Thistle Threads with Tricia Wilson NguyenA visit to see 17th Century Embroidery at the MET. We go into the New British Galleries to see the current display of pieces which trend early to the end of the Tudor period and beginning of the Stuart.
This course is $15 with $5 as a donation to the V&A Textile Department. You can watch the 50-min video on her biography, then the 40-min video on her embroideries. This is followed by an instruction download for Martha's Rose ornament. A 20-min video on stitching with filament silk is also included. You have 31-days after registration to watch the videos before access is removed.
Textile Conservation Department Video: youtu.be/d_A_PWEKAUo 1:16 min– views of the bearing cloth 4:54 min – views of the microscopy and xray that we did of this monumental piece of embroidery
Flosstube #8 - Travels with Tricia - Tudor and Stuart Embroidery in British Galleries at METThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2024-04-05 | A visit to see 17th Century Embroidery at the MET. We go into the New British Galleries to see the current display of pieces which trend early to the end of the Tudor period and beginning of the Stuart.
This course is $15 with $5 as a donation to the V&A Textile Department. You can watch the 50-min video on her biography, then the 40-min video on her embroideries. This is followed by an instruction download for Martha's Rose ornament. A 20-min video on stitching with filament silk is also included. You have 31-days after registration to watch the videos before access is removed.
Textile Conservation Department Video: youtu.be/d_A_PWEKAUo 1:16 min– views of the bearing cloth 4:54 min – views of the microscopy and xray that we did of this monumental piece of embroidery
MET 64.101.1250 - metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/228955 V&A - T114.1928 - collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O315952/cushion-coverFlosstube # 20 - Travels with Tricia - V&A East Storehouse #flosstube #embroidery #thistlethreadsThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-09-28 | I take you through the process to schedule and visit the new study room for the Clothworkers Center at the V&A East Storehouse. You can order up to 5 objects ahead of time to see in person. Then go with me as I look at a set of embroideries from the 17th century.
The Order an Object service can be reached through the V&A Collections Search site: vam.ac.uk/collections
HERE EAST bus service: hereeast.com/get-hereThe original sampler reel #whitework #handbroidery #sampler #lace #reticella #hardanger #embroideryThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-09-16 | The original sampler reel - a mid 1600’s English whitework sampler reveals its delightful bands. This sampler helped me understand how these samplers and each band was constructed for my online course.
It unrolled from the bottom to the top, but if you start at the top, the lessons taught by the teacher build on each other band to band to get to the complicated reticella snowflakes at the bottom. Each one an exercise in problem solving.Pincushions of Nuremberg #crossstitch #handbroidery #flosstube #embroideryThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-08-15 | New Class - Pincushions of Nuremberg - Series 1: The Fürst Designs.
5-month course online, 37-count linen with Soie de Paris filament silk threads and dyed to match silk chenille for this course.
For years, I’ve been captivated by the intricate Florentine patterns and delicate stitched squares found on southern German samplers—particularly those taught in Nuremberg between 1650 and 1760. These small-scale designs, brought to life with lustrous filament silk, shimmer with a beauty that’s truly timeless. Over time, I’ve collected patterns and historical techniques with the goal of sharing them through a series of classes that go beyond surface design to explore the materials and methods that give them their unique radiance.
In this class, we’ll focus on mastering the use of filament silk—learning how to handle Soie de Paris for optimal tension control while working with a historically inspired palette to shade and highlight these exquisite patterns. Each month, one of the five pincushions in this first of four series will be worked.
Each of the four series we’ll stitch is dedicated to a remarkable woman from Nuremberg's history—figures who shaped the landscape of female education, the arts, and the tradition of embroidery pattern books. Through needle and thread, we’ll not only explore historic technique but honor the women who helped preserve and pass down this enduring art form. The lessons will include original historic research about each of the four women.
