These rare heritage linens are collector’s pieces to be enjoyed every day.
The main reason for setting up Heritage Linens is my love of these classic, old fabrics. Since living in Italy I’ve been able to live my dream by frequenting antique markets, looking at the wonderful old linens, which I was particularly attracted to and collecting as many as I could. As well as hand stitching, most of these pieces are woven by hand on narrow looms, which gives them great age and provenance.
In the summer of 2015, whilst walking around a local antique market, I spotted a couple of great pieces that I just had to acquire. It was then that it occurred to me that these pieces are so beautiful they should be made available for other people to use too. After all these pieces are an important part of the central Italian heritage and can never be repeated.
As the collection grew it became clear that these fabulous fabrics would be perfect to turn into duvet covers for that special occasion. The one worry that I had was that they would not fit today’s modern beds but I needn’t have worried, as the sheets are made to wrap around a smaller antique bed so therefore, large enough to be turned into a duvet for a modern king size bed. If a piece is too long for your duvet…why not turn down the top border (where the most important piece of the design is) as if it was a pillowcase to show off the design even better?
Some of these linens are over 100 years old and most bear family monograms, thus making them unique and extra special. Others are hand embroidered with floral or geometric designs and as they are not to be cut up as far as the width is concerned (because this is where the most precious hand worked borders are..) we leave them as they are. The length however can be adjusted in some cases, in this way we can provide a bespoke service to meet your requirements.
Made by hand, using classic sewing styles, the workmanship on these linens is extraordinary. In many cases these pieces have never been used and were intended to be part of a lady’s trousseau. I like to weave romantic stories about their past and why some have remained in the bottom drawer for up to a century. The italian name for “Bottom drawer” is “corredo da sposa”. Linens such as these were never given away outside of the family and were passed down through the female line for special occasions. Anyone purchasing one of these heritage classics is buying a genuine piece of Italian history for their own home.
In addition to duvet covers there are also a number of heritage sheets, which I thought were too historic to alter. I also have a limited supply of pillowcases available for order however all sheets can be made into duvet covers on request.
Many of these pieces have family initials embroidered onto them…you can look out to see if something matches yours!