Age and origin of this hand-embroidered trim?

Acquired today from a little antique mall and too unusual/pretty to pass up. It measures 1 7/8” (5cm) wide, 49” long. (It’s shown rolled up.)

Any ideas on age/origin, please?

Thank you!

 

The pattern is called a meander if that's helpful.

Debora

 

I would say Greece or Macedonia.

 

I know it as Greek key but when I googled that, I came across meander. Learned something new!

Thanks!
Do you think it could be European or American but "made in the style of"?

 

It looks European to me, but most North Americans are of European descent, of course. Maybe a grandmother from 'the old country' made this.

 

Any guesses on age?

 

I guess first half of the 20th century. It could have been one of those trims people put along shelves, if that makes sense.

 

I've a theory but just that. I think it was removed from a dress or skirt because someone (perhaps the person who embroidered it) thought it was too pretty to discard or planned to reuse it. It's only 49' long so couldn't have been a garment of much volume. Given that and the burlap backing and the colorway, I'd think 1920s-ish. This was a period when the silhouette was basically straight and narrow so a lot of surface decoration was used. Here's an article about the "peasant style" of clothing in that period.

https://witness2fashion.wordpress.c...ed-peasant-styles-from-the-nineteen-twenties/

Debora

 

The ground is a loose weave soft natural linen. I think it used to be longer. The end that is shown in the photo is different than the end that is hidden in the roll. The end not pictured has been cut right through the embroidery. The end that is pictured shows extra fabric before the embroidery begins, if you know what I mean.

I love the info in your link, thanks!

EDIT: From what I’ve read, the design experienced a surge in popularity during the Art Deco period so 1920s sounds good!

 

I am so out of my element with clothing items -- this was an interesting read and I never would have guessed at such designs in the 1920s!

 

@Debora - what a great website.
There goes my afternoon...

 

If you haven't already seen it and you're interested in the clothing of that era... The Enchanted April, a 1991 film made from one of my favorite books, is a must see.

https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/31/movies/review-film-in-italy-a-lourdes-for-the-soul.html

Debora

 

I have seen it... twice! I loved it. I must read the book sometime. Is the film faithful to the book?

 

Yes, more faithful than most book-to-movie adaptions. Must say though... The male characters are a bit more finely nuanced in the book.

Debora

 

Perhaps originally part of a table cloth or such. The fabric has a more open weave than you would expect for an item of clothing. The design does look eastern European - perhaps Ukrainian?

 

The support is what we call canevas with about 15-20 threads and is linen(my wife complete the post) made about 100 years ago and drop stitched, design coming from the models books used for school or at home from 1880 to 1950 where this patterns are illustrated.
It's like the apprentice works for girls from those dates, the red color used is from the most used thread which is used for initials etc…
When it was actual, english spoken say "red work" now, and it can be an exercise as a part for a decorative band used in home, provenance can be from everywhere you can found booklets models, the greek band was used currently.
I make a picture from a sampler later which has those embellishments.

 

Thank you for the information, I look forward to your picture of the sampler!

 

I've made pictures from some examples of the difficulty/impossibility to be precise with a location, the book with swiss themes is later(1968), on this picture you can see a cowboy with a tyrol dancers etc…
Sorry if it takes some time to load because they are in great size for a better view, then not possible to see on a phone correctly!
Here you have first the "greek" pattern around 1900-1920 with an older pattern book hand colored about 1850, the very interesting thing is the evolution between sizes through the years.

Then one of the items illustrating all sorts of needle work you have to learn when you were a girl in 19th century.


You can see the result of a standard quality zoom on the borders, this is not the frame, which is not distorded, but the result of optical entry quality.

 

Fantastic, thank you!