This pattern has been following me. I own 3 versions of it across the Lady’s Magazine and New Lady’s Magazine (all 1790s). Then one day I found some cards and a plain cotton handkerchief. And voila. Well, not quite voila. It took a while not least because my unladylike hands and silk are not pals

For #WorldEmbroideryDay a few things from the last year. I will forever be grateful that my Nan taught me to sew as a child and that decades later my love of the Lady’s Magazine (1770-1832) and years searching for its 100s of embroidery patterns got me to pick up my needle again. 1/

I preface this by saying this is a lovely farm and museum but this sight literally gave me nightmares….

I’ve just finished Alice Hattrick’s Fancy Work, a gift from a colleague. A book about embroidery and identity, about May Morris and her partner, MF, about work, domesticity, play and illness, about the archive and our future, it is an enthralling read. I have also been sewing. Not fancy but working.

The single issue #C18 periodicals I shared on my @rarebookschool.bsky.social course were highlights for the majority who had never seen one before. I couldn’t use this May 1763 London Magazine as it arrived today, but the Magazine and its rivalry with the Gentleman’s got many mentions. Next time.

We spent Friday looking at #17th and #18th century newsbooks and newspapers, with a focus on the women behind the #York press. #rarebooks 2/

🧵The class of 2026 for H-210: The Rise of Periodical Print Culture, 1700-1830 at the University of #York for #rarebookschool. Our final day was at the Minster Library at the Old Palace, looking at the York Press (Credit: RBS/Stephanie Gross) 1/

Today, a friend sent me a photo of an anthology of work on Jane Austen for which I was invited to write the introduction on the shelves of Toppings in York (my favourite bookshop). What a thrill! Also today, in 1817, #JaneAusten died aged 41.

We had a great week on The Rise of Periodical Print Culture for @rarebookschool.bsky.social at the University of York. I have 300 photos to sort through, but for now, I am thinking about all I have learned from the booksellers, librarians and cataloguers, academic and grad students on this course.

Great session looking at periodical serialisations of Cook’s Voyages yesterday, including their illustrations, for H-210 The Rise of Periodical Print Culture for @rarebookschool.bsky.social here in York.

Huge thanks to recently completed @cecs-york.bsky.social PhD, Rachel Feldberg) for her brilliant walking tour of Georgian York, following in the steps of Jane Ewbank, for @rarebookschool.bsky.social here in York.

A busy day on my @rarebookschool.bsky.social course “The Rise of Periodical Print Culture, 1700-1830” yesterday in York, including sessions on topics including illustrations and reading practices. We also enjoyed typesetting and printing a charade at Thin Ice Press with @wordsmith.bsky.social

Day 2 of The Rise of Periodical Print Culture, 1700-1830 for @rarebookschool.bsky.social is a wrap. We had sessions on who's who in the periodical trade, on seriality and dedicated sessions on both the reading of periodicals in the eighteenth century and on reading periodicals in digital formats.

Was doing prep for my RBS coursewhen I realised I have a bunch of embroidery patterns in my New Lady's Magazine collection (this from Sept 1788) that I haven't digitised. Isn't it lovely? When things quieten down I will upload it to Patterns of Perfection. #needlepainting

Thrilled to be putting the final touches on the course work book for my @rarebookschool.bsky.social course. It’s going to be a full and I hope fabulous week at the @uoyborthwick.bsky.social and York Minster. 1/2

Huge congratulations to Lauren Working whose fascinating, important and beautiful book, A Golden World: How the Americas Transformed Renaissance England (Faber), was launched a week ago at Daunt Books in Holland Park.

Brill time today at York Festival of Ideas where I talked abtJane Austen, Her Writing and her Craft to a lovely audience before co-running with @chloewigstonsmith.bsky.social an 18th century craft workshop (embroidery, shell work etc.) An incredible day with incredible bibliophiles and crafters.

Thrilled to be one of the four authors of “Eighteenth-Century Embroidery”, module 4 of the Royal School of Needlework’s online course on the history of embroidery. My focus is on domestic women makers and the everyday labour and creativity of needlework in the home.

He needs an iron, but he’s done. Been working on him on and off since Christmas. And when I eventually move house, he will be flanked by Jane Austen and Agatha Christie. Design/kit by @emjpeacock #embroidery #tapestry

Little did I know when I ordered the volume and had it shipped from the US that it would many delightful surprises, including a complete set of embroidery patterns (website update for my "Patterns of Perfection" website now required) and many song sheets... 3/3

But it was the binding of this volume (a collection of single issues secured by a card wrapper) that really grabbed my attention. I had to have this to add to the volumes I am going to be teaching at @rarebookschool.bsky.social course, ‘The Rise of Periodical Print Culture, 1700-1830’. 2/

I've long wanted my own copy of the 1784 Lady’s Magazine. It’s a volume I have written a lot about, not just in my book on the magazine, but in separate work on periodical illustrations, particularly those that accompany its serialisation of Cook’s Voyages. 1/

Such a pleasure to be in the audience for Prof Ros Ballaster’s superb Copley lecture for @cecs-york.bsky.social at Heslington Hall earlier this week. Prof Ballaster was talking about touch and the 18th century woman artist in a brilliant and archivally rich presentation.

Such a pleasure to be one of the interviewees on episode 7 of Michael Kramp’s brilliant podcast, Jane Austen and the Future of Humanities. Episode 7 is about Emma: and the challenges of living in community. Downloadable wherever you get your podcasts!

It was fun to wrap up the Regal Rasanblaj last week with an embroidery workshop led by my #JaneAustenEmbroidery collaborator, Alison Larkin.. Alison gave us some pretty little sunflowers to attempt (a nod to those more elaborate sunflowers on Queen Marie-Louise Christophe’s commissioned gown).

I talked abt how periodicals can help us recover the dresses commissioned for Queen Marie-Louise and her daughters and about using AI to read verbal descriptions of dress as a periodical reader from the 1810s might have done. This was new work for me. I hope I did the topic some justice. 2/2

What a day at The Regal Rasanblaj: Haitian Court Fashions, Transatlantic Connections and Regency Making at Greenwich yesterday, organised by Nicole Wilson. I learned so much from the creative practitioners, members of the Haitian Heritage Group, historians and art historians who presented. 1/

Delightful surprise while looking through my 1803 Lady’s Monthly Museum. I wonder how long these flowers have been there and if they were used as a bookmark?

Never had a Lady’s Monthly Museum in its original wrappers in my hands before, but now I own this from May 1803. I’ll be using it along with other items from by personal collection and the much more extensive riches in the @uoyborthwick.bsky.social in my @rarebookschool.bsky.social course in July.

I am so proud to work in @uoyenglishrl.bsky.social. My colleagues and our students in English in Related Literature are passionate our discipline, its future and its value in the world. It's nice when what I know to be true is recognised externally, in this case by our QS ranking.