A Stitch From Time

[JPK Huson 1863]

Did Mary Custis Lee really give John Singleton Mosby this needlepoint ' housewife? Why would she do that? Is this yet another Civil War nicey-nicey story where two iconic figures interact under magnolia trees, against a backdrop of war?

Called a ' Housewife ', this needlepointed package would have contained items considered ' handy ' , depending on how picky one's soldier may have been. Buttons, pins, needle and thread- the contents would also only be useful had the soldier been taught to sew. Mary Custis Lee is to have bestowed this upon John S. Mosby, by which we may assume he had some skills.

Probably, as in she did. Mary Custis Lee plied needles like Santa plies candy canes- once giving 30 pairs of socks to a regiment, please remember Mary Custis Lee had an horrifically painful joint disease and was raising quite a few children. These continual, sweet gifts from Mary tell us quite a bit of her personality- there's a drive to do something, anything for someone, anyone. And so we have one woman documented at the point of her own needle.

How lucky for us, females were taught needlecraft even where a formal education was not thought necessary or affordable- or legal. Needed of course- a family's garments were dependent on her skills but lucky, too and why? We have record after record after record of our ancestors, that's why. When war began one of the reasons Zouave units were common is because uniforms were relatively easily sewn. Kind of a record, nameless women plying needles.

These classic samplers for some reason are found from the 1700's through the late 1800's- but I cannot find them in this country through the war years. NO expert here, maybe they're around and I'm not seeing them.

1788, isn't the detail incredible???

It would be too, too endless, all examples of needlework and needlecraft, we have our amazing quilt thread- legacies from women whose names are mostly lost. Add anything, please- from family collections or a favorite piece.

16th Century Hanging, always makes me wonder about who accomplished it, always.

Someone's legacy now and forever on display at Winterthur. Can you imagine her thoughts, if she knew?

1720, an original ' hanging', a primitive hanging someone created- purpose? No idea but wish you could meet the woman who views a world filled with giant flowers.

Ruthy Rogers must have been a hoot! She is literally bursting from her own tapestry, having filled every block so full there's no room to fit another figure!

I think work like Elizabeth is one reason why these made such a comeback, some years ago. Balanced but still filled with whimsy- her world is so delightful you spend some time suffering from severe escapism.

Through the war- and maybe another reason beyond sewing uniforms that samplers do not seem to have been around. This is a sailors ' poke bag ' but please do not ask me what that means.

You see a lot of patterns for needlepoint and embroidered slippers ( and shoes ) in Godey's, really through a lot of the years it was published.

Pretty nice, right? She is so very adept a needle woman it is part of her identity- and she was able to documents this here, too.

This is so, so odd. Mourning samplers were early, 1800''s on up, and sewn beautifully. Supposedly they were replaced when print took over . One web site stated it is why the Civil War era has none.... BUT- there are mourning samplers from the 1880's. It may have been a later day Victorian trend, who knows.

One of the jolliest Revolutionaries I've ever seen depicted.

Another Winterthur, someone's idea of cozy home life ensured by a warm hearth. Love the creator's ' action' despite long hours depicting it in needle and thread.

1771! Can you imagine?

Beaded? Yes, a kind of embroidery? Why not? " She " was here, too. Godeys was full of patterns for purses women could make themselves, at home.

 

[Yankeedave]

I cant imagine why there are none from the cw. Doesnt make sense. My grandma was still making her own dresses well into the 1990's when she was in here 80's. Baked good bread and cornbread too. rip gramma.

 

[Suzanne A]

There are excellent recent books on Samplers by Gloria Seaman Allen which discuss the history of the American sampler as well as what was produced in some localities. The sampler was taught in "finishing" schools, such schools as there were for girls at the time taught fancy needlework as part of a basic education. I'm speaking here of the early 19th C in America (the history of English samplers would be different). Part of this choice was utility: cross stitch was used in the home to mark all the linens as a protection against loss by theft or confusion on ownership and that was done by the lady of the house.

The samplers were designed by the headmistress of the school and stitched by the girls. A completed sampler displayed in a front room of the home was a sign that an expensive education had been provided for their daughter. (There were some charity schools that taught more basic samplers as well, but they served as examples of various stitch patterns and of alphabets, not as pictoral decoration).

Samplers did fall out of favor before the Civil War, although probably were continued in some form in some traditional cultures such as the Amish) . There are debates about why this occurred. One group argues that indelible ink was invented and came into wide usage and from then on, linens were marked with inked stamps or by pen and indelible ink. Other theories suggest that trends in female education shifted emphasis away from spending a lot of time on this sort of fancy needle work which was no longer fashionable among the wealthy set. Also, I've seen historical homes in which the young women were trained at this sort of school in needlework and have the sampler to show for it, but thereafter never sewed a stitch, the dressmaker was utilized for clothing and the servants for more basic sewing and repairs. I'm sure the disruption of the Civil War put an end to many of these female academies as well -- that would be an interesting study in itself.

