WELDON'S PRACTICAL NEEDLEWORK
These books open windows on another time and another place. The time is the turn of the twentieth century and the place is London, England. In an effort to bring needle work to a then emerging middle class, several companies in the late 1800s in London began publishing patterns and instructions for various needlework projects. Unlike other magazines available at the time, which ran one or two needlework projects in an issue filled with other editorial, these new publications were devoted solely to needlework.
Many of the companies involved in these publishing ventures were thread companies, and their purpose, of course, was to sell more thread by making patterns and instructions more readily available. One company, however, Weldon’s, began as a paper pattern company and became one of the most recognized needlework publishers in Victorian England.
In approximately 1885, Weldon’s began publishing monthly newsletters, available by subscription, featuring patterns and instructions for projects. Each fourteen-page newsletter was devoted to one technique and cost 2 pence. Thus, there was Weldon’s Practical Knitter, Weldon’s Practical Patchwork, Weldon’s Practical Crochet, Weldon’s Practical Cross-Stitch, and so on. By about 1915, Weldon’s had published 159 issues of Practical Crochet and 100 issues of Practical Knitting.
Around 1888, the company began to publish a series of books titled Weldon’s Practical Needlework, each volume consisting of the various newsletters (one year of publications) bound together with a cloth cover; each book cost 2 shilling/6 pence.
Editions feature instructions for making flowers from crinkled paper or leather, items suitable for selling at bazaars, tatting, smocking, netting, beading, torchon lace, and much more. In addition to knitting and crocheting, which were frequently covered, Weldon’s Practical Needlework books contain extensive coverage of decorative needlework, including crewel work, appliqué, cross-stitch, mountmellick embroidery, drawn thread work, ivory embroidery , hardanger, and canvas work. Each volume is filled with hundred of projects illustrations, information on little-known techniques, fashion as it was at the turn of the century, and brief histories of needlework. Piece Work magazine is pleased to present this limited edition, exact reproduction (neither alterations nor corrections were made to the original) of Weldon’s Practical Needlework Books. They are a fitting example of needlework and history, hand in hand.
Reproduced from the preface page of the Weldon’s Practical Needlework Book Series by Piece Work Magazine, published by Interweave Press United States of America.
THESE BOOKS ARE LIMITED EDITIONS
There are 10 Volumes with 152 pages in each.
300 - 400 engravings (pictures) in each volume.
A must have set of books for those who love "old crochet and needlework".
Every one of these books is a keepsake for ever.
Lay-bys accepted on these books.
Call Vicki now for details and reserve your copies.
