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More than 100 years ago at the dawn of the 20th century one of America’s most distinguished authors, Rose Wilder Lane, was asked to write a report on the history and development of the needlework arts in America. Mrs Lane was the ideal writer for this worthy task being herself an expert needlewoman, historian, novelist, and essayist.

Her words gave radiance and meaning to the great needlework canvas and provided encouragement for the creative women of the time to carry on the great tradition of American needlework. This creativity brought beauty to their lives and homes and everlasting satisfaction to themselves and their families.

Mrs Lane’s original report has been split up into this five-part series of articles and is virtually unchanged from her original script.

Needlework is the art that tells the truth about the real life of people in their time and place. The great arts, music, sculpture, painting, literature, are the work of a few unique persons whom lesser men emulate, often for generations. Needlework is anonymous; the people create it. Each piece is the work of a woman who is thinking only of making for her child, her friend, her home or herself a bit of beauty that pleases her.

So her needlework expresses what she is, more clearly than her handwriting does. It expresses everything that makes her an individual unlike any other person - her character, her mind and her spirit, her experience in living. It expresses, too, her country’s history and culture, the traditions, the philosophy, the way of living that she takes for granted.

The first thing that American needlework tells you is that Americans live in the only classless society. This republic is the only country that has no peasant needlework. Everywhere else, peasant women work their crude, naive, gay patterns, suited to their humble class and frugal lives, while ladies work their rich and formal designs proper to higher birth and breeding.

American needlework is not peasant’s work or aristocrats. It is not crude and it is not formal. It is needlework expressing a new and unique spirit, more American than American sculpture, painting, literature or classical music.

Three hundred years ago the colonies in America were European. Gentlemen and their ladies brought to North America the absolute monarchies of the Continent, the feudal system of England, and the arts and cultures of the Old World. They also brought the lower classes to do the hard work.

The workers who cleared the forests, planted the crops, hunted for the fur traders, and did the brewing, building, spinning and weaving were peasants hardly more free than serfs, bound servants no more free than slaves, poor families imprisoned for poverty who were herded out of debtors’ prisons and shipped to America, and poor girls who, having no dowries, were auctioned in American ports to woodsmen and freed servants who could afford to buy wives.

They came from the hungry classes in all the famine-plagued kingdoms of the Old World. They had nothing in common but their poverty, their humanity, and a wild hope. Long before British victory in European wars had seized for the British Empire all the colonies in America except the Spanish Floridas and New France west of the Mississippi, the land that is now these States was the home of all mankind.

The Dutch built the town on Manhattan Island, and the patroons’ large estates on Long Island and up the Hudson River valley. German peasants slowly defeated the Pennsylvania wilderness. Scotch-Irish struggled into the Carolina mountains. Swedes settled Delaware. New France ran from Maine to Detroit to St. Louis and up the Mississippi from Mobile and New Orleans to Illinois, Missouri and the Dakota headwaters of the Missouri River. New Spain stretched from Peru and Mexico to San Antonio, Los Angeles, San Francisco. The Russians came down from Alaska to Monterey.

Among all these pioneers, only a few at first, were Italians, Danes, Poles, Armenians, Assyrians, Czechs, Slovaks, Finns, Greeks, Norwegians, Hungarians, Africans, Arabs, Egyptians, Levantines. Protestants ruled New England; Catholics governed Maryland; Jews were in all the colonies. All varieties of humankind were here, and all the languages, faiths, cultures.

By painful stages on wagon tracks through forests and by boats sailing along empty coasts, the English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, French and Spanish gentlemen were meeting on the neutral ground of their lofty social class. Beneath them the lower classes were mingling and intermarrying with each other and with the Indians - the farmers, the peddlars, the sailors, the little merchants, the wilderness fighters; the first Americans.

John Wigham has been a professional author and editor for 20 years and is a co-founder of http://www.patternspatch.com an online cross stitch club dedicated to counted cross stitch. Sign up for
Cross Stitch Tips & News at ppp_totw@aweber.com.

Kite flying is one of the oldest pastimes in the world. No one can say with certainty precisely how old it is, but we do know that it goes back for many centuries, and that the beginnings of the story have an eastern setting. On the latter point, more will be said in a moment. In the meantime, this may be said. In its general significance, the invention of the kite stands out as an expression of man’s age-old and universal longing to conquer the air.

