Blog

Mennonite women in North America engaged in making quilts, 2005. In 1994, twenty relief quilts made in 1945 by North American Mennonites for the Dutch were given into my care. Last year I lost one…. and that was okay. Here’s the story.

After WW2, Russian Mennonites fleeing westward were allowed to stay in The Netherlands for a short time providing that the Dutch Mennonite (Doopsgezinde) community would house, feed and clothe them.

Short of supplies themselves after the Honger Winter, Mennonites in Canada and the US sent over pallets of food, clothing and quilt blankets, which they’d been preparing since 1940.

The relief was coordinated by the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), founded in 1920 to assist Russian Mennonites to emigrate to Canada after WW1. Many of the key people in the 1945 efforts were themselves refugees from the previous war. Helping now was their way of repaying and passing on the comfort they had received.

Wissa Wassef tapestry panel woven by a young boy, Imam, aged 12 (TRC 2020.0214).A major influence on Egyptian decorative textiles in the 20th century was the work of Habib Gorgi and his son-in-law, the architect Ramses Wissa Wassef (1911-1974). Both believed that children were (and are) endowed with creative powers and potential that should be encouraged.

In 1951, Wissa Wassef established the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, near the Giza pyramids. The aim of the Centre was to teach Egyptian village children to create art, and tapestries in particular. Ramses Wissa Wassef encouraged the children to weave images based on things they saw around them in their villages, such as women talking, making bread, washing, men working in the fields or fishing, weddings, birds, fish and so forth.

Uncoverings 2019On Tuesday 28th January 2020 Gillian Vogelsang wrote:

A few weeks ago Kim Baird (North Dakota, USA) got into contact with the TRC about her visit to the TRC in Leiden last year, how much she enjoyed it and also our forthcoming American Quilt exhibition. She mentioned her work with the American Quilt Study Group.

This organisation was founded by Sally Garoutte in 1980. What began as a small group has now grown into a unique and highly respected international organisation. Its goal is to preserve the story of quiltmaking - past, present, and future, and it has become a major source of information about the study of quilts, quiltmakers, related textiles, and processes. 

Coptic medallion of linen and wool, tapestry weave, 6th-7th century, Museo Nazionale di Ravenna.On Sunday, 26th January 2020, Shelley Anderson wrote:

Ravenna, Italy, is better known for its Byzantine mosaics than it is for its textile collections. But during a recent visit I saw some beautiful textiles. The first collection was in the Museo Nazionale di Ravenna, housed in a former monastery next to the Basilica of San Vitale. This museum is home to a large collection of Coptic textiles. The display rotates regularly, but some current pieces include a lovely tunic band showing the birth of Aphrodite (7th-8th centuries CE), and a wider decorative band (7th century CE) of pomegranates and leaves. There was also a large Coptic medallion depicting flowers and fruit (6th to 7th centuries CE), made in a tapestry weave from wool and linen. Next to this was a case displaying, again in a linen and wool tapestry weave, two long bands showing a warrior saint (7th to 8th centuries CE).

An embroidered panel with a cross stitch centre and a drawn thread work border (1794, Amager, Denmark; bequest of Mrs. Henry E. Coe, courtesy of the Cooper-Hewett Museum, New York 1941-69-116).On Saturday, 25th January 2020, Gillian Vogelsang wrote:

While working on the forthcoming quilt exhibition at the TRC and on the Encyclopedia of Embroidery series at home, I was struck by the modern need for precision and symmetry and how computers and their need for 'accuracy' have changed our lives. And in this case, also embroidery.

A feature of early twenty-first century embroidery, for example, is the use of computer programmes in order to create and re-create certain designs, and the distribution of such patterns online via social media groups such as Pinterest. Many of these designs are worked out on graph paper (or rather the computer equivalent) and then copied and mirrored, so quickly producing a symmetrical design.

However, when working with sixteenth century and later designs it is clear that what may look symmetrical was not necessarily identical on both sides of a central line. For example, eighteenth century cross stitch samplers from Amager in Denmark are full of small variations in the place and the way different parts of the overall design are worked out. Furthermore, it is clear that the embroiderer did not always ‘correctly’ count how many ground threads, and indeed which of these threads they were working the stitch over. From a distance these samplers look visually regular, but they are not ‘computer’ regular. But are these samplers therefore inferior?

Embroidered crown of a woman's cap from Denmark, c. 1860 (TRC 2012.0465). For more information, click on the illustration.The TRC is working on the Nordic/ Scandinavian section of Vol. 3 of the Encyclopaedia of Embroidery (Bloomsbury, London). The TRC Collection unfortunately houses relatively few examples of Nordic work. We are therefore looking for examples of embroidery from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

If you have any examples you are willing to donate, can you get into contact with the TRC at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.?

Donations of relevant books and articles are also most welcome!

Mennonite relief quilt, made during WWII and sent after the war to Irnsum, Friesland, in the Netherlands (TRC 2020.0193).On Friday, 24 January 2020, Gillian Vogelsang wrote:

A few days ago the TRC was honoured by the donation of three Mennonite relief quilts. The gift was organised by Lynn Kaplanian-Buller (Amsterdam) of the International Menno Simons Center.

Since 1927 the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has been involved in bringing together North American Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches in order to provide relief services.

Their mission statement is based on the Biblical call to care for the hungry and the thirsty, the stranger and the naked, the sick and those in prison (Matthew 25:35-36). Since that year, Mennonites throughout the world regularly come together to make a range of items, including quilts, for relief purposes.

St. Mark - Lindisfarne Gospels 710-721 f.93v - BL Cotton MS Nero D IVFurther to the TRC’s blog about the so-called Frisian letter A, we have just received an email from Naomi Tarrant in Scotland, with her comments about it.

In particular, she noted that:

“This A is found on Scottish samplers and has been linked to Frisia because there was a thriving trade between the Netherlands and Scotland. However, when I was researching Scottish samplers for my book I did a little more digging and found that this type of A with the centre bar dipped in the middle and/ or top bar can also be seen in Anglo-Saxon MSS such as the Lindesfarne Gospels, so goes way back as they say. See here.

To see a wide range of Scottish samplers, nearly all of which have this A, have a look here, which is the site of a private collector, who has a wonderful collection of Scottish samplers." 

Danish (?) sampler dated 1684. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (57.122.526).Further to Naomi's comments, while looking for information about Danish embroidery, I found a ‘Frisian A' on a picture sampler that depicts the construction of a building (perhaps 'raising a barn'), and more specifically it would appear the two men are adding one of the doors.

The letters SK and HF and ANNO 1684 are embroidered along the lower edge of the embroidery. It is worth noting that the letter S and the number 4 appear to be backwards, and that the A of Anno is the so-called 'Frisian A.' The sampler is believed to be Danish and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (57.122.526). Basically it would appear that the ‘Frisian’ A has a much longer history and is more widely used than initially suspected.

Gillian Vogelsang, Sunday, 19th January 2020.