karen ruane: The embroidery cabinet

For centuries women have used cloth as a tool of comfort and as an expression of beauty within their homes. Creating cloth for warmth, cloth for shelter, our female predecessors embellished these linens with hand stitch using laborious and time consuming techniques thereby enhancing the functional beauty of objects which enveloped and protected their families. Inspired by these women I hope my creations pay tribute to and recognise the devotion expressed in cloth by our female ancestors .

''the use of traditional often time consuming process alludes to the devotion of a mother''. c K. A. Ruane 2007

Wednesday, November 11, 2026

The embroidery cabinet

A glass cabinet, three shelves.

This cabinet is mostly for completed embroidered pieces although occasionally I put 'stuff' in there out of the way.

It currently holds hand embroidered pouches, embroidered cloth sample books, small stitch sample books, unused pin pillows, a pillow I intend to gift, a little stitched paper and a few cards of pure silk ribbon.

(I tend to lose my pure silk ribbon if I put it elsewhere!)