Vintage Christmas Needlework

Image 1: Vintage Christmas Reindeer Cross Stitch

It's the time of the year when Christmas needlework, linens, and textiles add a personal touch to the festive decorations in many homes and Christmas trees.  Today I am sharing three vintage Christmas linens from my collection. 

Image 2: Vintage Christmas Reindeer Cross stitch Detail

These creations are handmade peeks into a recent past that is very different from today.   I cherish these linens made with creativity and dedication in a women's free time, and I feel a connection to the women who poured love into these many stitches.   

Image 3: Vintage Christmas Reindeer Table Runner

My love of this red reindeer table runner has grown over time.  I've kept it safe and cared for over the years, though I haven't used it.  I've grown to love it like my own grandmother made it.  (She didn't.) 

Image 4: Christmas Reindeer Table Runner Detail

I never knew either of my grandmothers, and I don't have anything made by them.  Maybe they didn't have the time or interest in creating decorative items; or perhaps the items they created didn't last to be handed down; or perhaps items created were given to others.  So I've adopted needlework I've found at estate sales, and I mentally stitch connections to centuries of women relatives I've never met who must have created...

Image 5: Vintage Christmas Reindeer Table Runner

I can easily imagine the red reindeer runner being a favorite of some child in the household, who look forward to seeing the red reindeer reappear each Christmas. 

Older children and adults may have favored the two train tea towels below.  They are a set but are not mirrored patterns.  I think they were displayed but never used when I bought them.  The workmanship makes me smile - each stitch carefully crafted, and the creases firmly pressed in.

Image 6: Vintage Cross stitch Red Train Engine

These linens can send messages across time - carrying goodwill and the spirit of Christmas past into the present.  The styles of previous decades hint at the maker's interests (and available patterns), and could possibly be used to roughly date them, but instead I am happy to enjoy them and reflect on how those earlier holidays may have differed from mine today.

Image 7: Vintage Cross stitch Green Train Engine

At your Christmas gatherings this year and the future, take some time to notice any needlework if you are lucky enough to come across any.  Even if (and especially if) some of the needlework seems "dated", ponder the thought of the maker's love and effort carrying the spirit of the holidays across time to the current day, and appreciate the works for all they represent.  

May you share have a blessed Christmas, 

stitched together with beautiful memories 

from the past, 

and creating memories for the future. 

Image 8: Cross Stitch Red Reindeer

Leave a comment if you have time.  Thank you for visiting... 

Click on the images to see them enlarged.

(The images in this post should be good enough to print out on paper for an art journal, for the paper artists out there.)

 

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Click on the photos to see these posts:  

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Here is a link to my Christmas Hutch posts!

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