Thursday, June 11

The Days of the Week

When I was a kid, I remember wearing cute little undies with the days of the week. No, I won't be showing any vintage undies. Although my mother gave me a number of vintage lace-edged nightgowns and things when I visited her at the end of April. She also gave me a couple sets of embroidered dishtowels that she had purchased at auction. I remember lots of church bazaars with hand made items and embroidered dishtowels with a variety of "Days of the Week" designs. The dishtowels in the following photos are some of the most beautifully embroidered dishtowels that I've ever seen. I say this because they look as good on the front as they do on the back! And they are in excellent condition and I am sure they have never been used!! The toweling fabric was also very fine.

First, we have Sunday and MiLady is off to church............
and look at the back........neat as a pin!! I have never seen embroider done this well on the backside of anything. I try not to have too many stray threads but I think this is just amazing!
Mildady's work begins on Monday with the wash,

and it's a pressing Tuesday to get the wrinkles out of these shirts........

and so Wednesday must be spent knitting and darning socks.........

and it's off to market on Thursday because.......

she must spend Friday cleaning

and Saturday is for baking so that Papa can have a fine dinner after church on Sunday.
And then the work starts all over again on Monday!!

This is the second set of dishtowels....
They are simply cross stitched in the Days of the Week and the back of these towels are not nearly so neatly stitched. This set also looks like it has never been used but the years and storage have not been kind to this set. There are darks spots on the towels and discoloration along the folded edges.

They are still very attractive and I am going to try washing one towel carefully and see if some of the marks wash away. I don't plan to actually use either set and am considering some type of rack or display for them so I could rotate them and have a set on display for awhile and then let them rest and put out the other set. You know, kind of like I had my own mini-museum display. LOL! My desire to keep and display some of this stuff just drives my husband nuts sometimes but he watches NASCAR endlessly so we all have our hobbies that keep us entertained!
It occurred to me as I was taking these photos, that even as a new bride in 1968 no one gave me embroidered dishtowels. Instead, blue and green and orange and brown were all the rage and the same colors you see in the stores now and those big flower prints, were what I preferred in my kitchen back then. Is that funny or what?!!!
On that note.......
Time to turn out the lights and say goodnight......or is that good morning?
Sandi

13 comments:

Owl Lady said...

It's good night here, too.

I remember embroidering a number of sets as a child, sometimes as gifts. I used to have two or three sets, but I didn't want them anymore and gave them away. Now I wish I had some examples of my earlier work to show my daughters. One of them is not much interested in any sewing, but the other does more beautiful work than I do!

I just fell asleep here and had to erase a long line of d's, so I'd better say good-night.

Crispy said...

My great great aunt always had embroidered towels on the handle of her stove. She would let me pick one out to hang while I was visiting.

Crispy

Pat said...

One of my big challenges is to get my husband to NOT use the dish towel that hangs on the handle of the oven. There is a rack with TWO towels not far from there that are for using, but the fancy one on the stove is NOT to be used...and he seems not to remember that....aaargh!!! I love the towels you showed today and think it's a great idea to have a rotating display of them.

Kaye said...

They are beautiful, someone was very talented. As a young girl I never remember my Mom or my Grandmother having such pretty towels, neither of them embroidered either. I do remember the panties and wore them for a long time!! I wonder if they still make them??

quiltingnana said...

what wonderful nostalgia

Norma said...

This is twice this week that you have given my memory a jolt. The mayonaise cake was one I made as a young married. I don't think I ever put my head down on a pillowcase that was not embroidered as a kid or dried a dish on a towel that did not have beautiful work on it either. Mom then croched a beautiful edging on the pillowcase also.

I embroidered a set for myself before I was married in 1966 but decided that was too hard to take good care of them and use them too, so that was the end of that.

My mother stressed BIG time that your back should look every bit as good as the front, so to this day I check the back often. I just "re-strarted" to embroidery and I am so sorry I waited so long.

Thanks for a sweet trip down memory lane.

Sandy said...

LOL...I also got married in 1968 and I too had those colors. My washer and dryer were Harvest Gold. And the newer fabrics and clothes, I tell my DD's that they remind me of the fashions of the 1970's.
Those embroideries are beautiful. I learned from an heirloom seamstress that soaking heirlooms in a Biz solution for up to a week will not harm them and will get a lot of the stains out. Biz is by the laundry detergents. I've usually just done it for a couple of days.

knitwit said...

Your linens are beautiful, Sandi.
Its nice to see that the work of the women who went before us is being preserved and appreciated. Its amazing that so much time was spent on simple things like tea towels when they had so many other things to do. Shows how much women liked to have pretty things.
Ruth

pdudgeon said...

i remember my mother also made a set of 'day of the week' towels. they were very large, but even so it took two towels to get thru all the dishes at night.

xashee's corner said...

your linens are LOVELY!! thank you for sharing the WONDERFUL stitching AND the chocolate mayo cake recipe!! :) Have a TERRIFIC day! :D

Susan @ Blackberry Creek said...

Love all the towels. Embroidery was the first needlework I learned to do, when I was a child.

Sue said...

Sandi, you offered blogging help to me and boy, do I need it. I accidentally started 2 blogs and you are following the one I didn't continue with. I've tried exporting one into the other and can't make it work. What am I doing wrong?
Help please

Linda ★ Parker's General said...

Another pleasant memory....I made my Mother a set of day-of-the-week towels when I was about 10. She loved those things. I wonder if she still has them? I would love to have them back when the time comes to go through her things-NO HURRY! My Grandmother taught me to embroider and there were few surfaces that didn't have something stitched on them. LOL
You have something rare and beautiful there. Perhaps a small ladder made from dowel rods for display?

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