Antique needlework

That's very cool! If she did her artistry on the machine, that would explain why the signature is all connected together!

 

Fabulous, Morgen! From which publication did that come?

 

WOWWWWWWW!!!!!!
Amazing!!!!!!
Congratulations all around.

 

That has to be her... great that you found it!

OldGuy, can you post photos of the back? Machine embroidery looks very different on the back than hand-done.

 

And how did you find it??? Google gave me nothing useful. Even tried fultonhistory thinking if she lived in NYC there might be some mention of her. Again zippo.

 

You guys are amazing ! such good research!

 

Hi,
I am completely amazed at the research you guys/gals come up with.
greg

 

This is most definitely a community effort as everyone chips away a bit until the answer is revealed. I found nearly identical blurbs in a couple of different newspapers, from a couple of databases. Fig, I believe that blurb was from an Evansville Ind. paper.

 

Morgen.....a feather in your cap !!!!

 

I have been considering bakersgma's comments about Alma's purported 'wealthy family from upstate New York' and I, too, was unable to find any additional information to support that. I did, however, find the same Alma Frappia, artist, in the Ohio directory, as was mentioned earlier, and I found Alma Frappie (sic) in Ohio in the 1880 census. She was recorded as a 22 year old female (thus with a birth year of ca. 1858) boarding in Ohio and born in Canada. Her occupation was recorded as seamstress.

I then found quite a few Frappies in Stanstead in Quebec in 1871, where a five year old Alma was the oldest child of farmers Ephraim and Diseta(?) Frappie there, but the birth years don't match, so...

Finally, I found a 26 year old (thus born ca. 1863) artist named Alma A. Frappa recorded on a New-York-bound 1889 ship's passenger list.

 

Morgan, absolute genius.
WOW! ​

I copied and pasted that into Word and will send it to my daughter. Have her put it on the back of the picture.

I wish had the smarts to do something like you just did.

Only one small favor, please. I just found out that Alma's last name is FrappIER. Married name. I doubt maiden name was Frappia. If you want to fix that before I send it, try to get the font size a little smaller to fit better.

I'm sure you can do that. And thanks again.

 

HEY. I was so happy about the Singer party, I posted before reading further. I'll get back here and check that one ASAP.

 

OldGuy, how did you determine Alma's last name was/is Frappier? It did seem to me there was another letter at the end of her last name, but I couldn't find anything about the artist with that spelling.

I am not sure what spelling you want me to change. Do you mean in the newspaper article? I can do that, but I won't because it changes the history. We may find later, for example ,that that is not your artist and we will have muddled things if I make it appear it was spelled that way in the paper.

I will go back to digging for Frappiers, but please first tell me how you got that correction.

 

Morgen. my last post was, on my monitor, immediately under the copy of your news notice/ad.
and the last one on page #1. So everything after SBSVC's response was not visible to me when I typed my response.

No, last name not Frappier as stated. That was part of my facetious response to what I read as a joke from you. After all, Alma Frappia, from NY, seamstress, appearing in Indiana, silk work on curtains, portiers, chenille and infant's robes, PLUS the hint that such work as the 1888 horse would be done for a Singer sales pitch IN INDIANA IN 1888 was a bit too much for me to swallow.

I do have an appointment looming and cannot, right now, respond to any other comments.

Morgen, do me one more huge favor, please, supply us with the URL for "this 1888 blurb,"

Thanks, CYAL

 

OldGuy, I cannot give you a URL for the newspaper article, as I found it on a genealogical website to which I subscribe. If you want to confirm it, you have to subscribe, too, and if you want the name of the service, you can click on my name here, then "Start a Conversation" and I will e-mail you the name of the subscription service.

EDITED TO ADD: The nearly-identical information appeared in an 1889 Ohio newspaper, too, so it seems she did Singer demonstrations for at least around a year.

 

Not too late, but better than never.
My apologies to Morgen. YES, Alma Frappia (Correct spelling) did travel promoting Singer (sewing) products. And was active in the later 1800s.
And I was convinced it was a joke.
After all the search efforts for 30+-years including right here. A member I did not know NAILED IT WITH 100% ACCURACY. Too good to be true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU MORGEN. I'LL FOLLOW UP.

I'll be back tomorrow, I hope. In the meantime I'll say I believe my horse is not mass produced. Don't want to remove the back to check. As I recall it is boards attached to the frame by ??? Always seemed a good idea not to fiddle with it. Will check with my favorite daughter.

 

OldGuy, machine embroidery can be used to do one-of-a-kind artistic works, so even if your piece was done on a Singer, it doesn't mean it was mass-produced. That was true in the 1800s, and is still true today.

 

Thanks, Pat. That's what I surmised. I remember a min-tutorial at a Pier One antique show concerning a piece I was considering. After taking it apart we found it was machine made - and mass produced. I'll certainly admit to having a hard time imagining someone doing that horse on a pedal sewing machine. Not saying it can't be done, saying it's my lack of imagination.

I'd also like to see mass production machines.

Still waiting for my daughter. Caught her about 10 AM, but with weekend guests.

 

In case it will help anyone who isn't familiar with different types of machine embroidery, here's a very basic explanation...

The biggest differences between mass-produced and one-of-a-kind (OOAK) embroidery using a machine is whether or not the design is pre-programmed and what the person producing the embroidery does while the machine is running.

To create mass-produced embroidery, older machines had cams that dictated where the machine would place the stitches. Newer machines are electronic and all the design elements are programmed into a file that the machine reads. The person doing the embroidery has very little to do other than placing the fabric in a hoop and changing the thread for different colors. The newer commercial machines don't even require that the person change the thread since they hold multiple spools.

To create OOAK machine-embroidered pieces, the textile artist chooses the stitch length and type manually, holds the fabric either loose or in a hoop, and guides the fabric's position and angle throughout the whole process, stopping and starting to change the thread color, stitch type or length, and location of the threads on the fabric. It's like painting except the textile artist uses the machine to place stitches instead of using a brush

 

Thanks, Pat. That is the only way I could imagine it. With the artist moving, twisting and turning the fabric. Changing colors. With very thin silk thread, in some places extra thick coverage, such as the eyes, snout, etc. plus overlays of hair such as on the horse's head drooping down around his left ear, it "sounds" easier to use fabric stretched on a frame and poke the needle through. Especially if he/she is using one hand to turn the wheel, or even when maybe "peddling." That's where my imagination balks.

1880 An Edison electric motor drives a sewing machine.

Maybe Alma started the horse in 1880 and finished it a year before "1889 Singer introduced the first practical electric sewing machine."

Singer sewing machine sales worldwide exceed 500,000 machines. Additional factories are established in the United States

Odd! I'm sitting here looking at a larger picture thinking that the eyes are made of thread. I can't remember ever questioning that.

BTW, when that NYC antique dealer mentioned the "well to do family estate sale" in mid 1900s it appears that Alma had departed the scene long before.