PieceWork September - October 2015

The September/October issue of PieceWork Magazine is literary-inspired! We start off with Kathy Augustine’s "“Stitching with Paint: Inside the World of Jan Brett.” Jan Brett writes and illustrates delightful books for children of all ages; each is permeated with folklore and folk costume and each is mesmerizing.

Mimi Seyferth uncovered fascinating information about beloved American author Nathaniel Hawthorne: “When most people think of [Nathaniel Hawthorne] and needlework, their minds turn to his novel The Scarlet Letter (1850) and the intricately embroidered scarlet letter A worn by the skilled seamstress Hester Prynne as a symbol of her adultery. But it is a little known fact that, while convalescing from a foot injury suffered when he was nine years old, Hawthorne knitted a pair of stockings for the cat who then reigned in his family's household.” How delicious is that?? And there's more-references to knitting are a constant thread in many of Hawthorne's works.

You'll also find Arthur Conan Doyle’s socks, Margaret Oliphant’s Hester: A Story of Contemporary Life written in 1883, the role of bobbin lace in Italian Carlo Goldoni’s eighteenth-century plays, and “The Hatfield-McCoy Feud Reimagined.” However, we haven’t just looked to the past for our "Needlework in Literature" examples. Two of our contributors drew their inspiration from current popular fiction: Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander and George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Features and Projects included in this issue:

• Stitching with Paint: Inside the World of Jan Brett by Kathy Augustine
• For a Special Baby: Treva's Boots to Knit, Felt, and Embroider by Kathy Augustine
• Little Red’s Infinity Hood to Crochet by Brenda K. B. Anderson
• A Hat Inspiried by Sansa to Knit by Katrina King
• Nathaniel Hawthorne and Knitting by Mimi Seyferth
• House of the Seven Gables Socks to Knit by Mimi Seyferth
• Beaufoy Socks for Independent Women to Knit by Carol Huebscher Rhoades
• Socks, Seances, and Sherlock Holmes by Donna Druchunas
• Journey Thorough Time: Socks Inspired by Outlander to Knit by Heatherly Walker
• Medallion Russian Shawl to Knit by Inna Voltchkova
• Needlework on Stage: Venetian Lace in Carlo Goldoni’s Plays by Isabella Campagnol
• The Hatfield-McCoy Feud Reimagined by Mary Polityka Bush