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On the Cover:
Lily of the valley napkins
inspired by embroidery
from the island
of Madeira,
designed and embroidered
by Lisa Scholten.
Strawberry emery and
needlebook courtesy of
Loene McIntyre, Fort
Collins, Colorado.
Photograph by Joe Coca.
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Madeira’s Marghab
House of Embroidery
Embroidered linens in cutwork and three-dimensional textural designs
have been produced commercially on the island of Madeira since the
mid-nineteenth century. One of Madeira’s finest embroidery
houses was Marghab Linens, Ltd. The largest collection of Marghab
linens in the world is housed at the South Dakota Art Museum, Brookings,
South Dakota.
By Lisa Scholten
An Obsession with Excellence: The Needlework
of Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray
Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray, daughter of the seventh duke of Atholl,
was a remarkable needleworker and avid collector at the turn of
the twentieth century. In l936, she donated her collection of more
than l20 examples of needlework—more than half of them stitched
by her—to her former home, Blair Castle in Perthshire, Scotland,
where they may be viewed today.
By Sylvia Robertson
A Passion for Strawberries: A Profile of Anne
Wood Murray, Collector Extraordinaire
A collector of textiles and decorative arts with a particular affinity
for strawberry motifs, Anne Wood Murray began a long affiliation
with the Smithsonian National Museum in l937. She donated hundreds
of pieces of furniture, glass, ceramics, silver, costumes, bedcoverings,
samplers, needlework tools, printed textiles, and twentieth-century
household objects to the museum.
By Melodie Sweeney
The Art of Flowering: Nineteenth-Century Iroquois
Beadwork in the Collection of Old Sturbridge Village
During the middle and later decades of the nineteenth century, Iroquois
women made beaded souvenirs for tourists who came to see Niagara
Falls. They combined Native American style and Victorian excess
to create distinctive, strongly colored floral motifs. A wide variety
of these souvenirs are in the collection of Old Sturbridge Village
in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.
By Aimee E. Newell
Kate Fowler Merle-Smith: Visionary Textile Collector
In l974, the textile collector Kate Fowler Merle-Smith donated 2,500
examples of traditional folk costumes, embroidery, quilts, dress
fabrics, and other decorative arts dating from the third through
the twentieth centuries to the Allentown (Pennsylvania) Art Museum,
fulfilling her dream to establish a textile museum in which she
could share her collection with the public.
By Ruta T. Saliklis
Discovering Threadwork
Outstanding examples of historical threadwork await visitors to
smaller, out-of-the-way museums throughout the world. Here are a
few treasures you can see if you travel off the beaten path.
By Dolores B. Bausum
Things
to Make
Lily of the Valley Napkins
to Embroider
Lisa Scholten, curator of collections for the Marghab Gallery at
the South Dakota Art Museum, used traditional Madeiran embroidery
stitches to design these linen napkins inspired by the museum’s
Marghab linen collection.
Elegant Socks to Knit
A pair of stockings brought to the United States by a Norwegian
emigrant in the early nineteenth century and now in the collection
of the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa, served
as a model for these luxurious socks adapted and knitted
by Nancy Bush.
A Native American-Style Bag to Bead
The floral motif on this bag, designed and beaded by Meg Grossman,
emulates the distinctive style and technique that nineteenth-century
Iroquois women used to create their beaded souvenirs in western
New York State.
Stitch in Time
The Knitting Stitch
Deanna Hall West
A Lid for a Crystal Jar to Embroider
French knots and lazy daisy, stem, bullion, and detached chain stitches
are combined in this delicate embroidered floral garden designed
and stitched by Ellen Moore Johnson.
Scottish Sampler
Part Three
This is the third and final part of Donna Yuen’s adaptation
of Rachel Reid’s 1810 sampler. Parts one and two appeared in
the January/February 2002 issue. The whimsical “wee beasties”
shown on either side of the house may represent Reid family pets.
Stitched by Shirley Wilson.
A Music Box Top to Embroider
Personalize this white-on-white embroidery design made with silk
thread, fabric, and pearlescent beads by adding your initial to
the center of the artichoke motif embellished with fanciful botanical
details. Designed and stitched by Janet F. Noble.
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