Sommaire pour Fall 2020 de PieceWork

What does “mending” mean to you? Hardship and never-ending socks with holes? Creative and artistic embellishment? Both? Whatever the task or textile, mending and remaking are based on the idea that cloth is a thing of value. And if you are reading this, I suspect you agree. The thread that runs through this issue is, to my mind, about preserving, or even adding value to, textiles. In that vein, Deirdre Carter discusses the Medieval demand for parchment and the creative needlework that embellished imperfections in lower-quality parchment. Chitra Balasubramaniam shares the story of how her mother’s sarees were transformed into a spectacular embroidered quilt that ties together generations. And Heather Vaughan Lee gives us social and cultural insight into the now-coveted flour-sack textiles of the Great Depression. Ideas and traditions…

Joan Sheridan, Volunteer Conservator at The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation How did you become a needleworker? I have had a lifelong passion for textiles. I don’t remember learning to sew. It is just something I learned at my mother’s knee. When I was seven, we moved from the farm to town, and then, my textile world became larger. The oldest of four children, I liked to escape from our small house and young children, and I often spent time with two different neighbors. Hilda taught me to embroider and crochet. I will never forget her words when I cut a yard-long piece of embroidery floss and tried to work with it. “The turtle won the race,” she told me. After that, the rule was eighteen inches of thread.…

Given the ubiquity of mass-produced books in our modern lives, it is easy to underestimate the degree to which each medieval manuscript was a unique and precious creation. With their parchment pages, painstakingly handwritten texts, and—in some cases—brilliantly hand-illuminated images, medieval manuscripts were produced through a costly and laborious process that frequently required bookmakers to devise inventive solutions for material, scribal, and artistic complications. As a result, surviving manuscripts—their texts and illustrations, but also their parchment surfaces and bindings, the notes scribbled into their margins, and even their repairs—preserve valuable clues about these objects’ manufacture, use, and ownership. Among the most unusual of these clues is the occasional appearance of colorful silk threads that have been used to mend flawed parchment, effectively turning imperfections into eye-catching embroidered ornamentation. MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT…

The variety of traditional costumes in the Baltic and Scandinavian countries is diverse, but there are also striking similarities in local dress across the region. With comparable climatic, social, and historical conditions, communities had their own patterns and styles for the gloves, caps, and stockings that kept people warm in this part of the world. However, some of these textiles have become iconic while others have been lost to time. As a knitter living on the Baltic seacoast in northeast Germany, I have worked diligently to discover the history of a local hat tradition: the pottmütz from the island of Rügen. From my research, I continue to find that almost all fishermen in the northern seas historically wore pointed caps knitted in woolen yarns and local patterns. (One exception to…

In 1921, Celia Wiggins was born in the village of Shafton, South Yorkshire, as England recovered from World War I. She grew up in a time of economic depression, and unemployment in her village was high. Her father, a coal miner, was killed in a mining accident when she was nine years old. There was almost no work available for women in a small village at that time, so Celia’s mother raised her and her three younger siblings by cobbling together a pension from the government, a pension from the miner’s association, and living in housing provided by the local council. Celia was lucky to be able to attend grammar school, escaping the only other choices for a young woman at the time: going into service as a scullery maid…

The Sarakatsani are a Greek ethnic group who were traditionally transhumant shepherds—namely, shepherds who moved their livestock between fixed winter and summer pastures. For the Sarakatsani, who were Christians, the Gregorian church calendar dictated their movements. Following St. George’s Day (April 23), the Sarakatsani moved their sheep and goats from the valleys, where they had spent the winter, to the mountains, where they spent the summer. Then, after St. Demetrius’s Day (October 26), the Sarakatsani moved back down the mountains to the valleys where they wintered. The Sarakatsani were most numerous in the northern Greek provinces of Epirus, Macedonia, Thrace, and Thessaly, but they were also found as far south as the Peloponnese and Euboea. As migrating shepherds, the Sarakatsani also crossed Greece’s borders with Albania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. In…

On a June 2019 trip to Greece, I visited the Folk and Historical Museum in Xanthi, a city of 71,000 people located in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, approximately 128 miles (206 km) northeast of Thessaloniki. Once known as the “great city of Thrace,” Xanthi was a prosperous center of tobacco production and trade from the nineteenth century until World War II, when the Germans surrendered Xanthi to Bulgaria. Although Xanthi was returned to Greece in 1945, it never regained its former glory as a tobacco hub. Indeed, in 1953, when Greece enacted laws changing tobacco processing as well as tobacco workers’ rights and also abolished the administrative system setting tobacco prices, Xanthi experienced significant emigration and, according to the museum’s guidebook, “[i]n the following decades, Xanthi was…

