Dear Lace Friends, Yesterday, when I finished writing a memorial piece about Erica Wilson for publication elsewhere, it occurred to me that lacemakers, as well as embroiderers, might have been influenced by her. I did not hear of her death until January, and this may be your first notice of it. She was British, a graduate of the Royal School of Needlework when it was located in London, and became famous after relocating to the U.S. in 1954. Erica became a millionaire many times over from her needlework businesses. In fact, it would be hard (if not impossible) to name any other woman who (directly, or indirectly) influenced so many people to practice the art of needlework. (Well, maybe Th. de Dillmont, in a different way.) America's embroidery guilds were founded after Erica did so much to help further the production of needlework. Erica saw inspiration for needlework everywhere and on everything. She reached her stitching audiences via books, correspondence courses, a newsletter, a Public Broadcasting System television program, a syndicated newspaper column, her retail shops, seminars, kits that could be found in museum shops and department stores, and non-stop tours of the U.S. giving lectures and holding workshops. Various newspaper reports credit her with writing anywhere from 16 to 19 needlework books. They established new standards for books of this type. They were printed on quality paper, included history, were colorful, and very well illustrated. Her writings about Whitework embroidery in some of the books mention lace. . If you happen to have the large 374-page orange volume published by Scribner's in 1973 "Erica Wilson's Embroidery Book", you will find a photograph of a gold thread embroidery on red damask of St. George and the Dragon. It was designed and stitched by our lace friend, Tess Parrish. Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center
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