Redwork stitches....

Two redwork tea towels are now complete.  I decided to add a little edge finish to the bottom of each one to give it a bit more pizazz, and I like how they turned out.  If you like these two patterns, you can find them here and here.  The patterns come from  Doe-c-Doe  who is a blogger and contributor at the Hoop Love Vintage Transfers.  If you love to embroider, you really ought to become a member of this group.  Fantastic vintage patterns are shared.  I'm hoping the links to the two transfers come up for you.  You may be asked to join Hoop Love in order to see them.

Did you know that beginning in the 1880s women had been willing to pay extra for Turkey Red thread for redwork embroidery because unlike most colors, it was colorfast?  Turkey Red was more than just a color though, it was a dye process that produced the cool (blueish) red color that didn't bleed and was most desired by quilters and needle workers.  Here's a quote about the dye process for your enjoyment.

...involved thoroughly cleansing the yarn or cloth by boiling with alkali; steeping in rancid olive or castor oil, soda and cow or sheep dung, mordanting with alum and sumac; dyeing in a batch of madder, ox blood and chalk; finally, washing to brighten the colour. In the early nineteenth century the process could take three weeks or more.

 For more history on redwork embroidery, click here, and if you'd like to know more about Turkey Red, click here.  I like to use the DMC Perle Cotton red #321 in size 8 for my redwork, and it doesn't have any manure odor or rancid oil flavor.  Thank you, God, for technology!

For excellent quality flour sack towels, click American Chair.