LADIES' WORK 1700

I am withdrawing items from the winter blip bank here, but it is really lousy out there, even though some wild flowers cling on and ask to be photographed. Tomorrow perhaps. A dark thought has occurred to me and it is this. Hand held is not good enough for this sort of thing.I am going to have to buy a tripod for indoor use. I don't like the colour of this at all, LED lighting, and then I won't know the real colour of anything until I get my computer back.

This is a detail from a very worn silk purse. It was at an auction with several other scraps of needle work. They have a yellowed tag, written in India ink, which says "Spessimines (sic) of Ladies' Work 1700." The original meaning of the word, "lady," was "woman who sews." This is because only women of means had the time to sit about and stitch pretty things.

It looks quite crude under the macro lens but it is, in fact, so fine that it almost doesn't look like stitching at all. It is very fine work, the purse is well used. Did it go to Bonnie Prince Charlie's ball? We'll never know.