Embroidered Wool, Silk, and Cotton Needlework Roll-Up or Huswif

Description:

Embroidered Wool, Silk, and Cotton Needlework Roll-Up or Huswif,America, 1836,long rectangular roll-up with five pockets composed of black wool fabric with silk thread embroidered eagle, flower, and heart motifs, bound with red and yellow silk, lined with floral printed cotton, the date 1836 stitched under one flap at the bottom, (some wear and fiber losses primarily to silk binding),wd. 4 3/4, lg. 29 in.

Literature: For similar examples see Labors of Love: America's Textiles and Needlework 1650-1930, by Judith Reiter Weissman and Wendy Lavitt, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1987, pp. 114-115. They describe the purpose of the roll-ups, also called huswif or housewife, as "an oblong pouch for needles, pins, and other smalls that rolled up and could be carried in the larger pocket..." that 18th and 19th century women wore under their skirts.
Estimate $1,500-2,500

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