In his 1870 Memoir of Jane Austen, the author’s nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, reports that his famous aunt “was successful in everything that she attempted with her fingers. . . . Her needlework both plain and ornamental was excellent, and might almost have put a sewing machine to shame. She was considered especially great in satin stitch.”
One rare and precious sample of Austen’s needlework--a handkerchief embroidered (in white-on-white satin stitch, no less) with a floral design and the initials of her sister, Cassandra Austen--will soon get much-needed TLC, Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, England, announced recently.
“The handkerchief was donated to the House in the late 1950s by an Austen family descendent,” the museum reported on its website. “Over time the condition of the delicate handkerchief has grown more fragile, and earlier this year we removed it from display for remedial conservation work.”
With the help of a grant from the UK’s Textile Society, that conservation work will take place this fall, while a textile historian researches how the handkerchief was made. Next year, this lovely example of Austen’s nimble finger-work will go back on display with enhanced interpretive materials, in time for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of her birth.
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