Lee Mill's Visit 2

During my visit to Lee Mills, I have been very interested in looking at some examples of knitting objects from the World War and even looking through some of the pattern booklets they had back then. During my visit they managed to show me a crocheted tablecloth, a knitted bandage and some pattern booklets from the war. I was really amazed by how these have survived for so long and it was great to see a part of history right there.

Knitted Bandage

A ‘Welcome Home’ Tablecloth, statement written by Barbara and Angharad

In the early 20^th century, “fancy work” magazines would be often published with patterns for pictorial designs in crochet. This continued throughout WWI and even some designs during the war would have patriotic themes alongside them.

In the Lee Mills Archive they have a small collection of a few surviving examples of patriotic fancy work, including two identical tablecloths with borders in filet crochet. The design has been crossed between the French and British flags, anchors, battleships and the slogan “Welcome Home.”

The design was published in Fancy Needlework Illustrated at around 1915, but note that some of the issues are not dated. This design is called L’Entente, which suggests that it was intended to celebrate the alliance with France. The complete design has a triangle in each corner of the tablecloth with United worked into it but none of the other examples in this collection has this and they imagine tat the “Welcome Home” message was more appealing, especially to family’s who had members of their loved ones in the force. There is also a matching tea-cosy design in the magazine and there surviving examples of this, but they are not currently in the Guild collection.

One of the tablecloths has an accompanying note from the donor. The girl had a father who was in the Grenadier Guards in the Boer War, and who later went on to fight in the Great War created a crocheted the cloth. She was born in 1897 and the cloth was used for her 90^th birthday party. She died in 1992, aged 95, and the cloth was given by her daughter.