It cannot be said with precision just how or when thoughts about flying began to occupy man’s mind. What is known, however, is that from the time he began to write and to draw, the idea of flight was present; an idea which was born, no doubt, through watching the birds in their travels, doing what he himself could not do. The ability which he himself did not possess he bestowed upon the beings born of his imagination. In ancient stories of superhuman mastery of the elements, gods and devils transport themselves with wings, and men and beasts also navigate the air. Thus in one way or another man’s interest in flight was sustained, and in the course of time this interest led to various attempts to achieve mastery of the air.

In the story of man’s conquest of the air, kites have an important place. It cannot be said with certainty who invented them or when they were first flown. Ancient Greek tradition ascribes the invention to Archytas of Tarentum in the fourth century B.C. The Koreans attribute the origin of the kite to a general who, in the dim and distant past, put fresh courage into his troops by sending up a kite to which a lantern was fixed. They believed that it was a new star and a sign of divine help.

Above the mists of speculation the fourth century B.C. stands as a landmark. It is established that by this time kites were well-known in China. It is said that the first Chinese kites were probably made of wood. This could well be, though a case could be made out that they might have had a bamboo framework with a silk cover, since silk is said to have been used there as far back as 4,000 years ago. It is probable that by the fourth century this material was being used. About the year A.D. 105 the Chinese discovered a method of making paper sheets from vegetable fiber. This made available another suitable covering material.

When we turn to the purposes for which kites were used in those far-off days, much that is of interest may be noted. Ancient Chinese historians have recorded that they were employed to carry ropes across rivers and gorges. The ropes were made fast and wooden bridges suspended from them. It is said that a general of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 221) put the enemy to flight by flying musical kites over their camp at night. The enemy fled, because they believed that the music was the voices of their guardian angels, warning them of coming danger. There is a tradition, too, that man-lifting kites were used in attacks on cities, and to drop men behind enemy lines. It is difficult to say when this strategy was first employed, so no date can be given. It is known, however, that the Chinese and the Japanese used man-lifting kites to survey the enemy’s position as early as the seventeenth century A.D.

There is a tradition that kites were known in Ancient Greece and Rome. One should not be too dogmatic on this point. On the other hand, taking fourth century China as the starting point, one may confidently trace the spread of kite flying all over Asia and beyond, extending to such countries as New Zealand. The Maoris are said to have fastened perforated reeds to their kites. It was believed that the sounds which they made would scare off evil spirits.

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Three hundred years ago the then colonies in America were inhabited largely by a European hierarchy who’d brought their lower classes with them to do the hard work. There was much mingling and intermarrying with each other and with the Indians - the farmers, the peddlers, the sailors, the little merchants, the
wilderness fighters — the first Americans…

The Dutch built the town on Manhattan Island, and the patroons’ large estates on Long Island and up the Hudson River valley. German peasants slowly defeated the Pennsylvania wilderness. Scotch-Irish struggled into the Carolina mountains. Swedes settled Delaware.

New France ran from Maine to Detroit to St. Louis and up the Mississippi from Mobile and New Orleans to Illinois, Missouri and the Dakota headwaters of the Missouri River. New Spain stretched from Peru and Mexico to San Antonio, Los Angeles, San Francisco.

The Russians came down from Alaska to Monterey. Among all these pioneers, only a few at first, were Italians, Danes, Poles, Armenians, Assyrians, Czechs, Slovaks, Finns, Greeks, Norwegians, Hungarians, Africans, Arabs, Egyptians, Levantines. Protestants ruled New England; Catholics governed Maryland; Jews were in all the colonies. All varieties of humankind were here, and all the languages, faiths, cultures.

By painful stages on wagon tracks through forests and by boats sailing along empty coasts, the English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, French and Spanish gentlemen were meeting on the neutral ground of their lofty social class. Beneath them the lower classes were mingling and intermarrying with each other and with the Indians - the farmers, the peddlers, the sailors, the little merchants, the wilderness fighters; the first Americans.

Struggling for bare life itself, against the forests, the grudging soil, the weather, the sea, they learned that differences between human beings are superficial and that a common human nature and a common need, a common hope, unite all humankind on this hostile earth. In sharing danger and hardship, they learned that every person is self-controlling, responsible for his acts; that each one makes his own life what it is and that all alike must struggle to survive and to make human living better than it is.