This first series of five pincushions concentrates on. Rosina Fürst, the designer behind a celebrated group of four pattern books published beginning in 1666.A Secret Garden of Lacet Flowers #stumpwork #flosstube #embroidery #crossstitchThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-08-08 | 🌸 Discover the magic of silk lacet flowers in my online course “Silk Lacet Flower Bouquets”! 🌿 Learn how to transform simple lacet braids into spiraled petals, curving leaves, and sweet little blooms like strawberries, pansies, daffodils & roses. 💐 Stitch them into posies, hair ornaments, or keepsake wedding boutonnieres. The process is quick, forgiving, and oh-so-addictive. 🌷✨ Join me and bring your own stitched garden to life! Only 27 more spots before course is retiring.
Click on All Courses and then Free Projects A charming little project inspired by embroidered 17th-century cabinets, where delicate silk braid posies were lovingly stitched by hand to put in the drawers. 🧵✨
🖨️ Download the free instructions on my site and stitch your own little piece of history. My reproduction flat braids from filament silk were made just for these techniques. You’ll learn to whip-stitch the braids together into petals that can be stitched together to make flowers. Kits are available while supplies last with the braids and matching full tubes of the silk threads needed at www.thistle-threads.comFancy Finishes Sampler Ornament online class - starting soon - learn how to make the fun edgingThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-07-25 | Learn more at thistle-threads.myshopify.com/collections/online-university
I have wanted to explore how the silk passementerie fibers we have been making for stumpwork projects could be used to trim our counted work ornaments to give them a bit of pizzazz. This two month online course will explore the use of silk cartisane and facette as edging in tandem with a more familiar use of soie d'alger to stitch a sampler design. The sampler design is worked in several counted stitches and so might be interesting to those who haven't explored many counted stitches.Folk Costume Historic inspiration for Christmas Baubles series of ornaments #flosstube #crossstitchThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-07-18 | ...Flosstube #19 Stories Behind the Needlework - FleecedThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-07-12 | An interview with the authors of Fleeced: Unraveling the History of Wool and War. This is a fascinating new book about how the properties of wool have influenced the 19th and 20th century and our world wars. Spies, submarines, and sheep! The global wool trade takes us through many current topics and shows just how important controlling textiles are.
Fabric of War - Why Wool? - vimeo.com/332603275 Watch the film made by Trish Fitzsimons and Madelyn Shaw with Australian Wool Innovation Limited
Fleeced is available on Amazon and your local bookstores: amazon.com/Fleeced-Unraveling-History-Wool-War/dp/B0DQ3SW3G9Thread Tip You’ll Love #crossstitch #flosstube #silkthread #handbroidery #needleworkThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-07-05 | ...Flosstube #18 - Travels with Tricia - Salisbury AssociationThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-06-14 | An interview with Alexandra Peters about the samplers and their stories at the Salisbury Association exhibit: Birth, Death and Alphabets. Alexandra gives us yet again a fascinating glimpse into the lives of these sampler makers with special emphasis on the recording of families in an age of uncertainty.Free download of pattern and kit available at www.thistle-threads.com #pincushion #silkthreadThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-06-11 | ...Frostings Box 9. This video contains music from Shutterstock, licensed by Splice.Thistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-06-03 | ...Visit Golden Thread exhibit in Paris before July 6th, 2025! #embroidery #handbroidery #goldthreadThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-05-25 | Visit the Golden Thread exhibit in Paris!! Anyone who might be traveling to Paris before July 6th, 2025 - there is a mind blowing exhibit on gold thread at the museum next to the Eifel Tower (Musee du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac). It is the largest exhibit on embroidery (9000 sq meters which is 96,000 sq feet) I have ever seen and took me no less than 4 hours to see. It is four exhbits in one - on materials and techniques, a retrospective of the Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei with her extensive use of Chinese gold embroidery, and gold thread embroidered garments from the far east to Africa through many historic periods. Of course there is an enormous Travels with Tricia Flosstube coming - but I wanted to make sure those who might be there don't miss it!!
