Saturday, September 20, 2014

Eye of the Needle Exhibition & chance to win tickets

The Judgement of Solomon Mid 17th century. Needlepoint lace, materials include glass beads and pearls.
© M & E Feller. Photography by R Holdsworth FRPS

This fabulous, delicate mid 17th century White work piece, depicting the Judgement of Solomon is one of the examples on show in The Eye of the Needle, a current exhibition in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (UK). The Eye of the Needle highlights 17th century embroideries from the Feller Collection and the museum's own collection. Objects include samplers, panels but also household items and clothing.

Lady’s cap. Early 17th century. Materials include linen threads, wrapped metal threads, silk floss, sequins on plain weave linen
© M & E Feller. Photography by R Holdsworth FRPS


England in the 17th century was a restless mix of religious and political differences, which were often at the root of radical events (the beheading of King Charles is a grim example). Against a turbulent backdrop of wars, revolution and the start of colonisation, 17th-century women and girls made embroideries. The needlework reflects their feminist perspective on these tumultuous events and their place in society.

Esther and Ahasuerus Mid to late 17th century. Silk floss on plain weave linen. 
© M & E Feller. Photography by R Holdsworth FRPS





You can visit the Eye of the Needle until the 12th of October and we have two tickets to give away for this wonderful exhibition! So if you are interested, leave a comment (and indicate you want to go) before the 27th of September 2014. Make sure you leave your e-mail or twitter name so we can trace you easily. 


Frog Purse 17th century. Materials include leather, silk, metal thread on silk
© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford 


And if you are lucky enough to live close to Oxford: on Saturday the fourth of October the Ashmolean Museum hosts a special event in partnership with the Embroiderers Guild. It's called The Big Stitch and you can expect a day full of embroidery related activities such as tours, talks (Karen Nicol is one of the speakers) and workshops. All events are free.  

2 comments:

  1. This exhibition looks incredibile. I would love to give the tickets to a good friend who loves embroidery and everything to do with sewing. I'm in Italy, otherwise I would have loved to go myself!

    ReplyDelete
  2. How I'd love to see those. I used to made historical hats and I've made the ladies caps but I've never seen one embroidered like that. Unfortunately, I live across the pond. Thanks for posting, that's going on my bucket list.

    ReplyDelete

Hi there, thank you for stopping by &Stitches. The blog is no longer updated, but you can still explore the archive of posts. Because the blog is no longer active, new comments have been disabled. Thank you for understanding. :-)

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.