Needlework

The Thread of the Story

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If you’ve read any of my books or posts about my second-favorite passion (writing sweet historical romance is #1), you know I’m a quilter.

It is easy to sit at my machine and reach for a spool of thread that coordinates with the fabric I’m sewing into quilt squares. However, I usually use a medium grey thread when constructing the squares as it is easy to see when I make mistakes (lots of them!) and need to use my modification tool (a.k.a. seam ripper)! And when I run out of thread, a quick trip to my local quilt shop, Jo-Ann’s, or Michaels solves my dilemma.

While writing Noelle and Hope (Christmas Quilt Brides series), it got me thinking. How did my heroines get thread? Where did they get it? And when was it available to the average housewife, seamstress, or milliner?

And thus, the research began…

Forms of very early sewing thread were made of thin strips of animal hide. This was used to sew together larger pieces of hide and fur for clothing, blankets, and shelter. There is proof throughout history of some form of threading used even when cavemen oversaw the planet. As civilizations moved forward, the thread did also, and eventually, it evolved to include the spinning and dyeing of thread.

There are three basic types of thread, and they are based on their origin, Thread is animal, plant, or synthetic depending on its makeup. Silk thread is touted as the best because it is strong, very elastic, and fine in diameter. Silk is interwoven into a lot of regular threads for added strength. Pure silk thread use is used in finer clothing.

However, since the heroines in my story reside in a small Kansas town in 1870s, I imagined they’d only use cotton thread, the least expensive in her quilting.

Thread is made of a series of plies–or cords, twisted together. The plying and twisting create a stronger unit than the original strands alone. A ply is two or more strands of cotton twisted together. A cord is two or more plies twisted together. The earliest form of cotton thread was three-ply thread–three single strands of fiber twisted together.

Manufactured cotton thread was available to hand sewers in the U.S. and Europe in 1800. At first, they were sold in hanks as some yarns still are. The thread came on wooden spools beginning in 1820. Like the soda bottles of today, the spools could be returned for a deposit, to be refilled. Mass production put an end to the deposits since the spools could be produced so cheaply.

 

Historians credit James and Patrick Clark, mill owners in Paisley, Scotland, with developing the first cotton thread. When silk and flax became scarce during the Napoleonic wars, they were forced to find a suitable replacement with which to create their famous (and profitable) Paisley shawls.

Historians credit James and Patrick Clark, mill owners in Paisley, Scotland, with developing the first cotton thread. When silk and flax became scarce during the Napoleonic wars, they were forced to find a suitable replacement with which to create their famous (and profitable) Paisley shawls.

   

Eventually, some Clark family members moved to the U.S. and began their own thread companies, including George Clark and William Clark, grandsons of James who opened a cotton thread mill in New Jersey.

George Clark perfected six-cord thread for use on sewing machines. He called it “O.N.T.” for “Our New Thread,” combining fineness with strength as well as being inexpensive.

In 1815, another prominent Scottish manufacturer, James Coats, began making thread. His sons, James and Peter formed J&P Coats, Co., introducing thread to the U.S. around 1820. By 1869, they began manufacturing sewing thread in Pawtucket Rhode Island. It was here where they developed a unique spool shape with smooth curves.

The emergence of the sewing machine in the 1840s further escalated the need for a better-quality thread. Three-ply was too uneven, and six-ply was too thick. Silk and linen threads were either too thick or too weak for use with the machine. Three-ply silk was too expensive.

Improved cotton seemed the only option.

At the beginning of the 20th century, mercerization was developed to make a stronger, smoother cotton thread. It is a process of immersing cotton thread in a solution of caustic soda, resulting in a stronger, more lustrous that also accepts dye more readily.

Polyester thread became available in 1942, and cotton-wrapped polyester in the late 1960s.

Other Thread Manufacturers

Belding & Corticelli, a silk thread manufacturing enterprise was started by the Belding brothers in Michigan. From their home, they produced spools of silk thread which traveling salesmen marketed door to door.  Sales of silk thread dwindled during the Great Depression, forcing the company to close its doors the next year.

Lucky for us quilters, sewers, seamstresses, and those whose talent with needle and thread, thread–cotton thread, in particular–has evolved over the last 250 years and has been supplanted by other fibers.

So, whenever Noelle Prentiss and Hope Brody (my heroines) threaded a needle and joined fabrics together to make a quilt, they continued the tradition of those who came before and after them by carrying on the thread of the story.

***A Giveaway***

I’m giving away an ebook edition of both Noelle Christmas Quilt Brides and Hope Christmas Quilt Brides. For a chance to win, leave a comment to the question below:

***Do you or does anyone in your family enjoy creating fabric art works? (Sewing, quilting, embroidery, crochet, crewel, macrame, etc.?)***

 

 

 

Quilting Superstitions

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Since my oldest son recently married, I intended to write a post on wedding traditions but as what happens, my plans went awry. The more I wrote, the more it sounded like a high school Home Ec report.

