Piecework Summer 2021
This issue features the story of how knitting remained popular after World War II and into the 1950s, producing the pattern for the sporty argyle socks whose pattern is found within. Kate Larson created it based on sock patterns from the 1940s and gives tips on working multiple colors and using duplicate stitches for the tiny criss-crossing lines of colors. The Sweet Bag by Susan J. Jerome would have once held a mixtures of herbs and flowers and were meant to literally offer people something sweet to smell or something to keep away bugs rather like lavender sachets today. Now, you can make one into a tiny purse or cosmetics bag. The other pattern is for the doll-sized counterpane or bed throw.
The rest are stories from early American embroidery motifs to the history of the making of Hawaiian quilts. You can see the caption on the last photo: yep, the man wearing it, Matthew Gnagy, created it be hand and he tells the story of using a very early pattern-making book to do it. I can’t imagine undertaking such a feat myself, but the painstaking process would surely drive home why the common people had such small wardrobes in the past, and why good clothing was highly valued.
You can find this issue are your local newsstand or here online: https://pieceworkmagazine.com/
