April 17, 2013

The Flower Pot - who really did it?

                                                         

I feel like telling a story.

Six years ago, I was visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. For those of you unaware, this museum has a tremendous textile and costume collection. I often visit this museum when I am in London, mostly to take a gander at the collection of samplers. They have the oldest ones on record in a museum, don't quote me on this, but I think 1644 is the earliest date on record. 

The visits often culminate in a trip through the gift shop and from time to time I acquire the odd present for myself. On this trip in 2007, I was admiring the William Morris postcards, memorabilia, texts and some of the patterns on scarves. I decided to work on a pattern called "Roses" but came to a standstill due to a technical error. Here is that pattern:
                                                           

I enjoyed William Morris' works and ideas so much. He was one of the first companies to hire a female designer. Simplicity and beauty. I would be at work thinking about them, think about designing my own, chug through these thoughts and finally about 3 years later, I came home and Googled William Morris and the above "The Flower Pot" pattern came up. Exciting. Another pattern I could try. It looked like the style that came out of the Red House period. I thought I was on to something. I know. Wait, there's more.

After I bought this above chart from my ONS for less than $20, I thought this would be an interesting pattern. I enjoy symmetry in general and I like the diagram. When I received the package in the mail, I put it in my stash because I was otherwise preoccupied with my UFOs and I tend to be the kind of person to do several at once. (I usually have 5 or more books on my nightstand also, perhaps this is a problem)

It had been in my stash for the better part of a year before I decided to pull it out and look at it. Lo and behold, I look on the back, it happens to be HAED. I typically avoid HAED because of the sheer amount of needle changes/parked needles. They have huge thread counts and complexities that I hadn't dared to that point in my stitching career. I was in awe but thought this was the gods telling me to challenge myself. Then I looked at the front. This particular pattern requires 90 colors o floss. 90. Nine Zero.

Also, I had noticed when I received the package. It was designed by "William Morris Hunt".

This made no sense to me. William Morris was English, had the repetitive patterns and created textiles, ceramics and was associated with the "Arts and Crafts Era". William Morris Hunt was American, was a portrait painter and studied in France. this is a typical portrait of William Morris Hunt's work:



I am not sure as to why the design credit was given to Morris Hunt at all, as the designer is actually listed as Michele Sayetta.

Is this a common thing? I imagine Michelle Sayetta did it. What is your impression?

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