This truth was not in the feudal idea that God creates inferior and superior classes of human beings. It was not in the Acts of Parliament and Kings. It was not in the schools that taught gentlemen’s sons the duties of their privileged status. It was not in the arts and writings that expressed the Old World’s concept of the nature of man, and it was not in the colonies’ social order of authority above, obedience below. But it was in the first American needlework.

Needlework is a pretty occupation for a woman’s hands. No governor and no scholar noticed it, and the women who made it did not guess that their needles were prophesying the World Revolution. They believed that they belonged in the class where they were born; they thought that they were loyal subjects of their King. But they did not like the old needlework patterns.

They made new patterns. A hundred years before the time when their grandsons would attack the Old World belief that persons are merely particles of the State, American women rejected that ancient fallacy as it was expressed in European needlework.

In typical Old World needlework, each detail is a particle of the whole; no part of the design can stand alone, whole and complete in itself. The background is solid, the pattern is formal, and a border encloses all.

American women smashed that rigid order to bits. They discarded backgrounds, they discarded borders and frames. They made the details create the whole, and they set each detail in boundless space, alone, independent, complete.

They did in needlework what Americans would later do in the human world of living human beings. As Americans were the first to know and to declare that a person is the unit of human life on earth, that each human being is a self-governing source of the life-energy that creates, controls, and changes societies, institutions, governments, so American women were the first to reverse the old meaning in needlework design. They no longer copied the stiff, formal order imposed upon enclosed patterns; they made each detail free, self-reliant, complete by itself, not quite like any other, and they let these details create their whole effect.

Just as individual freedom suddenly released the terrific human energy that swept the Old World’s Great Powers from this hemisphere and wholly transformed North America in a third of the time that those Old World Powers had held it, so this reversal of meaning gives American needlework an almost explosive energy that would gather inreasing momentum.

John Wigham has been a professional author and editor for 20 years and is a co-founder of http://www.patternspatch.com an online cross stitch club dedicated to counted cross stitch. Sign up for
Cross Stitch Tips & News at ppp_totw@aweber.com.

Gift baskets are always popular and a great idea to give as a gift whether for Mother’s Day or any other time of the year. Moms love to receive gift baskets. Making your own gourmet ‘mom’ gift basket is cheap and easy. You can fill your gift basket with a variety of inexpensive quality items; you have lots of choices.

I’ve put together a few great tips and ideas for making ‘mom’ gift baskets, complete with instructions on how to make them. You can make inexpensive gift baskets or expensive gift baskets depending on your budget. You can easily customize each basket to your recipient.

First make a list of the mom’s hobbies and interests. List everything you can think of that might possibly pertain.

Suggestions: sports, books, television shows, in-house hobbies, outdoor recreation, camping, workshop, tools, golf, fishing, computer-related, environment friendly, golf, tennis, relaxation, food, chocolate, wine, spa, bath and body, fruit, cookie, etc. These are just a few ideas.

You can find many inexpensive items and products for use in making your gift baskets or filling your gift baskets, at ‘dollar’ stores, craft stores, party stores, discount outlets, flea markets, close-out stores and even at garage sales providing the items are new, etc.

For gift containers you can use: any type of basket, wicker basket, straw basket, bucket, laundry basket, plastic container, purse, tin, seasonal container, large tea pot, large upside-down hat, red hat or plastic storage container-put lid underneath.

Other items: extra-large coffee mug, boot, potted plant holder, wire basket, large pasta bowl, large popcorn bowl, cooking pot, clay pot, colander, skillet, antique trunk, champagne bucket, hamper, Asian-style trunk or picnic basket.

For gift basket liner you can use: tissue paper, shredded paper, shredded newspaper, tea towels, dish towels, hand towels, kitchen towels, colored towels, colored napkins, placemats, or fabric pieces.

For gift basket filler you can use: shredded colored paper, straw, Easter basket grass, crumpled newspaper comics, a bed of wrapped chocolates or other wrapped candy.

For items in the container it’ll depend on the specialty or theme of the gift basket - in this case a mom. Here is a small random sampling to give you a few good ideas:

Gift certificate for massage or spa visit, scented oils, scented massage oils, gift certificate to favorite store, gift certificate for restaurant, loofah, fragrant candle, matches to light candles, CD of nature sounds, favorite artist CD, DVD of newer release movie, how-to video or CD, handwritten poem, perfume, cologne, watch, framed photo, inspirational book, spa pillows, bath pillows, spa supplies, bath and body products, facial and body scrubs, handmade soaps, fragrant soaps, shampoos, hand and foot lotion or fluffy towel.

