Curly locks, curly locks, wilt thou be mine / Thou shalt not wash dishes, nor yet feed the swine / But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam / And feed upon sugar and strawberries and cream. What a long and dreary winter it has been, and whilst the weather has been dire I have challenged myself to be creative. This is what I have been doing. I have an enormous stash of fabric in a cupboard, bits left over from a life time of dressmaking and home furnishings, pieces never used, pieces donated from well-wishers, and also hidden away in cupboards bits of embroidery that I have never done anything with. So, a creative challenge. To take something out of the cupboard and NOT PUT IT BACK. The nursery rhyme above implies that there were two levels of work, the labour of washing dishes and feeding swine, and that of sewing and fine dining. I don't think they are exclusive, but in the past plain sewing was an attribute that all girls and women had to accomplish, where as fine embroidery was for the leisured classes. So in this month's blog there are lots of pictures about being creative as well as some snippets I hope you find interesting. Here are three advertisements, all from the Cumberland Pacquet in the 1790s, for Schools for Ladies where they would learn sewing. The first school offers to teach reading (not writing) and various types of sewing and Grammar. The next school does offer both reading and writing, and various styles of sewing, emphasizing that it is for Genteel young ladies. And the last offers a sliding scale of costs for different lessons, the basic being for Plain Work and the English language, Tambour and Needle Work, Embroidery and Coloured work, drawing are all options, but this school was forward thinking and also offered writing, arithmetic, French, and short hand. Tambour work was made with a tambour hook working over a fine mesh to make lace. See https://www.janeausten.co.uk/create-tambour-work-embroidery/ Certainly needlework did have the air of a genteel occupation in the past. This picture used to hang over the fireplace in my husband's granny's home, it now hangs on our stairs. It is a print called "Serenity" by Leonard Campbell Taylor 1874 - 1969. It must have been popular in the early 1920s and I like it because it is a picture that you look into and is certainly elegant. Two Edwardian ladies, one with some embroidery on a frame. This has been in a drawer for almost forty years. At least thirty eight years anyway, so it has moved house many times. It was time I decided what to do with it. I set out teaching myself various canvas work stitches and made a type of sampler. With some other pieces of canvas work, at last it can see the light of day and not be stuck in a drawer. Odd bits of material have made these cushions. Cushions allow for unlimited creativity. This is a picture from the ArtUk website, it is of Elizabeth Vernon Countess of Southampton painted by Marcus Gheeraerts the younger 1561 - 1636 and is in the Glasgow Museums. Look at the sumptious furnishings surrounding Elizabeth. Yes, she has a lovely gown and very rich lace at her throat and wrists, but what caught my interest was the cushion on the chair, the embroidered edging to the curtains and the carpet. These, just as much as her clothes, tell that she was very comfortable indeed. Everything was made by hand. All fabrics were precious and treasured and used until they were rags and could be used no more. Which is why any textiles which have survived from long ago are so valuable. The Paston Letters is a collection of 15th century correspondence between members of an East Anglian family. Many are from Mrs Paston writing to her husband in London about the everyday running of the home and family. This is Margaret writing to husband John - ... my mother sent to my father to London for a gown of cloth of musterdevillers to make of a gown for me; and he told my mother and me, when he was come home, that he charged you to buy it after that he were come out of London. I pray you, if it be not bought, that ye will vouchsafe to buy it and send it home as soon as ye may; for I have no gown to wear this winter but my black and green a lierre, and that is so cumbersome that I am weary to wear it. As this was written in December 1441 I think she deserved a new gown for Christmas ! Musterdevillers and a lierre referred to types of cloth the first from the town of Montvilliers in Normandy and Lierre from a town in Brabant. The Paston Letters continue to give an insight into the domestic life of Margaret Paston, in 1448 she wrote to husband John - I pray you that ye will vouchsafe to buy for me 1 lb of almonds and 1 lb of sugar and that ye will buyen some frieze to maken your childer's gowns. Ye shall have best cheap and best choice of Hay's wife, as it is told me. And that ye would buy a yard of broadcloth of black for an hood for me, of 44 d or 4 s a yard, for there is neither good cloth nor good frieze in this town ...... Frieze was a plain weave woollen cloth. I do hope that Mr Paston got it right and brought the material home. In recent times the shop keepers at a couple of fabric shops have been astounded that my husband has gone to buy material for me. At the fabric shop in Bruntsfield, Edinburgh, and on Poet's Walk in Penrith, both places he visits on his travels, he has gone and photographed material with his mobile 'phone, I have looked at it, consulted my patterns and told him how much to buy. The dearth of material shops in this part of the world make it worth while. Not all women were accomplished with the needle, and it is perhaps no surprise that Lady Anne Clifford, who was good at many things, did not take to dress making. I don't think her temperament would have suited fine sewing - 1616 December 23 my Lady Manners came in the morning to dress my head. I had a new Black wrought Taffety Gown which My Lady St John Taylor made me .... 