The other day, I showed you that magnificent box of M. Heminway & Sons silk - a goodly collection of vintage silks from the turn of the 20th century. The more I think about this treasure, the more excited I am about it! Here, I'd like to show you some of the linens that were in the box...

These linens are certainly "vintage" - they're downright antiques. Some are embroidered in part, some are not. Some are in fairly good shape and might be salvageable, but some probably can't be salvaged. Below, you'll see some photos of only some of the linens, actually - there are more than pictured here, but this is a good selection of the types of linens in the box.

Many of the pieces are of the same weight fabric - a light, fine linen with a smooth "hand" (or surface feel), but others are coarser linen and one even looks like a cotton sateen, the type of fabric used for Mountmellic embroidery. And there are different types of designs on some of the linens - especially on the coarser ones. These, I don't think, were necessarily used for "Society silk" styled embroidery, but for other projects - maybe just practice?

Let's take a look - and if you have any insights, do feel free to share them!



This is rather a fine weight linen, with a leafy design printed on it. Embroidery was begun on one corner.



The embroidery for the filled areas is worked in a shading technique - long and short stitch - and the stems are worked in stem stitch. Isn't the sheen of the silk just beautiful?!?



This is a piece of rather coarse linen. You can see that it is pretty well stained and marked with age. I suspect that the embroiderer actually put the pattern on herself, via a prick-and-pounce method of transfer. The pounce must have been either damp or actually an ink of sorts. In old books, especially books on ecclesiastical embroidery, there are some "recipes" for ink that is applied in a way similar to the prick-and-pounce powder method method, and I think that's what this is. Why do I assume she didn't buy the piece with the design already on it? Read on, and I'll get to that point further down...



This is another piece of linen that's relatively coarse, but not as coarse as the linen in the previous photo. The design on this one looks preprinted, and the embroidery was begun in a heavier silk (called "rope" - there's a good bundle of this silk in the box).



The embroiderer was stitching the edges of the leaves in buttonhole stitch.



This is another piece of finer linen - very thin stuff. I suspect that the piece came with the drawn thread areas already done, and with the embroidery design printed on it. This was obviously a set, because there are a couple more pieces in the box, just like this, with different embroidery designs around the drawn thread area.



You can see a close-up on the drawn thread area here. Though it is visually interesting over all, the drawn thread design is not worked very neatly. The tips of the ovals are jammed with threads. Still, the inside parts of the ovals are really incredible - teeny tiny detail work here.



You can see the graduated shades in the stitching here, and the luster of the silk.



This piece is from the same set, but instead of flowers, the design around the outside features pomegranates.



This is the same design as the first coarse linen up above, and the fabric looks to me more like a cotton sateen - it's shiny, and the weave looks like a sateen. Hence, my reasoning for thinking she transferred these two designs herself, because they are on completely different types of fabric, and though the designs are the same, they have a few "blotches" in different places. It's a neat design - it has the look of some of the flowers you'll find in William Morris's textile designs.



Here's another piece of fine linen, with a design typical of "Society silk" or Silk Art Embroidery. There's a larger doily, with several small ones - sort of like coasters. The design is preprinted in blue.



The small circles have different designs around them - they aren't all exactly the same. I think there were two of one pattern and two of another, but they all "work" together as a matching set.



Here's another set of small doilies. The edges of these could be worked in a buttonhole or a satin stitch, then the rest of the fabric could be cut away.



The strange thing about this set is that it looks as if someone went back over the design with pencil, either to darken it up, or to put in guides for stitching. Either that, or perhaps a ghost image was printed on the fabric at the same time. I'm wondering about spot removal on some of these - I wouldn't want to remove the design, but I'd like to get rid of some of the spots...



This is another pre-printed linen, on a finer weight of linen, but printed in yet a different style when compared to the other linens above.



What I really like about it is the information on the corners - directives for types of stitching and colors, I think.



There's also what looks like a design or pattern number, and a needle still stuck in the fabric.



This piece is perhaps my favorite in the whole box - not just because I think the pattern is very pretty, but also because it is in the best shape. I think it IS salvageable, and it would be worth embroidering in the same style, using the silks from the box. I've put that on my List!