A Maryland Sampling: Girlhood Embroidery 1738 - 1860 by Gloria Seaman Allen:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0938420984/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Columbia's Daughters: Girlhood Embroidery from the District of Columbia by Gloria Seaman Allen

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0982304951/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Older studies of samplers can be found in libraries and used bookstores and online. For a look at English samplers, there is :

Samplers from the V & A Museum (the Victoria & Albert Museum in London) by Browne & Wearden

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1851772901/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

 

[LoriAnn]

Someone's legacy now and forever on display at Winterthur. Can you imagine her thoughts, if she knew?

If she's like the average maker, she'd think, "Oh man, I wish I had made [insert small detail here] a little neater/bigger/smaller/better!"

We love our work until it's on display for everyone else to examine. Then the second thoughts come rolling in.

This is a sailors ' poke bag ' but please do not ask me what that means.

Ha.

Pretty nice, right? She is so very adept a needle woman it is part of her identity- and she was able to documents this here, too.

Am I seeing polka dots? If I've seen that pattern before in an era dress, I don't remember it. I've had the sewing of a polka dot dress on the brain since early summer.

*Googles Civil War polka dot dresses*

How about that. Well, now I want that polka dot dress again.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Such a massive amount of information, thanks very much Suzanne! It makes sense, what you wrote about printed textiles- just yesterday ran into something similar on why hand stitched mourning memorials went out of vogue, too. Funny, though because buying one would maybe be reserved for those who could afford it. ( mourning memorials, not samplers ). Still, given the hours involved it was a lot handier, grieving while not tied to an embroidery frame.

I had no idea samplers were an indication a girl had been educated in some kind of seminary- none! I always just assumed they were done at home with the child drawing her pattern. Brand, new information, thank you! It does make sense. They're lovely examples of what was taught then. I did know ' accomplished ' young girls were expected to know fine needlework, and did. Must read up on the extent of a lot of this. There's a good amount in our family passed down through the years. Have to say my mother's family was pretty big on young girls learning their stitches. I have Mom's first cross stitch table runner, done at 8. And her mother's work, and her mother's, it's very cool. Mostly table ' dressing ', not samplers, and needlepoint.

If she's like the average maker, she'd think, "Oh man, I wish I had made [insert small detail here] a little neater/bigger/smaller/better!"

We love our work until it's on display for everyone else to examine. Then the second thoughts come rolling in.


Ha.



Am I seeing polka dots? If I've seen that pattern before in an era dress, I don't remember it. I've had the sewing of a polka dot dress on the brain since early summer.

*Googles Civil War polka dot dresses*

How about that. Well, now I want that polka dot dress again.

There's a thread for you, Lori Ann- polka dot dresses from the era- bet the fabric wasn't cheap. And I'll bet the pattern can be found in Godey's. I'm not saying all dress inspirations came from Godey's and there were other periodicals for women but a lot can be found there!

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

I wasn't going to include quilts but these have such an awesome amount of skill attached it's impossible not to discuss ' stitch ' and the era without them. We have threads on them ( more than one ), The Confederate Gunboat Quilts. I forget how many there were. Basically, ladies decided to fund the Confederate Navy by selling quilts.

 

[18thVirginia]

Great thread, ladies. I would hazard a guess that the lack of Civil War era samplers had something to do with a lack of yarn. Partly because I remember reading about the food riots and about women who demanded yarn be sold to them at the local factory. It seems imaginable that the yarn factories were doing well selling their goods to be produced as socks for the militaries.

Many women were likely engaged, as Mary Custis Lee was, in making socks to send to their sons or brothers fighting somewhere. Or making items to sell, like the quilts above, at local raffles, Sanitary Commission Fairs, or other fundraisers for supplying items to the wounded or to hospitals.

 

[Suzanne A]

JPK, your family has several samplers??? Wow! You might research their history. What state would they be from? Not that you would part with them, but make sure your family members are storing and caring for these fragile textiles appropriately and perhaps insuring them. The prominent sampler dealer in the northeast is M. Finkel & Daugher in Philadelphia:

http://samplings.com/n#overlay-context=n

Look at the prices. They display a large number of samplers and sell at antique shows around the country. I have gone to local antiques shows in NYC just to see their booth. I don't know if they still have them, but I've seen beautiful catalogues of their collection for sale at the shows.

