Tabla de contenidos para November - December 2017 en PieceWork

The entities on the list below have outstanding needlework and costume collections. For many, these items frequently are on display; otherwise, they generally are accessible via appointment for study; almost all have images of objects online. The list is not definitive by any means; see below to learn how you can help us with our master list. • Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado; (970) 491-1983; www.avenir.colostate.edu • The Charleston Museum Charleston, South Carolina; (843) 722-2996; www.charlestonmuseum.org • Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum New York, New York; (212) 849-2950; www.cooperhewitt.org • de Young Museum San Francisco, California; (415) 750-3600; www.deyoung.famsf.org • Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, Wisconsin; (608) 262-1162; www.sohe.wisc.edu/research-development/centers-of-excellence/cdmc/textile-collection • Henry Art Gallery Seattle, Washington; (206) 543-2280; www.henryart.org •…

I was digging through the bins at a special textile sale at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Madison, Wisconsin, and found myself overwhelmed by the hundreds and hundreds of handmade doilies selling for no more than a dollar apiece. They were jumbled together in a massive pile; clearly, they were not highly valued. I kept thinking that this store was just one among many in one city; how many were there, then, in the state, the country, and beyond? Why is it that so many doilies were made in decades past and that they have almost become throwaway items now? I had encountered other stories of how expendable they now seem: an antiques dealer claiming she didn’t carry them because she couldn’t make any money on their…

One thing that piqued my interest in Victorian knitting early on was the pence jug. The anonymous author of A Guide for Knitting, Netting and Crochet describes its pence jug as “one of the very prettiest and most useful inventions to be classed under Knitting. The vase-like form, the minuteness, the convenience are all fitted to render it worthy of favouritism.” These little knitted jugs are generally about 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) high, often knitted in the round in two colors, in stripes, using fine yarn and fine needles. Several nineteenth-century knitting books have instructions for at least one jug, and a few appear in museums and other collections, such as in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and in the United Kingdom’s Knitting and…

Seventeenth-century leather and gold bobbin lace gauntlet gloves now in the collection of the Fashion Museum in Bath, England, and featured in the preceding article inspired Vicki Square’s modern interpretation. These exquisite knitted and embroidered gloves will be the talk of the town. Difficulty Level Yarn Weight Finished Size 7" hand circumference and 8" long from wrist to fingertip; gauntlet measures about 6½ " from wrist. Yarn Cloudborn Baby Alpaca Fingering (100% baby alpaca; 201 yd [184 m]/1¾ oz [50 g]): #21-104 cerulean heather (light blue; MC), 2 skeins; #21-108 midnight heather (dark blue; CC1) and #21-006 silver heather (gray; CC2), 1 skein each. Yarn distributed by Craftsy.com. Needles Size 1 (2.25 mm): straight and set of double-pointed (dpn). Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain the correct gauge. Notions…

1. Smooth Threading Even the thickest floss, thread, and yarn will slide smoothly through the eye of your needle with the help of Clover’s Embroidery Threader. The all-new design features a flat tip that will effortlessly thread embroidery needles so you can focus on stitching without frustration. www.clover-usa.com. 2. Charming Bobbins Laser-cut from birch ply, Chicken and Fish Embroidery Floss Bobbins from Kira Nichols provide a whimsical departure from ordinary plain plastic or cardboard floss bobbins. Each bobbin holds a standard-sized skein of embroidery floss to help keep your stitching supplies neat and organized. www.etsy.com/shop/kiranichols. 3. Old-World Lace Made from 100% European flax, spun in Latvia and Lithuania, Baltic Linen Designs’ Linen Lace yarn will add an air of old-world elegance to any project. Choose from a palette of 140…

