The Needlecase & More Delights in Tadcaster

If you are planning a visit to York then don't overlook Tadcaster, just a dozen miles away to the SW. This used to be the stopping point for us on coach trips to the seaside on the east coast. The best reason then was that Tadcaster had the most number of pubs and breweries per square mile than anywhere else in Yorkshire. Now there are still some independent breweries, but Commercial Street with its Georgian shop fronts is as unspoilt and bustling as ever.

Off the High Street, in Kirkgate (on the way to the church), you will find Needlecase - a delightful shop for your needlework needs. And when you have managed to drag yourself away, continue down Kirkgate to St Marys Church and take a look inside.

There, at the east end, you will discover fabulous stained glass windows by William Morris.

And early roundels. Here is Saint Catherine, who was the patron saint of linen weavers, an important trade in Tadcaster in the Middle Ages.

Though at first glance unprepossessing, for eating in the day and early suppers, we heartily recommend the warm welcome and excellent cooking you will enjoy at The Granary on Bridge Street. Try a selection of Yorkshire antipasto £7.50 which includes a selection of home-roasted ham, local cheeses, potted prawns and smoked salmon accompanied by dressed leaves and homemade bread. And maybe follow that with roasted pork fillet garnished with crispy bacon and served with black pudding, creamy mash, carrot puree and a light sage jus. Bliss!

Hereford Museums Collections Now On-Line

It is happening. Slowly but surely, Museums are placing their catalogues on-line for access. I mentioned at the recent AGM of the Textile Society, that given the staffing problems now for all but the largest museums, we need to be looking at specialist on-line mediation and interpretation of museum items also, since there is probably not much above the basic descriptive that can be accomplished by some volunteer staff who have to cover absolutely everything. So - for example, one could have a remote interpreter of early samplers who could cover many museum collections. I think that unless this is built into strategies now, then phone apps with pattern recognition will become the interpreters anyway. You will simply go into a gallery and point your phone at an object, and back will come a description of sorts. Whether that description has been authored by someone with knowledge of the item is entirely up to us to push for now. Another opportunity is to collect information on-line from anyone who has information to offer on a piece - rather like the very exciting Public Catalogue Foundation tagging project - click here for more details. OK, off the soapbox and back to the band sampler above. It was made in 1658 by Addree Paine.

What I love about this sampler is a band of arcading composed of linked hands. We often see a pair of clasped hands as a symbol of marriage, but rarely linked as a continuous arcade.

This is a burse or bag used by the Lord Chancellor of King George III. A Lord Chancellor's burse like this would have been used to carry the Great Seal which was used to seal Paliamentary writs, treaties and other important state papers. This example of a burse is from 1800-1833 and is richly made of deep crimson velvet and stumpwork decoration. The front is heavily worked in twisted and coiled gold and silver threads, gold spangles, pearls and some coloured silks. The back, however, is plain as this would not have been seen.

Above and below (detail) is a marriage quilt from the year 1697 with a name that looks like F A Bagot. It is made of a cream quilted silk satin. Each corner is embroidered with a basket of flowers between which are four exotic birds. There is also an oval floral design embroidered in the centre. The designs and motifs are influenced by oriental Chinese Art.

The stomacher below was made in the early 18th century and was worn in the front opening of the open robe. It is made from silk and embroidered in silk thread with a floral pattern consisting of six main flowers, the central one a being a tulip. The colours include purple, pink, cream, beige, yellow and green.

Click here to visit Hereford Museums Collections

Meetings With Remarkable Women * Katrina Honeyman

It is in fact a great sadness for me that I never met Katrina Honeyman except through her books, though I would have dearly loved to have met her in person. And even sadder is the fact that Katrina died aged 61 late last year of cancer, when she had so much more to give.

I can only remember her now from her enthralling and meticulous histories of the textile industry in the north of England and these books which explore the role of children and women in the Industrial Revolution. It was a total paradigm shift to contemplate not simply the exploitation of women and children in early industrialization, but their significance to the growth and development of the economy. Based at Leeds University, Katrina was a former editor of Textile History and wrote and collaborated on many books.

Scattered Thoughts on the Scattering of the Betty Ring Sampler Collection

I wonder if you noticed, by zooming in, this little detail on the Quaker Doll in Betty's collection which is up for auction by Sothebys later this month? In addition to the charming pocket resting on her right hip, marked with the letter S (twice), she has a little Quaker pinball with braid tied around her waist and hanging on her left hip! How wonderful is that? I spent the whole of Sunday looking at all the items, trying to gather some thought. I have to say my first thoughts, amongst the hot flushes, were for sal volatile when I saw the estimates. It is a delight to see how samplers are valued across the pond and cannot wait for the day when we similarly value our textile heritage here.

Of course, I love the Quaker samplers in the auction, and was delighted to see close-up the US Quaker darning pattern samplers, which have more to do with learning and enjoying weave patterns than any practical darning exercise. I wonder if these also were worked in the girls' spare time for pleasure, as they were at Ackworth School? I have never seen anything quite like this on a pattern darning sampler - a creation of knitting or perhaps Swiss darning worked upon the surface of the linen.

Though many samplers feature a house or homestead, Anna Pope has rendered her particular family's home with loving attention to detail - down to (or rather, up to) its modish lightening conductor. Although Benjamin Franklin had described how such lightning conductors could be used to safeguard homes - as opposed to churches or civic buildings - in the 1750s, it wasn't until 1761 when there was the first recorded instance of a house saved from lightning by such a conductor. Anna's work then of around 1796 documents the uptake of the new technology.

Lingering with Anna's stitched house, we can also see the technique of tweeding - combining strands of different shades to create a more complex and subtle effect for grass or sky. There is so much to see in these samplers, one could go on interminably. I am always struck by the uneven cross stitches in many samplers - as if no-one had told the girls they simply must learn to cross all their stitches in the same direction. The result is a far more charming and rich surface by consequence than any created under such stringent rules. Looking at so many mourning pictures, one cannot fail to be struck by the premature harvest of life, and by the numbers of young orphans left behind. While many were helped by guardians and benevolent hospitals, others, less fortunate would have been left to fend for themselves and would have lived in quasi feral communities. Can it be such a wonder that these children, gathered in by church and schools, should work such desolate and dismal thoughts of death into many of their samplers?
Finally, I know I shall be asked which sampler is my favourite. The answer is: it depends which day you ask me. I love the chutzpah of Lot 583, the Chagall-like joyfulness of Lot 652, the fraktur titling of Lot 616. I have a penchant for New York samplers such as Lot 600, but maybe if really pushed I would choose Lot 622 the 1740 Philadelphia sampler. And if my fairy godmother flew in the window right now, my single wish would be for this singular and sensational collection never to be scattered and for it to have a permanant home in memory of all that Betty has done for the world of samplers - say, oh say that the twin samplers by the Reding sisters (Lots 563 and 565) sha'n't be separated!