With bold needle and thread: adventures in vintage needlecraft.

I have always been an admirer of Rosemary McLeod’s journalism, especially her feminist writing. I listen to National Radio, where she is often on Jim Mora's panel from 4-5pm.

This has proved a bit of a challenge as it was as if Rosemary

was reading the book to me. Not an unpleasant experience, but disconcerting!

This book has, I think, 49 projects to tempt you. Although I shan’t be making any of them, I so enjoyed reading it, partly because of

Rosemary’s inimitable writing style. What I love about this book is the respect Rosemary shows for the skills and thrift of our New Zealand

mothers to create colourful things from whatever materials they had to hand, which for many was not much. The time

period which Rosemary has researched and collected from is the 1920’s to the 1950’s – times of

economic depression and austerity. She has given us a valuable record of New Zealand needlework

which may have otherwise been dismissed as ‘women’s work’. The projects reflect our social

history. The book records it.

Rosemary has researched these years and amassed a collection of embroidery done then, as well as

accumulating what sounds like a frighteningly large stash of fabrics, buttons, threads and tools. She

confesses to not being a natural needlewoman but gets obvious pleasure from her creations, most of

which have been inspired by patterns and ideas from women’s magazines of the period. Jane Ussher

has taken the photos for the book and they are superb. There are full page reproductions from

women’s magazines, including advertisements, which I pored over, as they give such an insight into

the social mores of the time. Rosemary’s comments are insightful and always entertaining.

This is a big book, which I sourced through the Auckland Library system. If you want to buy it, the

cheapest online price I could find was Fishpond, where it is available for $49.95 which includes

postage.

Erica Marsden