Feestrok made by Ms Cornelia van Ingen Schenau, dated 1947 (TRC 2020.3753).Yesterday was a day of hard work, seeing friends, the opening of the new exhibition (Textile Tales from the Second World War) and, to top it all, an unexpected parcel with a wonderful surprise. When the postman gave me three packages I was initially not so intrigued, as I had been expecting some items for the next exhibition about the Paisley motif.

So I was a little confused, after opening one of the parcels,  when I saw (literally) a patchwork of textile scraps. I was not expecting a quilt top! Then it dawned on me, it was a feestrok! These are unique Dutch items from the late 1940’s and were made from a colourful patchwork of cloth pieces. They were made at home to celebrate the liberation of the country after the Second World War. Over the last few years we have published several TRC blogs about these garments.

The accompanying note explained everything. In July we had two visitors, a Mrs. Lia Geurts-van Ingen Schenau and her friend, to see our American quilt exhibition. I talked with them about the forthcoming Textile Tales exhibition and Mrs. Geurts said she had a feestrok that was made by her grandmother. And here it was, exactly on the day of the opening of the exhibition! We have a ‘spare’ wall in the workroom so we quickly photographed, catalogued (TRC 2020.3753) and mounted the skirt on a panel so that it also forms part of the exhibition!

Detail of Feestrok made by Ms Cornelia van Ingen Schenau, 1947 (TRC 2020.3753).There are official, registered versions of this type of skirt and unofficial ones (the exhibition includes both forms), and the new skirt is a registered example. It was made by Cornelia Sybrandina Kuiper (1898-1981), who was born on the island of Texel in the province of Noord-Holland. She was married to Cornelis Wilhelmus van Ingen Schenau (1894-1984), who was born in the village of Oegstgeest, which is very close to Leiden. In fact his parents owned a hotel called the ‘Het Witte Huis’ – the building is still there, with the same name [this place has been known, and feared, by generations of Leiden people, since it was the location where driving license exams and tests were held].

He became a tobacco planter in what is now Indonesia. They were married ‘met de handschoen’ ("with the glove"), a custom that could be found in various countries if one of the bridal couple is elsewhere, a glove is used to represent the ‘missing’ partner. In this case he was in Indonesia. Soon after the wedding she sailed to Indonesia where they lived from 1920 and 1936.

Back to the skirt. It was finished on the 8th January 1947 and registered shortly afterwards, it was then worn on various festive occasions in the 1940’s. Many skirts have an orange background, but this example has a blue one, perhaps there was not enough orange material available or she simply preferred blue! This new addition to the TRC Collection is definitely a garment with many stories.

Another thing that was quickly noted about the skirt is that it contains various items of 1930’s Paisley material, so it is suitable for inclusion in our next exhibition that opens in the early spring of 2021 about the Paisley motif and Western fashion! 

The TRC’s Textiles Tales from the Second World War exhibition can be seen until the 17th December 2020. If you have clothing or textiles dating from the 1940’s you would like to donate to the TRC and have on display in the exhibition, please contact us at Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken..

Gillian Vogelsang, 17 September 2020.