Knotwork (Card)

Description

New York-based artist Irene DeFoy Gregor created the floral motifs adorning this blank card around 1970. The floral shapes are examples of tatting, a type of craft done by tying thread into an intricate pattern of knots. Tatting is performed using a shuttle which holds thread wound around a bobbin in its center. The tatter holds a large loop of the thread in one hand and moves the shuttle back and forth through the loop with their other hand, making and tightening knots as they go. The floral motifs on this card are glued to the paper and accented with leaves drawn in colored pencil. This object is an example of tatting, but also of how needleworkers beautified their spaces, giving visual interest to otherwise plain, everyday objects like this blank white card. This object is one of a large group transferred to Winterthur from the American Textile History Museum when it closed in 2017.