QUEEN MARY'S INTEREST

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21304, 25 March 1939, Page 11

QUEEN MARY'S INTEREST

BRITISH AND OVERSEAS NEEDLEWORK

Queen Mary visited the British and Overseas Needlework Exhibition, and spent a considerable time examining the many fine specimens of embroidery and lace. The exhibition was held at 9 Grosvenor Square, the home of Major J. S. Courtauld, M.P., and the proceeds will be devoted to the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. Queen Mary was received by Lady Violet Crawley, chairman of the society, who escorted her through the various rooms and explained special points of interest in connection with the specimens.

Queen Mary’s interest in needlework is well known, and she is a skilled exponent. A piece of her own handwork was on exhibition; a chair seat in gros point, for a satinwood chair that had originally belonged to Queen Alexandra. The Duchess of Gloucester wsa also an exhibitor.

A feature of the exhibition, which is held every three years by the Needlework Exhibition Society, is that exhibitors include both distinguished personages and the most handicapped. Specimens were shown of needlework of disabled soldiers, and fine examples of quilting by the wives of men from the Special Areas. Lady Headlam has been a pioneer in organising this particular work, and a part of her display was a copy of a quilt purchased by the Queen. Altogether, about 1,100 specimens were on view.

Forty-five male exhibitors contributed work, the bulk of which was some form of petit point embroidery. Medicine and the Army were conspicuously represented among them. Sir William Lister contributed a beige linen cushion in Italian design. A miniature rug was among those that attracted Queen Mary. It was adapted from the antique Persian, for a doll’s house, in silk petit point, with 2,500 stitches to the square inch. A prize was awarded by Lady Violet Crawley to a beautiful piece of black and white Elizabethan embroidery for a cushion. Another fine specimen is a modern sampler, the subject for competition being “Transport through the ages."

The overseas section was only small, but it hoped greatly to extend the Dominions interest in the future, states a London correspondent, and the exhibits. though limited in number compensated by their interesting individuality.