thevintagethimble:Embroidered Linen Forehead ClothEnglish, ca. 1610.Triangular in shape and lavish
thevintagethimble:Embroidered Linen Forehead ClothEnglish, ca. 1610. Triangular in shape and lavishly embellished, a forehead cloth—also called a cross-cloth or crosset—was a feminine accessory sometimes worn with a coif, an informal type of cap. Rare after the mid-seventeenth century, forehead cloths first appeared in conjunction with the coif around 1580; embroidered with patterns to match, they were worn around the forehead and draped over the coif with the point facing backwards. Though the occasions on which a lady might wear a forehead cloth are not fully known, it seems that they were used for bedside receptions and in times of sickness. In his 1617 travels through Ireland, English author Fynes Moryson observed that, “Many weare such crosse-clothes or forehead clothes as our women use when they are sicke.”| Cora Ginsburg -- source link