Linens And Old Lace Deserve A Place On The Top Shelf

A recent challenge confronted me while I was working on a lower floor of a Brooklyn townhouse that fortuitously led me to unveil the remarkable world of vintage and antique linens.

Returning a six-story townhouse to its original single-family status entailed placing the kitchen in its former position, below the parlor floor. As the kitchen will be the hub of this family’s life, an uplifting, light-filled space was an essential prerequisite. However, the kitchen level was below grade level, albeit with huge windows where every passerby could walk by and peer into the family’s intimate breakfasts and holiday baking!My client, a restoration aficionado, traditional in taste and deeply appreciative of craftsmanship, directed me to provide privacy “with a view”—something that allowed light to flood the space, provided her family privacy, yet yielded great visual interest. As the windows are quite wide, I needed something beyond the standard 54-inch-wide fabric, so with an inkling that I might locate wider cloth in the form of a tablecloth linen or a bedspread, I embarked on my search. My aim was to create a very flat, unlined Roman shade out of this wide linen so that the cut work or embroidery would convey an interesting silhouette or pattern when light shone through it. My client might appreciate the craftsmanship and quality, while achieving her other goals of translucency, privacy and inherent visual interest.

What a surprise was in store for me—because there is a vast supply of excellent linens and laces available on the market in a plethora of styles. Designers and buyers have passed over these affordable treasures because of the perception that their upkeep is onerous and their patterns outdated, fussy or overelaborate. But as one digs deeper, one finds that every country in the world through every historical era has expressed itself and its cultural aesthetic through its linens, lacework and embroideries. The judicious placement of these works of art lends a very special accent to a room, and in my client’s case, it will become the star of the show.

There is firm evidence that in the early 15th century, Charles V decreed that the provinces of Belgium teach lace making in schools and convents. Bobbin-like bone objects were discovered around ancient Rome, and the first known pattern books emerged from early 16th-century Venice, where lace was indisputably a major craft. As a matter of fact it is still practiced for tourists on the island of Burano.

By the beginning of the 17th century, fashion dictated ruffs and standing collars, featuring bold geometric designs. These were achieved by one of the two broadly accepted genres of lace—needle lace—which was worked by hand with a needle and thread; and as the collars and cuffs flattened and softened, the second genre—bobbin lace—woven on a straw-stuffed pillow with as many as 50 threads attached to bone, ivory or wooden bobbins, became popular.

Lace decorated not only collars and cuffs, but sashes, gloves, shoes and jackets, often with gold and silver threads, to such a point that the kings were issuing sumptuary laws to curb the nobles and the wealthy bourgeoisie from outshining the monarch! Ironically, it was generally these same monarchs who cleverly encouraged the abbeys and monasteries to engage in this burgeoning cottage industry in order to fuel the economy.

The 18th century produced increasingly delicate work which incorporated extremely fine linen threads dancing amidst fine mesh backgrounds. Though the Milanese and Venetians were renowned for their designs, the French and especially the Flemish exceeded all expectations in their refinement and elegance. The Flemish, due to their great soil, raised flax of incomparable quality, contributing to their ever more refined linen threads and fabric.

The Irish linen trade began harshly by the unfair overtaxation and duties put on Irish wool being exported to England. The English Earl of Stafford, who was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland by Charles I, was responsible for destroying the competing Irish woolen industry by imposing those taxes, but he then imported Dutch linen looms and high-quality flax seed to Ireland, which consequently fostered the Irish linen trade. When the French Huguenots fled to Northern Ireland, they brought with them further skilled craftsmanship and knowledge, establishing Ulster as the center of the linen trade. During the Great Potato Famine, this area did not suffer as the rest of Ireland did, because of the growing linen industry.

The 19th century brought the advent of machine weaving and lace making from which the cottage industries never recovered. Because Ireland’s labor force was so cheap, handwork existed into the 1920s.

Though the golden age of lace and linen making occurred from the 17th to early 19th centuries, Kay Mertens, one of Long Island’s renowned purveyors of antique and vintage linens, says that “very little [original antique linen] remains other than in collectors’ hands or museums due to the fragile quality of textiles.

“However, another great revival period for fine linens and laces was from the late 19th century through the 1920s. These items still took hundreds of hours to produce with as many as 10 women working on one piece.”

She continues: “The finest are the Belgian linens. The Belgians were not only growers of fine flax, but also spinners, weavers and extraordinarily good designers. The Irish linens and laces, though a bit hairy, are imaginative. And this textile trade certainly elevated their income compared to the agricultural profession. Italy’s needle lace is renowned, the French, of course, had a small trade, and the American Indians, taught by the missionaries, developed their own lace craft.”

For the hundreds of woman hours it took to produce these linens, the existing products are cheap. A 12 foot, 125-year-old tablecloth can go for between $150 and $1,500, depending on the condition and intricacy of the pattern. A set of 12 24-by-24-inch napkins can range from $40 to $350—a pittance considering the quality and workmanship.

For Kay Mertens, “these handmade textiles have a feel, a design, and almost an aura that can’t be duplicated today. Antique linen napkins, freshly washed, air dried and slightly smoothed out by hand are unsurpassable. Sham sheets laid at the base of a bed elevate the entire room.” The popularity of natural unpressed linen sheets now demands that we take another look at antique linens that have literally been put on the back shelf for fear of too much maintenance.

Antique and vintage linens, currently underappreciated and undervalued and widely available, should be on every designer’s wish list. A distinctive appreciation of a distinctive craft, almost completely lost, should find a renewed interest and revival. Antiques dealers, flea markets (i.e., Chelsea Garage) and our East Hampton Historical Society Antiques Show all showcase these works of art. Please take a second look.