Bluework Embroidery History

Part I

by Patricia L. Cummings
photos by James Cummings

Bluework embroidery has graced the surface of American and European textiles since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Bluework is an offshoot of Redwork, a popular form of Victorian embroidery. In this kind of needlework, only outline shapes are embroidered. Traditional Bluework required just one color of thread to work a design. The background cloth was either bleached or unbleached muslin or sometimes linen. Most often, the threads of choice were cotton embroidery floss or perle coton.

Early Twentieth Century “Coverlet”
When we found an antique Bluework coverlet in an antiques shop one day, we were left to wonder who might have embroidered the 72 lovely motifs. Most of the blocks are worked with dark blue Indigo threads, although several feature a gray-blue color.

This coverlet appears to have been made for a child. Designs include blocks based on nursery rhymes, images of circus animals, domestic and wild animals, birds, one frog, one botanical motif, and children. Also featured are the same “Teddy Bears” as those marketed for embroidered "Days of the Week” kitchen towels, in the early 20th century.

President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, (U.S president from 1901-1909), has been linked to the name of stuffed bears now fondly called, “Teddy Bears.” One of these stories is this one.

(He) enjoyed big game-hunting. According to one legend, the teddy bear received its birth at Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. To cheer Theodore Roosevelt after an unsuccessful day of hunting, Hotel Colorado maids presented him with a stuffed bear pieced together with scraps of fine material. Later, when he did bag a bear, his daughter Alice admired it saying, "I will call it Teddy."

6 of 72 designs from antique coverlet

This is a close-up view of just six of the 72 designs that are included on the CD-ROM published by Quilter's Muse Publications (designs ready to print and embroider). This product is offered occasionally on eBay. For further inquiries, contact pat@quiltersmuse.com

More Bluework

Bluework Pillow Top, courtesy of Sandra Munsey

Each pillow top measures 16 7/8" x 18 Ľ." Only one of the pair is shown here. Photo courtesy of Sandra Munsey

Letter from a Reader
Helene Middleton purchased a quilt with this block as a repeat surface design. She bought it from a dealer in Brookings, Oregon who had acquired it in Northern California. She wonders if the design could have been sold as a set for making pillow shams and a quilt. Her quilt has 12 blocks separated by blue sashings and sashing squares. Anything is possible.

4/11/2010 Update: Sylvia Adair has written to us to say that the Bluework block above is featured in an Index of Rainbow Quilt Block Company designs, compiled by Rose Lea Alboum of Vermont. The design is called "Continental, design #3" and is located on page 1 of the Index.

Click on this link to visit Part II of this article -European Bluework

Patricia Cummings