Saturday, December 31, 2016

October Stitch-In-Public

The Brandywine Chapter Stitch in Public was held on October 26. We had an enjoyable day at the Winterthur Gallery. We arrived in the morning at 10:00 and then we set up and began stitching. People arrived at Winterthur for their tours. Some of the people on the tours stopped by and some tour guides came over to see what we were doing. During the morning some children’s groups came through the gallery and looked at our stitching and the samples. The afternoon was even busier. Winterthur is a good location for public stitching because they have different tours going through the gallery every day. We hope to return next year. It’s a fun way to share our needlework.
--Launa Sprouls, Community Outreach


Wednesday, December 28, 2016

October Quarterly photos

Conservator Virginia Whelan told us about the restoration of George Washington's travel headquarters, soon to be on display at Philadelphia's new Museum of the American Revolution.






 Show and Tell items that our members have completed:









Monday, October 17, 2016

Quarterly Meeting: George Washington's Tent

Join us this Wednesday, October 19, for a presentation by Virginia Whelan, textile conservator, who recently worked on George Washington's Headquarter's Tent. The tent is now the cornerstone exhibit at the new American Revolutionary War Museum in Philadelphia.

For a little information about the tent visit:
http://philly.curbed.com/2016/10/7/13199072/george-washingtons-tent-important-facts

This presentation is part of our quarterly gathering. There will be a brief business meeting starting at 10 am, followed by the presentation about Washington's tent.

The meeting will be at Kendal at Longwood, 1109 E. Baltimore Pike, Kennett Square. The entrance is off Rt. 52. 


Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Sampler ID Day To Be Held at New Castle Historical Society



The Delaware Sampler Discovery Group will host a Delaware Sampler Identification Day at The New Castle Historical Society at 30 Market Street in New Castle, Delaware, on Saturday, October 1, 2016, from 10:00 am-4:00 pm.

Please bring your eighteenth and/or nineteenth century samplers and any supporting family information to be photographed and documented by the Delaware Sampler Discovery Group. If you have more than two samplers, please make an appointment by contacting Cynthia Steinhoff at 410-647-6451 or cksteinhoff@gmail.com.

About Delaware Needlework Samplers
 

A needlework sampler is a piece of embroidery produced as a demonstration or test of skill in needlework and was usually stitched by girls while attending school. Samplers and related schoolgirl embroideries frequently include alphabets, figures, motifs, verses, pictorial scenes, and decorative borders. In addition, they often include the name of the girl who stitched the sampler, the date when it was created, as well as names of family members and perhaps even a teacher. Most importantly, samplers provide an extremely rare window into the lives of girls and young women of early America.

Background

The New Castle Historical Society is partnering with the Delaware Sampler Discovery Group, which has been active for more than ten years, on a statewide initiative to locate, document, and photograph schoolgirl samplers in Delaware’s public and private collections. In collaboration with other organizations, the group held two ID Days in 2015, two in 2014, and five in 2013, with funds provided by the Delaware Humanities Forum and private donors leading to the discovery of many unpublished Delaware samplers. 

Another partner, the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover, DE, hosted an ID Day in June 2015 and several of the earlier identification events. In March 2014 the Biggs Museum was the site of an exhibition and three–day symposium on Delaware genealogical samplers entitled Wrought with Careful Hand: Ties of Kinship on Delaware Samplers. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalog with the same title.

Dr. Gloria Seaman Allen will research Delaware sampler discoveries for a comprehensive study of Delaware girlhood embroideries with a publication date of fall 2017.

For more information or to make an appointment to bring your sampler to the New Castle ID Day, contact Cynthia Steinhoff at 410-647-7451 or cksteinhoff@gmail.com.