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Friday, January 29, 2016

Patriotic Crochet of World War I: a probable example

One of the friends I stayed with recently in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney has a supper cloth inherited from an aunt. She and I spent one evening examining it and finding out what we could about its likely background.

The cloth is rectangular, embroidered in the centre , with a deep crocheted border. It is roughly 2.5ft x 3.5ft. The embroidery on the centre fabric is to one end rather than centred. The shape suggests it may have been designed for a small, square table with one end hanging down the front of the table.
What intrigued us were the motifs on the crocheted border. Crosses - chunky Red Cross-type crosses - alternate with the motif of a bi-plane.

A bit of Internet searching turned up some information.  Between 1915 and 1917 women's magazines published patterns not only of practical items (such as gloves, hats and scarves) to knit for the troops, but commemorative and patriotic items for the home (such as table linen). There are numerous extant examples of table cloths, runners and supper cloths with borders, commemorating battles, ships, regiments, individuals or events.

Some patterns for crocheted borders are adjustable, designed to be added to an existing piece of linen to enlarge and embellish it. We thought it likely my friend's piece had been treated this way. It had a wide, hem-stitched border to which the crochet had been added.
None of the examples we found online commemorated the Air services . The navy was well represented. We found examples from England, France, the USA and Australia. The Australian War Memorial has a useful example and background on its website (Dianne Rutherford, Patriotic crochet in the First World War).


We can't, at this stage, be certain, but it is probable this piece comes from that WWI period and was made from a pattern distributed by a women's magazine. The Red Cross itself published a couple of pattern books. Biplanes were extensively used in WWI but only for training in WWII. The cross, on the other hand, may signify a church cloth, rather than the Red Cross.

The embroidery is largely satin stitch with some drawn thread work around the edges.
This was a privilege and lot of fun -  sharing, examining and researching. We did not find a pattern for this specific piece but we gained an insight into the lives of women on the Homefront in the First World War along with the designs and crochet techniques with which they were familiar. It was extraordinary to have in our hands the only example we could find of a patriotic crocheted cloth commemorating the air service.


13 comments:

margaret said...

this is beautiful and so good you were able to research about it. It is still in wonderful condition, I have one or 2 pieces my grandmother did but they are worn and sad looking but have sentimental value to me as granny died when I was only 10. She lived in Australia too, was born there and came to the UK in the thirties

Jillian said...

I'd like to see photos of those, Margaret. I'll email you. I think it's important to tell these stories.

Monica said...

What an interesting piece, and the biplanes are really beautiful, aren't they? Maybe it was for an altar or memorial of some kind. It's so nice to see the current events of the day represented in stitching. We should do more of that now, I think!

Jillian said...

I agree, Monica. I bought a book on narrative embroidery recently. I'm thinking of ways to do more of it.

JennyPennyPoppy said...

An interesting post Jillian and the cloth looks like it's still in great condition considering when it was made.

Dottie said...

It certainly is a gorgeous piece of work and looks to be in amazingly good condition. I have an idea there is a table cloth in our local Historical Society Museum in Myrtleford Vic which is from the same era. I will have a look and get back to you if there are any similarities or if there is any information with it which could be relevant to you. I'm glad to have come across your Blog via Embroidery News cheers Dorothy

Jillian said...

Thanks very much Dorothy. That would be fabulous. Jillian

nannajs said...

I also admire this piece of work. My comment is - we assume it was done by a woman. Men did lots of needle work, knitting etc when recovering from injuries received on the front. Perhaps the crochet was done by a male and sent home to his family who then put it onto the cloth. Just wondering. Nannajs no blog

Jillian said...

Thanks for the comment, nannajs. It is possible, but unlikely. There are a lot of examples of this kind of work in women's magazines of the time and patriotic agencies encouraged women to do it. Most work done by troops, either recovering in hospitals or in the field, was with much courser materials. This looks like an existing embroidered cloth embellished with fine crochet cotton.

ROBERTA KENNEY said...

Excellent research into the hand work on this treasure. I agree that is is fillet crochet. The cross comes from the roundels the were used to identify the allied air planes from WWI specifically the British. The arms of the cross in the roundel are of equal length. The embroidery is beautiful and the design reminds me of fire works.

Thank you for sharing the treasure.
Roberta Kenney
PA USA ROBERTA KENNEY

Jillian said...

Thank you so much, Roberta. That information is really helpful and makes sense of the crosses. I appreciate your taking the time to share your knowledge. Much appreciated. Many thanks, too, to Create in Stitch for publishing my request for information about the piece and the resulting responses.

Anonymous said...

Have you tried http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/

june said...

I totally agree with the biplane and Red Cross (or other medical service) theme. It was my first thought when I saw the work. World War I and patriotism entwined by a patriotic needleworker! June G.