https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/exhibitions-and-events/at-the-museum/exhibitions/event-details/e/au-fil-de-lorFlosstube #17 - Travels with Tricia - Au Ver a SoieThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-05-09 | I talk with Marc Boucher, owner of Au Ver a Soie, about his 200 yr old silk embroidery thread company and the amazing history behind it as well as all things about silk threads. Listen to Marc talk about his great-grandmother who was an early businesswoman in Paris as well as what makes their silk threads such high quality. Ever heard of a silk grading system? You will after this video!Historic Color Collection @triciawilsonnguyenThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-05-02 | The genesis of the Historic Color Collection. Drawing inspiration from the rich hues of the 17th and 18th centuries, this filament silk collection is a tribute to the centuries-old art of natural dyeing. Thistle threads In collaboration with Au Ver a Soie and Access Commodities. www.thistle-threads.com #crossstitch #embroidery #flosstube #silkthreadEnjoy stitching with a system designed with your needs in mind by an embroiderer for embroiderers.Thistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-04-15 | ...Travels with Tricia visits the Detroit Institute of Arts - watch full video @triciawilsonnguyenThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-04-09 | ...Flosstube #16 - Travels with Tricia - Detroit Institute of Arts - Painted with SilkThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2025-04-09 | Get yourself to Detroit to see this exhibit before it closes on June 15, 2025! It has over 60 stunning samplers. This is a mini-preview of some pieces with special stories about how silk threads were used or information about the teaching and girls.
Download 'English Embroidery in the Metropolitan Museum 1580-1700: 'Twixt Art and Nature' ' by Melinda Watt and Andrew Morrall - https://store.bgc.bard.edu/english-embroidery-in-the-metropolitan-museum-1580-1700-twixt-art-and-nature-edited-by-melinda-watt-and-andrew-morrall/
Magdalena Lorsbach:https: //hudsonvalleysamplerguild.blogspot.com/2014/07/goddesses-towers-seafarers-wolf-dogs.htmlFlosstube #13 - Travels with Tricia - 2024 Witney Exhibit - Interview with Rebecca ScottThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2024-10-24 | Exhibit at Witney Antiques of 17th century embroidery and interview with Rebecca Scott (Exhibit open in Oxfordshire from October 21, 2024 to November 23rd, 2024 daily 9-5pm). 2024 catalog is available at: thistle-threads.myshopify.com/collections/books Rebecca takes Tricia around to see her favorite pieces in this culminating exhibit of Early Modern schoolgirl art. Rebecca has been gathering and saving some extraordinary sets of embroideries for a decade in anticipation of the preservation, exhibit and sale of the works. This has allowed her to publish a book/catalog about this type of embroidery.
The 2023 catalog is still available and the 2022 version may be out of print (maybe we can encourage Witney to reprint).
Exhibit announcement: witneyantiques.com/exhibitionsFlosstube #12 Travels with Tricia - Litchfield Historical Society ExhibitThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2024-09-28 | An interview with Alexandra Peters guest curator of With Their Busy Needles at the Litchfield Connecticut Historical Society April 26 - Dec 1, 2024.
Sign up for Thistle Threads mailing list to win a copy of the exhibit catalog or Pierce Academy book on embroidery. Entries taken until November 1st, 2024 and will be pulled randomly from those who join list. Those already on the mailing list can enter. lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/81isslo/withtheirbusyneedles
Alexandra Lally Peters website to see more highlights of her collection of samplers: alexandralallypeters.com
Thank you so much to Alexandra for publicly sharing her extraordinary collection of samplers and her meticulous research which has uncovered so many amazing stories and brought many women's lives back to life.Flosstube #11 - Travels with Tricia - DAR MuseumThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2024-09-04 | A visit to the DAR Museum exhibit - Sewn in America: Making - Meaning - Memory. Open until December 31st, 2024 at the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington, D.C
Join the Thistle Threads mailing list for a chance to win one of two catalogs of the exhibit. Entries will be taken until October 1st and drawn randomly from the mailing list additions. If you are already on the general mailing list, this is a separate link so that you can put your name in as well and get a chance for a catalog. Join here: lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/1aMXuj3/SewninAmerica
A Stitch in Time - Needlework of Aging Women in Antebellum America by Aimee Newell - amazon.com/Stitch-Time-Needlework-Antebellum-America/dp/0821420526Flosstube #10 - Stories Behind the Needlework - Sampler Archive ProjectThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2024-08-05 | An interview with Lynne Anderson, Director of the Sampler Archive Project. The project is a multi-institution research initiative to find and document as many of the American samplers still existing as they can. This is one of the most basic elements of women's history and we still don't have a full database of the objects - but Lynne and other volunteers are working to change that. The output of the project is available NOW - a website database where you can view high resolution images of around 5000 samplers with more added all the time. At the end of the video, a way for you to let the project know of samplers in your area is shown. This is a vital new step to enable more documentation to occur.
