Innehållsförteckning för Spring 2025 från PieceWork

Just as fashions experienced a major change in design at the end of the eighteenth century, so did popular dances. Traditional country dances, which are group dances in varying formations, persisted, and new ones were added regularly. But there were two new crazes: quadrilles and waltzes. The former—the refined ancestor of modern square dancing—called for four couples to arrange themselves in a square formation, after which they executed a fixed series of steps whose timing and duration matched the music exactly. Quadrilles offered an exciting new way to arrange familiar steps and patterns while integrating fresh ones. The waltz, however, was an entirely different matter. It was introduced in London at the exclusive Almack's in about 1812.3 For the first time, a man could take a lady whom he had…

Imagine how excited Catherine Morland felt in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey when she was invited to travel to Bath with her neighbors, the Allens. Catherine's mother might have just found enough time away from her household duties and nine other children to stitch a small token, like this mini biscornu fob, for her eldest daughter to take on her first trip away from family. This fob combines an old stitch, the double running stitch, with a more modern shape, the biscornu. It would look lovely in a favorite color thread on any shade of linen. Create a fob for yourself or a dear friend—or perhaps one for each of you! MATERIALS ◆ Zweigart Belfast, 32-ct linen: #360999 Soft Ivory, 6" × 9" (15.2 × 22.9 cm) ◆ DMC Six-Strand Embroidery…

The following excerpt is shared with kind permission from The Kew Book of Embroidered Flowers. The book includes many helpful stitch tutorials, and here we hope you enjoy a project from its pages that is based on a painting from an eighteenth-century botanical magazine. The Camellia japonica (believed to be native to Japan) is the most popular ornamental camellia in the UK, where records suggest that it has been grown since the late 1730s. The early species were always grown under glass or in conservatories, which added to their prestige. Trish Burr's lovely embroidered rendition of this flower suggests something that a young lady in Jane Austen's time might have sat and stitched to bring some beauty into her days. —Editor PROJECT SIZE 8 × 14 cm (3¼ × 5½…

Improve Your Stitching Game Looking for a creative way to learn embroidery? Check out The Essential Embroidery Stitches Card Deck by Betty Barnden, available from Search Press. The deck is composed of 50 cards with diagrams detailing the stitches and ways to use them. Work through them individually to improve your skills or pull one randomly to inject creativity into a new project. searchpressusa.com A Variety of Sizes Round out your crochet tools with this polished wooden set of hooks from Knitting Fever. This kit contains sizes E-4 through M-13, comes in a carrying case, and is available in four colorways (Driftwood shown here) to match your knitting needles or current project. knittingfever.com A Decorative Accessory Adorn your favorite knitted shawl with a beautiful pin from Jul Designs. The pins…

In Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, the conniving Miss Lucy Steele flaunts a handkerchief monogrammed with Edward Ferrars's initials in front of heroine Elinor Dashwood in an attempt to make her attachment to Edward known. Ladies' handkerchiefs were more likely than men's to include pretty embellishments—and tatting, which is widely believed to have come on the scene in the early part of the nineteenth century, would have been something that Elinor might have used to adorn her own accessories. Trish Faubion's graceful tatted edging for a handkerchief is as timeless today as it was when it debuted in PieceWork September/ October 2003. Tatting Key Number = number of double stitches to make R = ring + = join — = picot * = repeat from here MATERIALS ◆ Handy Hands…

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single hand in possession of good fingers must be in want of a lovely mitt. Step into the world of Jane Austen's beloved Pride and Prejudice with these charming fingerless mitts, adorned with cameos of the iconic Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. I was introduced to Jane Austen while taking an English degree at university, and I fell in love with her novels. No other writer has created such wonderful foil characters as Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy: complex, clever, fallible, and relatable. My inspiration for these mitts stems from the characters' timeless romance and witty dialogue that Austen so masterfully crafted. So gather your needles and yarn, and embark on a knitting journey that pays homage to one of literature's most enduring…

In her celebrated novel Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen writes with wry, understated humor that “the prospect of the Netherfield ball was extremely agreeable to every female of the [Bennet] family.” Mr. Bingley delivers a verbal invitation while visiting the family, instead of resorting to a printed ceremonious card. That the ball was set for a Tuesday evening might appear odd to a modern reader, but in the nineteenth century, such events took place any day of the week, except for Sunday (which was the Sabbath). The essential element was the invitation, whether delivered personally or through the mail, which defined the evening as a private ball. At this time in England, there were two types of balls: private and public. In the former case, the hosts vetted the guest…

Jane Austen admired beauty, fashion, and craftsmanship, and she would have been inspired by the wide variety of embroidered items fashioned throughout her lifetime. It is easy to imagine that her characters might have enjoyed one of the accessories described here that were in style in the early part of the nineteenth century. Since 1987, the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) has been housed at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, UK. Founded in 1872, the RSN, the international center of excellence for the art of hand embroidery, has a collection of about ten thousand objects. These items, which span over a millennium and six continents, have increasingly become the subject of academic and artistic study. As we catalog and digitize the collection, exciting discoveries are emerging, offering us glimpses into…

Hartfield is the Highbury home of Emma Woodhouse, the titular heroine of Jane Austen's beloved novel Emma. When I designed the Hartfield Manor wall quilt, I was inspired by the stately home used in the 2009 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) movie adaptation of Emma. I carefully selected floral and damask prints to reflect the elegance and charm of the Regency Era. The traditionally pieced quilt is brought to life with textured handquilting and sweet hand-embroidered details. The quilt has a substantial border so that it has the appearance of a work of art that could have been found hanging in a place of honor on a wall of the manor itself. MATERIALS ◆ Fabrics, 45" (114 cm) wide quilting cotton (all fabric by Benartex): ◆ White solid or tone-on-tone print,…