WHEN Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned she embroidered a windmill on a cushion to signify the fluctuating face of English protestantism.
It was just one of the secret messages she sent via her sewing during her incarceration by the English Queen Elizabeth.
The windmill was on a cushion she made for the Duke of Norfolk and also showed a hand descending from heaven holding a pruning fork to prune back old vines (code for Elizabeth) to allow younger, more fecund, vine shoots to flourish (in other words, Mary).
Despatched as a token of solidarity with the Duke, the cushion was intercepted and used against Norfolk who was executed after being accused of plotting against Elizabeth to put Mary on the throne.
This and many other fascinating nuggets about sewing are included in Clare Hunter’s new book The Threads of Life, A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle.
SUCH AS?
WELL, in the book, Hunter points out that embroidery at the time of Mary was seen as an elite activity.
“Most people could not afford the fabrics or thread to do it and only the rich could import the needles necessary to do the fine work,” Hunter told The National.
Mary had learned to sew as she grew up in France and when she came to Scotland as a young woman, an English envoy reported that she sewed during privy council meetings.
“Although her father had invested in the architecture of the palaces, the furnishings were a bit worn so Mary set to work to restore the interiors,” said Hunter.
“The trappings of power at the time were mainly in textiles and courts had showpieces to prove the country was prosperous and strong. It was really important to impress visiting dignitaries that Scotland was a nation of power. As part of that, furnishings were critical as was the monarchical wardrobe. I think Mary was sewing to improve Scotland’s status.”
IS THE BOOK ALL ABOUT MARY?
NOT at all. It contains many other moving stories about the people who have sewed to make their mark on society.
They were uncovered by Stirlingshire-based Hunter, a community arts activist, during three years of research.
“I decided to do it because I have been sewing all my life and have a whole library of needlework books but began to think there was very little about why people sewed,” she said. “Most of the books are about technique and not about the social background and motives – so much has been overlooked or lost. I couldn’t find a book like that so decided to write it myself.”
Hunter said she had thought she already knew quite a bit but once she started her research she found an “Aladdin’s cave of hidden histories”.
“There are so many wonderful, moving and inspiring stories. Even now I am discovering more although the book is finished,” she said.
WHAT ELSE DID SHE FIND?
ONE poignant story is about Jan Ruff-O’Herne, a Dutch Australian who, during the Second World War, was taken along with six other girls and forced into sexual slavery.
Between the brutal rapes, Jan asked the other six girls to sign their name on her white handkerchief which she then embroidered over, using a different colour for each name including her own.
“She kept it for 50 years without telling anyone about it,” said Hunter. “It was her tactile connection to a personal grief and it was only when Korean women were campaigning for retribution from Japan that she took the brave step of going to the Tokyo hearings and speaking out about what happened to her. She then donated the hanky to a museum in Canberra and lived to campaign against sexual abuse in war.
“Like many other people who sewed she did so as way of preserving her identity in a desperate situation.”
WHO ARE THE OTHERS?
THERE are the anonymous needle-women of the Bayeux Tapestry, 19th-century tailors whose pictorial patchwork campaigned for reform, the First World War’s shell-shocked soldiers who turned to stitching for therapy and the women incarcerated in the notorious Changi prison in Singapore during the Second World War, pictured, left.
People from all over the world are included in the book, from the grieving mothers in 1970s Argentina who sewed the names of their disappeared children onto headscarves, to the subversive stitchery of feminists in 1980s America and many others, particularly marginalised people, who have used sewing as a political tool or simply as a way to tell their neglected stories.
Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle is published this month by Sceptre of Hodder and Stoughton.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here