Paisley

For school, I'm doing a little research on an early 19th-century wool shawl, patterned with unusual woven paisleys. The paisley shapes are not a stripey outline with a floral inside, as I usually think of the 70s-style paisley, but are composed of geometric leaves arranged in a shape that reminds me of a stylized blue whale.

Here's the shawl concept (shown in an 1817 fashion plate from the ISU University Archives), although this shawl's pattern looks absolutely nothing like the pattern on the one in the ISU Dept. of Textiles and Clothing collection.




I hate paisley, and the research has been very frustrating. Digging through the 1810-1825 fashions has been mildly interesting; I don't have much interest in fashion design but the ribbons, trims, and artificial flowers on the dresses and hats I viewed today were really over the top, and I feel a curious need to start sewing artificial flowers all over a hemline. Or a quilt binding. :)