Thursday, July 8, 2010

A Girl Can Never Have Too Many...

Sally Patchins. Not a posh handbag like the Birkin bag (or as they say in the Beijing silk market, a "Barking bag"). It's a basket, but not like its wealthier cousin, the Nantucket basket. Still around these parts a Sally Patchin is a must-have.

Sally (1874-1958) lived in Patchinville, (near Wayland, NY in Steuben County), where she ran a cottage industry of hand-painted baskets from her studio. She did not make the baskets herself, often buying large lots from China and India. Most were utilitarian ~ sewing, laundry and market baskets which she adorned with her designs of birds, and old-fashioned garden flowers (hollyhocks, pansies, delphiniums...) Her work is colorful and cheerful, and some would say primitive.



From the Internet.


From the Internet.

You can't walk into a local antiques shop, or show, and not see the fruits of her labor. Here in Upstate New York, The Wayland Historical Society owns a collection of "Patchins", and Steuben County named her to their Hall of Fame. She received national recognition when the Library of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., created a file with photographs of her work and information on her life.

One ardent fan owns a collection of 400 Sally Patchins! I am happy to own two.


First and Last ~ From My Collection.

Counting my blessings and my baskets,
Marjorie

(Posting from the Scenic Finger Lakes of New York State, USA)

3 comments:

  1. Hi Marjorie!
    I had never heard of her! Interesting story. My favorite is one of your, the last one....Beautiful.....Maryanne xo

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  2. I think I may have one of Sally's baskets... Mine is very much like the first one only in black....Wow..what an interesting story....& I so agree "a girl can never have too many..."

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  3. Hi Marjorie,

    I grew up in Wayland, NY and went to school with the children of the family who lived in Sally Patchin's beautiful home in Patchinville during that time. As a girl, I thought it was the most beautiful home I'd ever seen!

    I always enjoyed learning about local history and I can still remember my grandpa talk about her -- very interesting tidbits of local history. I have one nice Sally Patchin magazine basket from my grandparent's old cottage on nearby Loon Lake, which I of course treasure.

    Thanks for the posting; it brought back a lot of fond childhood memories for me!

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