Needleworkers have always used needle and thread to tell stories of family, memory, and tradition as they stitched samplers or clothing. Join Winterthur staff, visiting scholars, designers, and artists for a series of talks, workshops, and discussions that will explore the ways stitchers past and present have employed their craft to express a sense of self.
The in-person conference will be held October 6-7 in Delaware. If you are interested in finding out more about the conference and the talks as well as the virtual option - visit the site for details and registration.
I am excited to be speaking there with a subject that was totally unexpected and exciting to me. While looking to understand the socio-economic background of the girls who worked embroidered caskets, I stumbled on a clue that unlocked a treasure trove of documents that weren't previously known about Martha Edlin. Martha's series of 17th century schoolgirl embroideries and casket are written about in numerous publications, but with a bare bones number of facts about her. This discovery has allowed me to document her life to a degree I would never had thought possible. That made a talk about her perfect for this conference - a formerly famous needleworker whose 'identity' was known but not understood.
