Table of contents for Spring 2023 in PieceWork

Note from the Editor: The author follows the Hungarian practice of referring to people by their last name, followed by their first name. A visit to the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest in 2009 opened my eyes to the world of Hungarian traditional clothing and embroidery. There was a large display of dowry goods, which included painted furniture piled high with pillows, sheets, and ceremonial cloths, all covered in thick lines of embroidery. I was intrigued by the threedimensional quality of the lines and the monochromatic color scheme used to render floral patterns, and I wondered if women were still stitching in this style. Three years later, I traveled to Romania, hoping to support and share this tradition by learning from local embroiderers. “Written” embroidery, írásos in Hungarian, holds a…

A Fashionable Tool Keep those stitch markers handy with this magnetic bracelet from Cocoknits. With five colors to choose from, including chartreuse, as shown here, they’re sure to coordinate with any outfit or --more importantly— your project bags! cocoknits.com Colors from Nature Canary Natural Fibres offers a rainbow of colors in their 100% organic, naturally dyed cotton thread. Each spool contains 55 meters in the perfect weight for topstitching, visible mending, or colorful sashiko. Shown here in Light Salmon, Tansy, and Sumac Purple. canarynaturalfibres.com Keep Your Place These handmade laser-engraved stitch markers front Sunrise Grove offer a cheery way to keep track of your stitches. Six different birds grace the lightweight set of discs, with solid rings large enough to fit up to size 8 knitting needles. sunrisegrove.etsy.com Tidy Threads…

Now they were completing new dressing sacks, and had enjoyed this job very much, as each chose her own material, and suited her own taste in the making. Jill’s was white, with tiny scarlet leaves all over it, trimmed with red braid and buttons so like checkerberries she was tempted to eat them. Molly’s was gay, with bouquets of every sort, of flower, scalloped all round, and adorned with six buttons, each of a different color, which she thought the last touch of elegance. Merry’s, though the simplest, was the daintiest of the three, being pale blue, trimmed with delicate edging, and beautifully made. (From Jack and Jill: A Village Story) Following the international success of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott continued to write books for children, including my childhood…

Based upon my lessons with these women, I eventually gained the confidence to teach workshops on this tradition. After three years of making bags and pillows with the women’s embroidery, I shifted my focus entirely to education. I now teach workshops and lead tours to help preserve and share the tradition at the source. In my workshops, I demonstrate the stitch in two different ways: a beginner’s method, which breaks the stitch down into steps (see the accompanying tutorial); and the way of the Kalotaszeg women. In my beginning class, I use simplified forms and focus on creating consistent stitches and even lines. In Level II, I share the supplemental stitches people use to fill spaces, the lace stitch, the needle-lace edging, and I dissect how the patterns were stitched.…

This sock pattern is adapted from a vintage pattern found in Weldon’s Practical Stocking Knitter, Volume 1, where it is listed as “No. 23.— French Sock for Child of Two.” The version here is sized for an adult foot. The original instructions call for 2½ ounces of white Andalusian wool and no. 17 knitting needles, which would be about a 1.125 mm needle today. The sock begins with a simple patterned cuff and is worked down to the toe using an easy-to-follow French heel turn. The front of each sock has a repeating ridge pattern, which helps create a neat look and a nice fit. These socks have some enjoyable details that make for a fun, easy project for beginners to advanced knitters, allowing them to create a pair of…

Throughout history, women with insufficient education and skills have struggled to make ends meet and to raise their children. Government programs, such as the 1935-39 Works Progress Administration (WPA)1, have tried to address this issue, but the demand has often outstripped the organizations’ ability to provide. For the fortunate women who gained access to one of these training programs, an acceptance letter was a major triumph. Lillian Butson Drum (1895-1966) of Carbondale, Pennsylvania, was an impoverished widow with three children when she applied to one of these local WPA education programs. Decades later, her daughter still recalled the anxiety Lillian felt while she waited to receive her acceptance or rejection notice. Fortunately for Lillian, a program to teach sewing skills accepted her. While the family did not retain Lillian’s paperwork,…

Editor’s note: Meg Swansen is the daughter of the late Elizabeth Zimmermann, the knitting-world luminary whose bestselling books and educational television series have taught generations of people how to knit. The photos shown come from Meg’s personal collection, and she has penned the captions for this profile. Tell us how you learned to knit. My story is a common one: I learned to knit at my mother’s knee.. .literally. I have quite a vivid memory of my first few stitches: Mum was sitting in a chair, and I stood with my back to her on our porch overlooking the Delaware River. She had her arms around me, guiding my hands and repeating the moves for each stitch, “in, over, under, off.” Just as she had been taught by her mother.…

