With Needle and Brush: Schoolgirl Embroidery from the Connecticut River Valley 1740-1840

Now that the latest book is in the press, I have the wonderful luxury of enjoying other needlework books again - and I have to say I am spoilt for choice. With Needle and Brush by Carol and Stephen Huber, Susan P Schoelwer and Amy Kurtz Lansing is the first book to document schoolgirl embroideries of the Connecticut River Vally area, which includes Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire.

The book describes and illustrates how these embroideries provide us with an insight into the nature of female education, witnessing how the girls undertook progressively more complex and difficult needlework.

Linda Eaton, director of collections and senior curator of textiles at Winterthur Museum tells us, With Needle and Brush presents a stunning group of schoolgirl artwork from the Connecticut River Valley. The sheer beauty of the needlework is underpinned by new and important research, and I am particularly delighted to see connections made between needlework and watercolors. This book is a very important contribution to the field.

Over 70 items are illustrated and described including 37 silk pictures. Having 112 pages, the book is discounted on Amazon UK to £50.80. It is not easy to show the pages, but I have tried to share with you some of the delights to expect!