Match Scratcher

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Victorian needlework and craft projects

for lovers of the Victorian Era!

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A Match Scratcher was a very essential item to Victorian women. Without one, all the pains taken to make a room beautiful would be for naught. How can a room be beautiful with ugly marks all over a wall or on a piece of furniture? Match Scratchers became so important, articles in magazines became the norm for providing instructions on how to make them easily and quickly. Companies began providing fabrics with colored designs printed on them and they were received by Victorian women gladly.

Here is advice women of that time read often:

In nearly every home there is use for a match scratcher, and if one does not want her furniture and walls marked with unsightly yellow scratches, she will provide a scratcher in some convenient place, even if it be nothing more than a strip of sandpaper.

But we know a plain strip of sandpaper would NOT suffice for a true Victorian lady. Hence the invention of the picturesque Match Scratcher.

Below is an example of the kind of kits that were sold by many of the large silk and fabric manufacturers. Women could buy these kits and would then only have to do a small amount of embroidery on it to complete the project. The scratcher below required only the use of the Back Stitch and a small amount of thread.

Dutch Girl Match Scratcher

Victorian Match Scratcher Dutch Girl As originally described:

[This match scratcher] is made of white linen, tinted with a quaint little Dutch figure gazing out to sea, mounted on an oval board, 6 ½ x 9 ½. The cap and under-bodice are outlined with black Filo, the inscription with red Persian Floss, and the rest of the design with EE Embroidery Silk. The hanger is of red satin ribbon, drawn through holes in the top of the board, and an odd-shaped piece of sandpaper is pasted near the bottom.

When the embroidery is complete, the linen is mounted on the board, pasted down on the back and then the back covered with the plain mat board.

Now you can have the very same design for your home!

It's A great touch to any Victorian room.

ORDER TODAY!

Here is what you will receive:

2 Color graphics of the scene above. One is reversed so that it can be used with iron-transfer material. The other is as shown and can be used if other means of transfer are used.
Templates for all items needed
Step by step instructions.

All for only $4.95!

This is a great project! It is simple enough for the beginner because it requires only one easy stitch and yet appreciated by experienced embroiderers for its simplicity and how quickly it can be completed.