Some of the pieces had some really pretty embroidery on them, though none of it was finished. Some bits of embroidery look like practice pieces, while others were projects underway but never completed. I'll show you some of those a bit later, too!

So what do you think? Worth trying to clean some of these up to stitch? Do you think they'd hold up? I certainly think the patterns are worth tracing on many of them, that's for sure! Some of the designs are very pretty and delicate - others are bold and beautiful. I may have to devote some time to that!

Labels: historical needlework, linen, pictures, vintage embroidery

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, August 08, 2009
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A few weeks ago, a reader contacted me to ask if I would be interested in a box of "old" stamped linens. They had been given to her, but she knew she wouldn't use them, so she kindly volunteered to send them to me, or to Good Will. Some linens, she said, still had the original embroidery threads with them. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity, and Freda very kindly sent me the box.

I've had similar things happen before: neighbors cleaning out their garage or their storage area and coming across old craft stuff and not wanting to go through it; people contacting me from afar, after the death of a family member, and asking if I wanted the box of their mom's embroidery supplies, as they weren't interested in them; a lady dumping (yes, dumping) a worn out box full of children's crafting supplies on my front porch.... and the list could go on. In most of these situations (the exception being the dumbed box on the front porch!), it has always been a real pleasure to go through the boxes.

Each box tells a story of sorts - what the person's tastes were; how much they loved their hobby; what things in life were important to them; whether they were very organized and meticulous people, or whether they were more like... uh... me. Going through old needlework supplies, you can learn a lot about people!

You can also learn a lot about the history of needlework, which was the case with Freda's box.



The contents of this box undoubtedly date to the late 1800's - early 1900's, during that era of "Silk Art Embroidery" or "Society Silk." Well, certainly some of the threads date from the mid-1800's up to 1917 (I'd guess closer to 1917).

Inside the box, I found a heap of unworked, stamped linens, featuring tea cloths, doilies, and the like. The majority are printed with "natural" looking floral designs, typical of the "Silk Art Embroidery" style (or "Society Silk"). Very few of them are partially worked, and none are completely worked. I'll show you the linens a bit later.



Tucked inside some of the linens were skeins of silk floss - in different degrees of disarray. Some will need attention to get them back in order; others are neatly braided.



Regardless of their current situation, all the threads are gorgeous! The sheen is incredible - the silk is just beautiful! I am looking forward to the challenge of separating and straightening out the different colors and weights of silk!

When I removed the linens from the box, I discovered more silk! Someone had already tried to organize this bunch, using small plastic bags.



The majority of the silk was manufactured by M. Heminway & Sons:



Merrit Heminway was the first manufacturer to spool silk in the US. From the mid-1800's through 1917, his company (formerly Bishop & Heminway) was called M. Heminway & Sons Silk Company. In 1917, the company was sold to Hammond Knowlton & Co, and the name was changed to H.K.H. Company. So somewhere between the establishment of of M. Heminway & Sons Silk Company and the selling of it to H.K.H., these threads were made. An expert who's studied the subject in-depth could probably look at the label and be a bit more precise as to the age of the thread, but there's no doubt that the era is certainly the "Silk Art" or "Society Silk" era of embroidery.

The popularity of this style of embroidery, which is essentially needlepainting flowers and other natural florals on linen and other ground fabrics using fine silks, lasted from the around the 1880's through about 1915 - 1920. According to Donna Cardwell in her book Silk Art Embroidery: A Woman's History of Ornament and Empowerment, the term "society silk" comes from the organization (The Society of Decorative Art) that taught the skills of this type of needlework all over the country and in Canada. Silk Art Embroidery has an interesting history and is worth reading about. Don't be too put off by the title of the book above - I was afraid it was going to be entirely a "social history" book, but it isn't. It contains interesting history and lots of technique information.

While it is evident from this box of goodies that the stitcher was definitely stitching household linens, I can't help wondering if they were for her or if they were being made to sell as a source of income? Was she just dabbling in the new embroidery rage? Or was she seriously trying to learn the technique in order to supplement income? These things, I will probably never know - but it's fun to wonder!

