Weldon’s Practical Needlework

A celebration of vintage needlework.Weldon’s Practical Needlework was a popular Victorian magazine that offered knit, crochet, patchwork, and a variety of other needlework patterns for “useful articles”. Published in England roughly between 1885 and 1915, it offered women of the growing middle class technical instructions and projects. Whether sturdy items of daily wear such as stockings, “a gentleman’s waistcoat” or lady’s vest, or more fanciful lacework and “d’oyleys”, or truly odd items such as knitted tennis ball covers and knee-warmers, such projects allowed women to fill their leisure hours with useful work. Originally publishing small pamphlets 12 times a year, Weldon’s eventually collected these into larger volumes. The popular leaflets could be found in many households, often surrounded by the very type of needlework they contained.Now available as an extravagant boxed set, Weldon’s Practical Needlework: Deluxe Edition is a facsimile edition of the first 6 volumes of the series. In addition to knit and crochet, each volume contains a variety of decorative needlework: crewel, applique, cross-stitch, macrame, smocking, bead netting, and other lesser-known techniques. This box set serves as a historical document and a collector’s item. Open a window to another time and place with Weldon’s Practical Needlework: Deluxe Edition as you explore fashion, domestic life, and the history of needlework.