1617 January 28 at this time I wore a plain Green Flannel Gown that William Punn made me & my Yellow Taffety waistcoat ..... As a child I was very familiar with my mother sewing, both clothes and embroidery, and the first introduction to men sewing was Beatrix Potter's "The tailor of Gloucester". Men could sew ! I am always interested if textiles are mentioned in wills to be passed down, because this implies that they were treasured. I have mentioned quilts in earlier blogs, but cushions appear as well. Lady Celia Fiennes, the lady who rode side-saddle through the British Isles, left a wonderful will in 1740, lots of jewels mentioned, and also Mrs Sarah Morse was to get the Irish Stitch Settee, her servant was to get clothes, and Mrs Eliza Bayly, wife of Captain Bayly, was to get the Irish Stitch Cushions, eight in number. I have not found out much about Irish Stitch, but it was like Bargello work. Other wills that I have found mention bed hangings and bed linen in general, not detailed descriptions. Mary Fossick originated up here in the Yorkshire Dales but lived and died in London, her will of 1780 mentioned a bequest to Mary Carter - all my household goods and Furniture in the front dining room of my dwelling house in Bishopsgate Street London And my Crimson silk Bed and everything belonging thereto And my Harpsichord in my house at Chigwell Row in Essex and also my Gold Watch and all my Buckles Diamond Rings and trinketts that I may die possessed of ...... so the Crimson silk bed was a treasured possession. The will of Anne Fossick of the parish of Croft on Tees in 1652 mentioned - Item I give and bequeath unto my daughter Margaret Hodgson one feather bed one boulster Three pillowes three blankitts three coverlets and one rugge with one Chest and all that is in it Which bedding and chest is now at Lancelott Fossicks And if my said daughter Margaret happen to dye before she come to receive them Then I give them to Jane Peacock daughter to my sonne Ralph Peacock Item I give to my daughter Margaret Hodgson Two bee hives So several years after going to a workshop where I started these embroideries, and forgetting that I had them and finding them again, and making one into a cushion (five more to go), I wonder which (if either) of my daughters wishes to inherit them ? So is needlework still thought of something for leisure ? Or necessity ? Looking through my collection of oddments, I am reminded of all the garments I have made for both myself and my girls when they were children. Making clothes was a necessity for me, embroidery something that still gives me pleasure even if I am not particularly skilled. Someone who was very skilled, and must have used needlework as therapy, was Mary Queen of Scots who spent her time in prison doing embroideries. You can see them at www.marie-stuart.co.uk/embroidery.htm Cushions appear all over - search the cases heard at the Old Bailey [website called OldBaileyOnline] and they were easy items to steal. In 1726 Elizabth Ayres was indicted for stealing a Velvet Cushion value 40 shillings, 1 green and 2 blue squabs, value 28 shillings …. The goods were taken out of Mr Nesbitt’s Meeting House in Hare-Court, Aldersgate Street, and that about midnight the prisoner was stopt by the watchman with those goods upon her. Verdict - Guilty - Transportation Cushions were in coaches, sedan chairs, pulpits, and court rooms. The Magistrates Court for Middlesex met in Hicks Court and periodically made an inventory of items - this is from 1744 - One Elbow chair for the Chairman with a cover. Benches for the Justices and the erections before the benches & above the Benches. One Crimson Velvet cushion for the Said Elbow chair & a cover One Crimson Velvet cushion for the Chairman's desk with a cover Ten large green cushions for the Justices. [LondonLives website] The furnishings in the court were very fine and expensive. This also from 1744 - Cushions voucher 1744 Middlesex Sessions estimate for matting [the court at Hicks Hall] and furnishing it with cushions £24 Two cushions countermended £2 4s To an elbow chair with footstool covered with spanish leather and brass nailed, brass castors to be fixed to it £2 18s To lacing the velvet cushion mending it, thread and silk used 5s 6d Total £24 19s 6d The history of embellishing textiles goes back a long way, embroideries have been found amongst artefacts from Ancient Egypt. Crochet, is a way of making a textile with yarn and a single hook which has a history in the Middle East and spread from there across Northern Africa and to India. I made these crochet motifs on holiday many, many years ago, never done anything with them - now I must think of something. More cushions ? And twenty years ago I made a blackwork chess board. Never done anything with it, it is still on the frame ! Ideas please.
And you may ask, what am I to do with all these cushions ? Well, I will start with sitting on them and enjoying some strawberries and cream.
0 Comments
|
AuthorThis is where you can share creativity with me. I believe that everyone has something creative within them, and it is a joy to find ways of being creative. Blogging is NEW to me, so here goes ..... Archives
January 2024
Categories |