It Was Passed On by Lurliene

IT WAS PASSED ON
By
Lurline Martineau

This work of art was probably made at the turn of the twentieth century. It was passed on to me by my godmother/neighbor, who adopted me in the nineteen sixties. We looked out for each other, as she had no family of her own, so she adopted me. She was very young, maybe a teenager when her mother died. She told me stories about her aunt who lived in New York and sponsored her here from St. Kitts West Indies.

Godmother relieved many gifts from Auntie, including this piece. The cloth is silk. I suppose it was white at one point in time, but it aged well into an ecru color. It was embroidered with white silk thread. The lovely bunches of flowers form a design on opposite corners of this square. One can tell that it is handmade. This whole piece has vines with small flowers delicately embroidered all over. It measures forty eight by forty eight- a perfect square. I recognize the delicate stain, feather and stem stitches. A three-inch border of hairpin lace is the base for the numerous tangly tassels that finish off this shawl.

Godmother’s grandmother and father were Portuguese. His wife’s, godmother’s mother was from Africa and she died at a young age. At that time in the Wets Indies, there were many Portuguese families who migrated from Portugal for a different life. Many of them became estate owners as the island was rich in agricultural products such as sugar cane, cocoa nutmegs and coconut products. Petroleum in Trinidad attracted many foreigners also.

My godmother’s name was Emmeline Veira. Her aunt, her father’s sister Pauline, might have designed and made this. Several people might have worked on the embroidery using hoops, special fine needles, thimbles and shields for the fingers. In those days, there were no radios, telephones not television sets; so “they sat on cushion and sewed a fine seam”. They might have had a sing-song wile stitching. I am sure that it was a community project.

The shawl might have been a wedding present for a young woman, or maybe for Auntie herself. I can just imagine her wearing it over her evening gown to a fancy ball, or maybe when taking a stroll with her beau.

For the age of this shawl, the materials used were the finest at that time, probably at the turn of the twentieth century. That’s why it is in such excellent condition today.

I wear it on special occasions like to a wedding reception, or an evening affair. It is greatly admired. I take good care of it, and will certainly pass it on to my daughter.

Just the same, I took care of Godmother when she was ill with heart disease for the last five years of he life. She passed in 1986 at age eighty three. So this antique shawl may be more than one hundred years old.