From lap to loom: The transition of Marseilles white work from hand to machine

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Mar 2001 by Atkins, Jacqueline M

After the mid-point of the eighteenth century, both in England and on the continent, there was an increase in the popularity of white work that corresponded to the neoclassical revolution in taste and style that occurred in this same period. Architecture and interior design saw a simplification of line and color, and fashion in clothing quickly followed. Women shed their elaborate and colorful silk gowns in favor of simple white muslin frocks; subtlety in decoration became highly desirable, and white-on-white decoration fit well with this classical ideal. According to Margaret Vincent, "All-white needlework in its various forms would have never become so important had it not fitted in with the aesthetic taste of the era."8 Elements seen as part of the standard neoclassical design vocabulary of the period included garlands of flowers, swags, cornucopias, wreaths, feathers, urns, central medallions, tassels, twisted ropes and cables, and architectural and figural motifs, among others. In North America, the Tree of Life, the pineapple, and the eagle were also popular motifs during the neoclassical period. All these motifs, in various combinations, can be found in white work.

White Work in America Until well into the nineteenth century, North America took its lead from Europe in many areas, not least in interior decoration and fashionable clothing. However, there was an inevitable time lag in their expression due to the slowness of travel and communication.9 Thus, the vogue for the neoclassical, and, by extension, white work, started somewhat later in North America and lasted longer. It was at its peak from the 1790s until the 182os-starting and ending somewhat later in rural and other outlying areas, again because of travel and communication difficulties. Neoclassical fashion was most prevalent in the northeast and mid-Atlantic coastal states, perhaps because they were the most in touch with European fashions via the sea trade.10

In North America, as in Europe, white work had been popular for clothing and bedding, but the neoclassical vogue ensured that it would be avidly adopted on a broader scale and rapidly incorporated into everyday life. The fad for white and especially quilted, stuffed, and embroidered white work-was further encouraged, perhaps, by the increased availability (and decreased price) of cotton fabrics and better threads for sewing, achievements brought about by the industrial revolution, which was well underway in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. There may have been, to some extent, a class element at work as well. The white-work pieces of the time, and especially the elaborately quilted (and sometimes embroidered, sometimes corded, sometimes stuffed) all-white quilts that became so popular, were meant to be items of real or implied luxury. They were purely ornamental, with their decorative stitching, stuffing, and cording used only for design, not for warmth or function. They required the purchase of fabric specifically for the project and, despite lower prices on textiles, few women would have available as a matter of course the yardage required for such a project. White-work bed covers also easily showed dirt and needed frequent changing or cleaning-- not a good option for the lower classes or poor.11