Incidentally, this type of thread was not used solely for "Silk Art Embroidery." This was the silk embroidery floss available in the US at that time, and you can see it on a multitude of ecclesiastical work from that time period, as well. I've always wanted to see the threads they used in ecclesiastical work from the early 1900's, up close. When looking at different pieces, it's evident that the pieces were stitched with lightly twisted filament silk. And finally, here's a whole box of it!

I'll be sorting through this as I have time, and I'll also be showing you the linens, in case you're curious!

Thanks, Freda, for thinking of me!

Labels: historical needlework, needlework pictures, pictures, silk, threads, vintage embroidery

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, August 05, 2009
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My Mom was cleaning out some stuff the other day and came across a few little needlework-related items that she handed over to me, which led me to thinking about different needlework projects Mom has done over the years.

Many folks are lucky enough to learn their needlework skills from their moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc. In my case, I'd say I learned the proclivity towards any kind of crafty-artsy stuff from Mom, but not necessarily specific needlework skills. My Mom, who turns 75 this weekend, was rather the artistic type when she was younger. She took up painting at some point in her eary married years, and even enjoyed showing her work at an art gallery at one point and selling it. She also taught art in a private school in the San Francisco Bay Area for a bit. She was dabbler in lots of things - sewing, painting, needlework, crochet, etc., and most of her kids have ended up being dabblers in one (or many) creative way or another. We dabble. We flit about. What can I say?



These are the pieces that instigated this post. They're needlepoint versions of Pinkie and Blue Boy, famous paintings by Thomas Lawrence and Thomas Gainsborough, respectively. They're not finished. In fact, I think Mom picked out the background stitching and never finished them.



I like them - they may be salvagable, though I don't know what I would salvage them into, except framed pieces.



They're worked in two sizes of stitches on Penelope canvas - the detailed faces are smaller stitches, and most of the rest of the figures are worked in larger stitches.



I always thought Blue Boy looked a bit jaunty.



I like his little shifty eyes. He's definitely checking out Pinkie...



My Mom has always had a penchant for Things Pinkie-and-Blue-Boy. These statues were with us in every house we lived in - and we lived in Many Houses, all over the country!

Studying the Pinkie and Blue Boy canvases led me to another work of my Mom's from her early married days:



I never knew a time when this wasn't on a wall of our homes growing up. It was made from a stamped cross stitch kit Mom bought two years after she was married (so that would have been in 1959, making the piece exactly 50 years old).



Let's see if I can get it right: the stamped fabric cost her 59 cents, and the thread for it cost 30 cents. An 89-cent project - 50 years old - not bad!



She paid $20 to have it framed four years later.

The year Mom got married, she made this baby quilt:



This was another kit - stamped embroidery, featuring Peter Rabbit and Company.



The piece features several stitches - mostly cross stitch, but also a good smattering of satin stitch, stem stitch and daisy stitch.



It's funny to look at this now, when these types of vintage embroidery patterns have become pretty popular once again.



There are a couple stains on the Peter Rabbit section. One of these days, I'll try to remove them!



Nice little watering can... The quilt top was pre-printed with the pattern when Mom bought the kit. She did the embroidery, then put the blanket together.... almost 52 years ago! She was expecting my oldest sister at that point.



I like the little bird...



...but the pink eyes are a bit freaky!



The cottontails are little cotton pom-poms that have held up really well for this many years and several babies' usage!

Later on in life, Mom took up counted cross stitch, and vestiges of her efforts can still be seen around her house.



Mom has always liked birds.



This was one of my grandmother's favorite prayers (my Mom's mom), and subsequently one of Mom's. Mom said she almost kicked herself when she finished the piece and realized she had not cut her fabric large enough for the type of framing she wanted. Still, this has been a nice piece in her house for the past 25 years or so.

Like Pinkie and Blue Boy, the St. Francis Prayer is a recurring theme in her house:



My grandmother gave my Mom and Dad this plaque (which is only about 4" x 6") as a gift many, many years ago - another thing I remember always being on a wall in our homes across the country.

Mom's present needlework pursuits involve crochet only, and she makes some pretty nice doilies, tablecloths, and filet crocheted lace for church use.



