Lobby Exhibit: X Marks the Accomplished Lady

Examples of 19th century embroidery - notably samplers, sewing cards, sewing tools and other early needlepoint projects - are the subject of the free exhibit in the museum lobby. 

	This sampler was stitched by Katharine Mayer when she was 11 years old, in 1839.
	San Jacinto Museum of History © 2012

Featured in the exhibit are four needlepoint samplers (a form of counted-thread embroidery worked in wool, cotton or silk over a canvas or fabric mesh) executed by young women who either made their samplers in Texas or brought them to Texas when they immigrated from Europe or the Eastern seaboard prior to 1850.  These pieces of fabric with their cross-stitched letters and numbers, fancy stitches, decorative motifs and with the maker's name, age and location, were created to tangibly illustrate an important part of a young lady's education.  Women who could sew both practically and decoratively were seen as accomplished.  The more accomplishments mastered, the more desirable the young woman would be in terms of marriage.  In crafting a sampler the sewer was proudly showing her competence, and these needlework designs were frequently framed and placed in places of honor in the home, publicly marking the maker's skill.

Also on display are sewing cards - high quality paper or card that was perforated at regluar intervals for use in "pick-up work", - small embroidery works that were a popular way to spend leisure hours in the 19th century, and a collection of beaded and decorated pincushions that put the modern-day tomato pincushion to shame.

In 2011, the lobby exhibit program will feature artifacts that thematically tie in with the currrent special exhibit, Making a Mark, Leaving a Legacy.  X Marks the Accomplished Lady is the first exhibit in this program, and will be on display from January 13 through early April 2012.