Ingenious Handwork Is Feature-of Show

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26792, 8 June 1948, Page 2

Ingenious Handwork Is Feature-of Show

Two noticeable features of the displays of handwork at the Winter Show and the bays containing the Women's Institute exhibits were that they attracted the attention of men as well as women, and that several of the finest examples of needlework were in the section devoted to men. A fine willow-pattern suppercloth in this section and a piece of heavy blue material intricately embroidered in an all-over design were of excellent workmanship, and were by the same competitor. The toy animals throughout these exhibits were noteworthy for the fact that they could be clearly recognised for what they were intended to represent, the lambs and other domestic animals being quite delightful. A foal, made of fawn towelling and stuffed with wood-shavings, was particularly life-like. The section attracting the most attention was that containing hand-made rugs, and one rug, or runner, was considered by many to be the outstanding exhibit in the handwork displays. About three feet wide, with a fawn ground, and carried out in a conventional leaf design in autumn tonings with innumerable small pieces of cloth, it undoubtedly represented months, and possibly years, of painstaking work. All the bays exhibited smocking, tatting, crochet and knitting in an amazing variety of articles, while “ something out of nothing " appeared to be a motto constantly in the minds of institute members. Indeed, 20 marks out of a possible 100 were awarded for thrift, and these country exhibitors could certainly teach their city cousins some lessons in ingenuity and resourcefulness where “ making-do " was concerned. Patchwork, articles from butter boxes, rags, pine needles, shells, and even spent matches formed a large part of all tlie displays, while the 20 marks awarded for a “ New Zealand product ” were earned mainly by the use of wool, leather, wood and twine. The quality of the work in the winning bay, .that of the Green Island Institute, was of uniform excellence throughout. The inclusion of a judging slip indicating marks, and the system of awarding them, was appreciated for its helpfulness.