Mystery
In January, Melanie Anne from Maine brought two embroideries for show & tell. They
came from her grandmother’s house, but other than that she doesn’t really know anything about them. She and Wendy undid the back of one but found no clues. They’re pretty, and remind me of Jacobean crewel embroideries, with the ‘tree of life’ motif with the fantastic flowers and leaves, growing out of a little mound. These two seem a pair partly because one has a lion and one has a lamb. Click on ‘lamb‘ to see the second picture. I’m having a little argument with the blog program tonight, and it doesn’t want to post the actual picture of the second embroidery. Sorry about that. I’ll go to the mountain and ask for help.
Anyway, do these look familiar? Do you have a twin to these in your house? Any ideas if they were kits or when they might have been done?
Tags: crewel embroidery, lamb, lion, Maine, Melanie Anne
February 26th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
These feel “60’s” to me. I have several embroidery books from the time that are big into Jacobean type and Tree of life. I have memories of either my Grandmother or my Mother doing similar pieces. I remember going to needlework stores where you could by kits, or they had people who would design what you wanted (the second seems a bit more likely with my Grandmother). You could get the designs out of books too. Erica Wilson wrote several books at that time with different types of patterning, Jacobean Tree of Life was in there.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I agree. This strikes me as mid 1900’s. The bright blue of the floss in the “lamb” piece appears to be too bright for a period piece. I remember seeing items similar to this in the 70’s when I was learning to embroider.
February 28th, 2008 at 7:24 am
The first embroidery I ever did, in 1967, was a Pargon kit of a Jacobean style Tree of Life. It is not exactly like either of these but very similar in style. I still have it.
February 28th, 2008 at 10:39 am
These look like either kits or, at the very least, companion pieces that were published in a book or magazine. They really have a 1960’s “feel.” The colors are very sharp and saturated - very 1960’s. When you place the pieces side by side, they look like a matched “set” - and they balance each other out with color, composition, form, and even size. I don’t think there were many individuals back then who were designing their own pieces. Crewel was too “new” then - and kits were the rage. A clue might be to remove both pieces from their frames. If the pieces of fabric are exactly sized - then they’re probably from kits. Are the wools true crewel wools or are they “tapestry yarns?” Whatever these embroideries are - they’re delightful and whimsical. They’re also a good example of why pieces of art should be signed and dated - somewhere or somehow - even if only in a separate journal entry that might read: “I finally finished the lion and lamb crewel work today! Grandma - December, 1967″ Documentation is SO important to family members who inherit our gifts of time and inspiration! I keep a “needlework journal” for just that purpose. I record all kinds of things about each piece I work on - including how I was feeling and what was inspiring me about the piece. I record why I chose certain colors, or why I selected a particular theme or who I was stitching the piece for. I always tell my students to do the same. Perhaps these pieces are here to teach us a lesson - and maybe this blog can become part of the heritage of these 2 crewel embroideries!