 

[Suzanne A]

M Finkel & Daughter's famed catalogue is now online. They research the history of their wares and this catalogue discusses the lives of some of the makers and the samplers in depth. Knowing the maker and the maker's family and the history of a sampler greatly increases it value to collectors and museums.

http://samplings.com/samplings-catalogue

 

[cwmeg]

As someone who dearly loves needlework in all forms, I had to dig in and research this a bit.

My first thought of why there are not many sampler style pieces from the Civil War era was because simply the ladies couldn't get/afford the needed materials. Generally, the threads used to make these samplers were made of silks. And the linen (if they were well to do) was imported. And this was before blockades in the South. And before anything and everything fabric was used for clothing and/or bandages.

Also, I found a little article that mentions why there is very, very, very little in the way of Southern samplers and other needlwork found.

"The easiest answer, and the one most frequently given, is that southern decorative needlework was destroyed. Sherman and other marauding, invading troops were responsible for gross destruction of private property in the South in the mid-nineteenth century. A diary entry that appears repeatedly during and in reference to the years 1860-1865 in the South is "We lost everything."[1] Even after the hostilities ceased, the defeated Southerners were penniless and unable to hang on to the necessities of life, let alone preserve bits of sewing."

And this from the same article...

" the historian Wiley has written, that "many women transformed old garments, draperies, curtains, sheets, pillow cases, mattress covers, and even carpets into new clothing" (175). After one battle at Richmond, the town women tore up the petticoats they were wearing to make bandages; when these ran out, they went home to their cupboards to grab sheets, underclothing, skirts, shirts--anything, in fact, which was made of cotton and fairly heavy (Cunningham 231). With cloth for clothing and bandages so scarce, it is folly to suppose that a large piece of material, heirloom though it might have been, might not have been gladly scraped[2] to serve as bandages or used to reinforce a work-worn dress or a soldier's thinning uniform."

Here is the link to the full articles. It focuses on the lack of Southern needlwork but in general all needlework from the Civil War timeframe.
http://www.victoriana.com/Embroidery/decorative-needlework.html

How true any of the excerpts of that article are, I don't know, but they do make sense.

I'll keep digging around and see what else I find. Thanks for the posts! Very interesting

 

[civilken]

My sister is the last female in our family to do needlepoint and crochet it is a shame is beautiful and a dying art.

 

[Suzanne A]

Cwmeg, your reference to "ladies" who couldn't get the materials during the Civil War, made me think, were adult "ladies" who were not active as instructors in needlework and embroidery making samplers? I've always had the thought that this was a young girl's endeavor, because the formation of every letter of the alphabet and often every number is taught as an important part of the exercise.

The sampler is often classified or referred to as "schoolgirl embroidery" or "girlhood embroidery". I'm also reminded of the children's ages included on so many of them. I started reading the bio's of the sampler makers in the M Finkel & Daughter catalog and with the exception of a woman who was an "instructress", and a couple of items in which the age of the maker was not discovered, they are all students and young girls. Did older women need to devote their sewing time to more practical needs? Did they choose to embroider nice pieces other than alphabet samplers? When they were wives and mothers, was this how they wanted to spend their time when dresses, coats, capes and adornments could be worn and quilts provided warmth? Was it only the young who had time for the pictures taught in the girls' academies? Or did it work the other way, were the women unwilling to spend their time making needlework associated so closely with schooling and beginners' tasks?

I don't have the answers.

Cross stitch comes in and out of vogue as a hobby or pastime today for people of all ages. In the seventies, women took it up along with quilting, knitting and other needlework and it has continued to survive to a great or lesser degree. Today reproduction kits for replicating actual samplers are sold by The Scarlet Letter

http://www.scarlet-letter.com/

and a number of other establishments sell kits, designs and materials, some very contemporary and some modeled after the traditional sampler style. Search Etsy or Google cross stitch sampler embroidery and you can see several online and brick and mortar sources.

In my personal experience, I think cross stitch embroidery is a great thing to be taken up by young fingers, and the difficulty increases with age, especially for hands that were not taught fine sewing when young;-) In other words, I gave it a try, but it was too late for me to learn the habits of neat and careful making of tiny stitches. I do think samplers are beautiful in their oddly humble way, and would love to own one, if not make one.

 

[donna]

Annie and ladies this a wonderful thread. The needlework is beautiful.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

JPK, your family has several samplers??? Wow! You might research their history. What state would they be from? Not that you would part with them, but make sure your family members are storing and caring for these fragile textiles appropriately and perhaps insuring them. The prominent sampler dealer in the northeast is M. Finkel & Daugher in Philadelphia:

http://samplings.com/n#overlay-context=n

Look at the prices. They display a large number of samplers and sell at antique shows around the country. I have gone to local antiques shows in NYC just to see their booth. I don't know if they still have them, but I've seen beautiful catalogues of their collection for sale at the shows.

