Work box with examples of filet brode, some complete and some incomplete, frames, needles, and patterns. Some of the filet brode patterns were drawn by Mary Elizabeth (Rhinelander) Newbold in 1870.
Filet brode is a needle lace created by darning and embroidery stitches on a ground of knotted net. The net is created by tying knots over a gauge called a mesh stick. (A double pointed knitting needle can be used as a mesh stick.) A needle with an eye at both ends is filled with thread and then loops/knots are made around the mesh stick. After the net is made, it is stretched taut on a frame for the decorative stitching and or darning.
Mary was born December 12, 1826 in New York, New York to Frederic and Mary Stevens Rhinelander and married Thomas H. Newbold on April 23, 1846. She died June 4, 1897. Their oldest daughter Catherine was born March 27, 1847 in Paris. Three other children – Thomas (b. May 19, 1849), Frederic (b. December 1, 1853), and Edith (b. August 18, 1856) were born in NY. Catherine donated the basket, patterns and embroidered pieces.
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