Loretta reports:
My maternal grandmother, who came from the old country, tried to teach me all the needle skills every housewife had to know: sewing, darning, crochet, and embroidery. I deeply regret to say that none of the training took. Except for embroidery. I loved it and embroidered all kinds of things: pillowcases and my clothes and handkerchiefs and any bit of cloth I could make pictures in silk thread on. But then other occupations needing my hands--like writing--occupied more and more of my time. I haven't embroidered in years, except in fiction, and I miss my silks and my needles and hoops.
So I was enthralled by the embroidery I saw at Colonial Williamsburg. They embroidered everything, we were told, from head to toe, hat to shoes.
The silk work bag above is a beautiful example. As Susan mentioned in the comments to my post about riding habits, one rarely sees the ladies of CW without their work bags.
When they sat waiting for an event, or talking to their friends, they were usually doing some sort of needlework. Susan theorizes that the work bag served a function similar to the cell phone: It makes a girl look like she’s got something to do, especially when she’s alone.
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