Table of contents for Winter 2024 in PieceWork

When Dr. Edith Borroff offered to donate textiles made by her greatgrandmother Karen Knudsen to Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa, she struggled to say more about one of the items. “The miniature shirt is of such incredible workmanship that it is hard to describe it,” she wrote. Actually, Borroff described the textile quite well. It is a miniature man's shirt, and the workmanship is incredibly fine with careful handstitching and tiny pleats and gathers. Vesterheim has three miniature shirts. They were not for dolls or infants or made as curiosities or souvenirs. They were the culmination of formal sewing education for girls in Norway in the mid-nineteenth century. TEXTILE INSTRUCTION FOR GIRLS Many girls learned sewing and other skills for creating and caring for textiles at home. Some city…

The granny square is a ubiquitous and instantly recognizable craft staple. Aside from its featured role as a building block of beloved blankets, it also appears in props and costumes on TV shows, in magazines, and even on the runway in fashion shows. This crochet mainstay has been around since the late 1800s. A pattern for the granny square was discovered in an 1885 edition of Prairie Farmer, a weekly newspaper published in Illinois; Weldon's Practical Needlework (1897) also contains a few pattern variations of the granny. According to Nicole Gustas, she found the first granny square and learned its origin story (PieceWork, October 2, 2023). This pattern was designed by a Mrs. Phelps (no first name given) and published as part of an afghan found in the Prairie Farmer…

Textile button making in England has a long history. As early as the sixteenth century, documents show that silkwomen of medieval London and makers in other areas were supplying buttons to their customers. By the nineteenth century, making “needlewrought” buttons was a well-established profession for women and children. Although they were employed in a trade similar to that of the Dorset button industry (which, of course, also required the use of needles), the methods and materials of those workers in Cheshire, Staffordshire, and London were different. Needlewrought or needlework buttons today usually refers to covered buttons that are adorned with threads as a surface decoration. These embellishments are made with stitches similar to the stitches used to create needle-made lace, and similarly, the needle pierces the surface covering only to…

Mary Ann Wandell (1944-2022) was an accomplished fiber artist who practiced her craft in an unusual combination of places. Her marriage to James Wandell, a National Security Agency intelligence officer, sent them first to the United Kingdom, followed thereafter by deployment to Japan and Korea, where she learned to speak and read Japanese and Korean and worked for the US Army in Korea and at Tamagawa University in Japan. Fascinated by the Japanese traditional Kimekomi dolls, she undertook formal studies at the Mataro Doll Institute in Tokyo and progressed to the level of Licensed Instructor. American dolls belonging to family members and friends received careful repairs and new clothing thanks to Mary Ann's skills. Even though their deployments took the Wandells abroad and back to the United States, Mary Ann…

1 A Soft Landing Keep those pins tamed with this adorable felt hedgehog pincushion from Yarn Barn of Kansas. Measuring 4 inches long by 2 inches high by 1.5 inches deep, it is just the right size to keep your pins in place at the sewing table. yarnbarn-ks.com 2 Happy Colors Perk up your colorwork with a rainbow from Little Squirrel Yarn. The mini acorn skeins weigh 20 grams and contain 87 yards of 75% fine superwash merino wool and 25% recycled nylon. Handdyed in small batches and available in over 50 colors (Raspberry Jam and Darling shown here), they are just the right size for small projects or to add a splash of color. littlesquirrelyarn.com 3 A Quick Snip Scissors are a constant need in any crafter's tool kit.…

Only Yoking Top-Down Knitting Patterns for 12 Seamless Yoke Sweaters Olga Putano Exeter, UK: David & Charles, 2023. Paperback, 128 pages, $24.99. ISBN 9781446309469. 100 Micro Amigurumi Crochet Patterns and Charts for Tiny Amigurumi Steffi Glaves Exeter, UK: David & Charles, 2023. Paperback, 128 pages, $24.99. ISBN 9781446309704. Sewing Rolls, Needle Rolls and Huswifs 150 Years of History and Tradition Dawn Cook Ronningen Self-published, 2022. Paperback, 235 pages, $55. ISBN 979218053345. Mini Amigurumi Animals 26 Tiny Creatures to Crochet Sarah Abbondio Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK: Search Press, 2020. Hardcover, 48 pages, $11.95. ISBN 9781782219163. 50 Makes for Modern Miniatures Decorate and Furnish Your DIY Doll House Chelsea Andersson Exeter, UK: David & Charles, 2023. Paperback, 128 pages, $24.99. ISBN 9781446309940. Peter Panda and Pals 10 Sweet and Easy Amigurumi Designs…

I love the small pattern repeats commonly found in vintage Maine knits, most often seen on mittens and socks. These motifs are also popular across the border in the maritime provinces of Canada. The double layers of stranded colorwork provide extra insulation for warmth, and the rhythmic repeats delight the knitter. For the sock design, I've chosen three of my favorite six-stitch motifs for the leg and foot and used the durable two-stitch Salt and Pepper pattern for the heels and toes. This combination, rendered in three colors, showcases a mix of traditional motifs and contemporary design. These patterns are not exclusive to the North Atlantic region of the Americas but can be found worldwide. The names I have used are based on those cataloged by Robin Hansen of Maine…

