White Threads FlossTube #49 – Lighting for needlework in times past

Something that I’ve wondered about for a long time is how did embroiderers in times past, see to do their embroidery? Lighting was poor inside, with no electric lighting, and often only candles or firelight. For many they would have been working around and outside the home in the daytime, so couldn’t make use of sunlight to embroider by. So when and how did they do their embroidery? And consider that they often used to work on fabric counts of 60-100 threads per inch which is much, much higher than we are used to these days.

Today I explore this in my White Threads FlossTube video, with a possible solution from Kari-Anne Pedersen, Curator of Costumes and Textiles, Norsk Folkemuseum, Olso, Norway. I make pictorial visits to open air museums such as Hancock Shaker Village in Massachusetts, Skansen in Stockholm and Norsk Folkemuseum along the way.

If you are reading this in an email, the video can be found at https://youtu.be/eWtJB3ym7lc

Episode notes:
Hancock Shaker Village – https://hancockshakervillage.org/
Skansen – https://www.skansen.se/en/
Norsk Folkemuseum – https://norskfolkemuseum.no/en
Hardanger Folkemuseum – https://hardangerfolkemuseum.no/en/