My son and I before his wedding

However, when researching wedding traditions, I discovered single women in the 1800s stressed over whether they would marry. To cope, they relied on parlor games or predictions such as tossing cats into new quilts. That sent me down a rabbit hole to discover how traumatizing poor cats in a quilt could predict a woman wouldn’t be an old maid or reveal her true love. That led me to an article on quilt superstitions and a topic change.

Here are some superstitions I discovered. My comment (because I couldn’t post these without saying something. 🙂 ) follow each superstition.

 

 

Luck:

  • Never make a quilt with 13 blocks
    • I assume it’s because 13 is unlucky. Okay, now I’m wondering how and why 13 was labeled as unlucky. But I’ll save that for another day.
  • If a thread breaks, it will bring misfortune.
    • There should be a warning label on thread because who hasn’t broken a thread while sewing a quilt? And does it bring major misfortune such as a car accident or a minor one like losing a shoe? Come on, be specific about how bad this will be.
  • Stitching a spider web design into a quilt will bring good luck. Because a spider web is so easy to work into every quilt design.
    • First, a four-leaf clover or horseshoe, for luck I could see. But a spider web? Second, I never remember seeing one in anything but Halloween quilts. The solution to that is to sew a small one in somewhere, but I’m not that talented. ? I guess whoever I give future quilts will have to add one or do without the extra good luck until I figure out how to sew one. Either that or I have apologies to make.
  • It’s bad luck to give away your first quilt.
    • This would’ve been nice to know before I gave my first quilt to my son. However, since that quilt stayed in my stayed in my house, maybe I didn’t get too much bad luck for that.
The first quilt I made which I gave to my oldest son.

Marriage:

  • When a new quilt is finished, the first woman it is thrown over will marry first. Wrapping her in it will ensure she marries within a year.
    • I’m wondering if throwing the quilt over is different than wrapping her up in it, or if one superstition is simply more specific.
  • Wedding quilts should have borders of continuous vines or ribbon patterns because a broken border means the marriage will be broken too.
    • I must be an awful person because my first thought here was, if someone didn’t like who their child was marrying, they could give the couple a quilt with a broken border.
  • If a single female puts the last stitch in a quilt, she will become an old maid.
    • This superstition was easy to avoid when quilting bees or circles were prevalent, but what’s a gal to do now, call a married friend or relative to put in the last stitch?
  • After taking a quilt off the frame, wrapping it around an unmarried woman will give her luck to find a husband. Throwing it at the first single man she sees, will “charmed” him into a relationship. If a young lady shakes a new quilt out the door, the first man who comes through the door will be her future husband.
    • From the little research I did, I discovered there was a lot of quilt shaking and throwing them at folks in the past, making me wonder if there are other superstitions to uncover. But apparently they had to be newly completed quilts. Which spurns me to wonder why they had to be new…

 

My bff made this beautiful quilt for me.

Miscellaneous:

  • If you sew on a Sunday, you will have to pull out those stitches with your nose when you get to heaven.
    • First, with the way heaven is described in the Bible, I find it hard to believe God would punish a quilter this way upon arrival. Second, how would I pull out stitches with my nose?! Guess I’ll learn that should I be blessed enough to get to the Pearly Gates.
  • Quilts started on Friday will never be finished.
    • Again, why would this be worse than starting on any other day, except Sunday of course. ?

And finally, Cats and quilts and the answer to the question that started this.

  • If women stand in a circle and “shake up a cat” in new quilt, the one the feline runs toward will be the first to marry.

Giveaway:

To be entered in my random drawing for an ebook version of my Pink Pistol Sisterhood novel, Aiming for His Heart, leave a comment about quilting, superstitions, or whatever’s on your mind.

 

Jodi Thomas: Quilter of Words & Book Giveaway

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My new novel, MORNINGS ON MAIN, is about a quilt shop in a small town called Laurel Springs, Texas.  Since I don’t quilt some people might think the setting strange for me, but they don’t know my family.

 My grandmother was born in a covered wagon and I’m sure there were quilts surrounding her.  My mother quilted all her life, even after she’d lost the names of her children to Alzheimer’s, she quilted.  Both of my sisters quilt. (See picture of mother’s quilt with books on top.)

 In a very real way the history of our family is woven into the squares of a hundred years of quilts.  So, setting a story in a quilt shop made sense.

 I also wanted to weave into this small town story the fact that it’s not so important where you live your life sometimes, but how you live it.  I think sometimes people think if they live in some exciting place like Paris that they somehow live a richer, bigger life.  Sometimes when I’m traveling people ask me, ‘You live in Amarillo.  Why?’  

If they only knew…

When I first started writing, my husband knew how much I loved this Lone Star Quilt my mother made.  So he went to an artist in town and said simply, “I’ve got two questions for you.  One, can you put this quilt and my wife’s books in a painting?  And, two, can I afford it?”

Arvis Stewart must have laughed, but he said,  “We’ll make it work.”That Christmas when Tom gave me the painting, I cried. (See picture of painting Tom gave me. My student intern Nicole McGee is holding it.)

