Aprons, tablecloths, handkerchiefs and other practical items have been treated by women as blank canvases ripe for embellishment. Beautiful fabrics and embroidery were not just reserved for special, rarely used things. On display here are: at the top, a cottage teacosy or toaster cover; on the left, an oven cloth; on the right, a child's apron made of dress and furnishing fabric scraps; at the bottom, a 'mammy doll' oven cloth (something highly unlikely to be made in the 2000s); and in the centre, an embroidered linen duster bag with the words 'Let dainty Sue hold Dusters for you'. They rest on a small embroidered suppercloth. All of these items were probably made between the 1940s and 1960s.
Using this item
Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
by Marguerite Hill
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