Cornelia Mee

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Cornelia Mee
Born
Cornelia Austin

1815
Bath, Somerset
Died1875
London
Other namesMrs. Mee
Occupation(s)Textile designer, author

Cornelia Mee (23 April 1815 – 1875), born Cornelia Austin, was a British knitting and crochet pattern designer and writer.

Early life[edit]

The 1847 cover of Cornelia Mee's Mrs. Mee's Exercises in Knitting.

Cornelia Austin was born in Bath in 1815, the daughter of Thomas Austin and Sarah Shubert. Her father was a haberdasher, bookseller, and undertaker..[1]

Career[edit]

Mee was one of the women who claimed to have invented crochet, and was a major figure in the popularization of various needlecrafts in the nineteenth century.[1][2][3] She is credited with publishing the first original English-language instructions for Tunisian crochet, which she called ""Crochet a la Tricoter", or "Crochet on a Knitting Needle."[4]

Round black graphic for sizing knitting needles.
A gauge of the various sizes of knitting needles, by Cornelia Mee (from A Manual of Knitting, Netting, and Crochet Work, 1842).

Mee wrote illustrated books and pamphlets of knitting and crochet patterns and instructions, some with her younger sister Mary Battle Austin, including Mee's Companion to the Worktable (1844),[5] Crochet Explained and Illustrated (1846),[6] Mrs. Mee's Exercises in Knitting (1846),[7] Crochet Collars (1846),[8] Crochet Doilies and Edgings (1846),[9] Crochet Couvrettes and Collars (1847),[10] The Manual of Needlework (1854),[11][12] Manual of Knitting, Beautifully Illustrated (1860)[13] The Queen's Winter Knitting Book (1862),[14] Tatting, or Frivolité (1862),[15] and First Series of the Knitter's Companion (1867).[16]

Mee and her sister also edited a magazine, The Worktable,[17] and ran a wool shop in Bath.[1] Her patterns were often used for making handcrafts to sell at charity fundraising events.[12] She contributed an embroidered banner and other items displaying "much vigour and boldness"[18] to the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851.[19][20][21]

Personal life[edit]

Cornelia Austin married widower Charles Mee in 1837. She died in 1875, aged 60 years. Designs by Cornelia Mee are still worked by knitters and crocheters today, and there is a "Cornelia Mee" page on Ravelry to share those projects in that social network.[22]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Ledbetter, Kathryn (2012-01-06). Victorian Needlework. ABC-CLIO. pp. 68–69, 161. ISBN 978-0-313-38661-9.
  2. ^ Thies, Sheryl (2011-03-22). Get Hooked on Tunisian Crochet: Learn How with 13 Projects. Martingale. ISBN 978-1-60468-242-7.
  3. ^ Van Remoortel, Marianne (2012). "Threads of Life: Matilda Marian Pullan (1819-1862), Needlework Instruction, and the Periodical Press". Victorian Periodicals Review. 45 (3): 253–276. ISSN 0709-4698. JSTOR 41638147.
  4. ^ Karp, Cary (2020-09-15). "Cornelia Mee's simpler Tunisian stitch". Loopholes. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  5. ^ Mee, Cornelia (1844). Mee's Companion to the work-table, containing selections in knitting, netting and crochet-work. D. Bogue.
  6. ^ Mee, Cornelia (1846). Crochet Explained and Illustrated: Second Series. With Numerous Engravings. David Bogue, Fleet Street.
  7. ^ Mee, Cornelia (1846). Exercises in Knitting. D. Bogue.
  8. ^ Mee, Cornelia (1846). Crochet collars. D. Bogue.
  9. ^ Mee, Cornelia (1846). Crochet doilies and edgings.
  10. ^ Mee, Cornelia (1847). Crochet Couvrettes and Collars.
  11. ^ Mee, Cornelia (1856). The Manual of Needlework. Aylott & Company.
  12. ^ a b "Notices of Books". The Ragged School Union Magazine. 6: 141. January 1854.
  13. ^ Mee, Cornelia (1863). The Knitter's Companion, Beautifully Illustrated. Frederick Arnold.
  14. ^ Mee, Cornelia; Austin (1862). The queen's winter knitting book, by mrs. Mee & miss Austin. Ser. 3 of the 'Knitter's companion'.
  15. ^ Mee, Cornelia; Austin, Mary (1862). Tatting, or Frivolité (PDF). Frederick Arnold.
  16. ^ Online Books by Cornelia Mee, The Online Books Page.
  17. ^ "Varieties". The Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c: 53. 16 January 1847.
  18. ^ "The Great Exhibition". The Morning Chronicle. 1851-09-25. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-11-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ A Guide to the Great Exhibition Containing a Description of Every Principal Object of Interest with a Plan... Examining the Contents of the Crystal Palace. G. Rontledge and Company. 1851.
  20. ^ "Sales by Auction". Daily News. 1851-10-25. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-11-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Schaffer, Talia (2008). "Berlin Wool". Victorian Review. 34 (1): 38–43. ISSN 0848-1512. JSTOR 41220395.
  22. ^ "Designs by Cornelia Mee". Ravelry. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
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