In the Spring 2020 issue of PieceWork, the article that most resonated with me was the one written by Dr. Mary Davis [“The Sewing Machines of Oradour-sur-Glane,” page 52]. By the time I had finished reading the article, I was in tears. Tears not only for the era but of the memories as a child watching my grandmother use her Singer treadle sewing machine. There is a deeper sense of appreciation for others who share a similar passion to my own, whether it is with two needles and yarn, or one needle with thread. Dr. Davis’s article brought me to the time and livelihood of the women there. Dr. Davis was so poignant, “I felt a kindred spirit to all the women who sat in front of these machines. They…

Women in poor rural areas of the United States made clothing from cotton commodity textile bags out of necessity. The practice was especially prevalent during the extreme hardships of the Great Depression (1929–1933) and during other materials shortages brought on by World War II. Dresses made from these sacks are evidence of the critical role that home sewing of reused materials played in everyday lives. Commodity textile bags—more often called gunny, feed, or flour sacks—were frequently repurposed during the first half of the twentieth century. Women in rural parts of the United States used them to make clothing and home goods for their families to save money. Manufacturers used fabric bags for chicken and rabbit feed, as well as for human food such as flour, sugar, salt, seeds, and even…

After my article “Sujnis: Recycling Clothing into Quilts in India” appeared in PieceWork Sept/Oct 2007, I continued collecting sujni quilts. Though it is believed that the term sujani originated from the word sozni, or needlework, I have since found out that it is su (meaning re-) and jani (meaning born). So, sujani is one that is reborn, symbolizing the recycle or upcycle of old sarees. The thick quilts, which use four to five layers, are rarely made now. Smaller or three-layered quilts are made for market. There is revival happening everywhere; how it goes forward is anybody’s guess. Read Chitra’s 2007 PieceWork article on our website, www.pieceworkmagazine.com.…

“Pains should be taken to prevent linen falling into rags until the utmost wear has been exacted. [When] the middle of a sheet begins to feel at all thinner than the other parts, it is time to ‘turn’ it. This is done by simply cutting the sheet in half and sewing together the outside selvages. The newly made seam will then be the middle of the sheet. The sheet, if not much worn, will require no further alteration for a long time. If, however, the wear has been considerable, side pieces should be let in to the extent, and several inches beyond, the worn places. The sides must then be hemmed or sewn in the ordinary way. When, after a time, the ‘turned’ sheet wears thin in the centre, instead…

The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University possesses what may be the only complete Sarakatsani woman’s costume in a museum collection in the United States. This costume, which is from Thrace, was made of handspun fibers in the early twentieth century. While working as a conservation technician at the Haffenreffer Museum, Joyce Smith (1930– ) identified 13 parts to the costume: (1) a poukamiso, a white cotton chemise with embroidered sleeves; (2) a fustani, a black wool pleated skirt with dark red and blue horizontal stripes; (3) a zoni, a wide wool belt; (4) a polkaki, a black wool vest adorned with blue and gold decorations; (5) a tzamandani, a black wool sleeveless jacket adorned with black, blue, and green decorations; (6) a podia (also known as a panaoula…

ARIZONA Fiber Creek Suite 123 1046 Willow Creek Rd Prescott, AZ 86301 (928) 717-1774 fibercreekprescott.com CALIFORNIA Lacis Museum of Lace & Textiles 2982 Adeline St Berkeley, CA 94703 510-843-7290 lacis.com Babetta's Yarn & Gifts 4400 San Juan Ave #20 Fair Oaks, CA 95628 (916) 965-6043 babettasyarnandgifts.com Dharma Trading Co 1604 4th Street San Rafael, CA 94901 (435) 456-1211 dharmatrading.com Needlecraft Cottage 870 Grand Ave San Diego, CA 92109 (858) 272-8185 needlecraftcottagesd.com Cardigans Yarn and Fiber 3030 State St Santa Barbara, CA 93105 (805) 569-0531 cardigansyarnandfiber.com COLORADO LambShoppe 3512 E 12TH AVE Denver, CO 80206 (303) 322-2223 thelambshoppe.com Lambspun of Colorado 1101 E Lincoln Ave Fort Collins, CO 80524 (800) 558-5262 lambspun.com IOWA Blue Heron Knittery 300 W Water St Decorah, IA 52101 (563) 517-1059 blueheronknittery.com ILLINOIS Starstruck Cat Design 3130…