The limiting thing for the project currently is the labor and money to photograph and input the data into the database. Consider making a donation to the projectFlosstube #9 - Stories Behind the Needlework - The Sampler Consortium, A Visit with Lynne AndersonThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2024-05-22 | I sit down with Lynne Anderson, the President of the Sampler Consortium to talk about the organization and how membership helps us all find sampler and embroidery exhibits, lectures and new books about samplers. Lynne tells me about three new sampler exhibits happening in 2024 that you might be interested in visiting.
"With Their Busy Needles: Samplers and the Girls Who Made Them", Litchfield Historical Society, Litchfield, CT, April 26, 2024-December 1, 2024: litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/exhibitions
"Embroidered Lives: South Country Samplers and Their Stories" at the Gilbert Stuart Museum in Saunderstown, Rhode Island - April 28, 2024 - July 28, 2024: gilbertstuartmuseum.orgFlosstube #7 - Travels with Tricia - Martha Edlin PilgrimageThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2024-02-28 | A description of the Martha Edlin Mini-Course open right now on my teaching website. Then a pilgrimage to see Martha's birthplace and her embroideries in the V&A where we see several new things about her pieces. Then a description of how I did the detective hunt to uncover her life. BTW there is a mistake in speaking - Martha was born in 1658 - not a hundred years earlier
This course is $15 with $5 as a donation to the V&A Textile Department. You can watch the 50-min video on her biography, then the 40-min video on her embroideries. This is followed by an instruction download for Martha's Rose ornament. A 20-min video on stitching with filament silk is also included. You have 31-days after registration to watch the videos before access is removed. There are a limited number of spots in this mini-course because I had to license the images from the V&A.
Come back and put your comments about the mini-course below!
If you are a regular user of the shop - note that my shop and teaching site do NOT share user/passwords and you might need to make an account on the teaching site if you haven't taken a recent class.
Adam and Eve Whitework piece: collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78764/lace-panel-unknownFlosstube #6 Stories Behind the Needlework - Nuremberg Samplers 2Thistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2024-02-08 | Before I take off for Nuremberg, Germany I want to show you this sampler from that city made with wonderful shaded filament silks. It is similar to the paintings of the famous Maria Sybilla Meriam but might be the teaching of another well known Nuremberg designer of needlework patterns. Let's look at all the personalities known to be working in the city during this time period and review the pattern books looking for clues.
The Maria Sibylla Merian Society - https://www.themariasibyllameriansociety.humanities.uva.nl/merianlife/
Pattern books by Margaretha Helm - collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?q=Margaretha%20helm&page=1&page_size=15FlossTube: #5 Behind the Needlework - Four Seasons CasketThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2024-01-16 | I want to share my stumpwork embroidered cabinet with you and the story about why I made it. We will see the design process, the embroidery close up and explore the inside with its secret drawers as well as talk about why these embroidered cabinets of the 1600s (and today's reproductions) are so mesmerizing.
Video on scallop edge for leaves and flowers: youtube.com/watch?v=T0medZj2u8EFlosstube: #4 Behind the Scenes - New Year PlansThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2024-01-02 | It's 2024 and time to share what I am planning for the year. After showing a WIP coming up for my teaching site I will go over the places that Travels with Tricia will be visiting this year with some sneak previews of the embroideries we will see up close in museums. An update on my German Sampler detective hunt and a preview of the quest on Martha Edlin and her embroideries! And I will share the two new caskets I will be stitching this year - one with a new sparkly thread that I am releasing soon!
Interest List for Four Elements Tent Stitch Casket: lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/YlIAOSS/fourelementstentmcasketFlosstube #3 Stories Behind the Needlework - Nuremberg SamplersThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2023-12-26 | I have some haul to share - a 1680 sampler from Nuremberg, Germany that has opened up an enormous detective hunt for me that I want to take you all on through Travels with Tricia episodes. The dealer who sold the sampler to me passed on a trove of research that the previous owner had assembled (in German). Some of it was accurate and some needs digging. Amazingly I was leaving for Germany to see Christmas Markets only two weeks later and the information took me on a huge hunt across museums in the city.
