Looking through a box at an antique textile shop that I love — a shop that has been around for as long as I’ve lived in France — my eyes caught an aubergine toile de Jouy. It was in a very tattered state, but I was immediately smitten. You could say it’s my Chanel.
Many textile collectors know that old quilts can hold extraordinary secrets. Like finding a painting beneath a painting, uncovering these fabrics is a painstaking process, carefully removing each layer to reveal a beauty preserved within.
In France, old quilts often carry a much longer history. People didn’t throw things away; when new materials were difficult to find, they used what they had, repairing and adding layers of fabrics to preserve what they had and needed.
This quilt had many layers, and someone had carefully picked it back, revealing this beautiful fragment — worn, fragile, and full of history. A quilt that kept warm generations as they slept. I wonder if anyone ever traced the image with their fingers, creating stories in their minds before drifting off.
I plan to hang it on a wall, although I don’t actually have a house with any space left on the walls. I have a feeling I’ll be covering my doors next.
Photo – Francine a textile collector who has had an incredible shop for over thirty with her family in Isle sur la Sorgue. I have visited their shop for years cxx
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