Embroidered dress front

Embroidered dress front

William Reynolds-Stephens (1862-1943), designer

Mrs. Reynolds-Stephens, embroiderer

Before 1897

Source: “Our Rising Artists: Mr. W. Reynolds-Stephens.”

“The dress-front illustrates a knowledge of effect rarely shown by needlework designers. The ground is of palish green silk, the pattern of extremely intricate and fanciful design composed of sweeping lines and curves that intersect and reintersect each other, and is embroidered (by Mrs. Reynolds-Stephens) with white floss-silk in such a way that the stitchery catches the slanting lights according to their angle and produces an effect fascinating out of all proportion to the simplicity of the means and the materials employed” (77).

Image capture and text by George P. Landow

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