Casgliadau Arlein

Electric blanket of woven wool? with a brushed finish, 1960s.

Printed with pink, orange and yellow flower bouquets on a cream background; edges finished with overlocking stitches using lilac and mint green thread; top edge of blanket encapsulated with baby-blue tabby woven shiny synthetic ribbon approx 3.5cm depth (full width of ribbon = c.7cm), machine-stitched in place using lilac thread; The ribbon has been stitched on irregularly in that in some areas, c. 3cm of the blanket are covered and in others as little as 1.5cm. In the areas where the ribbon covers little of the blanket, the ribbon is baggy and creased. c. 5cm in from (=below) the ribbon edging is a machine-stitched seam using orange on one and light blue thread on the other side. Lower corners of the blanket are curved. The weave of the blanket is such that it forms a pattern of narrow vertical stripes (c. 1.3cm apart).

Electric cable sewn into upper back of blanket with lilac thread (cable is 134cm long and is coated in brown plastic); the two inner wires (covered in red and black plastic) protrude from the brown outer casing by 5.5cm; the metal cores protrude from these by 1cm. The ends would have been fitted to a plug which is now missing.

As it enters the blanket at the top, the electrical wiring runs horizontally across and then passes upwards and downwards down the length of the blanket (12 times in total, at a distance of c.6-9cm apart).