Lectures
Kathy can be hired to deliver her popular and fascinating presentations with detailed images to your group. Her lectures can be delivered online, via Zoom or in person. Lecture details are below.
Please contact Kathy for further information on lecture prices and booking details.
Elizabethan Embroidery and the Trevelyon Miscellany of 1608
The Trevelyon Miscellany of 1608 is a collection of handwritten notes and drawings. Thomas Trevelyon, a London craftsman of whom little is known, created his miscellany in 1608 when he was about 60 years old.
The Miscellany is best known for a series of embroidery designs, which have become a treasure trove for embroiderers and costume designers. Unpainted motifs of carnations, roses, cowslips and columbine or acorn and oak leaves indicate Trevelyon might have had a career in textile design!
We will see a facsimile of the Miscellany and explore the embroidery designs within. Participants will see both current and Elizabethan examples of embroidered pieces taken from the designs of Trevelyon. We will explore the Miscellany online at the Folger Library in Washington DC and those resources will be shared with participants.
The Unbroken Thread Sampler Collection: The Samplers and their Makers
The Unbroken Thread currently owns 30 different samplers, dating from 1720 to 1901. They come from the USA, England, Scotland, Germany, The Netherlands and Wales.
We will learn about the girls who made them, their families and the times in which they lived. We’ll also look at detailed images, showing both their technique and skills as well as the quirks of these samplers.
Lectures can be organized according to date, place of origin, motifs or some other criteria. Contact me to discuss what would be of the most interest to your group from the collection.
Sampler ABC’s
One of the most charming aspects of antique samplers are the various beautifully stitched alphabets. Young girls (and sometimes boys!) worked their ABC’s on pieces of linen, proudly showing their work to teachers and parents when they were finished.
When did the alphabet start to appear on samplers? Why were young people taught to stitch their ABC’s? Why are some letters missing? How did the written alphabet change the stitched alphabet? Why are some of the letters nothing like the ones we use today?
Learn about the history of the written word, how that influenced what was stitched on samplers and see examples of beautifully stitched alphabets on samplers in The Unbroken Thread Sampler Collection from 1660 - 1901.