We found this gorgeous lingerie or pneumonia blouse(so called because it was so light and sheer you might contract pneumonia if you wore it out!) with five or six others, each prettier than the last! We had gone on a yard saleing spree all around the area and had found absolutely nothing(not even the tiniest frippery, not even the littlest feminine trinket!). We went down a tiny country lane where an older woman had set up a table of a few trinkets. Thinking that this was to be declared a Drive By, we slowed the car to turn around and somewhere in the process changed our minds as the woman looked quite interesting with armloads of bangles and a voluminous skirt billowing in the wind.. We collect stories as often as we collect antiques, so we decided to stop and chat, as no one else seemed very interested in her sparse offerings. We told her what we collected and she looked us up and down, and said that she had been meaning to bring out two trunks of antique clothing but hadn’t felt like bothering on such a warm June day! My heart sang and sank all at once! Did she really have trunks of antique clothing? Or would it be like many times before when the “antique” clothing came spilling out and was actually 1980’s polyester dresses with stains to boot! We offered to help move out the trunks, without pushing her too much! She must have seen how happy we were at the prospect of looking through these “treasures” from her childhood! She enlisted the help of her husband and in a few moments we had our heads buried deep within a trunk filled to the brim with the loveliest confections! The woman explained that when she was a girl, she lived next to three elderly spinsters, who had trunks filled with their ancestor’s garments! They would invite her over for tea and dress up parties! Each garment we pulled from the trunk had a wonderful story associated with it, filled with details as if the words were written in the finely stitched seams! We spent many hours with the woman and her husband and wiled away the June afternoon with calico gowns catching the afternoon light and two piece dresses with fur trim puddling at our feet. We are only now going through the treasure trove and deciding what will become part of our permanent antique clothing collection and what will be offered in our Ebay auctions. We are managing to part with one of five antique lingerie blouses. You’ll find it in one of our current sales. The blouse is a stunning nod to all that is feminine and romantic, and is as fresh and crisp as the day one of the Taylor sisters donned it to wear to tea!
