Archive for the ‘Stuff We've Found’ Category

Lorina Bulwer embroided this sampler in Great Yarmouth workhouse female lunatic ward in around 1900.  The 12ft by 1ft long sampler is just one long confused rant with no punctuation, much like this blog!

The sampler is addressed to the Maharajah of Kelvedon Brandon Thetford and begins:

“The Chatter is I Miss Lorina Bulwer Cambs Woman Drove to Thrigby Hall Norfolk E. Bulwer Married An Hemaphrodite Eunich I Miss Lorina Bulwer Was Examined By Dr Pinching of Walthamstow Essex And Found To Be A Properly Shaped Woman”

Below I have added a cutting from the Great Yarmouth Mercury which gives more details on this amazing and thought provoking sampler…

Tracey has this weird thing for applying for almost any offer available, only last night I caught her applying for this from a 1902 magazine.   The funny thing is I never knew she had a problem, even so I’m looking forward to when she is reclaimed!

I also noticed from the same magazine she has shown a great deal of interest in Winifred Grace Hartlands advert..  I told her not to be silly….probably best to concentrate on one cure at a time!

UPDATE

ITS A SCAM!!

Can’t believe we nearly fell for it turns out there isn’t any Winifred Grace Hartland………….   George Orwell wrote this in 1944:

Many years ago I answered an advertisement from Winifred Grace Hartland (the advertisement used to carry a photograph of her—a radiant woman with a sylph-like figure), who undertook to cure obesity. In replying to my letter she assumed that I was a woman—this surprised me at the time, though I realize now that the dupes of these advertisements are almost all female. She urged me to come and see her at once. ‘Do come,’ she wrote, ‘before ordering your summer frocks, as after taking my course your figure will have altered out of recognition.’ She was particularly insistent that I should make a personal visit, and gave an address somewhere in the London Docks. This went on for a long time, during which the fee gradually sank from two guineas to half a crown, and then I brought the matter to an end by writing to say that I had been cured of my obesity by a rival agency.

Years later I came across a copy of the cautionary list which Truth used to issue from time to time in order to warn the public against swindlers. It revealed that there was no such person as Winifred Grace Hardand, this swindle being run by two American crooks named Harry Sweet and Dave Little. It is curious that they should have been so anxious for a personal visit, and indeed I have since wondered whether Harry Sweet and Dave Little were actually engaged in shipping consignments of fat women to the harems of Istanbul.

Thought I would have a few day off from blogging as I was working on too many different projects….before I knew it August had gone and September was here!

Promising myself I will blog more..

Eye candy:

One of favourite embroided cushions split a seam, giving us an ideal oppurtunity to see what was ‘stuffing’ it!

Out of the cushion came this, fairly plain 1940’s cushion…

We just had to see what was stuffing it!

Two More cushions…beautiful prints, we adore the art deco bathroom one…so nice to find stuff when we’re not even looking for it….

Tracey is going to restuff the ‘mother’ cushion with scraps of vintage fabric, so hopefully someone gets a similar suprise in another 60 or so years time…

Now off to ‘split’ all our other cushions!

The Vintage Gods must for once be on our side… after an amazing week of finding nice stuff last week our good luck seems to be continuing.. Here’s some of our favourite finds of the last few days..

Couple of gorgeous floral eiderdowns.. (we found three but one needs a clean)

An amazing Native American beaded bag c1860

Loads of nice fabric which our cushion elf soon set to work on!

The perfect ‘Twitter’ Cushion

Traceys felt flowers are decorating everything…

Got this 1920’s beaded dress last week, the condition is amazing for its age..

Got this stunning 1940s dress at a car boot sale!!

Have been really busy for the past week… summer in full swing with loads of stuff to do and people to see..

We’ve been finding the most amazing stuff seem to be on a real roll at the moment….clothing, textiles, books etc and had no time to write about any of it…  but hopefully will make time this week

I arrived home earlier today and Tracey had displayed some of her sewing finds in an ideal photo oppurtunity.

Found this firescreen in a charity shop in Norwich today… Tracey is totally smitten..