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Silk Postcards
In 1915 a thriving cottage industry was born. Convents around the invaded areas of Belgium and Northern France housed nuns who were accustomed to embroidering church vestments and articles for sale, and they organised refugee workers in the production of "silks".
Women and girls of France and Belgium began hand embroidering the flags of Britain and France on scraps of silk mesh, using home sewing machines.
Identical designs were embroidered on a starched strip or roll of silk or organdie using coloured silks, some blocks have been found containing up to 400 designs, each separately worked. These were collected and sent for mass cutting of each design, before mounting onto a postacard backing. A frame was secured over the top of the card, followed by edge-trimming - these frames are usually embossed.
The postcards became popular with British soldiers billeted in foreign towns, who purchased them for a few Francs, although they were relatively expensive when set against a British soldier's pay. (Few cards are found with words of greeting in French, as the pay of the French Military was so low, cards could not be afforded, and were not such a novelty for a French soldier).
To satisfy demand, Paris workshops employed assembly line style workers to produce this art form, thus, quality can differ greatly when comparing latter-produced cards with original Family-sewn ones.
The cards were rarely posted in the open mail, but were sent home to loved ones in envelopes or brought home by soldiers on leave.
Thousands of designs were created in three basic styles - a plain card, one which had a little opening envelope to contain a small card insert, and another with a pocket to hold an embroidered handkerchief.
Although not true "Trench Art" I wanted to include a reference to Silk Postcards in this site, as a form of "art" closely linked to people of the Great War, and today, a very rewarding collecting hobby (and of increasing value as "silks" become rarer to find).
For further reference:
"An Illustrated History of the Embroidered Silk Postcard"
by Dr Ian Collins (ISBN: 0954023501)
"Concise Catalogue of Embroidered Silk Postcards"
by John Westland (ISBN: 0951836218)
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