The main stitch of Kalotaszeg írásos is known as the open chain, and it creates a wide line of ladderlike stitches. Each looping stitch overlaps the previous one. Írásos differs from the basic chain stitch in that the needle and thread pass through two points in the fabric rather than one. The stitched lines of the open chain are called zsinor in Hungarian, which translates as “cord.” MATERIALS ♦ Sportweight cotton yam in red, blue, black, or white (see designer’s notes below) ♦ Short darning needle ♦ Mid- to heavyweight linen fabric (approximately 7 oz/198 g) ♦ Water-soluble or heat-sensitive pen ♦ Ruler Designer’s notes: I have used heavier, looser-weave linen in my photos in the instructions. The embroidery thread DMC Article 89 Matte Cotton (Retors Mat), 100% long-fiber cotton,…

While there’s never an end to my penchant for Victorian lace, I have had my head turned as well by the gorgeous nature-themed doilies of Herbert Niebling. I grew up with crocheted pineapple doilies that my grandmother created until well after her sight had let her down. Even though I do love the intricate patterns of doilies of all kinds, I’m most in love with the knitted ones. Herbert Niebling was born in Averlak, Germany, in 1903 and was a knitting master who knitted himself stockings at the age of six. A gifted boy, he was sent to study at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts) in Hamburg. His lace knitting patterns, many of which are doilies of breathtaking beauty and intricacy, are beloved by knitters all over the…

In this excerpt from her memoir Threads of Awaketiing: An American Woman’s Journey into Tibet’s Sacred Textile Art, Leslie RinchenWongmo shares the beginning of a journey that took her from novice to leader in the creation of thangka, or Tibetan appliqué. —Editor DHARAMSALA, INDIA — 1993 I squeezed into my place at the low table that filled one end of the large workshop, its surface covered by a threadbare white tablecloth. Wool mats wrapped in blue cotton softened the floor on three sides. These meager cushions would make long hours of sitting on concrete tolerable. Sunlight streamed in from windows that dominated two of the walls from waist height to ceiling. The third wall was inset with shallow shelves. A boom box sat on one shelf, beneath a photo of…

Ann Macbeth (1875-1945) was a preeminent needlework artist in the Glasgow Style (1885-1917), which was an avant-garde design ethos influenced by the Arts and Crafts and the Art Nouveau movements that emphasized a return to natural forms and individual handwork. Renowned for her embroidery, Macbeth also left an enduring legacy as the author of innovative teaching methodologies and instructional manuals for needlework and other crafts. Born on September 25, 1875, in Bolton, England, Macbeth was the eldest of nine children of Norman Macbeth, a Scottish mechanical engineer, and his wife Annie MacNicol. As a result of a childhood bout with scarlet fever, Macbeth had the use of only one eye. Her paternal uncles included the watercolorist Robert Walker Macbeth (1848-1910) and the painter and printmaker Henry Macbeth-Raeburn (1860-1947); her paternal…

Imagine yourself living on a merchant marine ship for two to three months at a time in the mid-to-late 1800s. Your space is limited, but your time is plentiful. Perhaps, anticipating your time in a port city or at social gatherings when you return home, your mind turns to fanciful objects: elegant dresses, embellished stockings, dainty gloves. A project with many fine details is a perfect way to while away the hours and to feel a sense of accomplishment at the end. Although few of us have that kind of time today, it is still wonderful to be able to learn about the techniques and materials that were in use and to be able to translate them into a manageable twenty-first-century design. The staff at the Penobscot Marine Museum recognized…

It’s easy to take the brilliance of the modern knitting pattern for granted. We can find books full of them at local bookstores and libraries. Yarn stores display tempting patterns alongside suitable yarns. Hundreds of thousands of them—free and for purchase— are scattered across the internet. Regardless of where we found them or who wrote them, we expect English-language knitting patterns to use standard abbreviations and chart symbols. We also can expect certain niceties, such as photos of the finished object, the knowledge that the pattern has been tested, and the recommended needle size. Many designers include contact information in case the knitter needs clarification or spots an error. Surprisingly, these standards are recent developments in knitting history. IN THEIR OWN TERMS The earliest-known English-language knitting pattern was published in…

100 Crochet Tiles: Charts and Patterns for Crochet Motifs Inspired by Decorative Tiles Sarah Callard, editor Exeter, UK: David & Charles, 2022. Paperback, 176 pages, $25. ISBN 9781446308950. English Paper Piecing Workshop: 18 EPP Projects for Beginners and Beyond Jenny Jackson Exeter, UK: David & Charles, 2022. Paperback, 128 pages, $25. ISBN 9781446309049. Lovely Little Embroideries: 19 Dimensional Flower Bouquet Designs for Hand Stitching Beth Stackhouse Mount Joy, PA: Landauer Publishing, 2022. Paperback, 128 pages, $25. ISBN 9781947163775. Painting with Wool: 16 Artful Projects to Needle Felt Dani Ives New York: Abrams, 2019. Hardcover, 144 pages, $25. ISBN 9781419734441. Our Maker Life: Knit and Crochet Patterns, Inspiration, and Tales from the Creative Community Our Maker Life and Jewell Washington New York: Abrams, 2021. Hardcover, 176 pages, $25. ISBN 9781419747137.…