Afterword
Tracing the history of cross-stitch has turned out to be a much more extensive task than I had initially thought. It could have been even more extensive if I had had the opportunity to view the embroidery in person and examine the details, or to talk to experts. But even without these opportunities, the topic has proven to be more diverse than I expected. Classifying developments in the field of embroidery in terms of political, social, and intellectual history brought to light aspects that deserved much more in-depth analysis than I was able to provide. In this respect, it remains an overview that leaves a lot of room for further details. In my view, it would be desirable to examine embroidery as such, the function of embroidery, and the social context in which it originated in even greater detail, without applying a feminist perspective, either openly or covertly. Another important aspect, in my view, would be to examine which embroidery techniques were popular at certain times and why, or why they fell out of use. Ultimately, at least until the beginning of the 19th century, we can only speculate as to why cross-stitch became the most widely used stitch.
Of course, there is also a lack of more detailed research on embroidery and cross-stitch embroidery in the present day. Studies based on surveys or statistical data would be entirely possible here. I would like to illustrate this with an example: In my view, the popularity of embroidery – at least among amateurs – is currently waning again, as evidenced by the fact that the number of new German embroidery instructions and leaflets coming onto the market is slowly declining again. Unfortunately, many leaflets and embroidery pattern books do not indicate the year of publication, so I have to rely on my own observations here. According to these, one design company has been focusing more on publishing sewing and crafting instructions for several years now, significantly reducing the number and scope of patterns for hand embroidery. Another designer has almost completely stopped producing embroidery patterns and now only publishes individual patterns very occasionally. Other design companies have also significantly reduced the number of publications per year. In many cases, this may be due to age-related reasons, such as retirement. On the other hand, there has been a trend over the last three to four years to produce embroidery books as a series, i.e., patterns for embroidery pictures in the same format are published in four volumes for the four seasons, each supplemented by small-format patterns that match the respective season. Leaflets follow this concept, but they are also available with monthly patterns. It could be argued that the demand for embroidery patterns and thus also the enthusiasm for embroidery has increased so much that these relatively rapid successive publications are commercially viable. Another view would be that this approach aims to maintain interest in embroidery patterns and thus in embroidery by arousing the desire to be able to create and hang a picture suitable for each season. There are certainly other possible explanations. Interviews, surveys, and statistics would be useful in determining whether the above subjective impressions stand up to objective scrutiny. They would also shed light on the claim that cross-stitch is THE embroidery technique par excellence. Using methods other than those mentioned above, one could also investigate whether the current crisis-ridden developments will continue to lead to a focus on a "domestic" hobby, as was the case in the Biedermeier period, for example, or whether embroidery will change in such a way that it will enter the public sphere as a form of expression of political attitudes.
There are therefore many aspects that go far beyond the history of a single embroidery technique and yet are related to it.
Tracing the history of cross-stitch has turned out to be a much more extensive task than I had initially thought. It could have been even more extensive if I had had the opportunity to view the embroidery in person and examine the details, or to talk to experts. But even without these opportunities, the topic has proven to be more diverse than I expected. Classifying developments in the field of embroidery in terms of political, social, and intellectual history brought to light aspects that deserved much more in-depth analysis than I was able to provide. In this respect, it remains an overview that leaves a lot of room for further details. In my view, it would be desirable to examine embroidery as such, the function of embroidery, and the social context in which it originated in even greater detail, without applying a feminist perspective, either openly or covertly. Another important aspect, in my view, would be to examine which embroidery techniques were popular at certain times and why, or why they fell out of use. Ultimately, at least until the beginning of the 19th century, we can only speculate as to why cross-stitch became the most widely used stitch.
Of course, there is also a lack of more detailed research on embroidery and cross-stitch embroidery in the present day. Studies based on surveys or statistical data would be entirely possible here. I would like to illustrate this with an example: In my view, the popularity of embroidery – at least among amateurs – is currently waning again, as evidenced by the fact that the number of new German embroidery instructions and leaflets coming onto the market is slowly declining again. Unfortunately, many leaflets and embroidery pattern books do not indicate the year of publication, so I have to rely on my own observations here. According to these, one design company has been focusing more on publishing sewing and crafting instructions for several years now, significantly reducing the number and scope of patterns for hand embroidery. Another designer has almost completely stopped producing embroidery patterns and now only publishes individual patterns very occasionally. Other design companies have also significantly reduced the number of publications per year. In many cases, this may be due to age-related reasons, such as retirement. On the other hand, there has been a trend over the last three to four years to produce embroidery books as a series, i.e., patterns for embroidery pictures in the same format are published in four volumes for the four seasons, each supplemented by small-format patterns that match the respective season. Leaflets follow this concept, but they are also available with monthly patterns. It could be argued that the demand for embroidery patterns and thus also the enthusiasm for embroidery has increased so much that these relatively rapid successive publications are commercially viable. Another view would be that this approach aims to maintain interest in embroidery patterns and thus in embroidery by arousing the desire to be able to create and hang a picture suitable for each season. There are certainly other possible explanations. Interviews, surveys, and statistics would be useful in determining whether the above subjective impressions stand up to objective scrutiny. They would also shed light on the claim that cross-stitch is THE embroidery technique par excellence. Using methods other than those mentioned above, one could also investigate whether the current crisis-ridden developments will continue to lead to a focus on a "domestic" hobby, as was the case in the Biedermeier period, for example, or whether embroidery will change in such a way that it will enter the public sphere as a form of expression of political attitudes.
There are therefore many aspects that go far beyond the history of a single embroidery technique and yet are related to it.