Until the invention by Johannes Gutenberg of automated movable type in A.D. 1452, the number of people worldwide who could read remained very small, the vast majority of them wealthy members of society or clergy. To communicate with nonreaders, pictures were used. These might be painted on canvas (the word "picture" comes from the Latin word pictus ("painted"), or, as you'll see in this March/April 2013 issue of PieceWork, executed in needlework. From among the countless possibilities, we've selected examples from seventeenth-century elaborate raised embroidery ("From Raised Embroidery to Stumpwork: Four Centuries of Dimensional Needlework"), motifs on a christening robe ("Exquisite Whitework: The Arbroath Robe"), some of the charted images used in filet crochet ("A History of Filet Crochet: Creating Pictorial Designs"), and the ubiquitous knitted eight-pointed star/flower/snowflake motif (One Knitted Motif, Many Names"). Projects include a sweet knitted cardigan for baby, a stumpwork dragon, and the knitted pincushion that received the grand-prize in PieceWork's 2012 Pincushion Contest.
Motifs, symbols, drawings, secret messages--all are included in this March/April 2013 issue. The adage "One picture is worth a thousand words" continues to ring true. Enjoy!
Editor of PieceWork
...