Images(4)

Purse or Sewing Case

Date1780-1787

Possibly by Phebe Lewis Waln (1768 - 1845)

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

MediumSilk embroidery on silk (fiber identification by Textile Lab)

DimensionsOverall, Closed: 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"; Open: 4 1/2 x 12 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2005-103,1

DescriptionThis is a silk sewing case or purse constructed with a black silk ground fabric over stiffening materials. The flap at top is embroidered with strawberries and vines. The front has a bouquet of flowers that are tied with a pink ribbon. On the reverse is an embroidered spray of flowers with roses, carnations, and pansies. The interior has two folding compartments and it is completely lined with green silk. The outer edges are covered with metallic cording.
Stitches: couched, outline, satin, straight
Label TextWorked by a member of a prominent Philadelphia Quaker family, this silk embroidered sewing case or purse is representative of the opulent needlework created in the city during the mid-eighteenth century. The case was made by Phebe Lewis Waln as a gift for a female friend. It could have been used to hold papers, sewing threads, of other small sewing accessories.
ProvenanceThe papers found within the pocketbook associate it with the prominent Lewis, Waln, and Wister families of Philadelphia.

Phoebe Lewis Waln lived from 1768 to 1845. Of Welsh Quaker descent, she married Robert Waln (1765-1836) in 1787 at the Pine Street Meeting; the couple had nine children. Robert Waln was a merchant in Philadelphia. (Information taken from Elaine Forman Crane et al, eds. The Diary of Elizabeth Drinker, Vol. 3, p. 225.)