Called shuttles, but a world away from Blake’s dark satanic mills, the two sewing tools illustrated here were hand tools used by elegant ladies doing polite tatting work. The use of luxury materials was designed to reflect their status.
Offered at Bleasdale’s (20% buyer’s premium) in Warwick on July 19, they were among the stars of the latest of Robert Bleasdale’s biannual specialist sales of sewing material, Tunbridgeware and Mauchlinware which he has held since setting up the firm in 2009.