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cocoons.
Once the cocoons are complete, they
are harvested. They are softened in warm water to loosen the gum that binds the fibers together. The silk can then easily be removed and spun into an exquisite fabric. Embroidery is the process of stitching an image into a fabric surface using a needle and thread (or yarn). An embroiderer attaches the thread to the fabric by way of a variety of stitches, each with its own function in a design. The British artist Mary Linwood (1755–1845) practiced the art of crewel embroidery, a process that uses freeform, fine wool thread stitching on a drawn design. The detail from Hanging Partridge (2.6.16) shows that the process is a lot like “painting with thread,” as the artist applies the thread colors the way a painter would apply color in a painting. This kind of needlework is intricate and slow (one of Linwood’s pieces reportedly took ten years to complete), but it shows exceptional patience and skill. Linwood’s work was held in high esteem, and indeed she was popular with royalty in England and Russia. Faith Ringgold, Tar Beach “There once was a little girl named Cassie who lived in an apartment in New York. On warm summer evenings, she and her family would lay out blankets and have picnics under the stars on their tar beach. The roof was a wonderful place to lie back and look at the city and its lights, and dream about wonderful things like flying through the sky. She could dream that her father, who had helped to build the building where she lived, could join the union, even though being half-Black and half-Indian made it impossible. She could dream that her mother owned an ice-cream factory and was able to eat ice cream every night for dessert.” In this artwork, the African American artist Faith Ringgold (b. 1930) tells a story of a child called Cassie (2.6.17). Ringgold relates the African American experience, her personal history, and her family life by presenting her own childhood memories in a work that combines painting on canvas with the quilting skills of her family and ancestors. Ringgold began to paint on fabrics in the 1970s. As she did, the works evolved into a collaborative effort with her mother, who was a dressmaker and fashion designer. Ringgold would create the painted part of the work, and her mother would stitch the edges and sew patches of cloth and quilted areas together to form a border. Her great-great-great-grandmother had been a slave who made quilts for plantation owners in the 2.6.17 Faith Ringgold, Tar Beach, 1988. Acrylic on canvas, bordered with printed, painted, quilted, and pieced cloth, 6'25⁄8" × 5'81⁄2". Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York South. Ringgold’s works thus possess many layers of meaning that relate to this history and these craft skills. Together these layers communicate the richness of human experience.
English Embroidery - II - Cross-Stitch - A Handbook with Diagrams, Scale Drawings and Photographs taken from XVIIth Century English Samplers and from Modern Examples