Block for printing on linen

The wooden form, the so-called block from the 19th and 20th centuries, was used to make patterns on clothing fabrics. The origin and maker of the printing form cannot be established (the exhibit comes from the pre-war collection). It is rectangular (20.5 x 9 cm). On the upper side, there are hollow patterns – small circles on the whole surface. There are two slightly larger motifs of flowers in the stripe pattern treated schematically. After filling with paint (Paris blue mixed with varnish), they were reflected on the fabric. Such ornamentation of rural clothing was used in the south-eastern region of Lublin (in the districts of Biłgoraj, Zamość, Tomaszów, Hrubieszów and Krasnostaw) at the end of the 19th century, probably because more varied types of fabrics made on looms had not caught on there. Women took their woven fabrics, with plain, linen weave, to dyers, or they came to villages and then chose a pattern from a dozen or so blocks prepared by them, which was applied to their fabric (for a description of the dyeing process, see: E/398/ML). Relatively subtle patterns in shades of grey or navy blue were usually placed in stripes, vertically or horizontally in rhythmically repeated compositions. They had geometric (rhombuses, triangles, rectangles, squares, ovals, circles), floral (leaves, mushrooms and flowers), and zoomorphic (birds' and animals' feet) patterns, and there were also hearts. The printing made the fabric stiffer and more durable. Skirts made from them were called ‘painted skirts’ because of the way they were decorated. They were worn both casually and on festive occasions by women of all marital statuses and ages.