To celebrate the doily, we asked Daniela Nii to design a doily with a pineapple motif. Here’s her beautiful contribution. —Editor Difficulty Level Finished Size 8¼ " diameter. Yarn Lizbeth Thread Size 40 (distributed by Handy Hands) (100% Egyptian cotton, 6-cord cordonnet; 300 yd [274 m]/¾ oz [25 g]): #646 purple iris lt, 1 ball. Hook Size 11/1.1 mm steel hook. Adjust hook size if necessary to obtain correct gauge. Notions Yarn needle. Gauge Flower center (Rnds 1–6) = 2½ " in diameter. See page 62 for Abbreviations and Techniques. NOTES • When working in a cluster V-stitch, work in the chain-3 space of indicated stitch unless otherwise stated. STITCH GUIDE V-stitch (V-st): (Dc, ch 3, dc) in indicated st. Cluster V-stitch (cl V-st): (Dc2tog, ch 3, dc2tog) in indicated…

The pattern I chose to adapt for this project is from a booklet published in the early 1920s titled Hats, Caps & Tams. This tam o’shanter has a band of stranded knitting around the headband and another around the widest part of the tam. The tam is slightly quirky in modern terms—for both its color combination and its tassel on a chain that runs from the center of the crown. The booklet was produced by J. & J. Baldwin & Partners, a spinning company in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. In 1920, the company merged with John Paton, Son & Co. Ltd., of Alloa, Scotland, to form Patons & Baldwins. Both companies were already long-established, with J. & J. Baldwin, founded in 1785, the older company. The company that resulted from…

The project that follows is a generic pence jug, one that draws upon several pence-jug patterns to give the knitter an introduction to creating a jug. I have included mirrored decreases, which the Victorians rarely used. The initial part of the spout is decreased on alternate sides, on alternate rounds, as occurs in some patterns. I used fine 1.5 mm/U.S. 000 needles. I chose Caron Collection Impressions thread, both because the threads in the collection come in such wonderful shades and because the thread is smooth, and thus easy to see and to work with. Appletons crewel wool would be closer to the original German wool, and would work well with the 1.5 mm needles. Working with the fine yarn and needles is not difficult, but may take some practice.…

One definition of “collection” is “an assembly of items such as works of art, pieces of writing, or natural objects, especially one systematically ordered.” I have never thought of myself as a collector, but when I look around my work space and my home, I realistically fall into the definition of one: “a person who collects things of a specified type, professionally or as a hobby.” I love baskets and have quite a collection of them; I have collected postcards from my travels for many years. And one day, about twenty years ago, I discovered that I had a collection of handknitted Estonian lace shawls and scarves. I hadn’t planned on it, but there it was. (In the “lace language” of Estonia, a scarf is a square or triangle; a…

Whenever I serve tea, whether just for myself or for friends, I always have a tea cozy on hand to cover the pot so the tea will stay warm. Some of the cozies cover the pot entirely, while others have openings at the sides for the spout and handle. Those with openings are more convenient, but the all-covering ones hold in the heat longer. An extra benefit for the crafter who likes tea is that cozies don’t take long to make, and they provide a fun way to experiment with yarns, patterns, and techniques. Making a cozy is also a good way to develop skills at sizing and shaping. I adapted the large flower, leaf, and vine motifs from several versions of a cross-stitch pattern. Charts from 1523 and 1882…

beg—begin(s); beginning BO—bind off CC—contrasting color ch—chain cir—circular cn—cable needle CO—cast on cont—continue(s); continuing dc—double crochet dc3tog—double crochet 3 stitches together dec(s) (’d)—decrease(s); decreased; decreasing dpn—double-pointed needle(s) fsc—foundation single crochet foll—follow(s); following hdc—half double crochet inc(s) (’d)—increase(s); increased; increasing k—knit k1b—knit 1 in back of stitch k1f&b—knit into the front and back of the same stitch—1 stitch increased k2b—knit 2 in back of next 2 stitches kwise—knitwise; as if to knit k2tog—knit 2 stitches together k3tog—knit 3 stitches together k5tog—knit 5 stitches together LLI—insert left needle into back of the stitch below stitch just knitted, knit this stitch lp(s)—loop(s) m(s)—marker(s) MC—main color M1—make one (increase) M1k—increase 1 by knitting into the front and then the back of the same stitch before slipping it off the left-hand needle M1p—increase 1 by…

