Redwork Revisited Page 2    Red embroidery on a white background has been done for centuries, most notably on the ethnic costumes of European folk traditions. However, the stitching style typical of redwork—figurative designs outlined with stem stitching on white cotton—first gained popularity after a bright red, colorfast dye made its debut around 1850. At that time, embroidery was popular for embellishing linens and home furnishings, and the women's magazines were quick to offer embroidery patterns to their readers. Godey's Lady's Book featured redwork designs as early as 1848. When readers washed their embroidered handwork, they discovered that the new brilliant red dye from Turkey held its color without fading or bleeding onto the background fabric. The complex manufacturing process for "Turkey Red" was a well-kept secret for decades and the complete "recipe" for the original dye is still a mystery.   Redwork was enormously popular during the Victorian era, when almost everything was embroidered to within an inch of its life! In 1885, The Ladies' Manual of Fancy Work included embroidery directions for dozens of itemsÑfrom toilet cushions to pincushions, pen wipers to hair receivers, workbaskets to book covers, and the ever-popular bed quilt. The crazy quilt rage of the 1880s also encouraged redwork. Made of scraps of elaborate silks and velvets, "crazies" were lavished with fancy stitches, including painstakingly embroidered images. The busy needleworker, who had spent years embellishing a crazy quilt, realized that similar effects could be embroidered with a simple outline stitch in a fraction of the time! Popular simple designs included the Kate Greenaway children.   Fundraising quilts for church buildings and good works projects also attest to the popularity of redwork. For a nickel or a dime, donors could have their names stitched in red on the spokes of an embroidered wheel. These quilts contained many wheels with hundreds of names as well as other decorative designs.   Victorian women could purchase pre-stamped items for embroidery or designs to transfer with stamping ink or wax. The Ladies Art Company offered white linen pillow shams, ready-stamped for embroidery, in its 1895 catalog. One endearing sham featured a slumbering maiden with the motto, "I slept and dreamed life was beauty." The companion sham showed the same Victorian miss busily sweeping the floor. It read, "I woke and found life was duty." Magazines also offered patterns covering every facet of genteel Victorian society.   Newsworthy events were immortalized as redwork patterns, including the 1885 death of Jumbo, Phineas Barnum's circus elephant. One set of patterns commemorated the buildings of the 1901 World's Fair, also known as the Pan-American Exhibition, in Buffalo, New York. When President McKinley was assassinated while visiting the fair's Temple of Music, a new block with his profile was added, along with the mournful caption, "Our Martyred President."