Martha Edlin: vam.ac.uk/articles/martha-edlins-casketFlosstube: #2 Travels with Tricia - Witney Antiques 2023 ExhibitThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2023-12-13 | A visit to Witney Antiques to see their latest exhibit around 17th century embroidery for sale including the Elizabeth Hall casket with the items she and family members made inside. An interview with Rebecca Scott discussing the Hall suite and what excites her about the pieces.
2023 Catalog: 'Choice And Precious Work' Treasures From The Schoolroom 1650 - 1750 thistle-threads.myshopify.com/products/choice-and-precious-work-treasures-from-the-schoolroomFlosstube: #1 Travels with Tricia - Intro of myself & Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers Guild ExhibitionThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2023-11-29 | After an introduction about my stitching journey, I take my viewers on a virtual tour of the amazing 400th Anniversary Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers Guild Exhibition at Guildhall in 2023. The exhibit was full of historic gold thread embroideries from the 15th to 21st century.
Cynthia Jackson and Gutter Lane Embroidery: gutterlaneembroidery.com/historic-reconstruction Articles on the Broiderers' Crown reproduction: Inspirations Magazine, Issue 105, Feb 2020 Medieval Clothing and Textile, #16, April 2020 published by Boydell and Brewer
How to: Royal School of Needlework: Goldwork, Techniques, Projects & Pure Inspiration by Emi Nimura, 2021 published by Search Press LimitedMaking Frostings 4Thistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2023-08-08 | This is the chaois that goes into making the boxesUsing Thistle Threads Online CoursesThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2023-08-08 | This is a tour of the new thistle.threads.thinkific.com online university platform and how to visit and download in your coursesGold Materials Research Summer 2023Thistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2023-08-08 | During the Summer of 2023 I went on a research trip to Venice, Austria and the UK with colleagues Cristina Carr (MET) and Mary Brooks (University of Durham) to document gold thread making and other processes related to thread making and using. We were focused on understanding contemporary writings in the 15th-17th century about these processes as they weren't understandable - of course they were error ridden. The original makers were hiding steps as industrial secrets. But along the way there were many new materials ordered for my shop and Frostings boxes. Some have arrived in the shop this week! This video gives you a taste of what it's like to visit the makers and to invent new threads.
In the year 2012 there started a course to reproduce embroidered cabinets from the 17th Century. This Cabinet resulted from the hard Work and dedication of many artisans and the loving effort of this Embroiderer Tricia Wilson Nguyen Those who see this, remember us for the Curious Works of our Needles Thistle Threads http://www.thistle-threads.com thistle-threads.myshopify.comCabinet of Curiosities - Five Senses CasketThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2019-08-09 | In the year 2012 there started a course to reproduce embroidered cabinets from the 17th Century. This Cabinet resulted from the hard Work and dedication of many artisans and the loving effort of this Embroiderer Tricia Wilson Nguyen Those who see this, remember us for the Curious Works of our Needles Thistle Threads http://www.thistle-threads.com thistle-threads.myshopify.comPacking Frostings 3Thistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2018-09-01 | My Benny Hill crew helping me pack the latest set of Frostings BoxesAnita and Irvin Schorschs Needlework CollectionThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2016-02-24 | This video is about Anita and Irvin Schorsch's 17th century embroidery collection. This was a talk on January 18, 2016 at Sotheby's to honor their memory before the auctioning of their collections.BrainstormersThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2015-03-09 | This was a promotional video speciality for Fenn School to show how several alumni and current students had done in FLL and FTC and inspire them to form competition teams for next year.The Plimoth Jacket SparklesThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2010-02-02 | The Plimoth Jacket takes a twirl to see the spangles twinkle like diamonds. Read the blog at www.thistle-threads.com/blogThe Spangles on The Plimoth JacketThistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen2010-02-02 | Fitting of The Plimoth Jacket on the model. This is the first time anyone ever saw how these embroidered pieces sparkled in the past.