived from the Gaelic “tarstin ot tarsiun” meaning across, describing the cross stripe pattern.

4. Textile Designs, Meller and Elffers: Plaid: a box layout of stripes, usually horizontal and vertical and almost always crossing at right angles.  This reference was certainly the most thorough as there were entries for many varieties of plaid, including printed fabrics of various fibers, different colorways including black and white printed fabrics and plaid prints used for men’s shirtings.

One final definition that appeared was the definition of the word ”check”.  It seems the check pattern is applied to similar plaid patterns of fewer colors on a smaller scale.  Meller says” squared off, a plaid becomes a check”.

My opinion, and I’m sticking to this, is that the word “tartan’ can be correctly applied to woven, woolen cloth of various colorways in a pattern of intersecting stripes of varying widths.  And we musn’t forget about those Scottish highlanders.  “Plaid”, in our times, is used to refer to the pattern crated by the stripes and can be woven or printed fabric of various fiber content.  

Alexander Girard

Alexander Girard   1907-1994

“Art is only art when it is synonymous with living.”

It is mid January and we are in the midst of winter here in North America.  Even Santa Fe, which is usually not bitter cold has seen a blast of chilling winds and snow.  It is a perfect time to spend an afternoon (or two) at a museum.. We are blessed with many fine museums and galleries, here, and one of my favorites, of which I often write, is The International Folk Art Museum.

One wing of the museum was designed in 1981 (opened in 1982) by Girard to house the Girard Family Foundation Collection of Folk Art.  Over 100,000 pieces collected by Girard and his wife, Susan, are in the collection and are on view, many displays  were designed by Girard himself. 

This fascinating array of folk art from around the world cannot be appreciated in a single viewing.  Indeed, every time I visit I find objects that I had overlooked.  Small ceramic pieces arranged in a depiction of village life, fiber flowers, and, of course, examples of very fine textiles.  These objects were not created in factories, nor manufactured in lots of thousands to be sold on the open market.  Rather, each has been created by craftsmen and represent the artistic considerations of their ethnic backgrounds.

The Spirit of Folk Art
The Girard Collection at the Museum of International Folk Art
Henry Glassie, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., NY, in association with the Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe

While Girard is known as a great collector of folk art, there is another aspect to this man’s contributions to the field of art

He is probably one of the least known, but at the same time , one of the finest designers of textiles in modern times.  Born in New York, he was raised in Italy where he studied architecture.  Eventually, he moved to Detroit and worked as a designer for Ford and Lincoln Motors and as a color consultant for General Motors.

Fortunately for us New Mexicans, he and his wife, Susan moved to Santa Fe in 1952 and became the director of textile designs for Herman Miller until 1973.  His designs reflect his training in architecture and are known for his explosive use of color.  He designed over 300 textiles, as well as, wallpapers and decorative prints, furniture and other decorative objects. 

Plazzo, 1976
Alexander Girard
collection of the Art Institute of Chicago

One of his designs was issued in collaboration with Jack Lenor Larsen (in fact this was the only Girard design Larsen produced).  Entitled “Palazzo”, this piece was unique in several ways.  It was a triptych of a European city featuring stylized buildings, bridges and archways.  Instead of using vibrant color, this piece, intended as a furnishing fabric, was screen-printed in white and shades of brown on a brown linen ground fabric.  The textile was given by Larsen, from his collection, to the Art Institute of Chicago and was featured in an exhibition 

“The 20^th-Century Textile Artist” in 1999 at the Institute.

Christa C. Thurman, Curator of Textiles

The Herman Miller collection is reissuing some of Girard textile designs. 

Also, Girard Studio was created by the Girard family to “preserve and promote the design legacy and archive of Alexander Girard”.  Its mission is “Reintroducing Girard to the public”.

Of interest to those of us dining in Santa Fe, the interior of the famous Compound restaurant was designed  by Girard in 1966.