Ayrshire embroidery, also known as sewed muslin, was worked in white cotton thread on white cotton muslin, usually in floral designs with trailing foliage, occasionally incorporating peacocks or other birds. It is characterised by cut-out spaces filled with needlepoint lace stitches, often in circular wheel patterns, surrounded by satin stitch with stem, beading and other stitches. It is most often found on baby robes, caps and bibs, women’s collars, cuffs and caps.

The industry developed in the 1820s, with Glasgow as the main centre with 35 to 40 large manufacturers. They employed more than 400,000 outworkers throughout the west of Scotland and Northern Ireland. The needlewomen were highly skilled, but did not design their own patterns. These were created by male professional designers and at first transferred to the muslin by wooden stamps, but by the late 1830s were printed by lithographic press. Each design was marked with the manufacturer’s name and the number of days allowed to complete the piece. These were then taken to the outworkers by an agent, who later collected the work and paid the women. The embroidery was returned to Glasgow where it was washed, finished and packed.

Several of the major firms, such as MacDonalds and S R & T Brown, exhibited at the International Exhibition in 1851. At this time there was great demand for the work, with worldwide exports reputedly earning more than one million pounds. However, changes in fashion, the loss of cotton imports and markets caused by the outbreak of the American Civil War, combined with the failure of several banks, caused a decline in the industry. But it was the introduction of embroidery machines, particularly those at St Gallen in Switzerland, which could produce embroidered cotton much more cheaply, that led to the demise of the Ayrshire industry in Scotland around 1870.

Books and Articles
Bryson, Agnes, Ayrshire Needlework (London: Batsford, 1989)

Swain, Margaret, Ayrshire and Other Whitework (Princes Risborough: Shire Publications, 1982)

Swain, Margaret, Historical Needlework, A Study of Influences in Scotland and Northern England (London: Barrie & Jenkins: 1970)

Swain, Margaret, Scottish Embroidery, from Medieval to Modern (London: Batsford,1986)

Swain, Margaret, The Flowerers: the origins and history of Ayrshire needlework (London & Edinburgh: W & R Chambers,1955)