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Bagchi are traditionally given to a groom before, during, and after the wedding.

Peel back the layers of needlework history and uncover more about historical textiles from around the globe in the Summer 2020 issue of PieceWork.

Needlework often weaves its way into literature. Like Water for Chocolate (1989) combines cooking and crochet in a most memorable way.

The history of knitting has been shrouded in mystery, half-truths, and outright lies! Is this because there is so little material, either textiles or documentation, to enable that history to be fully written?

To undertake polar expeditions, then as now, appropriate protection was needed against the elements, some of the most severe on earth.

Author James Brown in History of Sanquhar (1891) describes Sanquhar gloves and stockings in the early nineteenth century as “being woven on wires in a peculiar manner,” which presumably means knitted on fine needles.

In light of current events, I’ve found my mind turning to “Little House in the Big Woods” by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In the book, Laura and her family sewed and embroidered, alone in their home, carefully mending clothes and creating small items of beauty.

The extensive embroidery collection at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa, has provided me with endless inspiration for my own Hardanger embroidery projects.

I developed this pattern after close examination of the artifact “latrine” hat excavated at the Fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, Canada. Log in to reveal this subscriber-exclusive pattern.

During the Spanish flu pandemic, countless women (and presumably some men) worked together to sew tens of thousands of masks.