What Women Called “Work”

One of the main employments of a lady of genteel family was to spend hours doing fancy needlework. During morning calls especially, work baskets would be brought out and intricate designs embroidered. Girls would work on covers for pillows, dresses, slippers, screens, and many other home decorations.

                                   

(This sample is from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.)

Embroidery can be a lot of fun and it’s really not too hard to learn. It doesn’t have to be all flowers and birds either, there are tons of embroidery patterns. Just check out etsy and type embroidery to the search box. You’ll find tons of pieces for sale and patterns to make your own. Needlepoint is a great creative outlet and can be done while watching television or visiting with family. All you need are the following:

• Material to embroider (you could practice with an old shirt or buy handkerchief’s at a craft store)
  
• An embroidery hoop
  
• A sewing needle
  
• Thread in the color of your choice (they sell awesome packs of embroidery thread at Hobby Lobby and they aren’t very expensive)
  
• Scissors

                         

This sample is from Amy’s website.

There is an awesome website called www.amyistheparty.com which has a great series of tutorials on embroidery. (If you click on the link it will take you directly to the series page.) She takes you through step by step with the things you need, selecting a pattern, she has videos for the different types of stiches, and where to get more info.

If you’d like more information about this and other mad Regency skills check out the following site to learn about tatting (lacemaking), paper mache, crocheting, and many things that even I haven’t heard of.

Happy Reading!