WW1 Silk Postcards

Embroidered postcards from World War One are generally known as “WW1 Silks".  They were first produced in 1914 through 1918 and declined substantially in 1919 onwards and are not found after around 1923.  The WW1 cards were generally hand embroidered on strips of silk mesh with as many as 25 on a strip. They were mostly produced by French and Belgian women refugees who worked in their homes and refugee camps, and then sent the finished strips to factories for cutting and mounting on postcards. Because of their beauty and uniqueness, the WW1 Silks were wildly popular with British and American servicemen on duty in France.  This is why the themes for most of the silks produced are patriotic and feature British, French and American flags, symbols and greetings.

Some of these cards had the central portion cut as a flap so that a tiny printed greeting card could be inserted in a pocket behind the silk front and the stiff back. One such popular card was "To my dear Mother".
Most cards do not have postage stamps as they were mailed home at no charge to the sender in Military Mail pouches.  These cards became treasured mementos from,  "The boys over there"  and  are excellent examples of  front-line patriotic art quite unique to this specific period in history. It has been estimated that as many as 10 million handmade cards were produced during the wartime period.

The cards below were sent by Alexander Fraser, Rosefield. To his mum.

 TO MY DEAR MOTHER

 ALL UNITED

 GOD SAVE ENGLAND

 RALLY TO THE FLAG

 

 REMEMBER

 GREETINGS FROM THE TRENCHES