PieceWork Back Issue

Norway’s Embroidered Bunader
More than 400 regional communities in Norway have developed bunader, distinctive attire worn solely on festive occasions. Symbols of both regional and national identity, bunader commonly feature elaborate embroidery on their bodices, skirts, shirts, aprons, and caps.
By Ann Schmiesing

Taste, Art, and Design in Great Britain from l500 to l900
The recently renovated British Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London chronicle the aesthetic history of Great Britain between l500 and l900. Fifteen galleries contain some 3,000 objects, including clothing and textiles ranging from a circa l590 blackwork smock to nineteenth-century designs for wallpaper and textiles by William Morris.
By Deborah Pulliam

A Wedding Dress from a Parachute
In Holland during the summer of l945, Wilhelmina Vanden Berg and Bill van Niekerk were planning their wedding, but finding fabric for a wedding dress was nearly impossible because of the terrible shortages resulting from World War II. A few months before the wedding, an American Liberator bomber crash-landed near Bill’s village, and a parachute pack left behind by one of the crew furnished the silk fabric that Wilhelmina used to make her wedding dress, underwear for Bill, and a christening dress for their first child.
By David Bly

Reflections on Little Girls and Their Sewing for Dolls
In this second article based on the exhibition “Reflections: Fashion, Dolls, and the Art of Growing Up” at the American Textile History Museum, Lowell, Massachusetts, curators Deborah Kraak and Barbara Abrams explore how sewing for dolls taught nineteenth-century girls skills they would rely on as adults.
By Deborah E. Kraak and Barbara C. Abrams

Things to Make

A Lion Motif to Quilt
This whimsical lion, presented on the lid of a Shaker box and quilted with a back-stitch variation to enhance detail, was adapted by Meg Grossman from a motif on Sarah Halsey’s petticoat.

A Gentleman’s Waistcoat to Crochet
This double-breasted crocheted vest, adapted from Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 2, is as fashionable today as it was in the late nineteenth century. Designer Bart Elwell has combined two solid-colored yarns to create the
vest’s variegated colors.

A Swiss Collar to Knit
Many of the traditional costumes of Swiss immigrants include a knitted lace scarf worn as a collar over a bodice. This knitted collar, inspired by one found in the Swiss Village Museum in New Glarus, Wisconsin, was adapted from a collar published in Folk Vests, by Cheryl Oberle (Loveland, Colorado: Interweave Press, 2002).

Stitch in Time
The Feather Stitch
Deanna Hall West

A Quaker Motif Needle Holder to Cross-Stitch
A practical accessory for any stitcher, this petite needle holder with a butterfly motif common to Quaker samplers features a beaded edging, five square areas for organizing needles, and a pocket for needle packets. Designed and stitched by Deanna Hall West.

A Button Brooch to Bead
Though adapted to accommodate today’s materials, this dazzling netted beadwork brooch remains faithful to the late nineteenth-century pattern and techniques of the original design from Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 4. This is the first in a series of projects adapted from the Weldon’s series by Mary Polityka Bush.

A Floral Band Sampler to Stitch
Crafted in the style of English band samplers from the seventeenth century, this sampler designed by Kandace Thomas and stitched by Deanna Hall West with silk thread on linen, features eight stitches, a variety of floral and geometrical motifs, and three alphabets.