“Are you a stitcher or a knitter?” This is one of the first questions Dolores Dempsey asks visitors to the Mountmellick Embroidery and Heritage Museum.
As the voluntary curator of this small museum in the Co Laois town, Dempsey has been pivotal in keeping alive the craft of Mountmellick Work – white stitching on white fabric – 200 years after it was first taught in the town.
Visitors (usually stitchers but sometimes knitters) – some from as far as North America and Australia come to see the intricate bas-relief needlework on display in heritage sideboard cloths, bedspreads, nightdress cases, pillow shams (protective covers), as well as contemporary pieces including a delicate embroidered fabric wreath made to commemorate those who died duri
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