Flavored teas, green tea, specialty tea, herbal tea, biscotti, tea infuser, healthy snacks, fancy chocolates, boxed chocolates, chocolate bars, hot chocolate mix, specialty coffee mix, homemade cookies, homemade brownies, homemade jams, popcorn, caramel corn, giant-size boxed candy, candy canes, suckers, lollipops, apple, pear, orange, persimmon, mango, papaya, chips, pretzels, nuts, gourmet pasta, gourmet olive oil, pre-packaged food items, pancake mixes, brownie mixes, cookie mixes, wooden spoons, your best chocolate chip cookie recipe, Italian recipes, Mexican food recipes or other ethnic recipes, coffee mug, or potholders.

Garden trowel or other garden tools, garden gloves, work gloves, cold weather gloves, leather gloves, garden picks, seeds, hand lotion, flower pot , small tools, gadgets, playing cards, travel-size games, small puzzles, t-shirt, tickets to events,
small plant, disposable camera, a small book,

Computer-related items, mouse pad, yarn, painting or artist supplies, golf balls, golf tees, golf knick knacks, tennis balls, tennis knick knacks, key chains, small calendars or desk calendars, barometer, outdoor thermometer, science gadgets, electronic gadgets, health-related items, auto-related items or cinnamon sticks.

For gift basket wrapping you can use tulle netting or better yet, cellophane wrap. If you’re going to use a lot of cellophane you can purchase it in large rolls wholesale through the packaging specialty stores throughout the U.S. but should be easily found in craft stores.

Tie off the wrapped basket with ribbon. Wired fabric ribbon is best if you have it.

For bows: You can use pre-packaged bows but making your own bow is easy and a better presentation if you can do it. Use a huge beautiful bow.

Assemble all your gift basket items, the tools you need, etc. Now line your selected gift container. Then stuff the selected filler into the gift basket to give added height to your items. Place, layer and arrange your selected items on the filler in the gift container. Put the larger items in the back, the smaller items in front.

Fill in the holes or prop up with more filler (shredded paper, Easter basket grass, wrapped chocolates, napkins or holiday napkins etc.)

Also you can use ‘picks’ of artificial flowers to fill in small open spots.

Place your cellophane or other wrap under the gift basket. Center the gift basket on the wrap. Bring the cellophane or other wrap over the top of the gift basket and tie it with ribbon and/or a beautiful bow! Use ribbon and bows to match your theme colors.

Tuck a personalized card in the ribbon and that’s it!

General tips: You can find fabric or wired ribbon cheaply at Costco — especially in the fall prior to Christmas or around holidays but often throughout the year in most stores. You can shred colored paper in a paper shredder.

Try to use non-perishable items except, of course, when making fruit baskets. Use freshly packaged food items; packaged crackers and cookies can go stale in a couple of months.

You can find filler flower ‘picks’ at garage sales cheaply. If you buy ‘picks’ wholesale they are usually around a dollar each.

Try not to mix chocolate or other food fragrant items with non-food fragrant items in the same basket.

Also there’s nothing like learning how to make gift baskets from a video or DVD for making cheap and easy gift baskets. You can view it over and over again and share it with your children, other family members and friends. You can even charge for classes with your new-found knowledge and/or start a home based business if you so desire. In any event, making a gourmet mom gift basket can be cheap and easy.

For more information on how to make gift baskets and how to start a gift basket business, go to http://www.HowToMakeBeautifulGiftBaskets.com a website specializing in making gift baskets, gift basket business tips, help, advice and resources including information on drop shipping gift baskets

In typical Old World needlework, each detail is a particle of the whole; no part of the design can stand alone, whole and complete in itself. The background is solid, the pattern is formal, and a border encloses all.

American women smashed that rigid order to bits. They discarded backgrounds, they discarded borders and frames. They made the details create the whole, and they set each detail in boundless space, alone, independent, complete.

Just as individual freedom suddenly released the terrific human energy that swept the Old World’s Great Powers from this hemisphere and wholly transformed North America in a third of the time that those Old World Powers had held it, so this reversal of meaning gives American needlework an almost explosive energy.

No other needlework is so alive. There are no stiff forms to it, no monotonous repetitions. Leaves and flowers spring vigorously from living stems; buds burst open, squirrels frisk, deer leap, birds fly. Colors are clear and fresh and vibrant. No other needlework on earth is so strong, so free, so full of energy and movement.

