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Needleworks & Rugs
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American girls whose families could afford to send them to a ladies' seminary were instructed in stitching needlework samplers, which served the purpose of learning the stitches she would need to mark her household linens or to sew clothes for herself and her family. The earliest American samplers are long and narrow, similar to English pieces of the same period. Most of these have no names or dates stitched onto them. In the eighteenth century, a more American style appeared bearing names, dates, the name of the school where the piece was stitched, and such pictorial devices as buildings, animals, people, and floral arrangements. These needleworks became symbols of a young woman's accomplishments and were often framed and prominently displayed in the home.
During the second half of the eighteenth century and continuing into the nineteenth century, "fancy" needlework became popular. Young women were given special instruction and developed "accomplishments" that included the skills needed to stitch elaborate silk-on-silk pictorial embroideries, chair seats, and intricate crewel work for bed hangings and curtains. The needlework pictures especially were related to current trends in popular taste, including Classicism and Romanticism, and often depicted scenes from the Bible or literary or classical subjects.
Mourning pictures, memorials to the dearly departed, were also stitched, and later painted, by girls at school. Once believed to be an indication of a girl's morbid fascination with death and dying, these pictures are now accepted as evidence of the fashion for sentimentality in the early nineteenth century. Many of the memorials are dedicated to the memory of George Washington, and many were stitched in honor of departed relatives the girls never even knew.
Usually the designs stitched on mourning pictures, samplers, and other embroideries were not the original creations of the students but were drawn by the instructor. Accordingly, the scenes tend to be stylized rather than true to life or based on any particular event. Today, samplers and other needlework pictures often can be attributed to specific schools and teachers based on their designs.
Throughout the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, rugs, considered too valuable to use on the floor, were reserved for tabletops or beds. The bed rug, found in New England, is one of the rarest types of American bedcovers. Home-woven woolen cloth or linen served as the base fabric on which bold designs, often borrowed from imported Indian palampores, were worked in wool with a wood or bone needle. The majority of bed rugs were made with a running stitch and the surface was sometimes sheared.
When rugs found their way to the floor by the middle of the eighteenth century, it was only in the homes of the very wealthy. While many families living in cities and towns could afford imported floor coverings, those living in rural settings were more apt to handcraft their own, with yarn or strips of rags and fabric remnants. Hooked rugs were executed on a loose burlap backing with a pattern drawn or stenciled on it. The braided rag rug was one of the simplest handmade rugs to make. Among the most important remaining today are those that were made by the Shakers and are distinctive for their use of colors and fine craftsmanship. The Shakers often combined techniques in a single piece, such as knitting and braiding. They made rugs of this type for use within the community and also sold them in their shops.
American girls whose families could afford to send them to a ladies' seminary were instructed in stitching needlework samplers, which served the purpose of learning the stitches she would need to mark her household linens or to sew clothes for herself and her family. The earliest American samplers are long and narrow, similar to English pieces of the same period. Most of these have no names or dates stitched onto them. In the eighteenth century, a more American style appeared bearing names, dates, the name of the school where the piece was stitched, and such pictorial devices as buildings, animals, people, and floral arrangements. These needleworks became symbols of a young woman's accomplishments and were often framed and prominently displayed in the home.
During the second half of the eighteenth century and continuing into the nineteenth century, "fancy" needlework became popular. Young women were given special instruction and developed "accomplishments" that included the skills needed to stitch elaborate silk-on-silk pictorial embroideries, chair seats, and intricate crewel work for bed hangings and curtains. The needlework pictures especially were related to current trends in popular taste, including Classicism and Romanticism, and often depicted scenes from the Bible or literary or classical subjects.
Mourning pictures, memorials to the dearly departed, were also stitched, and later painted, by girls at school. Once believed to be an indication of a girl's morbid fascination with death and dying, these pictures are now accepted as evidence of the fashion for sentimentality in the early nineteenth century. Many of the memorials are dedicated to the memory of George Washington, and many were stitched in honor of departed relatives the girls never even knew.
Usually the designs stitched on mourning pictures, samplers, and other embroideries were not the original creations of the students but were drawn by the instructor. Accordingly, the scenes tend to be stylized rather than true to life or based on any particular event. Today, samplers and other needlework pictures often can be attributed to specific schools and teachers based on their designs.
Throughout the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, rugs, considered too valuable to use on the floor, were reserved for tabletops or beds. The bed rug, found in New England, is one of the rarest types of American bedcovers. Home-woven woolen cloth or linen served as the base fabric on which bold designs, often borrowed from imported Indian palampores, were worked in wool with a wood or bone needle. The majority of bed rugs were made with a running stitch and the surface was sometimes sheared.
When rugs found their way to the floor by the middle of the eighteenth century, it was only in the homes of the very wealthy. While many families living in cities and towns could afford imported floor coverings, those living in rural settings were more apt to handcraft their own, with yarn or strips of rags and fabric remnants. Hooked rugs were executed on a loose burlap backing with a pattern drawn or stenciled on it. The braided rag rug was one of the simplest handmade rugs to make. Among the most important remaining today are those that were made by the Shakers and are distinctive for their use of colors and fine craftsmanship. The Shakers often combined techniques in a single piece, such as knitting and braiding. They made rugs of this type for use within the community and also sold them in their shops.