PieceWork, January/February 1995 Digital Edition

PieceWork January/February 1995
Now available for individual download!

The Traditional Silk Braids of Japan
Meet Masako Kinohita and learn how she first encountered kumihimo cords as a young woman in Japan. Learn about the history of Japanese silk braiding, which dates back to the year 234. Enjoy the elegant historical photographs and illustrations of traditional Japanese woven and braided bands, and see Masako’s modern replicas of historical kumihimo braids. Plus, learn how to make your own braids with detailed instructions and diagrams of the process.

Peruvian Maquitos: Colorful Sleeves Knit Traditions Together
Journey to Peru with Carol Noble and explore the history of the colorful handknitted arm gaiters known as maquitos. Maquitos, worn along with plain-weave black jackets or shirts, chullos (pointed caps with earflaps), and crocheted sashes adorned with pompons, are part of the indigenous men’s costumes in Huancavelica Department in Central Peru. Learn about modern versions of the manquitos, and knit your own colorful pair with a pattern adaption for these colorful arm warmers.

A New Eloquence: Northwest Coast Indians’ Button Blankets

Journey to the Northwest Coast with Janet Berlo and share her captivation with the ornately adorned red and navy blue tribal capes she witnessed at community festivals. Janet describes the capes as being “further embellished with mother-of-pearl buttons, or plastic buttons, or rough abalone shell appendages, or metallic sequins. These button blankets move in the firelight or the spotlight as their wearers dance and make the eloquent speeches so fundamental to Northwest Coast Native American ceremonials.” You’ll learn the history of these captivating capes and enjoy the colorful photographs.

A History of Costume in Miniature: Betty Kingsbury’s Figurines
“On permanent display at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, are more than sixty miniature figurines, each less than 10 inches high, dressed in clothing representing different periods in the history of costume. Their elaborately ornamented costumes rang with such authenticity that I sought to know more about the creator and her work. I learned that Betty Kingsbury, a slight, energetic, eighty-six-year-old artist, had crafted and meticulously costumed the figurines.” Join Ruth Flanders in an exploration of these incredible historically costumed figurines.

The Very Stuff
Meet needlepoint artist and poet Stephen Beal and enjoy excerpts from his collection of poems The Very Stuff. The whole collection of poems is dedicated to and inspired by DMC cotton embroidery floss, and each poem is named for its DMC color number.

Concernynge the Excellency of the Nedle Worcke Spanisshe Stitche
Learn the history and many names of the Spanish Stich—line stitch, square stitch, Holbein stitch, double running stitch, true stitch, writing stitch. This embroidery stitch, which creates reversible outline patterns, originated over 700 years ago in Islamic Egypt. Delight in the tales and photographs of this stitch’s rich history, and start your own history with Spanish Stich with the Spanish Stitch Table Linens to Embroider pattern.

In every issue of PieceWork magazine, you will be amazed at the amount of information packed into these pages:

• Be inspired by needleworkers past and present. In each issue, you’ll meet needleworkers with unique stories to tell and special projects to share.
• Explore traditional needlework throughout history. In addition to the people who did the work, you’ll get an up-close look at what they created and how they did it.
• Test your needlework techniques with projects ranging from embroidery to knitting, quilting to beading, and crochet to cross-stitch.
• And so much more!

This issue was scanned from an original printed issue.