COLORFUL QUARTER PATTERN
P-YS004 Journal des Demoiselles – Colorful quarter pattern
Large sheet (>A4) with a litho print of a rather small quarter pattern in many colors. Supplement of the Journal des Demoiselles, but no date mentioned.
Donated, scanned, edited and charted by Sytske Wijnsma.
This is part of a collection of around twenty patterns which were recently acquired. Though we can’t date this litho because no date is mentioned, there’s an indication: the address is “Boulevart” where the current spelling would be Boulevard. That makes this an older pattern.
Since the complete square is not that large either it’s probably meant for a pillow cover or the cover for a square tabouret or chair. After all, the border is black and can be extended in all directions as necessary. As the central part is octagonal it’d be possible to clip some or all of the corners if a smaller design or different shape would be needed, for instance for the chair back.
On some of the patterns in our collection there were additions in pencil when the design wouldn’t suit the intended purpose and this appears to have been a common practice. Nobody cared about the intellectual rights of the artist at that time, or indeed about any intellectual property rights. The artist isn’t even mentioned. That’s at least something the modern embroidery designs have improved upon, although embroidery and needlework in general is not recognized as an art in itself, more’s the pity.
Funny though that the pattern sheet was large enough to accommodate the entire design if it had been printed a bit smaller. The stitch squares on this patterns were quite large.