Vintage alphabet

I've always admired beautiful old embroidery and would love to be able to afford a lovely old sampler but exquisitely embroidered monograms are still affordable. These monograms can be found on napkins, towels, sheets and clothing, often part of a bride's dowry and marking her possessions with her new married initials.
Even if the tablecloth or sheet is worn the mongram is usually salvagable and can be made into another functional item.

I love incorporating a mongram into a linen cushion cover, using antique linen for the surround, and these cushions can make lovely personalised gifts. In the run up to Christmas I try to have as many intials as possible as they are always popular. I've recently bought a large supply and am currently making sweet little cushions which sit happily on a chair or bed and can make the perfect christening or wedding gift or perhaps a special birthday can be marked with one.

I love the faded pink of this group, originally red but uniformly faded and very pretty.

I particularly like the cross stitch embellishments on these mongrams

Very stylish, white on white; very sweet as a christening gift

This is a T but must confess it looks quite like a C to me; often ask the french lady I buy from to "translate" the letter

The P and V are really lovely with a floral design incorporated into the letters

I used to make up the mongrams as they were, that is a double set of first and last name, but as it was difficult to find exactly the right pair for a customer I now separate the 2 letters and make smaller cushions. I've left this RL for now as it was on a linen cushion cover.

Similarly TS remains for now; a beautiful monogram on a very fine linen tablecloth

Would these 2 make a gift for a newly qualified doctor?
Each cushion is 30cm square and contains a feather pad; usually £22, readers of my blog can buy one for £20 or 2 for £36 until the end of April. (Postage is £3). Just leave a comment and I'll send images of any letters you're interested in.
Had a lovely time catching up with both buyers and sellers at last weekends Country Chic fair: this Saturday I'll be heading in the opposite direction to the Vintage Bazaar at Hartley Wintney. I've been on Liz's waiting list for ages so excited about my first fair with her..wish me luck and come and say hello if you can