Pockets: a piece of embroidered history
Do you remember the nursery rhyme Lucy Locket? I learned this version and still teach it to my youngest students in music class.
"Lucy Locket lost her pocketKitty Fisher found itNot a penny was there in itOnly ribbon round it"
Until I started embroidering and learning about all the different everyday items that were embroidered in the past, I really didn't know what a pocket was. I thought it was like a little coin purse, but I hadn't seen one and couldn't really imagine what it looked like or how it was carried or worn.There are examples of some beautifully embroidered pockets in a few of the books in my library but nothing I have comes close to the collection at VADS.What's VADS? I hear you ask... It's the Visual Arts Data Service based at the Farnham Campus of the University College for the Creative Arts in the UK. And they have an amazing collection of digital photographs of pockets entitled Pockets of History
Victoria and Albert Museum.
Here's a photograph of a doll from the mid-1700's wearing a pocket. A pocket would be held in place with a long ribbon or sash tied around your waist.VADS has a huge photographic collection of pockets, including quite a few beautifully embroidered ones. Along with each photograph there is information on the museum or collection where the item resides, it's date and a complete description. Often there are additional photographs of the back or a close up of the embroidery.
Fashion Museum, Bath
On the introductory page to the collection there is a short essay explaining various aspects of the collection. The collection is organized into four categories: Materials, Decoration, Getting Pockets and Using and Losing Pockets. There are, of course, a wealth of beautiful digital photographs, but also links to short essays on the uses, history and social customs related to pockets. If you scroll down to the bottom of the introductory page, there are three articles in PDF format you can download to learn more about these very important, but often unseen, personal items that preceded the handbag of today.
National Museum Wales, St. Fagans, Cardiff
Pockets were used for carrying the items that would be necessary for a women to use daily, including of course, things she would need for stitching. Here is a excerpt from a book entitled Eighteen Maxims of Neatness and Order:"It is also expedient to carry about you a purse, a thimble, a pincushion, a pencil, a knife and a pair of scissars (sic), which will not only be an inexpressible source of comfort and independence, by removing the necessity of borrowing, but will secure the privilege of not lending these indispensable articles. The establishment of needles and thread is to be kept not only ready for service, but bright in action."It's all part of the unbroken thread of embroidery. Enjoy!