I’ve always thought spoke collars were about as lovely as anything could be. The first time I laid eyes on one was in the Smocking Arts Guild of America’s”newsletter.” First published shortly after their organization in the late 70’s, it was the only heirloom/smocking publication to be had.
In about 1983, there was an ad for a smocking shop. It included the shop name, address, phone number and a picture of a spoke collar that Julia Golson had made. There was no information about a class or pattern, simply a photo of beautiful piece of needlework to draw the reader’s attention.
It took my breath away. I had never seen anything so exquisite, and mind you, this was a grainy, non-digital black and white photo. Of course, I am easily impressed, and was especially so in the early days of my love affair with heirloom sewing.
I called the shop post haste to buy a pattern or kit or sign up for a class–no matter that it was a mere 11 hour drive from my home.   A nearly breathless clerk blurted that they had not anticipated the flood of calls, oh my! Oh, my!   There was no pattern, no kit, no class. But she knew that Julia Golson had made it.
Like a determined, covered wagon pioneer looking west to The Great Unknown, I vowed that I would find out how this was done.   Helen Reddy had already made famous the song, “I Am Woman,” with its fist clenching chorus, “….if I have to, I can do anything. I am strong. I am invincable!” You might say I was obsessed.
As you may have guessed, the secrets of the spoke collar were revealed to me and I honored my vow. My first collar was very nice, but not as lovely as this one, elevated to a higher level of beauty with the artistry of an unknown embroideress, long since gone to meet her Maker.
I love the look of hand embroidery but have never been good at it. And I am always in a hurry. So when I realized that the corners of vintage tea napkins could provide the hand embroidery for me, I was all about it.
This collar was featured in an article I wrote for Creative Needle magazine some time ago. I posted the article to this blog Feb. 17, 2010, under the title Grandbaby Projects from Tea Napkins. For that post, I used the photos from Creative Needle. At that time, this collar was deep in my daughter’s hope chest, awaiting the well-planned birth of her daughter, now scheduled for late 2012. So when I asked about it recently, she was willing to loan it to me for a while.
Sarah Howard Stone’s Basic Yoke pattern includes many collars, including the 8-spoke view that I used for the one pictured  here.
The two center sections of the 8-spokes were combined to form one wider, center spoke in order to accommodate the width of the embroidery on the tea napkin. Two napkins were required for the 7 spokes, leaving one embroidered corner for another project. Leftover sections between the napkins’ corners were pin stitched to the raw edge of the back spokes. The back is closed with an antique button
Antique lace was pinstitched to the spokes.  The edging was  hand whipped just under the cutwork scalloped edges of the napkin.
With two pretty serviettes and some heirloom lace, a spoke collar of almost any size can be made. And each would be as pretty as the one Julia Golson made for that ad.
This post has been shared on Faded Charm Cottage’s White Wednesday.
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