 Early settlers made quilts from scraps and flour sacks so they could keep their family warm.  Pictures of early picnics, wagon beds and clotheslines often show quilts, but we can’t see the colors.  Yet I know that those quilts must have added a great deal of color to their lives.  Now, those quilts, some worn and over a hundred years old still add not only color to my life, but also a source of ideas for books.

 Step into MORNINGS ON MAIN and fall in love with the people of Laurel Springs lives and see their beautiful quilts in your mind.  When my mother read my first book, she said, “Jodi, you quilt with words.”

 I hope you will stop by and visit with me about your quilts, and I would love to see a picture. One lucky winner will be drawn to receive a copy of MORNINGS ON MAIN. (Giveaway guidelines apply).

 

Here’s where you can purchase Mornings on Main

Amazon

B&N

 

 

A Quilt for the New Year & Book Giveaway

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MargaretBrownley-headerYou’re invited to an old fashioned Quilting Bee.  Look at my quilt below and tell me how you would decorate a patch to add. It can be a picture, a resolution, a wish for the New Year or anything you want it to be.  One lucky “quilter” can choose either a copy of Petticoat Detective or Undercover Bride.  (Sweepstakes rules apply.)

patchwork-quilts

I’m giving you each a blank patch to add to my quilt. 

What would your patch say or what would it look like?

 

HeaderBanner_CalicoSpy

Someone is killing off the Harvey Girls and undercover Pinkerton detective Katie Madison hopes to find the killer before the killer finds her—or before she burns down the restaurant trying.

To order my brand new release, Calico Spy, click here!

Amazon

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iTunes

 

A Stitch in Time . . .

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I am an avid cross-stitcher. When I can find time, that is. I love creating art with needle and thread. My best friend in high school is the one who got me hooked. She and I both worked in a little California tourist town called Solvang one summer, and we found part-time jobs in needlework stores. I might have been forced to wear a peasant blouse and a red Danish corset covered in flowers, but I found a hobby there that has given me years of enjoyment.

Solvang, CA

Needlework is an artform that has been around since ancient times. There are many different types of stitches, but cross-stitch is my personal favorite. It is simple in that the needleworker makes tiny Xs with her thread, usually on linen or some other fabric with an even weave. The tiny holes in the woven fabric serve as a grid for the stitcher to place her design, much like tiles in a mosaic. Others would work on silk, using only their artistic eye to keep the design straight and stitches even. My artistic eye is not nearly keen enough for that. I definitely need a grid.

The earliest cross-stitch pattern books appeared in Germany and France in the 1500’s. But it would be many years before pattern books became readily available. Women would stitch samples of their favorite stitches or patterns on long strips of narrow cloth creating a “sampler” to refer to when they wished to create a design, usually as an embelishment for clothing, table linens, or pillow cases. These samplers were not intended for display. They were usually rolled up and stored in a drawer, and often handed down from mother to daughter.

In the 1700’s, educating women became more accepted, and mothers often taught their daughters two skills at once by having them reproduce numbers and letters in cross-stitch upon their samplers. When settlers came to America, they brought this teaching method with them. Once the girls mastered the techniques, they would display their art.

The samplers below were stitched by two young Massachusetts girls. Sally Noble completed hers at age twelve in 1798, and ten-year-old Dolly Parker finished hers in 1824. Exquisite work for such young hands!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gradually, patterns became more detailed. A shift could be seen from the two-dimensional designs of the samplers, to three-dimensional landscapes with shading and depth just like in paintings. Not only were these works hung on walls, but they were used to upholster chairs and footstools, create cushions and coin purses, and decorate fire screens. The advancing art of dying allowed more variation in thread color, and by the 19th century, cross-stitch had become a passion. Women’s magazines included hand-colored charts, and soon women from all social classes were learning the art.

With the advent of embroidery machines, however, needlework fell into a decline. Since women could buy embroidered clothing and linens at much cheaper prices, cross-stitch once again became simply a leisure activity. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that counted cross-stitch regained it popularity. This time the emphasis was on decorative stitches with metallic or beaded embellishments. Thousands upon thousands of charts are in existence today with incredibly detailed patterns. However, you will still continue to see designers breathe life into old stitching traditions, with samplers and two dimensional artwork.

I usually try to complete at least one large cross-stitch project a year. In 2010, I completed one that is not a sampler, but it harkens back to that time with it’s two-dimensional design and simple lines. The Noah’s Ark that you see below on the left. This past year, I finished a pattern called Celtic Christmas. While it’s design features a woman from hundreds of years ago, the pattern itself utilizes the modern embellishments of metallic thread and extensive beading. I hope this art form continues to grow and flourish for centuries to come while always remembering its past. 

So are any of you cross-stitchers? Maybe you’re a quilter or some other form of needleworker. Or maybe you love to scrapbook or arrange flowers. What is your favorite hobby, and why do you love it?