MY FIELD TRIP

While everyone in my family is away (strange) I took a field trip of my own. I went to the Textile Museum of St. Gallen. Eastern Switzerland has an important history of lace making and embroidery. So I looked at a lot of really old beautiful lace – some of it amazingly made by hand. And I saw dresses that look so delicate they must have been good solely for standing around looking pretty and drinking tea while holding a parasol. The highlight was seeing a demonstration of a hand embroidery machine from 1890. The name doesn’t really make sense – hand and machine? But it’s basically a machine with 80 double pointed needles. The operator positions the fabric according to a chart and all the needles punch through the fabric at once. And then the needles go back through to the other side with a really satisfying sound. It’s basic and yet not.

The museum ticket was a printed swatch of fabric:

Here’s where the operator sits – in front of an enlarged pattern. They move the handle and position it’s pointer on the pattern where they want the next stitch to go. The machine moves the fabric so the needles are positioned in the corresponding position on the embroideries.

I’m glad I went. I’m inspired when I see fine sewing and fine fabrics. And St. Gallen is also beautiful!

So here’s some of the (comparatively very basic) sewing that I’ve been doing. I took a bad selfie at the museum – it’s the Gelato Blouse from Liesl and Co.