EXHIBITIONS Berkeley, California: November 3, 2017–September 29, 2018. Restoring Likeness, at Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles. (510) 843-7290; www.lacismuseum.org. Fort Collins, Colorado: Through December 15. Fashioned by Faculty, The Allure of the Moroccan Caftan, and Cover Up!, at the Avenir Museum, Colorado State University. (970) 491-1983; www.avenir.colostate.edu. Tequesta, Florida: November 2–December 9. Elegant Threads: Wearable Art & Surface Design, at the Lighthouse ArtCenter Gallery. (561) 746-3101; www.lighthousearts.org. Lincoln, Nebraska: Through December 16. Sacred Scraps: Quilts and Patchwork Traditions of Central Asia, at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. (402) 472-6549; www.quiltstudy.org. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Through January 21, 2018. Quilts of Southwest China, at the Museum of International Folk Art. (505) 476-1200; www.moifa.org. New York, New York: November 3, 2017–March 18, 2018. Veiled Meanings: Fashioning…

Early British steel crochet hooks were manufactured from steel wire using the same methods and in the same workshops as sewing needles. They differed from sewing needles only by having one side of the eye removed to make a hook. Although interchangeably called “crochet hooks” or “crochet needles,” the term “crochet hook” typically referred to the tool when mounted in a handle. Note: In this article, I generally will use the term “hook,” although you will also see “needle,” especially in text references from the time (e.g., in patents). Needle making in England was centered around the town of Redditch in Worcestershire, and it extended in about a 10-mile (16 km) radius. In 1847, when the first British patents for the hooks were issued, it was a cottage industry; individual…

Handknitting in the hills and dales of England’s northern counties, including Cumberland, Westmorland, Durham, and Yorkshire, evolved from a domestic activity to an industrial-production level. In Elizabethan times (1558 to 1603), knitting schools were established in towns and cities—for example, in York and Lincoln—to teach poor children the skill and thus enable them to earn their keep. The demand for knitted stockings began at the royal court, first as luxury items of silk. However, that demand soon spread and moved down the social scale, as all classes of people began to wear knitted hose, mostly made of worsted yarn (wool), and much more comfortable than the cloth hose of previous centuries. Over the following decades, entrepreneurs, or middle men, known as “hosiers,” traveled around the towns, villages, and scattered farmsteads…

This lacy scarf was inspired by a shawl from my Estonian lace collection. In looking through my collection to choose scarves and shawls to illustrate the accompanying article, I discovered two shawls with the Lily of the Valley on a Leaf pattern, a pattern that was not familiar to me. The two shawls’ patterns differ a little, which intrigued me. I love the Lily of the Valley patterns from Haapsalu and the actual Lilies of the Valley in my garden. As it happens, they are blooming as I write this, and I have a bouquet on my desk for company. The lace pattern is made up of familiar lace techniques with the addition of the classic Estonian nupp (“button,” “bud,” or “knob”) to create the lily flowers. The scarf is…

The route to the Lacis Museum of Lace & Textiles begins at Point Pelee National Park in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, where two young people met one fine day in 1954. They fell in love, and, on February 29, 1955, they married. Later that same year, the newlyweds—Kaethe and Jules Kliot—moved to California to begin what would become an extraordinary life together. Their chance meeting must have been written in the stars because they were born thousands of miles and an ocean apart. Jules was born on January 30, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York, to Nat and Lee Kliot. Valedictorian of his class at the Brooklyn Technical High School, Jules went on to study for a year at The Cooper Union. Charged with an independent spirit and determined to become an…

“It’s the spirit behind the traditional appliqué that I want to be a witness to, I am driven by a mission. We are losing the memory of another thing we cannot afford to lose.”—Nell Battle Booker Sonnemann, letter to a friend, April 16, 1986 In 1973, as Nell Battle Booker Sonnemann was on sabbatical from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., she was seeking information about appliqué traditions in developing countries. During her research, she was dismayed at the lack of information at museums and in books. She sensed an urgent need for a comprehensive comparative study on current appliqué techniques before they disappeared because of industrialization. This study was to become her mission, even though she was already in her fifties, had lung disease, didn’t like to…