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Gabrian SILK POSTCARDS
LATEST RESEARCH ON EMBROIDERED SILK POSTCARDS (Part 1) (© Ian Collins 2008)
When An Illustrated History of the Embroidered Silk Postcard was published, no information was available on the manufacturing techniques used to make the embroidered panels incorporated into silk postcards. I took my reference from an earlier booklet on silk postcards by Radley and information from dated cards in my collection, and said: “The panels were embroidered at home by female members of peasant families, to augment their meagre incomes … the embroidery was worked by hand with the fabric stretched over a simple wooden frame, by 1915 machine embroidery had been introduced, though hand embroidery still predominated.” I now know this statement to be wrong. I never felt happy that the majority of silk postcards could be made from hand embroidered panels. It did not seem possible that hand embroiderers could produce such a quantity and variety of designs, in such consistent quality. It is now clear that the silk panels were not embroidered by hand, but were made on machines. The different effects produced in the embroidery depended on the type of machine used.
Brief history of machine embroidery
Josué Heilmann of Mulhouse in France invented the earliest “hand-embroidery machine” in 1828, and it had the capacity of four traditional embroiderers working by hand. It is important to realise that this was 18 years before Elias Howe patented the first functional sewing machine in 1846, and it was the 1850s before Isaac Singer produced the first commercially viable sewing machine. The Heilmann embroidery machine consisted of a frame to hold the fabric, a needle assembly and a handle to work the needle. It was operated by moving the fabric to meet the needle, which had a point at each end and an eye in the middle. A small clamp on each side of the fabric controlled the needle. The needle was held in one clamp, pushed into the fabric, picked up by the opposite clamp and drawn through. The frame holding the fabric was moved and the needle passed back. The process allowed stitching in any direction, and continued until the pattern was complete. The machine was such a threat to traditional hand embroiderers that Heilmann agreed to sell only two in Switzerland. Henry Houldsworth of Manchester, England purchased the patent rights in 1829. At the Great Exhibition of 1851, his company displayed “specimens of patent machine embroideries”, which were multicoloured and on a variety of fabrics. By about 1850, Franz Vogler from St Gallen in Switzerland had improved the machine (though it is not known what these improvements were). The first embroidery factory was established in 1854 and 120 of the improved machines were installed. The Heilmann machine continued to be developed and, by about 1870, it incorporated multiple needles to carry different coloured threads and was fitted with a pantograph to replicate the design. At this time, 14 companies were making hand-embroidery machines in the St Gallen region. Embroidery made on the hand-embroidery machine was more even and consistent than traditional hand made embroidery and the quality was unsurpassed. This is probably the reason why earlier researches into embroidery on silk postcards believed they were embroidered by hand. The name of “hand-embroidery machine” could also have added to the confusion.
A hand-embroidery machine at work in a factory in Calais in about 1905, taken from a contemporary postcard. This was a large piece of equipment, and there are others in the background. The embroiderer on the left operated the machine. His left hand guided the pantograph, moving it around the enlarged design and following individual stitches. The pantograph positioned the fabric in front of the needles. He used his right hand to crank the wheel on the end of the machine and push the needles through the fabric, whilst opening and closing the clamps holding the needles with his feet. It must have taken a lot of concentration. The female assistant checked the needles and threads worked properly, rethreaded the needles when the thread ran out, and repaired broken threads as the machine went along. Notice the continuous line of spools of silk thread at waist level and near the bottom. The thread from each spool was connected to a needle, which indicates how many needles were on the machine. Postcards with up to 12 different colours have been seen using this machine, though 6-8 is more usual.
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For further information contact Ian Collins on: E-mail: gabrian@btinternet.com |
