Product Description
The design on this Williamsburg Embroidered 18th Century Pocket Kit from The Posy Collection is adapted from an 18th century crewel wool pocket in our collections.
This kit includes:
- Pre-printed cotton fabric pocket front
- 1 embroidery needle
- Cotton twill for pocket ties and opening
- DMC floss for embroidery
- Illustrated sewing instructions
- Color photograph of original pocket
- Pocket history, and suggestions for pocket decoration
Please note: You will need an additional piece of fabric measuring 10" by 12" to complete the pocket. Pocket backings of the period were typically made of linen or cotton.
Finished pocket size is 8.5"W by 10.5"H. Made in the USA.
Inspiration
In the 18th century, ladies wore sewn pouches called pockets beneath their petticoats. The pockets, often worn in pairs, were tied to the waist with fabric belts, and could be reached through slits in the outside skirts. A young colonial girl probably used her pocket for small treasures, a toy, or a handkerchief, while an adult woman might have chosen more utilitarian items and perhaps a few personal things. Most pockets were probably of a plain design, but a number of them were patterned, such as the one in this kit, which features a pattern of flowers, buds, and meandering vines adapted from a larger Early American pocket (1740-1770) in the collections of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. (Object # 1963-11)
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Embroidery kit for 18th century pocket
I was disappointed in this kit. To begin with, it cost about $50 -- it includes a printed embroidery pattern on a piece of clothe (cotton, I think) and a length of webbing to make the tie for around your waist. The picture of the embroidery colors is TINY -- and the instructions say that you can just pick your own colors. That's fine -- but it would be nice to see the sample picture. No stitch suggestions are given and again, the pic is too small to give much clue. Then -- and this is the MOST disappointing -- included are two hanks of cotton embroidery thread. No wool crewel yarn -- just common embroidery thread. I blame myself for not looking more closely at whatever description there was -- but from "Colonial Williamsburg" with all your purported attention to period detail, this is a real rip off.
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Not Worth the Money
I have ordered from Williamsburg Marketplace many times and have never been disappointed by anything I purchased until now. The only directions included are how to sew the binding onto the opening but the pictures are so black that the instructions are totally useless. Otherwise the only other instruction included is "use the photo on the front of this kit for inspiration". The picture is so bleached out that it is of next to no use. I was able to print the picture off of the Marketplace website, thank goodness. The fabric, which only includes the piece for the embroidery (the rest you have supply yourself) is so skimpy that there is no possibility to use a hoop to do the embroidery, making it hard to control the tension. The short history of the pocket says that they were originally embroidered with wool but this kit includes about $2.00 worth of cotton embroidery floss, a big disappointment. I intend to keep the kit and do my own upgrades to make it work and hope for the best because I have a trip planned to go to Williamsburg and wanted to use this instead of a purse, but overall this is a poor excuse for a kit and by far wasn't worth the price.
