A cotton fabric strip with open whitework embroidery in a paisley design, 1828 to 1850

A long strip of cotton fabric with open whitework embroidery in a paisley design is held by the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. The record dates it to 1828 through 1850, places its making in Charleston County and its collecting in Charleston, South Carolina, and lists the Old Slave Mart Museum as its owner.

View 1 of the fabric. Image from the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture record.

The embroidery

The embroidery runs along the longest edge of the fragment. Open holes in the fabric are overcast with white embroidery thread and arranged in a series of concentric curved feather shapes. The first feather is vertical, and the rest are horizontal and grow progressively smaller along the edge. The larger shapes have leaf-shaped designs at their centers, and the smaller ones have flowers.

The fabric edge beside the paisley design is also open whitework: a scalloped cut with an overcast edge along a line of open circular holes, overcast in white thread.

Condition

Some holes at the bottom of the cloth are stretched and torn, a few holes appear in other areas, and small pieces have torn off at the edges. Areas of the cloth are stained and discolored from age.

Record details

Sources

• Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, object record 2017.108.17.5 (https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2017.108.17.5), released under CC0 through Smithsonian Open Access; rewritten in hubnx's own words.