‘Erica Wilson: A Life in Stitches’

Abstract

‘ERICA WILSON: A LIFE IN STITCHES’, ONLINE EXHIBITION, WINTERTHUR MUSEUM, GARDEN & LIBRARY, DELAWARE, USA, http://ericawilson.winterthur.org/ English-born American embroidery designer Erica Wilson (1928–2011) was and still is referred to as ‘America’s first lady of stitchery’. A graduate of the Royal School of Needlework, Wilson inspired a needlework renaissance, helped invent a new category of publishing and built a multimillion-dollar embroidery empire over the course of her approximately sixty-year career. Her 1962 book Crewel Embroidery resulted in a needlework revival as well as a sea change in publishing (Fig. 1). The first needlework book released by Scribner’s, it sold over one million copies and ushered in a massive demand for craft books. Nearly five decades after the book’s publication, Wilson’s influence is still felt in the craft revolution that has gripped the world during the coronavirus pandemic. FIG. 4. Collar detail of Women’s First World War, Underground Electric Railways Ticket Collector’s uniform. Featured in the ‘London’s Fashion Alphabet’ video for the letter U. # Museum of London, London.