Embroidery Old and New

As part of the ongoing process of sorting my late Mum's house and re-configuring mine, I've been having fun rescuing my collection of old magazines from the damp cellar. This is a slow process, involving the de-humidifier and a certain amount of mould removal (I'll spare you the details) but I'm making progress. As ever, I've got help from my trusty companion Tolly, seen here doing his best rectangle impersonation. 

These are the magazines I'm most excited about finding again ...

Does anyone else remember these? 'Needlecraft' magazine was published from the early 1990s for more than ten years and featured a wide range of needlecraft techniques. There was lots of cross stitch but also needlepoint, bobbin lace, stumpwork, embroidery ... and more. They had very good articles on the history of various forms of needlework too. The earliest issue I've got is number 4 which came out in October 1991and the latest one is Issue 63 from April 2004. I've been trying to find out when it ceased publication but with no luck so far. If anyone can help me with this, I'd be very grateful. It would be nice to fill in the gaps.

Anyway, while waiting for the latest batch to dry out, I fished out some of my old needlework magazines from the 1930s onwards to browse through.

Those yellow 'Good Needlework and Knitting' magazines from the 1930s are particularly nice. They were a somewhat eclectic mixture of embroidery, knitting and crochet with handy household hints and recipes thrown in for good measure. They also featured long, serial stories. Unlike craft magazines of today, patterns for the embroidery designs weren't included, instead you were given tips on working from selected transfers which you could then order.

I was looking at an issue from November 1937 the other day when my eye was caught by this picture on the front cover.

Unusually, this was a free gift in the form of a pre-printed handkerchief sachet, all ready to embroider with your own threads. Free transfers were often included with magazines of this date but I hadn't come across an actual item like this before. I'm rather fond of old handkerchief sachets, probably because I'm one of the few remaining people (according to my children) who still uses proper hankies. These are hard to find new nowadays but you can pick up lots of pretty ones from antique stalls quite cheaply; this is where most of mine have come from.

Somehow, this picture was ringing a faint bell and, after a quick look along a shelf on the middle landing, I realised why.

Knowing my love for old embroideries, my daughter bought me this one years ago and there it was, one of the original sachets, embroidered by a reader of the magazine more than eighty years ago. Here are the instructions from the magazine ...

As well as this sachet, readers got a free transfer for a companion piece called 'The Lily-Pool' so that the two designs could be stitched as complementary pictures.

You can see this second picture better here ...

Now, amongst the many craft-related things that I collect, are old embroidery transfers. So I thought it would be worth fishing them out to have a look through.

And look what I found - not one, but two copies of the original transfer given away with 'Good Needlework'.

Something tells me I shall have to embroider this one some day to stand alongside my other one. 

Anyway, back to the more modern magazines. There I was, browsing through the latest batch a few days later, when guess what I spotted in a magazine from 2003?

Does that embroidered picture on the right of the cover look familiar? That's right, it's the original design from the free gift in 1937.

The editor of 'Needledcraft' at the time, Debora Bradley, found an original picture like mine in the attic of her parents' house. It had been embroidered by her brother's Godmother, Beatrice Walker.  Here you can see her work.

'Needlecraft' commissioned a graduate of the Royal School of Needlework, Zoe Patching, to re-create the original design. Her pattern is very faithful to the original but uses paler shades and some beads to give added texture. Of course, the original stitchers would have used their own threads; exact shades were not specified as they would be now, just general guidelines for colours.

That's my embroidery on the left and Beatrice's on the right.

All this made me think it would be interesting to compare the two magazines, published 86 years apart.

Although both magazines have colourful front covers, the modern one is obviously much more colourful inside as you would expect. The other thing that first struck me was the adverts. There are lots of these in 'Good Needlework', reflecting the different pastimes of the day - everything from piano music ...

... to dance lessons.

There are also, of course, lots of needlework related adverts like the one on this page for linen to embroider. 

Although there where quite a lot of adverts in the early issues of 'Needlecraft', the advent of the internet and more subtle forms of advertising had drastically reduced their number by the new century. This 2003 issue had very few obvious adverts, most were hidden in short pieces about new kits and products. Advertising is much more subtle nowadays. There were, however, a few pages of small ads. These were quite wide ranging, including some for Patchwork fabrics as the popularity of American style Patchwork was already growing.

Interestingly though, there were still a few ads for linens which wouldn't have been out of place in a magazine from the thirties.

Sadly, it was something of a last hurrah though as Copeland Linens had closed earlier that year. I'm guessing that they were selling off their stock here. 

