Needle Museum, Redditch

Great trip to the Needle Museum.  Astonishing range of needles.  Not only made all sorts of sewing and surgical needles, but netting, knitting, fishhooks, hypodermics, anything metal and pointed.

The old mill building was absolutely stuffed with needles.  In industrial Britain, specialist manufacturing was located in specific towns.  Not sure why Redditch ended up with needles but maybe coal and water supplies were part of the reason.  Needle making was very hazardous to health but paid good money, so high wages and low life expectancy were common.  Sharpening the needles created toxic powder.  

Fancy swivel top brass needle holder.

There were no price comparisons for needles then and now, but I cannot imagine these highly wrought needles being anything other than extremely expensive.  Plus the dyed threads, high count linen, scissors etc.  So the 1653 samplers at the Fitzwilliam must have been made by 'middling sort' girls.  These samplers cannot have been made by ordinary working class girls.  I need to find robust sources to back up my opinion that samplers were made by the affluent girls, until the marking of linen was taught in schoolrooms for the purpose of tracing household linens at the laundry.