Women in the European colonies began this revolution in needlework more than a hundred years before Americans broke clean away from the Old World and began to create a wholly new world.

English, French, and German women in the white towns and red farmhouses of New England and in the great houses of Maryland and Virginia took old patterns of Persia, India, Portugal, Holland and England and wrought them in crewel work transformed by the new American spirit.

They made the feather crest of the Prince of Wales into airy quilting patterns. French women changed the Lilies of France into living flowers. Dutch women on Long Island and German girls in Pennsylvania took the stiff tulip from their painted chests and worked it into their unique patterns of wholly American patchwork.

American women changed the English Rose into the Cherokee Rose, the Prairie Wild Rose, and the Texas Rose that vies with the Lone Star; different patterns all, and all charming.

Then from starving Ireland the Irish women brought the lace that America transformed into the wholly new crocheted lace that is the American “real” lace, the most varied, flexible, and free of the world’s fine laces, the only lace that is made “in the air.”.

The Italians and the Russians brought the cross-stitch; the Spanish brought outline; the Danes brought cutwork, the grandmother of all laces; Madeira sent drawnwork; Scots added the woven plaid, Scandinavians the hooked coverlet that American women transformed into our hooked rug; American Indians gave beadwork; Mexicans gave the Aztec patterns and the desert’s blazing colors.

American women, children of all these lands, took all this and more and made it American in spirit. They changed it, combined its symbols, gave it space and freedom and energy; and they created a new folk art: American needlework.

We are still creating it. As colonial women made such designs as the Log Cabin, the Bear’s Paw, the Tomahawk, the Pine Tree, the Wild Goose Flight; as nineteenth-century Americans made Martha Washington’s Flower Garden, the Oregon Trail, the Lone Star of Texas, the Atlantic Cable, so today American women are making patterns of the skyscraper sky lines, civic centers and parks, airplanes, Hawaii’s Island Garden.

They are working into needlework murals our legends of Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed and Daniel Boone.

Only one form of American needlework is wholly American, without root or kin in the Old World; that is our pieced patchwork. Oh, patches are nothing new. Ancient Egyptians sewed fabric to fabric, and in medieval Europe women applied cloth to cloth. Patches are as old as poverty. In rags and patches the first workers came to America. Patches belonged to workers, to the poor, low-class subjects of the ruling classes. Patchwork was always a task, not an art.

Poverty came across the ocean with the immigrants. Here on the farthest rim of the known world, it became direst need. The smallest scrap of cloth was precious to a woman who could have no more cloth until the trees were cut and burned, the land spaded and sown to flax or to grass for sheep, then next year the wool sheared, washed, combed, carded and spun, or the flax pulled and carefully rippled, retted, dried, beetled, scutched, heckled, spun, and at last the loom made, the warp threaded, the shuttles wound and the cloth woven. Only then could she hope for a few scraps to continue with her craft.

John Wigham has been a professional author and editor for 20 years and is a co-founder of http://www.patternspatch.com an online cross stitch club dedicated to counted cross stitch. Sign up for
Cross Stitch Tips & News at ppp_totw@aweber.com.

Compared with other trades like cabinet-making, plumbing, etc., the upholstery trade requires few tools.

Hammers

Perhaps the most important one is the upholsterer’s hammer. Upholstery hammers are specially made for this specific craft. There are three types, the favorite one being that with the round ringed shaft.

Cutting tools

These consist of scissors and knives, the former should be about nine or ten inches in length and of good quality. A first-class pair of scissors will last an upholsterer all his working life. Here again we have a choice of design. One type has a square end finish to one of its blades and the other type has a pointed end to both blades. The last-mentioned are particularly useful when cutting loose covers and usually are a little dearer to buy. A knife is an essential tool for “trimming off” after the cover has been tacked on - particularly for hides and leather cloths.

Ripping-out tools

These consist of an upholsterer’s ripping chisel and a wooden mallet and are used to prepare the frame for a repair. The chisel end is placed against the tack and given one or two blows to remove same; always with the grain of the wood, otherwise you may crack or chip the wood-work.

Upholsterers’ needles and stitching tools

These are essential requirements. They consist of mattress or stitching needles and are from 8 to 16 in. in length. They have double-pointed ends with an eye about an inch from one end and are round in section. An exception is the one that is shaped triangularly for about a third of its length. This is called a bayonet point.

