Interested in the History of 17th Century Needlework?
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59-page article on 17th century boarding school embroidery
I’ve been embroidering—what I like to call “building with a needle”—since I was four years old and began teaching embroidery to adults when I was just 12. My journey took an interesting turn when I attended MIT, earning a PhD in engineering and eventually helping to establish the field of Electronic Textiles. Along the way, I never lost my passion for history, especially through coursework that explored how materials science can be used as an archaeological tool. This blend of engineering and history has shaped much of my approach to embroidery, and I consider myself a historian of textile materials culture through my work.
I’ve founded several companies within the textile industry. Thistle Threads is dedicated to reviving 17th- and 18th-century materials and techniques, while also expanding the narrative of embroidery in historical texts. With two partners, I also founded Tokens and Trifles, a company that brings back 19th-century decorative-edged perforated paper, using technology I’m familiar with from my engineering background. Additionally, I founded Fabric Works, where I developed e-textile technologies and products. It’s been quite a whirlwind, but when you have many passions, that’s just how it goes! Much of my work has grown out of my unique way of thinking, influenced by my experience as a dyslexic, which shapes how I approach both engineering and embroidery.
One of my greatest passions is teaching STEM to kids. Many of you may have followed the ups and downs of my two FIRST robotics teams over the past two decades. I’m happy to report that those students have now gone on to college in technical fields and are becoming great contributors to society—hopefully, some will go on to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges. I remain actively involved in STEM education, working with primary schools, universities, and often being tapped for projects, guest lectures, or serving on working groups.
I also had the privilege of leading the Plimoth Jacket project, a reproduction of a 1620s English embroidered waistcoat. It was an incredible project, which we documented on a blog that reached a global audience and was exhibited several times. We invited many of you to stitch on the project, and it truly propelled my work in reproducing 17th-century caskets and the materials used during that time.
Lately, I’ve been focused on publishing my insights into historical embroidery. I collaborate with universities and museums on projects that combine my "embodied knowledge" of embroidery, my scientific approach to studying textiles, business knowledge of the field, and understanding of how materials were engineered and made during the period. These unique experiences have allowed me to identify evidence in primary sources that has been overlooked in the past. For example, I’ve been able to uncover metallurgical methods from the period in texts, leading to new ways of dating pieces. Many of these publications are in progress, and I’ll be highlighting them to my mailing list as they come to fruition.
Indirectly, all those who purchase materials or take my classes are contributing to this ongoing research, helping to rewrite the historical record.
The goal of Thistle Threads is to bring back techniques from the past in a manner that appeals to the embroiderer of today. I strive to provide you with a quality experience and search the world for fabulous materials to enhance the time you spend on your creation.
My mission is to:
The best way to contact me is to use email: tricia@alum.mit.edu
One of the voices that is missing from historical texts is that of the makers of embroidereries and manufacturers of their materials. This knowledge, called 'embodied knowledge' in the historical community not only can enrich the narrative that surrounds embroidery but often contradicts what has been portrayed in historical texts. As embroidered objects are often some of the few pieces of hard evidence of women's daily lives; it is frequently used as a stand in for women of the past. It is important that embroidery is no longer trivialized or misrepresented in its purpose, skill, complexity, labor, cost and educational or economic impact. One of the primary reasons these voices are missing are the effect of artificial barriers to how history is written and researched. There are many fantastic voices being published in museum catalogs, specialist antique dealer catalogs, and self-publications on needlework; but these efforts are not reaching the larger historic research and publication community because they aren't indexed in databases. Those who have used their embodied knowledge to study needlework owe it to these anonymous women (better called "makers once known") to publish at least once in an academic journal to change the entire historical narrative by bringing our voice to discourse on women of the past.
On Female Education: Projects of Mastery in Seventeenth-Century English Boarding Schools, Patricia Wilson Nguyen in Winterthur Portfolio vol. 59 no 1
This study challenges traditional, text-focused and feminist interpretations of 17th–19th century needlework by combining embodied knowledge with statistical analysis. Examining samplers, pictures, and embroidered objects—often linked to English boarding schools and some colonial American examples—it argues that such works reflect women's education, agency, and skill. By analyzing these artifacts and the life of embroiderer Martha Edlin, the research reveals women's creativity and problem-solving abilities, offering a more nuanced view of their education and societal roles.
'A Bearinge Clothe for the Christeninge' - Part I: Contexts, Materiality and Values, Mary M. Brooks, Cristina Balloffet Carr, and Patricia Wilson Nguyen in Textile History.
This striking gold embroidered cloth had an unknown purpose when accessed into the MET collection in 2016. The team of Brooks, Carr and Nguyen have used the object to pioneer new methods of examining an embroidered textile for evidence of individual embroiderers in a professional setting. In the first paper in a series of three, the purpose of the encrusted embroidery is determined which led to a change in the cloth's name. This object was displayed in the 2022-23 exhibition The Tudors, Art and Majesty in Renaissance England
‘A Bearinge Clothe for the Christeninge’: Part 2: Materials and Making of a Bearing Cloth in the Metropolitan Museum, Cristina Balloffet Carr, Patricia Wilson Nguyen & Mary M. Brooks in Textile History
Part II tests the idea that the object was made in a professional workshop. Using mathematical modelling of needle movements, it estimates total labour time and, by dividing this by the number of embroiderers, the overall duration of the project. Analysis of the design principles shows methods used to speed production and points where individual embroiderers could interpret motifs and choose stitches. The findings indicate that this was a high-quality, professionally made bearing cloth that a team could complete relatively quickly to meet a deadline.
Micrograph is tiled from several hundred separate micrographs.
Scandal and Imprisonment: Gold Spinners of 17th Century England, Tricia Wilson Nguyen in Textile Society of America 2020 Symposium Proceedings.
This article lays out the arguments that gold thread embroidery was more than just something fashionable and shiny to wear. There were real economic impacts which led to the types of scandals that one expects if embroidery is money.
This article can be downloaded and read as open access using this link
