PieceWork Back Issue

Sailors’ Yarns: Nineteenth-Century Shipboard Needlework
Pants embroidered with “tattoos” and stitched representations of ships are part of the needlework legacy of nineteenth-century sailors that is now in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts. Michelle Tolini

The San Giovanni Embroideries: Jewels of the Quattrocento
Fifteenth-century Italy saw a surge in artistic activity that has never been equaled. Not only painters and sculptors but also master embroiderers produced great works during the period. Twenty-seven embroideries based on the life of Saint John the Baptist and designed principally or wholly by Antonio Pollaiuolo are among the surviving treasures of the Quattrocento.
Eniko Farkas

The Crafts of Jack Tar
Sewing, carpentry, carving, and other skills necessary for survival at sea were translated into handcrafts during a sailor’s leisure time.
Excerpted from Marine Art & Antiques: Jack Tar, A Sailor’s Life 1750Ð1910. J. Welles Henderson and Rodney P. Carlisle

Zardozi, India’s Metal Thread Embroidery
The introduction of metal-thread embroidery to India by Muslim artisans in the twelfth century led to the establishment of one of India’s most enduring craft traditions. For centuries, men working in workshops used gold threads to embellish textiles for India’s nobility.
Brinda Gill

Embroidered Coats and Vests of Slovakia
Since the thirteenth century, generations of men in Slovakia have adorned handcrafted coats and vests with elaborate motifs worked in leather appliqué and embroidery. This tradition is still alive and well in at least one Slovak village.
Helene Baine Cincebeaux

Medieval Manuscript Sampler
Before the advent of the printing press, monks as well as laymen spent hours embellishing manuscripts with elaborate letters and illustrations. Besides being beautiful, illuminated Bibles in churches helped illiterate churchgoers to understand the stories. The author stitched a cross-stitch sampler containing elements adapted from illuminated medieval manuscripts.
Jade Starmore

Uncle Charlie’s Apron
A souvenir apron adorned with naval emblems and motifs recalls a favorite uncle’s naval career.
Mary Polityka Bush

A Collection of Rug-Hooking Tools
The activity of pulling loops of fiber through a ground fabric to create a rug has spurred the invention of hundreds of tools and gadgets to make the work go faster and the stitches more uniform. The author has amassed an assortment of rug-hooking tools that run the gamut from simple to complex.
Barbara A. Benner

Things to Make

Coral Clouds to Needlepoint
Stephen Beal captures the colors of the sun rising over a body of water by blending shades of embroidery floss. Designed and stitched by Stephen Beal.

A Star Design to Embroider
The embroidered motif on this beret, designed and stitched by Dorothy T. Ratigan, was inspired by the stars that many nineteenth-century sailors stitched on hats, bags, and other personal belongings.

An Eyeglass Case to Appliqué and Embroider
Mary B. Kelly’s appliquéd and embroidered eyeglass case incorporates the “wolves’ teeth” and “tree-of-life” motifs commonly found on Slovak vests.

Medieval Manuscript Sampler
The chart for Jade Starmore’s cross-stitch sampler is presented here.

A Portrait Frame to Cross-Stitch
Five decorative stitches executed in red, white, and blue silk on perforated paper embellish this frame with the spirit of the Stars and Stripes. Designed and stitched by Mary Polityka Bush.