Not samplers like the schools taught, no- a massive amount of fine needlework. You know, the cross-stitched table runners, embroidered chair backs, table cloths, handkerchiefs, edged pillowcases, needlepoint pillows and chair covers, the usual needle work. Very lucky. Fortunately my parents have 10 grandchildren- been passing it on slowly although not if there's little interest. Seems such a waste, and ancestor would invest so much time on perfectly wonderful piece, to have it put away forever or sold.

 

[donna]

I always remember this lady that lived with my Grandma and family. She first came to Grandma's nursing home. She was crippled. She later was able to do different things that didn't require standing. She did beautiful needlework and embroidery. I have several tablecloths she made for my Grandma and some covers for chairs and beds.

 

[cwmeg]

Cwmeg, your reference to "ladies" who couldn't get the materials during the Civil War, made me think, were adult "ladies" who were not active as instructors in needlework and embroidery making samplers? I've always had the thought that this was a young girl's endeavor, because the formation of every letter of the alphabet and often every number is taught as an important part of the exercise.

The sampler is often classified or referred to as "schoolgirl embroidery" or "girlhood embroidery". I'm also reminded of the children's ages included on so many of them. I started reading the bio's of the sampler makers in the M Finkel & Daughter catalog and with the exception of a woman who was an "instructress", and a couple of items in which the age of the maker was not discovered, they are all students and young girls. Did older women need to devote their sewing time to more practical needs? Did they choose to embroider nice pieces other than alphabet samplers? When they were wives and mothers, was this how they wanted to spend their time when dresses, coats, capes and adornments could be worn and quilts provided warmth? Was it only the young who had time for the pictures taught in the girls' academies? Or did it work the other way, were the women unwilling to spend their time making needlework associated so closely with schooling and beginners' tasks?

I don't have the answers.

Cross stitch comes in and out of vogue as a hobby or pastime today for people of all ages. In the seventies, women took it up along with quilting, knitting and other needlework and it has continued to survive to a great or lesser degree. Today reproduction kits for replicating actual samplers are sold by The Scarlet Letter

http://www.scarlet-letter.com/

and a number of other establishments sell kits, designs and materials, some very contemporary and some modeled after the traditional sampler style. Search Etsy or Google cross stitch sampler embroidery and you can see several online and brick and mortar sources.

In my personal experience, I think cross stitch embroidery is a great thing to be taken up by young fingers, and the difficulty increases with age, especially for hands that were not taught fine sewing when young;-) In other words, I gave it a try, but it was too late for me to learn the habits of neat and careful making of tiny stitches. I do think samplers are beautiful in their oddly humble way, and would love to own one, if not make one.

Suzanne, from what I have read, it was generally girls like you referred to

Girls were traditionally taught these needlework skills at schools (or home). I read somewhere the other day that the reason we see so many samplers with alphabets is because the girls were being taught how to stitch those in order to stitch their names/intials on their household linens.

There are some wonderfully beautiful patterns for reproductions out there. I have a few myself (and covet many more) that time won't let me stitch. But I do love to study them and the lives of those who made them.

A wonderful book chocked full of info about some of the more historic samplers that have been preserved (and can be reproduced) is "Historic Samplers: Selected From Museums and Historic Homes". It features 30 samplers with the charts to stitch them yourself!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0821219316/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

 

[civilken]

It's really not that long ago I was telling my sister last night about this thread and she said all mom showed me a lot and she took out a book from the 1960s the book was from the 1930s how to be a good housewife and handle household affairs like needlepoint like going to the butcher how to keep the kitchen clean it was kind of cute we are not that far from the past all I can say ladies it's been a long time coming.

 

[Suzanne A]

Some of those books advising how the good housewife should keep house in the olden days are sadistic;-) I don't believe it humanly possible to follow all of their prescriptions and admonitions, especially with all those children the women had back than.

 

[civilken]

Some of those books advising how the good housewife should keep house in the olden days are sadistic;-) I don't believe it humanly possible to follow all of their prescriptions and admonitions, especially with all those children the women had back than.

Are you kidding when I think about it starting the fire getting a meal going getting the kids off and just getting the day started. For the average man it would be time to go back to bed.

 

[LoriAnn]

handkerchiefs,

This is what has caught my eye recently. I think I would like to learn how to do this. You know...cause I need another project.