Table of contents for Fall 2023 in PieceWork

Originally published in Piecework May/June 2012 and re-created for this issue by Katrina King MATERIALS ♦ DMC Special Dentelles, size 80 (100% cotton), 106 yd (97 m)/0.17 oz (5 g) ball: 1 ball of B5200 white ♦ Kreinik Very Fine #4 Braid (metallic thread), 12 yd (11 m)/spool: 1 spool each of #002 Gold and #023 Lilac ♦ Tatting shuttle ♦ Blank greeting card: 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) ♦ Sharp needle (to weave in ends/sew motif to card—optional) ♦ Matching sewing thread (optional) ♦ Acid-free craft glue (optional) ABBREVIATIONS R: ring Ch: chain RW: reverse work ST: shuttle thread BT: ball thread +: join - (minus sign): picot — (double minus sign): long picot Lock-join: Join a chain to a picot using the shuttle thread of the…

"Put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious gold," wrote William Shakespeare, and for many years, textile artists and makers have been doing just that. Today, metallic fibers are easy to find-from novelty yarns to carry-along threads to sock yarns with shimmer. But when and where were the first metallic fibers used? How are metallics made today? ANCIENT ORIGINS While you may think of metallic yams as a relatively modern product, archaeologists tell us that fine metals such as gold, silver, and copper have been used in textiles for centuries. The book of Exodus in the Old Testament even describes how these first metal “threads” were made: “And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it… in the fine linen, with cunning…

Louisa May Alcott—it’s as if she is so large a figure, you cannot help but say all three names. She continues to be a person of interest to academics studying American literature, women’s studies, and even gender issues. Those who enjoyed reading Little Women (186869) and Jo’s Boys (1886) as children can now read Alcott’s more recently discovered works, which include thrillers and gothic novels. Perhaps this is why we are fascinated. Louisa May Alcott remains multifaceted, an enigma, and someone to whom many people can relate. For me, she represents the two sides of many a project, be it embroidery, sewing, knitting, or needlepoint. The “right” side is neat, and the “wrong” side shows the knots and long threads, rather like life itself. STITCHING AND PRACTICALITY Alcott grew up…

Stumpwork and goldwork combine in this pretty design of pale pink cherry blossom, with detached petals, and a tiny ladybird with raised detached wings. Inspired by a family crest of a stylized cherry blossom flower, buds and leaves, this embroidery is worked with silk and metal threads, beads and spangles on an ivory silk background. CHERRY BLOSSOM (SAKURA) The flowering cherry, sakura, originally found growing wild in the mountains in Japan, has been cultivated and hybridized over many centuries, assuming pride of place as the flower most beloved by the Japanese. So anticipated is the brief blooming period of these flowers, that, from the eighth century through to the present day, blossom viewing celebrations, honami, featuring food, drink, poetry and music, are held to admire the flowers and to socialize.…

The Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) is obsessed with one metal: gold. In addition to its prevalence in the jewelry market, zari (golden thread) has been used extensively in textiles and garments for centuries, to add richness and elegance. Shyam Sundar Jaiswal, a maker of zari in Benares (Benares/Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh is considered a mecca for weaving), says, “I am the fifth generation in this family business, and my son, the sixth generation, is already involved, and the seventh generation is getting ready: my grandson is studying designing in Delhi. The reason gold has enjoyed such enduring popularity in apparel and textiles has to do with the properties of gold.” According to Jaiswal, “gold is used extensively in Ayurveda for its medicinal properties. It is believed that wearing…

Behind the beautiful construction of this silk embroidery are many mysteries waiting to be solved. When it was originally gifted to the Delaware Art Museum, the staff identified it as a European object. However, when conservators unframed the embroidery, they found Japanese papers woven behind the threads into the wooden supports. With both European and Japanese elements, this embroidery represents a multinational yarn, tying together critical craft histories and twentieth-century international politics. A CONSERVATOR'S EYE The unfolding mystery of this work required a closer look and specialized knowledge. In a collaborative exchange, the Delaware Art Museum gave this piece to the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library Collection to bring it into closer conversation with similar objects. Once again, conservators unframed the object, which revealed the splintering wooden frame and yellowing,…

Visitors to the Vanderbilt summer home known as “The Breakers” in Newport, Rhode Island, can find themselves easily overwhelmed by its monumental size, opulent furnishings, and artworks. Constructed between 1893 and 1895, The Breakers was the final project of renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt (1827-95). Cornelius Vanderbilt II (b. 1843) commissioned the house but sadly did not enjoy it very long before his death in 1899. The massive structure serves as a prime example of the Renaissance Revival style that emerged in the late nineteenth century, and like other mansions that the “old” and “new” money families of New York society commissioned on Fifth Avenue, in Newport, and elsewhere, The Breakers took inspiration from historic European structures dating to multiple time periods. While established knickerbocker families, such as the Astors,…

Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts, is where Louisa May Alcott wrote and set Little Women in 1868. Surrounded in every room by the Alcott family’s actual furnishings and belongings, visitors often say they feel a sense of joy and that walking through the house is like walking through the book. The AlcattS were known for their generosity. In Little Women, the fictional March sisters give away to a poor family their much anticipated onee-a-year breakfast feast. In fact, the Alcott sisters had done this very thing. Throughout the pages of Little Women, Jo and the March sisters knit for the soldiers—almost certainly something the Alcotts would have done. Orchard House is full of displays showing actual needlework done by the Alcotts. It is easy to see that stitching provided the…

The Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century, with all its opulence, propriety, and extravagant wealth set against deep poverty and an immutable class system, comes to life in the writing of Edith Wharton. Novels such as The House of Mirth (1905) and The Age of Innocence (1920) delineate the manners, mores, and fashions of the privileged of old New York in poignant detail. Because her powers of observation were so keen, Wharton often notes that her less flamboyant women characters engaged in needlecrafts, as many women of those times would. Adeline Archer and her tepid daughter Janey, living at the pinnacle of society in The Age of Innocence, are never without their embroidery projects for an evening at home. Silk fire screens and dainty doilies, no doubt. It’s what…

Tell us about your duties and work at the Kent State University Museum. I am the curator, and I organize exhibitions at the museum. The collection is primarily focused on fashion and textiles so they are the subject of my exhibitions. I generally organize two exhibitions per year. The themes have ranged from contemporary fashion in South Africa to European folk dress to fashion during World War I. Most of the exhibitions draw from the KSU Museum’s permanent collection. Along with selecting items for the exhibitions, I research pieces in the collection, photograph and mount them for display, and oversee their conservation. I also screen and review offers, as many of the pieces in our collection have been acquired through donation. Occasionally, we will make purchases of items if we…