Any thoughts on this piece of fabric?

[Curlycrisps]

I've just received this as a gift. A friend (aged 80+) inherited from her mother who bought it in an antique shop, in the 1980s I'm guessing.

I don't want to take the frame apart but I can see that the fabric looks thick and heavy, woven with what seems to be metallic thread. The sequins are glass.

The lady who gave it to me has no idea what it is (neither did her mum) and I'm hoping to find out for her.

I'm wondering if it could have been the edge of a 18th century men's jacket... but that's a wild guess from a place of ignorance!

Thanks in advance.

@SirVixofVixHall there seem to be two different gauges of mesh, with the larger one on top of a very fine one. Most of the embroidery and sequins are applied to the mesh, but there's quite a lot eg the outer leaves and fronds and the two big 'flowers' that are stitched directly onto the background.

If you are in Devon, why not pop to Kilerton House? Don't they have a big fashion through the ages display there? (Might have changed as haven't been there for years) and Devon's big, so it might take as long for you to get to Kilerton as to the V & A!
It looks oriental to me, and I vaguely remember reading something about the turn of the 1900s being very popular for all things from the East.
It's a stunning bit of work though.

The picture you posted showing the embroidery on its side immediately made me think it’s a pattern of thistles, @Curlycrisps - especially the smaller 'fans' with the blue flower-heads.

I think this might be theatrical costume, either a sample for design, or a price saved from a costume or a workshop sample / working design price.

The mixture of textiles and design components indicate that it is eclectic (borrowed for impact) to me. There were quite a lot of similar pieces ( although whole, of course) in the RSC wardrobe in the sixties.

👿 piece not price , the bastard. He’s busy tonight

Beautiful!
There was a guest on Women’s Hour a few weeks ago who is a textile historian… hang on

Another couple of places that could help

royal-needlework.org.uk

www.fashionmuseum.co.uk

It is very beautiful

Hi everyone,

in case you're interested, I heard back from the V&A about my fabric / embroidery sample and this is their reply:

I am passing on some comments from a colleague which we hope will prove useful:

I think it’s a fragment of, or embroidery sample for the front closing edges of an embroidered court suit, late 18th century or possibly early 19th century. There are photographs of similar from the collection in Susan North's Fashion in Detail 18th Century book or there’s some here too:
Search Results | V&A Explore the Collections (vam.ac.uk)
Lovely areas of couched net, looks like machine-made, so that would put it into the 19th century.

Thanks again to everyone who looked at my difficult-to-decipher images and gave their thoughts.

Wow that's interesting.

I'm wondering if it could have been the edge of a 18th century men's jacket... but that's a wild guess from a place of ignorance!
It sounds like your original guess wasn't too wide of the mark! How lovely to now know.
Print the email and attach it to the back of the frame for future wonderers.

That is interesting because what ruled that out for me was the glass. I haven’t seen glass embellishments like this on 18th century pieces. In the examples linked to there is no glass that I can see, did they comment on that at all ?
Of course me not having seen examples doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Oh yes, it's been so long that I'd forgotten what I wrote in that post. Thanks for the suggestion re the email, I'll do that.

No mention of the glass Vix, I wish I'd thought to ask! I pasted the whole of the V&A's reply above so not a lot of info and they don't sound completely certain. The glass pieces are very obvious in the photos though.

I would take it in to the V&A when you get a chance.

Good idea, thanks.