Broekje van katoen, met korte pijpen en vetertje c. 1910

These tiny white cotton bloomers with lace trim were made by P. Titjen-Baas. Aren’t they just the sweetest little things? You can imagine the hand that stitched them, carefully gathering the fabric, patiently weaving in the lace. I wonder, were they made for a child, a doll, or some other purpose? There’s a quiet intimacy in these stitches, a sense of care and attention to detail that feels almost like a whisper. I feel a real kinship with P. Titjen-Baas. Like painting, sewing is a practice that embraces the unexpected. There’s a vulnerability in working with such delicate materials, a sense of trust that the fabric will hold, the stitches will stay. And even when they don’t, there’s beauty in the imperfection, a reminder that art, like life, is a process of constant mending and repair. It makes you think.