SAJOU – Ouvrages de Dames No. 55
C-PR013 Sajou – Ouvrages de Dames No. 55
Five monochrome cross-stitch alphabets and some narrow borders, on three double pages. Blue cover. Ca. 1895.
Small leporello, back cover missing, three folded pages printed blue on white.
Scans donated by Priscilla Cailly, charted by Kris Velleza So.
The original Sajou was Jacques Simon Sajou, a pattern designer. Unlike DMC and Cartier-Bresson, where selling patterns was a means to the end of selling thread, Sajou initially produced patterns and only patterns, published under their own name or as supplements to contemporary needlework magazines though usually with Sajou named as designer. The name Sajou was so well-known that even after monsieur Sajou ceased to be involved in Maison Sajou, the successors made sure to plaster the name Sajou in the largest font on any cover, and their own names in a humble small font tucked away between title and additional texts.
The current Maison Sajou is not related to the Maison Sajou that published these patterns, but is a modern revival of the name, selling lovely retro sewing notions and new editions of the old pattern books. There’s a fifty year gap between the closure of the original Maison Sajou and the re-registration of the brand name by Crestin-Billet, whose name appears under the Maison Sajou title on the modern website.