Home crafting with Linen

The House journal is dedicated to home arts and crafts of all kinds. Linen is our material of choice as it is readily available, a natural fibre and so easy to work into home crafts. We think swatches of linen should form part of every Victorian arts and crafts craft kit. Embroidery is the ideal hobby when you are sitting at home looking to relax the mind and enhance your creative spirit.

Linen Embroidery

We have included two beautiful examples of embroideries that may lead to your inspiration. Originally sold at Messrs. Jon Harris's is the table centre embroidery. It is a wonderful thought to have your feature embroidery running down your dining table on display as your guests arrive. This would surely be the ultimate Victorian era statement piece. Our other image is of a portion of bedspread that was originally for sale at the same furnishings shop. The complete bedspread features three runs of ornate design with floral style bordering. The embroidered bedspread will lift the beauty of any plain bedroom. Imagine the guests surprise at your bed & breakfast when they discover this art piece lying on their bed.

Not everyone is blessed with natural arts and crafts abilities and embroidery is the art of mindfulness. With this in mind, we are featuring an article in October's edition on the Macclesfield Embroidery School. This article contains more inspiration on student’s works for embroidery.

Those who regard flax as one of the humbler materials, if indeed there are any who still hold such a view, should take an opportunity of making themselves familiar with the wonderful potentialities of the material as developed by those who have made a study of it. To say that there are three hundred shades of flax threads, and in every shade five sizes, and fifty-five shades of art linens, not to mention numerous other flax fabrics, such as Derwent linen, Cumbrian linen, and many beautiful white and cream handmade linens, will give some notion oi Messrs. Harris’s productions. Their materials combine useful qualities, such as absolute freedom from moth, with decorative possibilities. These various properties have not remained unappreciated, and for many purposes, varying from useful bedspreads and portières to ecclesiastical uses, such as altar cloths, dossals, and the like, Harris’s linens are employed.

Embroidery Exhibition

It is unneccessary to speak of their value as dress materials, a purpose for which the fastness of the colour especially qualifies them. The two sketches give some idea of the most recent work exhibited in the pretty showrooms at Bond Street, but they are only selected from a very large number of excellent examples to be found. The designs vary widely in character, from such as the "Moresque" and "Cordova", of the styles the words indicate, to the "Athenia" and "Sultan", the last named being adapted from a mediaeval Italian velvet at the South Kensington Museum. In short, this establishment is always worth a visit.