Mom didn't make this, but it was in among her needlework things - a souvenir from a one of her trips to Hong Kong many years ago:



She says it's a baby carrier. Her escapades on this trip to Hong Kong were pretty funny. It was her first time abroad, and she had no idea how money exchanging actually worked. When she exchanged money for the first time, she couldn't believe how much they gave her back! So she had fun shopping with it!



The embroidery is machine embroidery; I think it's kind of neat! This has seen several appearances on kids in school plays, costumes, and so forth. I don't think she ever actually used it as a baby carrier!

Mom's needlework adventures also included afghan-making, quilting, sewing children's clothes, making things for the house, and so forth. She's always been a project woman! And it's always heaps of fun, going through her old pattern books and needlework items!

Happy 75th, Mom!

Labels: counted thread embroidery techniques, crochet, embroidery for children, needlepoint, needlework pictures, personal, pictures, vintage embroidery

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, May 15, 2009
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So do you LOVE them, or do you HATE them? Vintage Vogart embroidery transfers have made a big come-back in popularity, and a lot of younger generation embroiderers are not only stitching them, but are also collecting them.

There are many resources online about vintage Vogart embroidery transfers, but the nicest resources are the ones that provide cleaned up versions of the patterns, with a good index. By far the best one I've seen online is Floresita's "Hoop Love" page. The index includes mostly Vogart patterns, and some Walker's as well. Not all the patterns are cute little animals - floral motifs for bedroom linens can be found in there as well.



Here, you'll find vintage Vogart transfers cataloged by number and name, with a link to the website that hosts the design.

I've discussed these kinds of embroidery patterns with many embroiderers over the years - and what it boils down to, it seems to me, is that there are two schools of thought on them. They're either loved, or they're hated!

Perhaps I should say there are three schools of thought, because I fall somewhere in between. While I don't normally use the designs myself for my own projects, I do like them. I like their simplicity. I like the fact that they make embroidery accessible to beginners and that they give beginners and beyond a fun way to embroider something light.

I like the fact that kids LOVE these designs. They do! My little students in the summer really go for these, and it's so fun to see them get excited over them!

I like the fact that you can go a little further with them - you can embellish them beyond their original design. For example, I took a similar old Sunbonnet Sue pattern (not necessarily Vogart, but the concept's the same) and embellished her to the gills for a baby quilt, adding a garden and a bee and decorating her dress and bonnet. It was fun.

So I think it's a great thing that the patterns are collected and made available to you and me through the generous efforts of people like Floresita!

Think of all the people over the past decades who have really enjoyed stitching those patterns! Think of all the embroiderers who have developed a life-long love of stitching because they started on these patterns when their fingers were just learning to hold a needle! Think of all the grandmas who have stitched quilts for their grandchildren using the Vogart patterns, or the expectant moms, making their first Embroidered Something for their Little On-coming Offspring!

Yep. I belong to the third camp. And I like them.

Now, talk about controversy... what do YOU think? Are you first camp (love them), second camp (hate them), third camp (like me - you see something valuable in them, but don't necessarily stitch them for your own pleasure or purposes), or... are you completely and entirely indifferent to them???

I'd love to hear your opinion, your thoughts, your feelings, your observations, your experiences, and your reasons....!

And remember, you can always comment anonymously! ;-)

Labels: embroidery for children, embroidery for fun, embroidery resources, free embroidery patterns, miscellaneous embroidery musings, vintage embroidery

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, June 29, 2008
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I do love digging through old pieces of linen that I've got here and there in boxes or drawers. I think this piece is particularly pretty, but it needs some serious clean up work. It's a nice center piece for a table, or, on a small round table, could cover it completely.

I'll be testing a new cleaner on this piece - I purchased a product called Restoration, which is supposed to restore vintage linens (or new ones, too, I guess) that are beset with stains, age discoloration, fold lines, etc. I can't wait to give it a try! If you've every seen the website, Cynthia's Linen Room, you'll find she recommends it highly in her tips on laundering antique linens.

In any case, on this piece, you'll see some nice, simple whitework and a very well done crocheted lace edge on a round linen accent piece.