Classic Smock This medium-weight washed-linen coverall provides protection from crafty mishaps and spills. Not Perfect Linen’s Japanese-style aprons, shown in natural-grey stripes, are made in Lithuania by a family-run business and have generous pockets to keep frequently needed supplies and tools close at hand. www.notperfectlinen.com Colorwork Control Multicolor knitting need not lead to a tangled mess of frustration. The Knitting Colorwork Ring, handcrafted in Mexico by artist Corina Lunita, comes in sterling silver and can manage two, three, or more strands of yarn for stress-free knitting. www.corinalunita.com Versatile Spools From basketweaving to stitching upholstery, the numerous uses for waxed linen thread from Royalwood Ltd. make it a must-have in any needleworker’s toolbox. Available in two to twelve plies, the coat of wax makes the thread water-and mildew resistant. www.royalwoodltd.com Stitcher’s…

My grandmother’s darning egg was the foundation of my collection: the first vintage needlework tool I ever owned. She didn’t give it to me. I found it in a drawer after she died, half buried in a nest of promotional sewing kits. Nobody else knew or cared what it was, so I took it. I never saw her use it. She was a person for whom “make do and mend” was a lifelong necessity, but even she ceased to mend holes in socks. Flimsy, modern socks seldom stand up to darning, so she used them as dust cloths. With a worn-out sock over each hand, a person could get through dusting twice as fast. The darning egg is the humble emblem of needlework’s dreariest moment: mending. The tool is one…

Vintage feed and flour sacks are ideal for making multiuse drawstring bags. Using the sack’s selvedge edge and leaving the original row of holes where the bags were sewn closed further retains some of the sack’s original history within the new project. Off-white sacks were sometimes embellished with embroidery and appliqué, adding visual interest to practical home furnishings, such as mending and storage bags, kitchen and tea towels, schoolbook covers, and even clothing. The inspiration for the embellishment often came from quilt and embroidery patterns of the day. This particular bag is based on a vintage floral quilt block inspired by the hexagons in patterns such as grandmother’s flower garden, mosaic, honeycomb, or six-sided patchwork design. The hexagon-flower motif on the bag is entirely handsewn and not mosaic paper pieced.…

The historical region of Pomerania, which now is part of Germany and Poland, possesses very few costume traditions, and not many historic knitted items have been preserved. In the southeast part of the island of Rügen, Germany’s largest island in the Baltic Sea, lies the region of Mönchgut, which translates as “monk’s estates.” Mönchgut belonged to the Cistercian monastery of Eldena near Greifswald. Since Mönchgut was very remote, the population kept their traditions and wore their costumes longer than in other regions on the island of Rügen. Two notable elements of the fishermen’s costumes are white linen over-trousers that protect the warm inner-trousers from sea spray and a colorful knitted cap called a pottmütz or pottmütze (see page 38). A few of these caps have been preserved in the museums…

Weldon’s Practical Needlework gives a peek into the world of craft in the 1880s. The series features several different crafts from macramé and net making to crochet and knitting. The first book of the series is a delight for sock knitters, with variations on different types of heels and toes along with basic recipes for stockings in general. No gauges are provided, only the finished measurements and needle sizes using the U.K. numbering system that orders the sizes from small to large in the opposite direction. The finished sock dimensions indicate that Victorian ladies were much daintier than I am. Their 11½-inch (29.2 cm) cuff circumference comes nowhere close to my 16-inch (56.6 cm) calf. The following is an interpretation of a Weldon’s technique to “re-foot” a sock. The leg…

Crewel Embroidery: 7 Enchanting Designs Inspired by Fairy Tales Tatiana Popova Tunbridge Wells, England: Search Press, 2020. Softbound, 160 pages, $29.95. ISBN 9781782217220. Macramé for the Modern Home: 16 Stunning Projects Using Simple Knots and Natural Dyes Isabella Strambio Tunbridge Wells, England: Search Press, 2020. Softbound, 128 pages, $19.95. ISBN 9781782218364. Maison Lesage: Haute Couture Embroidery Patrick Mauriès New York: Thames & Hudson, 2020. Hardbound, 224 pages, $60.00. ISBN 9780500021538. Making Marls: A Sourcebook for Multistrand Knitting Cecelia Campochiaro Sunnyvale, California: Chroma Opaci Books, 2020. Hardbound, 320 pages, $65.00. ISBN 9780986338113. RSN: Goldwork: Techniques, Projects & Pure Inspiration Emi Nimura Tunbridge Wells, England: Search Press, 2020. Softbound, 144 pages, $29.95. ISBN 9781782217039.…