The two main publishers of embroidery transfers in the thirties were Deightons and William Briggs, both of whom had been in existence since Victorian times. Deightons is still going but now supplies painted needlepoint canvases painted to order. Briggs has ceased trading but you can pick up original transfers from both companies fairly cheaply online. You can also download the 1880 book of designs in which Briggs sought to patent the transfer technique in 1880. You can save the book as a pdf which enables you to print off pages and trace them with a Transfer Pencil, should you want to work any of the lovely designs. Dover Books are one of several publishers who produce books of embroidery transfers nowadays and many of their out of print titles are available secondhand. Try searching for iron on transfers or designs and you'll find lots of inspiration, both vintage and modern. One book that looks like a nice combination of the two is Lorna Bateman's 'Embroidered Country Gardens'.

Where was I? Oh yes, comparing the magazines. As the title shows, 'Good Needlework and Knitting' also featured knitting patterns, many of which are stylish and technically quite complicated. They assumed a high level of knitting knowledge in their readers.

I'm constantly amazed by how small the sizes are in old knitting patterns ... unless, of course, you were classified as a 'matron'.

She doesn't look best pleased, does she?

There are virtually no knitting patterns in my 'Needlework' patterns; indeed, several early issues contain complaints that there are no UK knitting magazines and wishes for a knitting revival. It's easy to forget that, not so many years ago, knitting was still considered a dying art.

Both 'Good Needlework' and 'Needlecraft' feature different types of needlework, although the older magazine has mostly embroidery and the newer one cross stitch. 

There's a cutwork table set in 'Good Needlework' ...

and some embroidered napkins and a tray cloth.

'Needlework' had a range of embroidery and cross stitch designs but also this pattern for a stumpwork sunflower ...

... and a patchwork teddy bear.

Interestingly, they had another design that harked back to the past with this picture in Berlin Woolwork which was very popular in Victorian times.

I think they had a bit of a historical theme with this issue as there was also an article on historical samplers.

Earlier issues of 'Needlecraft' had pages of technical tips and answers to letters, although I don't remember anyone ever worrying about their lingerie seams as one correspondent did in 'Good Needlework'.

'Good Needlework' also featured fashion pages which were normally in colour and pointed reader towards fashionable dressmaking patterns, including lots of lingerie designs.

There were also suggestions for children's clothes. I'm guessing that these frocks would have gone out of fashion very quickly with the advent of war against Germany.

To our modern eyes, the inclusion of a long serial story, taking up many pages seems a little out of place but many 1930s women would have relied on printed stories in magazines for a bit of escapism - very few would have had television and radio drama in the UK was rather high brow until after the war.

I have quite a lot of old embroideries around the house, some that I've bought and some worked by my Mum; I even have a firescreen embroidered by my Great Grandmother somewhere. Here's one they bought I few years ago from an antique shop in Honiton.

It was the last day of our holiday and, with four adults in a small car, I'd decreed that nobody was to buy anything else ... and then I saw this. Needless to say, it travelled home with us, squashed into the back with my passengers.

And here is the newest piece of needlework in my house - my finished Summer Sampler. Which, now I come to think of it, is a nice combination of new and old as samplers are such a traditional form of embroidery.

All that remains is to frame all four samplers and I shall be able to admire them in turn throughout the coming year. I've enjoyed working all of them but I think perhaps this one was my favourite. The colours are beautiful and there was such a lot of variety to keep it interesting.

The Ladder Chair

I spend a lot of time outdoors in the summer, regardless of the temperature. Unless it's actually raining, there I am. This is my favourite chair.

It's an old Ercol chair that I found in an Antique shop a few years ago. I like the way the varnish has worn on the arms over its years of use. The patchwork cushion is one made by my Mum when she first started quilting. Normally, this chair lives in the scullery but gets to move out on to the patio at this time of year.

Unfortunately, I'm not the only one who likes sitting in this chair ...

I put the chair out, go inside to fetch my cup of tea or my knitting and there's Tolly, fast asleep and pretending he's been there for hours and can't possibly be disturbed. Short of taking out another kitchen chair specially for him - and yes, I have been known to do that - what can I do? Then I had a brainwave ... the ladder chair.

This is a small, white child's chair that has been used by several generations, including my children. Here's their Uncle Peter sitting on it in about 1960. It seems to be two colours there.

And here's my son Jack some 29 years later ... look at that hair!

Sometimes the ladder chair could be shared with a special friend ...

Jack and Big Bear waiting for a biscuit

... or a little sister ... Here's Rose in 1993 - again, look at all that hair.

One more, this time with both of them in.

All these photos were taken at out old house in Peckham. Those big doors dividing the two downstairs rooms could be folded back against the walls to make one big room which was very handy for birthday parties.

