Birthday Petassoun

I have an early birthday present !  A beautiful broderie de marseille petassoun has come to live at my house.  Here are a few pictures to give you an idea.
 A petassoun is  a small lap quilt used to protect a mother's clothes from any newborn "accidents".  The everyday ones were probably used up, and I have seen quilted examples that were very worn.  These very beautiful ones were reserved for important occasions such as baptisms. 

This one is quite fine.  Most are finished with a tape on the reverse side of the scallops.  Sometimes a straight edge is finished with a knife edge hem.  There are regional variations, and the Marseille pieces are stuffed very well, probably because there was easier access to cotton goods, which would have been harder in small villages further away.
Several different sized pieces were made for important family occasions, always happy affairs like weddings and baptisms.  Each event was represented by certain symbols with different significance.
In this way, the women stitching were able to transmit the story of their family and their personal history.
I adore this work, I love making these pieces, buying them sometimes when I am really lucky,  reading and learning  about them and showing others.  I think I'm hooked !

Antique Petassouns

Just recently I was able to add to my collection of petassouns.  These two are very firmly stuffed, finished with a bias, and have the traditional design elements.  I always wonder when I see an old piece about the person who made it, whether for their own child, or as a gift, where they lived and what their lives were like.  For things like this to survive so long, through two world wars and many generations, they must have been treasured.
I am still hoping to find a beautiful big "vane" one day.  However, I enjoy looking at how these were made, what the stitching is like, how they were finished.  There is as much variation in the old ones as we have today in terms of quality of stitching, etc. 
J'ai trouve ces deux petassouns pour ajouter a ma petite collection.  Ils sont tres bourres, avec une finition bias, aux motifs traditionaux.  Toujours quand je regarde ces ouvrages anciens je pense a la boutisseuse, si elle l'a fait pour son enfant, ou comme cadeau, ou elle habitait et les circonstances de sa vie.  On les a garde bien, pendant deux guerres mondiales et plusieurs generations. 
J'ai encore l'espoir que je trouverais une vane.  J'aime bien les regarder, apprendre comme on l'a fait, les finitions et la qualite du travail, comme aujourd'hui il y a beaucoup de variation.
Un bon dimanche a toutes

Petasson Finished !

For a while I have been working on a new petasson.  On my last trip to France, I was able to purchase a very old, very damaged petasson.  When I got back I used the old one to reproduce the design, adding some changes here and there.  The center had to be re-interpreted because of the damage, it was very hard to see exactly how the original motif was drawn.  I have just finished it, here are a few pictures.  I am really pleased that I was able to save the pattern, since the original was simply beyond any kind of repair.  It has worn through in so many places. 
I am also in the process of binding a couple of quilts I finished recently, and will post those when they're done.  I am so pleased to be finishing a few things !!  I already have a list of the next projects, of course !

Antique Boutis

I am always hopeful that I will be able to expand my small collection of real, antique boutis, and so it was with great joy that I acquired two more petassons recently.  These are difficult to find and sadly very expensive, so my collection will remain rather small  !
Here are a few photos taken outside this morning.  We have had so many thunderstorms and a lot of rain recently, so this is the first opportunity I had to take some pictures.

Je suis si contente d'avoir pu acheter ces magnifiques petassons.  Je suis passionnee depuis ma decouverte du boutis, et j'espere toujours ajouter a ma collection tres petite.  Les boutis sont en bon etat, bien bourres, et beaux. 

Ich bin sehr gluecklich, dass ich letztens noch zwei kleine alte Boutis habe kaufen koennen.  Leider sind sie extrem teuer, und obwohl ich immer gerne zu meiner kleinen Sammlung beitragen moechte, passiert das eher selten !  Diese sind in gutem Zustand, fest gefuellt und ich finde, sehr schoen.