Spot the frippet: soutache.

We're only just emerging from the bleak mid spring in England at the moment - snow has fallen snow on snow, snow on snow, and the flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la, have spent far too much of the time, I'm afraid, buried - so here's something utterly trivial to divert us.

This:



is soutache.

The decoration on this bit of curtain is, too.




And so the stuff round the bottom of this skirt, and on the sleeves:



If you should look out of your window and fail to see a lady in a crinoline then perhaps one of these:





might come marching by.

(Actually, that's a confederate captain, so on the whole perhaps let's hope not. Lovely sleeves, though.)

Nowadays soutache is used to make some gloriously peachy jewellery:


Allegro Appassionato by Anneta Valious

Which is only to be expected, because it's an absolute peach of a word.

Spot the frippet: soutache. This word came to English from French, but it's one of the rare English words that originated in Hungary. It comes from sujtas.

As for spotting some soutache, I should think the best bet might be a bridal shop, a milliner's, a brass band, or a passing-out parade in Ruritania.

If none of these is possible, then soutache should to be found in any good shop selling sewing supplies.