Berlin Wool

 

At the 1851 Census John and Jane Goodfellow were living in Market Place, Wincanton.  Jane ran the Berlin Wool depot. Louisa MacKenzie lived with them and was an assistant draper in the Berlin Wool shop.  This is an example of Berlin wool work.

"Berlin wool work is a style of embroidery similar to today's needlepoint that was particularly popular in Europe and America from 1804 to 1875.   It is typically executed with wool yarn on canvas, worked in a single stitch such as cross stitch or tent stitch, although Beeton's book of Needlework (1870) describes 15 different stitches for use in Berlin work. It was traditionally stitched in many colours and hues, producing intricate three-dimensional looks by careful shading. Silk or beads were frequently used as highlights. The design of such embroidery was made possible by the great progress made in dyeing, initially with new mordants and chemical dyes, followed in 1856, especially by the discovery of aniline dyes, which produced bright colors.  

Berlin work creates very durable and long-lived pieces of embroidery that can be used as furniture covers, cushions, bags, or even clothing." (Wikipedia)

Jane's grand-daughter Grace (Goodfellow) Murphy embroidered this table mat.  She also embroidered tablecloths and painted pictures.

Grace's grand-daughter Diana (Murphy) Heins made eight hooked rugs between 1972 and 2005.  She learned North American rug hooking in Burlington, Ontaro, Canada.  She designed this rug with Australian wildflowers and dyed the woollen material strips for the flower hooked loops.

Diana's grand-daughter embroidered these Australian Summer Gum wildflowers using counted cross stitch tapestry.