Double Double Toile* and Trouble

Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1 - A dark cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder. "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble."  Daniel Gardner's painting, The Three Witches From Shakespears Macbeth (1775) portrays Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire; Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne; and sculptor Anne Seymour Damer.

*Of course the correct word in the quote is toil not toile, pronounced twal, but my pretty bag that I carry to the Y every day has me thinking about the fabric. The word toile is French for cloth and dates from the 16th Century. My gym bag was a freebie for subscribing to Country Living Magazine a couple years ago. My liking for toile dates back to when I was a teenager.

There are hundreds of toile patterns - even matching wallpaper and fabric to create a room like this. I think I would tire of so much pattern very quickly - too 'busy' for me - though feminine and pretty. Toile de Jouy, or cloth of Jouy, France, was used to describe the 18th Century pastoral scenes made in that area of north central France. Eventually the word toile came to mean any repeated pattern depicting a fairly complex scene. Toiles were very popular in Colonial America.

Mom made most of Betty's and my clothes. When I was in high school I had a white skirt with a light brown toile pattern similar to this rustic one. The skirt was fitted around the hips and then gathered below that. I'm sure there was a name for the style, though I don't remember it. I think I had another skirt made the same way and that Betty had one, too, but again, I have no distinct memory of what they were like - just my toile one.

Toile patterns were popular for transferware - a decorative technique for pottery - developed in England in the mid 18th Century around Staffordshire. Colors used were blue, green, red, black, brown and purple. If I were going to collect toile transferware dishes, it would most likely be the brown ones; perhaps green.

Toile has been in and out of style just like anything else - popularity waxes and wanes. You can find toile in bedding ensembles, dishes, even flatware handles. The cutest example I found was this pair of Wellington boots. I've been thinking about getting some new boots. I could really go for these and with that rooster detail, I could see Kari and me having Mother/Daughter wellies.