Who can resist pansies and rosebuds? This petit point piece in my collection, still in its original small round frame, is from Victoria, British Columbia. It is autographed on the back mounting paper by the stitcher, Ev Tyrrell. The piece is undated but typical of the 1930 to 1940 era. A piece like this was often given as a gift of friendship. Referencing the Victorian language of flowers, the pink rosebuds represent happiness, while the pansies represent thoughts (thinking of you). Petit point is a French noun that translates literally to “small point.” This delicate needlework technique was used to create or embellish decorative screens, purses, and small accessories. Historical examples are often found in pieces from England, France, and Austria, and the designs include flora, fauna, landscapes, and heraldry.…

When I was a child growing up at the Two Gray Hills trading post, I didn't really play with dolls. After all, we had lambs, baby goats, little looms to learn to weave on, and so much more. There were Navajo dolls made of cloth primarily for tourists, and if we had one of them, it sat on a shelf. My little sister, Lynda, had a blond doll from the store in town. I'm not sure we thought a brown doll dressed like us was even possible. In 1997, the Mattel company actually came out with a Navajo Barbie. She was brown, all right, and she had her hair pulled back into sort of a traditional tsiiyéél, a hair bun. She was dressed differently from the popular trendy Barbies, though…

Flying Geese quilt blocks originated in the United States and date back to the mid-1800s. A variety of methods exist for creating Flying Geese blocks. Finished Flying Geese blocks should be twice as wide as they are tall. I created this baby quilt for my new stepgranddaughter, recently born in May. My stepson is an avid photographer who has had numerous photographs of ducks and geese published in wildlife magazines and calendars, so this pattern was perfect for his baby daughter. MATERIALS ◆ Quilting cotton: • 6 fat quarters, 18" × 22" (45.7 × 55.9 cm): 1 dark, 1 medium, and 1 light piece in each of two color families for “geese” • White or cream, 1½ yd (137 cm) for background “sky” • Coordinating print, 1½ yd (137 cm)…

The charming Eloise Kruger Gallery of Miniatures is tucked away on the eighth floor of Oldfather Hall on the University of Nebraska's city campus in Lincoln, Nebraska. This new location for the expansive collection in the School of Global Integrative Studies (as of 2022) serves as archival-quality storage along with exhibit space. During the last couple of years, the gallery was constructed and the process of cataloging, photographing, and digitizing the more than 20,000 miniatures continued. Kruger, a lifetime Lincoln resident, began collecting miniatures in the 1930s. Passion for her hobby later developed into commissioning furniture, accessories, and textile pieces from well-known miniaturists and, in later years, also creating her own textile treasures. In 1997, shortly after her death, her complete miniature collection, almost entirely in 1:12 scale, along with…

This timeless chart by Eloise Kruger was adapted by Deanna Hall West in PieceWork September/ October 2009 for use as a cushion for a 1:12 scale chair (shown at right). Equally striking today, this versatile design of miniature bargello can be used for many projects, including handmade jewelry, miniature furniture, or the top of a decorative box. The original Eloise Kruger chair can be seen on page 69 of this issue. —Editor MATERIALS ◆ Kreinik Silk Gauze, 40-count (100% silk): 1 mat-framed piece with a 4" (10.2 ) square opening ◆ Kreinik Silk Mori, 6-strand floss (100% silk), 2.5 m (2¾ yd)/skein: 1 skein each of #2063 Light Pumpkin, #2066 Dark Pumpkin, #4076 Dark Dusty Green, #4077 Very Dark Dusty Green, #7126 Ecru, #7134 Medium Bark, and #7136 Dark Mocha…

They say that politics makes strange bedfellows, and in this case, a career in politics led to an interesting intersection with needlework. In the late 1920s, a businessman named Dwight Morrow was named ambassador to Mexico. Expectations for his success weren't high, but Morrow and his wife, Elizabeth Cutter Morrow, turned a tough post into a diplomatic triumph. Fascinated with Mexican culture, the Morrows assembled a stunning collection of Mexican art, from textiles to ceramics, paintings to furniture. A small but fascinating part of the collection highlights the intricately beaded bags dating from the nineteenth century. THE RISE OF THE RETICULE Whether you call them purses, bags, or reticules, decorative pouches for carrying little items have been made for centuries. We can thank the lack of pockets in women's clothing…

When Barbara Teller Ornelas decided to create a better wardrobe for Navajo Barbie, she chose to weave a highly valued traditional garment, the biil' éé (pronounced “beel aa”). This wool garment was typical women's wear among the Diné (the Navajo's name for themselves) before the Long Walk, in which the Navajo people were forcemarched by the United States government from their traditional lands in western New Mexico and Arizona to Bosque Redondo in eastern New Mexico. By the time they were able to return to some portions of their original lands in 1886, they were decimated and impoverished, and their hogans and livestock had been destroyed. Few women had any remnants of their traditional garb, so they adopted clothes that were provided by traders—velveteen blouses and cotton calico skirts. The…