Sewing And Needlework Boxes

Tunbridge Ware Needlework and Sewing Boxes

‘The devil makes work for idle hands’ is a phrase only too redolent in the Victorian home where hard work and an industrious ethos demanded many hours dedicated to sewing and mending. Consequently the sewing box, needlework box or sewing basket proved to be a central necessity and invariably in constant use. Everything had its place and there was a place for everything, clean and tidy.

Daughters of the family would be instructed by their mother or governess into the arts of needlework and the essential sewing supplies and accessories such as pincushions and tape measures that have often survived in some Tunbridge Ware boxes until the present day.

Such boxes were invariably supplied with internal and removable trays with multiple divisions and compartments. Perhaps the most enduring of Victorian needlework skills are best witnessed today in the number of ‘samplers’ with cross stitching, quilting and other techniques that are often named and dated and sometimes include the alarmingly young ages of those responsible.

The makers of Tunbridge Ware were able to provide the Victorian seamstress with a bewildering variety of sewing supplies including pin boxes, pin trays, bodkins, pin books, bobbins and sewing baskets. Other variations in white wood with hand painted floral or landscapes include baskets, panniers and table clamps.

The use of contrasting dark and white wood slender panel decoration referred to as ‘Stick Ware’ was also offered by the Tunbridge makers on all manner of sewing accessories.

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Sewing And Needlework Boxes

Tunbridge Ware Workbox c1860

Tunbridge Ware Pin Cushion and Reel or Silk Box with Floral Mosaic c1850

Tunbridge Ware - A Turned and Ribbed Cylindrical Stickware Box with Mosaic Lid c1855

An Early And Magnificent Tunbridge Ware Sewing Cabinet by George Wise c1815

Tunbridge Ware Cotton Reel Box with Geometric Marquetry and Isometric Cube Pattern c1850

A Small Tunbridge Ware Yarn Bobbin with An Applied Print of The Monument London c1825

A Sarcophagal Tunbridge Ware Sewing Box with Isometric Cube Design c1835

A Large Three Drawer Tunbridge Ware Jewellery Chest and Work Box c1925

Tunbridge Ware Sewing Box with Eridge Castle Topographic Mosaic c1860

Tunbridge Ware - A Rectangular Sewing Box with Rounded and Square-Ended Lid featuring Floral Mosaics c1870

Tunbridge Ware - A Very Finely Decorated Sewing Box with 'Hurst Wood Cottage' Mosaic c1840

Tunbridge Ware - An Early Sewing Box with Mounted Brighton Pavilion Print c1820

Tunbridge Ware - Rectangular Box with Pin Cushion Lid c 1855

Tunbridge Ware - A Fine Sewing Box with Isometric Cubes and Geometric Mosaics c1850

A Very Fine And Rare Tunbridge Ware Octagonal Work Box by Edmund Nye c1850