Featured Have I ever shown you this old sash?

I wonder if it might have been from WWI, and represents a poppy?

 

I'd think part of a parade costume too. And Remembrance Day poppy a very real possibility. Well done!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_poppy

Debora

 

That last picture looks like a giant bug!

 

An interesting, and lengthy, history of remembrance poppies:
https://poppyladymadameguerin.wordpress.com/remembrance-poppy-timeline/

I believe they generally had black centers... any chance yours is simply faded, Book?

 

ours were green for the longest time...

 

I'd be thinking July 4 parade costume rather than a poppy. They used to take those parades seriously here, especially before WWI.

 

As an aside,I had to memorize the poem In Flanders Field by John McCrae for my schools Bicentennial program. I still remember it word for word.

 

Meanwhile, I ran into a girl in church this summer with a poppy tat who'd never even heard of the poem. Didn't know the WWI connection either. Not even the Pete Seeger song - learned that one in German as well as English, when I was in college.

 

My first thought was an association with a Fraternal organization...but I'm not so sure, after reviewing all these posts an' links.
I would have kept it too...very nice, Book...Thanks!

 

Or... The anti-suffragettes wore red roses.

Debora

 

Yikes!!! indeed!

Debora

 

What a lovely thing! Just musing as to if it would be possible to unpick the poppy to carefully wash the belt, dry and restitch it back on? I know nothing about vintage textiles so don’t know if that is the ‘done thing’!

 

No more red roses for me then.

Nowadays we can hardly get good roses here anyway. Our beautiful Dutch roses (from Brabant) have all but gone, we now get them from Kenya, which means they last about a day. As a result most Dutch rose growers have gone bust, and so many people unemployed for sub-standard wilting roses.
I'm all for supporting economies of poorer countries, but not like this.

 

These 2 little bits of red fabric make me wonder if the whole belt was formerly covered with a red wool that has since been consumed by moths (or dermestids).


Is there any fastener that allows the belt to open flat, or just the elastic?

Probably not advisable. I suspect there would be problems with the layers not drying evenly, resulting in puckering. And if there are any stiffening agents (like heavy starching) that would likely be lost, changing the character of the fabric.

 

Ours mostly get shipped up from Columbia. Look pretty, but they've bred the smell out. What's the point?