This pillow is made from a European vintage grain/flour sack. The sack has been opened & patches were removed. It was then boiled in soap water for hours to get out stains, left-over grains & flour. Then all the little the patches were re-attached. The linen is extremely soft to the touch unlike some scratchy linen from Eastern Europe such as Hungary. This linen is extraordinarily soft. The flax was hackled & combed so many times, that the finest & softest linen was produced. The blue stripes are woven, not printed. This sack was owned by Emil Bunze who lived in Neustadt. There are about 30 different Neustadt (New Town) in Europe. So we don't know where this one is from. (see 3 matching pillows without print) Our pillows are made by real tailors with an eye for detail. Our zippers are hidden. Here we used a poly insert that is slightly bigger than the cover to make sure the pillows keep their shape & the corners are filled properly. The back of this pillow is made from color-matching, modern cotton. The piping is made of gray vegan leather, so you can actually wash the pillow case. Linen farm sacks were handwoven mostly in Austria, Switzerland & Germany. Harvesting flax & combing it to remove the straw pieces took many, many hours. Afterwards, women & children were usually spinning the flax, men did the weaving. Tar paint was used to stamp names or initials & symbols of guilds to easily identify the owner of the sack when it was sent to or picked up from the local mill. Numbers & dates were stamped for inventory purposes. Since sacks were so valuable, they were patched up & repaired over & over again. The silver lapel pin on the right upper corner of each pillow is our seal of authenticity. To learn how we make these pillows here in Brooklyn, NY, watch this video on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/206715925 We take pride in producing in New York City, using local tailors & paying them 200% of the common wage. Only US made accessories are being used. We are proud to be part of a group that: Reclaims Restores Repurposes Restyles existing materials. Antique German Grain Sack Pillow From The 1883 - 21 X 14