I don't know who first called it the ladder chair but, as the name suggests, it came in very handy when they couldn't reach something. On one notable occasion Rose used it to reach her pig birthday cake which I'd left out on the side in the kitchen and pulled one of the pigs' bottoms off. You'll be glad to know I managed to stick it back on before the birthday tea.

Mum made a special cushion for the ladder chair with 'Jack' on one side and 'Rose' on the other.

Nowadays, the ladder chair lives in the kitchen with Red Raggy and the first teddy bear I made sitting on it. Oh, and an old toy dog seems to have joined them for this photo.

So, back to Tolly the cat who thinks he's a human. I had the bright idea of giving him a cat sized chair in the garden.

As you can see, it worked for a while but he still prefers adult sized chairs if he can get them. Maybe he knows it's not his name on the cushion?

Meanwhile, my other cat, Linnet wouldn't demean herself to sit on such a small chair. Her favourite spot is on top of whatever jigsaw I'm currently working on. I try to get it out very, very quietly but there are velcro tabs on the puzzle board and, as soon as she hears them, she comes dashing into the room to jump up on it.

She then rolls around asking for strokes before standing up, shaking fur all over the puzzle and leaving. One day she rolled so far she fell off the edge of the board on to the floor. Luckily I managed to catch the puzzle.

The joy of sharing your life with cats.

A bit of this ...

... and a bit of that. This is what I do when I'm too tired to work on anything properly (which is quite a lot of the time). So, for the last few weeks, I've been flitting between various projects and not particularly enjoying any of them.

First of all, I've been working on a sort of cray patchwork knitted block. It's only sort of crazy because there's actually an underlying order to it.

I started with the 3" green square in the middle, then picked up and knitted the stitches for the 1" red strip, the 2" blue strip and the 3" cream strip in turn. The last three strips, still working clockwise, are 1, 2 and 3" wide respectively. 

As you can see, each strip or patch is worked in a different textured stitch which was a bit tricky as, of course, the tension varies between them. The whole thing measures about 9" after blocking. The plan is to start with each of the six colours in turn and to knit six of each colour variation - are you still with me? What with that and turning them round as I sew them together, I'm hoping that the finished blanket will look suitably random.

What's next? Ah yes, my colourwork knitting.

Twelve colours, changing colour every two rounds, one round slip stitch, one round knit. I love how this looks but all those ends were going to be a problem. So, I decided just to knot them together.

The wrong side of the stitch pattern looks nice too, doesn't it? It will be hidden when the project is finished though as this is going to be a bag with a fabric lining - got to hide all those ends.

I was getting on well with this until I came to what to do at the top of the bag. I'm torn between a fiddly knitted casing for a drawstring (which I think will look nicer but people might not want to knit) and eyelets (simpler but boring). 

Next is a nice easy crochet project.

I'm making myself a shawl with the lovely King Cole Bramble DK. This shade is called Loganberry and I bought the yarn with some Wool Warehouse vouchers I got for my last birthday from a friend (thank-you Pat if you're reading this). I also bought the hook for the project as I found I needed a 6.5 mm one, bigger than I normally use. My favourite crochet hooks are the Clover Amour hooks which are comfortable to use and come in a range of different colours so you can spot the size you want easily. I already had orange (2.5 mm), pink, (3.5 mm - I use this one a lot), purple (4 mm - can't actually find this one at the moment, it's probably hiding in an old project bag), turquoise (4.5 mm), green (5.5 mm) and now this bright green one. They're more expensive than normal hooks but I think they're well worth it.

Anyway, the shawl is worked in moss stitch, using a combination of double and treble stitches. I'm thinking of adding some sort of collar when it's finished and probably buttons or tassels - or both.

The last of the projects I'm working on at the moment is a blanket I started two pattern notebooks ago in June 2017 so it's about time I finished it. I spent last week sewing the squares together, one strip a day and am now knitting on the borders, 200 stitches or so at a time.

This one should be finished soon ... if I can find a big enough space to block it in. It's only a small blanket but there's stuff all over the floor (as normal).

In between all this work knitting and crochet, I'm still enjoying my cross stitch. I'm getting towards the end of the last of my seasonal samplers.

I think this might be my favourite. It's lovely to work on but makes me very tired so I can only do little bits at a time. I've just got to finish that tree and then I'll be on to the border.

Needless to say, my daughter Rose finished hers weeks ago.

I was most put out. Not only did she beat me by weeks (again) but she got 'July' to sign while I shall have 'August' which is two letters longer. And no, I'm not petty at all! Here are all four of Rose's samplers ...

We're hoping to choose and order our frames soon so that we're ready to display each of them during their season. I'm looking forward to that.