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Here are highlights of our exhibition celebrating crochet, an art form practiced
over the years by many American artists, mostly women. No one really knows where or when crochet started.
There are no surviving samples of crocheted fabric dating from before 1800. The earliest written reference
to crochet appeared in 1812, and the first published crochet patterns appeared in 1824, so we can presume crochet as we presently
know it is probably about two hundred years old. . Although a relatively new
art form, crochet can be found all over the world. I bought a crocheted bedspread in the east African
city of Nairobi. My daughter has a crocheted cap (included in this exhibit) that was made in Turkey.
Chinese crocheters are turning out housewares and clothing for the world market even as you read this.
And back here in Indiana, virtually every family has a doily or afghan crocheted by a gifted relative and passed as
heirlooms from generation to generation. You can see some of those treasures in this exhibition, and read
the artist’s stories as well. . We were
very thankful to be given a grant by the Bloomington Area Arts Council with funds from the Indiana Regional Arts Partnership
that allowed us to teach young people to crochet at a week-long camp last summer. Each of our eight young
Lawrence County campers designed her own crocheted items, some of which were on display. The Old Jail Art
Center partnered with the Bedford College of Lacemaking and Bedford Revitalization, Inc., on this fun and extremely successful
project. . Thank you to Tonie Kedzierski, Stephen Bowman and Reza
Najafi for their help in setting up this multi-faceted exhibit.
--Rowena
Cross-Najafi
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Lavender Wedding Dress Circa 1971
"I don't know how long I carried that thing to work with me while working
on it. But I crocheted the dress every morning in the car going to work, on my breaks and lunch period while
at work and then I worked on it in the car coming home again." --Virginia
E. Ray
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“This was the first wedding dress I made, for my daughter Jessica. The wedding was planned for
June, so I started in January. The satin part was easy, but all the trim took some time. The thread used is a French cotton,
a bit thicker than bedspread cotton. The bride lived pretty close to me, so I could have frequent fittings.” --Thelma Cross
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“I made this dress for my daughter Priscilla’s wedding. The bodice is
crocheted with a rayon thread, to which I added small beads. At the wedding one guest asked me where I had found that fabric.” --Thelma Cross
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Wedding
Dress Date
Unknown
When Mytyl Cross decided to get married in 2004, she wanted a hand-crocheted dress like her sisters had worn to their
weddings. Time was too short for one to be made for her, so she ordered this lovely cotton lace dress from
E-bay.
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Rowena's Prom
Dress circa 1974
“I worked on this dress all through the summer of 1974. The
tiny ruffles had to be crocheted on top of the mesh after the dress was assembled, so I sat around outside for hours that
hot summer with the whole dress on my lap. I wore it to my senior prom at Eastern Greene High School the
following spring. It came out beautifully, but the longer I had it on, the longer it got, and by the end of the evening I
was almost walking on it.”
--Rowena
Cross-Najafi
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Homespun Table Scarf Civil War Era
This table scarf is the oldest item in our exhibition. It
was made by Mrs. Ruth Musser nee Sutphin of Maumee, Indiana, sometime in the 1860’s. Mrs. Musser
grew her own flax, then harvested and dried it and spun it into thread. For the center part of the scarf
she huckwove the threads together; the border she crocheted from the same homespun thread. This valuable
piece belongs to Stephen Bowman, Mrs. Musser’s great-great-great-grandson.
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Cap from Georgia
This cap was crocheted tightly of cotton yarn in the Caucasian mountain country of Georgia. The
intricate multi-colored design is typical of that region. If you take a look at the inside of the cap you
will see that the Georgian crocheters carry extra yarn like knitters do, on the back of the work, instead of laying it inside
the stitches the way Americans do.
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Multicolored Cotton Blanket Circa 1976 “This blanket was actually supposed to be a rug, but I thought it was a
shame to walk on it. My mother made it for me after I moved to Bloomington to study at IU.
It has come everywhere with me—to Germany three times, to three countries in Africa, and to both Georgias, the
country and the state. It is one of my most prized possessions, and I’m very pleased that it hasn’t
faded a bit over the years.” --Rowena Cross-Najafi
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