This is the whole piece. It is stained from age and has definite fold lines on it. The embroidery on it is not super fancy, but I think it's ok. By far the prettiest part of the piece, in my mind, is the crocheted edge.



I like the pattern - the way it criss-crosses, and the little picots on the edge of the scallops.



Here's a close up on some of the embroidery. There's a scallop design that circles the piece, and then two repeated motifs that alternate with each other around the piece.



This motif cuts in three times around the piece, into the center. It's kind of a strange pattern - a sort of little off-set scalloped cut into the center, with those two half-moon things and some vines. I love the use of the seeding in the background.



Here's another close-up on the crochet. I have no idea what the little string is that runs through the crocheted squares. It runs about half-way around the whole piece. Any idea?

If you have any vintage linens or stained linens, how do you clean them? I'd be interested to hear. I'll let you know how the Restoration stuff works - I have high hopes for it!

Labels: linen, needlework care, needlework pictures, pictures, vintage embroidery, whitework

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, June 10, 2008
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During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, embroidery on fine clothing was the norm. By the time the Industrial Revolution finished off the cottage industries, embroidery on clothing could be done by machine. But that didn't stop some people from undertaking the embellishment of their own wardrobes, as this New York Times article attests.

Anyone interested in costuming, in vintage textiles, or even in general surface embroidery may find this "Message to Women" interesting. What's the message? "Gold Thread to be Used Lavishly in Many Fabrics this Season" with explanations on "Honeycomb Stitchery." Read the gold thread article if you get a chance - you can pick up some interesting instruction on how to work the techniques discussed. If nothing else, I think it's amusing!



Speaking of embroidery on clothing and vintage textiles, another interesting source of embroidery designs is The Costume Galler's Online Library of Vintage Publications, in particular the free page of McCall's Magazine Self Transferable Embroidery Patterns, from May of 1908.



The nice thing about the patterns offered on the McCall's page (there are five embroidery patterns altogether) is that you could easily modify the pattern for something other than the bodice of that dress you're making for your summer tea parties.... you could take just one section of a motif and use it on linens or whatever!

Enjoy!

Labels: embroidery links, embroidery resources, free embroidery patterns, goldwork, historical needlework, vintage embroidery

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, April 28, 2008
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Perhaps instead of "old linens," I should use the term "vintage," which has a much better ring to it! What about working your own hand embroidery on vintage linens? Do you think it's a good idea, or would it be a waste of time, since they're already... um... "old"?

I was considering the question of doing some hand embroidery - specifically, whitework - on vintage linens because I had the opportunity to acquire a couple vintage pieces that I liked.

One piece is a table runner or dresser scarf with a hand-crocheted edge all around it, and a very elaborate crocheted design with tassels on each end.



The crocheted edge needs to be pressed and re-situated, but you can see that it's a rather complex edging which could propose a problem for the embroiderer: I wouldn't want to mar the crochet with a hoop or snag it or anything like that! So that could be an "in-hand" job, if necessary.



The edging all around the linen is very pretty, and a bit simpler. I love the picot at the tip of each scallop.

The other is a buffet cloth - long and narrow, scalloped on three sides, with a straight edge that would run along the back of a buffet. The scallops are finished in an overcast stitch, and then a crocheted edge is added for a nice finish.



The linen on the piece is exceptional - a smooth hand, and a crisp finish. It's so nice! It's not slubby at all. It reminds me of Legacy's Ecclesiastical Linen - a perfect weight for whitework.



The edge is nicely done. The only flaw in the piece is a tiny whole at one point on the linen. I was thinking that, if I did do some whitework on this piece, I could use a pattern with eyelets and get rid of the hole by turning it into one!

These were offered as vintage linens from a reputable seller, and you can tell they aren't new, but I don't know enough about vintage textiles to approximate when they were made - they're not that old, anyway. The sheen of both is nice, but the second piece is certainly finer linen. It's a brighter white, while the first piece is slightly ecru and the linen itself is more coarse.

So, that is what I am contemplating - should I or should I not add further embellishment with some whitework on either linen? What do you think? Have you undertaken such a project before? Any tips?

Labels: fabric for embroidery, linen, vintage embroidery, whitework

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, April 26, 2008
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