A ‘packing’ or ’spring’ needle and a half-circular needle will complete the stitching tools, a further addition being three or four dozen steel skewers. These are used to hold hessian or covers in position until they are stitched.

Machinery required for the workshop includes a heavy-duty sewing machine and a carding machine. The latter is used for ‘teasing’ and cleaning various stuffings from repair jobs. A cushion-filling machine is needed if a large volume of this work is done. Factory machines usually include mattress-making machines and a loose-seat machine, a fairly recent innovation.

A linen tack bag with three or four sections is required to hold the different sizes of tacks, and an upholsterer’s apron which has a capacious front pocket. This pocket is invaluable to the ‘ragtacker’. Tacks are held in the mouth and it is quite a shock when one first sees a handful of tin tacks thrown into the mouth. They are brought to the lips by teeth and tongue and taken by the thumb and forefinger of the hammer hand, still holding the hammer. Experience has proved that this is the fastest and most suitable method. The advent of the hammer with the magnetic head prompted some to alter their technique by placing the hammer head to the lips and carrying the tack to the job direct.

There is a combination that is essential for each man in the workshop. This is a pair of trestles and a bench. The trestles are of the usual variety but with a beading round the top. This is to prevent pieces of furniture with castors fixed from moving off. The bench is usually about 4 ft. square and is placed on the trestle tops for doing loose seats or cutting out, etc. The old-type Gladstone bag was a favorite for carrying the tools in, and a hair cushion tacked upon the wall near the bench took care of the needles and regulator. A tape measure is often found draped around this cushion ready to hand when needed.

For The People Who Want To Upholster Their Own Furniture But Don’t Know Where To Start!

Click here for FREE online ebook!

http://www.furnitureupholstery.org/

To begin with, I want to say something as trite as it is important and that is, “Use the very best materials that you can afford for any and all handwork.” Extravagance is never smart, but good quilt materials are not expensive. It’s the sleazy ones, unreliable dyes and starched cloth that prove expensive in the end.

Wash goods is gauged by the number of threads per square inch, “68-72″ is a fair grade of percale, “80 square” is excellent, the weight we usually use and some of the very fine imported ginghams run to “120 square.”

A firm weave is imperative where one is cutting small triangles and diamonds where part of each block must be bias. Imagine trying to fit bias sides of rayon crepe or voile onto squares and you can see how totally unfitted such scraps are for quilt making. Coarse linens, crash weight cretonne and pongee unless deeply seamed ravel out too easily to be suitable. Romper cloth and any others that border onto ticking texture are too close weave and heavy to quilt well. Cheap ginghams will shrink enough to pucker in a quilt top. So to the firm weave must be added soft texture. “Beauty shine” is a permanent luster satin of finest quality, which we recommend for excellent results. The finest materials certainly do make the loveliest quilts.

The dye problem is mastered with a reasonable amount of care as “vat dyes” are usual in even very inexpensive goods. “Commercially fast” the dealer will say, which means with any reasonable care they will not run. Very few manufacturers will absolutely guarantee color, and where they do replace, they have told us it was often a case of sub-standard black thread which had spotted with washing. Quilts are naturally difficult things to launder. A wisp of silk undies may be in, out, and dry in next to no time, but a quilt with cotton filler, top and lining all stitched plumply together goes in for no such speedy procedure. When it gets wet it stays that way long enough to try colors to their limits. We have had quilt colors, yellows and reds “bleed” into the white and in subsequent tubbings clear again to white. For the “priceless” quilts we suggest the French dry-cleaning establishments.

There is a long list of woven cloths advertised from 1715 on, “Demities,” “Fustians,” “Muslings,” “Cambricks,” different sorts of “Duck,” “Lawn,” “Searsucker,” “Pealong” the ancestor of longcloth and Nankeen who begat “Blue Denim”! All of these and many more found their way into patchwork but the dearest and most suitable of all was calico. An author, who treats this history in full, writes that “the mainstay of the patch worker was from 1700 to 1775 callicoe, from 1775 to 1825 calicoe, and from 1825 to 1875 calico!”

The great majority of quilts are usually made of wash cotton materials, although silks are sometimes used in such patterns as Log Cabin, Grandmother’s Fan, or the Friendship Ring, where one’s friends are called upon to help furnish beautiful bits to make the patterns as variegated as possible. Woolens, even good parts of worn garments are excellent for the heavy type of coverlet, and such designs as Steps to the Altar, or Grandmother’s Cross are suitable. Woolens are so apt to be dull, “practical” colors, that it is imperative to have some certain unit of red, bright green, orange or such in each block.

