Thread to the Past
A story about a bedspread
On my bed lies a bedspread, one of those old-fashioned, or rather vintage, crocheted bedspreads. It’s not just any bedspread; this one was crocheted by my Beppe (frisian for grandmother), my mother's mother. It's quite a substantial spread, crocheted with very fine and soft, cream-colored cotton. So much time must have gone into this!
It’s not just any bedspread...
This bedspread consists of panels that first hung as curtains in my Beppe's caravan. After the caravan, they hung in my childhood home, adorning the windows of a beautiful 1920s house with high ceilings and large windows. They hung on a kind of iron spiral wire that you stretched between two hooks. Those days are long gone...
It’s not just any bedspread...
The crocheted curtains went out of style, and when my parents moved to another house, my mother thought that these long crocheted panels with large flowers could be turned into a bedspread. And that’s what happened... I remember this bedspread lying on my parents' bed. Those days, too, are long gone...
It’s not just any bedspread...
Even the crocheted bedspread went out of style. In yet another house, the bedspread ended up in the attic... Until vintage came back into fashion: vintage furniture, vintage knitted or crocheted bedspreads... I, also a fan of vintage, remembered the bedspread and asked my mother about it. It was still there! And she gave it to me!
It’s not just any bedspread...
The thread of this bedspread once passed through my Beppe’s hands, hung in the windows of the caravan, the windows of my childhood home, lay on my parents’ bed, and now it lies on my bed. The thread of this bedspread is a thread connecting to the past. A past of diligent homemaking, of persistent crocheting, of frugality, saving, and reusing, and of creativity. A thread to where I come from…
p.s. this is essay 11 from the up to 24 I want to write this year for the (free) Essay Club initiated by Claire Venus (who I absolutely recommend to follow!).
p.s. if you enjoy being inspired and getting yourself into a writing flow you are so welcome in the Soulcircle of Beth Kempton
Mooi thema van de draad die generaties doorgaat, Hilda, dankjewel!