An Intensely Patchworked Silk Child's Vest: Hundreds of Small Scraps

early twentieth century
19" x 14", 48.25 cm x 35.5 cm

This is a densely padded silk vest made for a young girl.

It is a marvel of intricacy for the amount of silk scraps used, the intensely complicated piecing and the expert stitching that holds this grid of silken vibrancy together.

There are just too many small pieces to count, but the beauty in this small vest is that are in fact so many: this makes it something to marvel at, to be stunned by, and this had to have been the intention of the maker: to create something marvelous.

There are a good deal of red colored scraps scattered into the design. There is a red, silk lining, too.

And if you look at the bottom, center of the lining you sill see a small passage of running stitch. It is more than likely semamori, a stitch that was embedded into the cloth intended to protect the wearer from harm.

The vest is padded out hard so this is more like a object than a garment: it has form almost as much as an object would.

In any case this is quite a beautiful old vest, stunning for all the reasons we see. 

It is in good, used condition.

Highly recommended.