While cotton broadcloth, percales, or fine gingham, the calico prints and such, are used with muslin for wash quilts, many women maintain that soft satin really makes the most gorgeous quilt of all. When the time comes to quilt you will know why we stress soft materials and why lustrous satin which catches light on every little silk-like puff between quilting designs is so beloved.

Who Else Wants 101 Free Qulit Patterns And Designs!

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http://www.freequiltpattern.net/

The picture frame, as it exists today, is derived from the doorway or entrance to temples, palaces and cathedrals. The earliest examples of frame-like decorations or borders bear a great resemblance to door frames. They were composed of two columns surmounted by a connecting entablature and this form persisted into the 15th century. Even the decorations painted by the artists around the edges of pictures before the introduction of movable frames were similar in form.

As a matter of fact, frames without pictures eventually came into existence because the desire to embellish with Moldings was so strong. Rooms in palaces were arbitrarily paneled with Moldings and their vestigial remains are to be seen today in the senselessly paneled walls of apartments in modern cities.

Movable picture frames for “easel” paintings gained quickly in popularity once they were introduced. Be sides the elaborate and intricate wood-carving, ebony, ivory, tortoise shell and mother of pearl were used for inlaid decoration. Gold, silver and every other metal have also been used for frames.

With the perfection of the technique of making large sheets of glass which were in turn used to cover and protect pictures, frame-making received a big impetus in the 17th century. In the 18th century, when cheaper mirrors were introduced, frames were in greater demand than ever.

This century also saw an invention that was to revolutionize the art of frame decoration - that of the development of molded composition ornaments. The use of this easily handled material, which did away with the need for laborious and expensive hand-carving, drove artisans to other fields. Since then, there has been no large group of wood-carvers devoted solely to frame decoration.

It is interesting to note that during the Renaissance period, when movable frames were first introduced, book decoration reached its highest form. Undoubtedly, the early carvers and framers, besides using architectural designs, took many of their ideas from early illuminated manuscripts. The frames of the Louis’ periods certainly got their inspiration from typographical decorative motifs. Before then, architects and sculptors designed much of the scroll-work, but later goldsmiths were employed for decoration. Overelaboration became the order of the day until all forms were lost beneath the gingerbread.

With the French revolution, people turned away from all evidences of bourgeois wealth and returned to a refreshing simplicity. Until 1850 all Moldings were cut from rough boards by hand, but with the invention of laborsaving machinery, frames could be put on the market for what the raw material had cost previously. This country was fortunately spared from the use of molded ornaments until the advent of the Victorian era. American frames up to that time were relatively simple and dignified, very often using only natural, stained wood and a gilded insert. The carving, when used, was restricted to the classical forms of ornamentation for specific molding shapes.

The frame-makers who constructed the monstrosities of the Victorian era were not content to put one heavily embellished gold frame around a picture of “The Stag at Bay” or something similar, but three or four. This birthday cake was then enclosed in a glass-covered, plush-lined, mahogany shadow-box. This was presumably for protection, but its need is a mystery since the interiors of that time were heavily shaded and hermetically sealed anyway.

Around 1900 there was a fashion for “Oxford”, plush and cork-decorated frames. Hours and hours were spent carving these horrors and fitting them intricately together or in decorating frames with segments of cork. They can be found only rarely today, even in the higher priced second-hand stores, euphemistically called “antique shops”. But perhaps it is too early to drag out another “antique” vogue. Mass production, to some degree at least, has forced a healthy simplification.

At the same time that heavy gilt frames were the vogue for oil paintings, a demand for polished, veneered oak and white enamel frames developed. In order to cheapen the cost of production, a fashion was instituted for bronze frames, i.e., frames finished with gold or silver paint. It did not last long, however, and simple, wide frames in black or dark brown wood of the Flemish type came into favor.

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Scrap booking is a hobby that relates to pasting articles, photos, magazine, newspaper clippings and other memorabilia into personalised decorative albums. Scrap booking is a growing hobby and often ’scrappers’ meet on a regular basis for weekends or evenings to share tips and ideas for scrapbook ideas.

In its earliest form scrap booking was a way to blend memorabilia and journals. Scrapbooks have been created since printed material has been available.

Older style scrapbooks tended to have photos that were mounted with photo mount corners with quotes about who was in the photos and when the picture was taken. Quite often these pages would have memorabilia attached to them to make them more attractive.

If like me you are the type of person who is always taking photos and keeps memorabilia from places you visit such as tickets or receipts then scrap booking would be a perfect hobby for you to embark on.

Scrapbooks are great to improve and express your creative side as well as being something that you can store all your photos in.

It is important to use high quality materials when doing scrap booking, as your scrapbook will probably become one of your most treasured possessions due to the time you will spend on it. The most important thing to remember is always use products that are acid free using something that is not acid free can deteriorate and colors may fade over time.

It you are stuck for ideas there are so many books, websites and magazines that will give you great ideas for scrap book pages, however I do think it is important for you to try and create something personal and unique as this will reflect your crafting capabilities and your own personality.

Scrap books can also be given as gifts, sometimes just looking through a pile of photos can be rather boring but choosing the best ones and presenting them on a beautiful page filled with memories will bring a smile to any ones face.

If you are new to scrap booking then you could always purchase a kit to get you started scrapbook kits will contain the basic supplies to create a few pages. The items you will receive will all correspond in colour so you know that it will work together. Although the more professional scrapper would probably not use a kit they are perfect for beginners and will give you great ideas where to start and what colours go with what.

Once you have created your first scrapbook page and have seen how wonderful it looks im sure you will be as hooked on this hobby as I was. Then you can be more creative and try the 100s of techniques there is. It is also a great way to make new friends so keep your eyes out for local scrap book clubs that you could join to share tips and ideas.

Vicki Churchill writes for a site that specializes in card making ideas http://www.vickiscardmakingideas.com providing you with excellent tips and ideas for rubber stamping,scrapbooking and many other tricks and techniques.Plus where to find the best products for your crafts supplies.

Using embossing powders for your card making ideas is just one of the versatile techniques commonly used by crafters. Embossing powders are a wonderful addition to and card makers or scrap bookers craft box.

Embossing powders come in a huge variety of colours and textures and can easily be used by beginners and professional for card making ideas

Using embossing powders for your projects can create many different effects but you will need to purchase a few basic materials.

The main item you will need to be able to use your embossing powders is a heat gun, these can be found at most craft stores or stamp companies. Some heat guns are better than others, when you are purchasing a heat gun it is worth asking for recommendations from other experts that have used them for their card making ideas.

You will need to have an ink pad, ink pads come in many different colors I find it best to use the same colour ink pad as the embossing powder you are going to use, this will eliminate the ink showing through. You can always use a clear ink pad however if you are a beginner I would start with a color so you can see where you have stamped.

Stamps - a stamp is essential when using embossing powders as this is the foundation of the design, rubber stamps can be found at craft shops and there are simply millions that can be bought over the internet.

Of course you will need embossing powder, again these come in a huge variety of colours, try to math the colour with the theme of the stamp where possible.

To begin embossing it is advisable to wipe the area where you are going to stamp with an anti static bag, I also find a light dusting of bathroom talc works just as well.

Once the area is prepared it is time to ink your stamp. Choose your colour of ink preferably clear but if you are new to card making ideas then a matching color to your embossing powder will be fine. Always take your ink pad to the stamp rather than pressing the stamp into the ink pad, this will give the stamp an even coating.

Once you have inked your stamp you can then press it firmly onto your project, hold your hand flat over the stamp to ensure the entire image is printed, press firmly using the palm of your hand, lift the stamp carefully away from the project and make sure you are happy with the result.

Carefully undo the lid of the embossing powder and generously sprinkle over the stamped image, if you are using a tidy try all the excess embossing powder can be easily tipped back into the pot, I find a folded piece of paper works just as well.

Gently tap the back of the project or card making ideas to allow any excess embossing powder to come off if you can see any odd bits of embossing powder still in places it should not be use a small paint brush to gently remove it.

Use your heat gun to heat the image until it turns shiny, hold your heat gun approximately 6 inches from the paper sweeping backwards and forwards until you see the embossing powder melting. Do not over heat the image as you can cause the paper and embossing powder to burn.

Once you are happy that all the embossing powder had melted you are done. Step back and admire your finished project.

Vicki Churchill writes for a site that specializes in card making ideas
http://www.vickiscardmakingideas.com
providing you with excellent tips and ideas for embossing powders and many other tricks and techniques.