New charts from Needleprint: Bridegrooms’ Hearts

Needleprint is making available a book of patterns for bridegrooms’ hearts. The blog says,

These hearts were often stitched by the bride-to-be, sometimes in the summer in the pastures, and long before she knew to whom she would be married. Mothers of the bride-to-be have also been known to stitch the shirts on behalf of daughters yet-to-be-born…His shirt with all the hours spent on its stitching was worn once only, at the wedding, and then, it was never worn by him in his lifetime. It was put away and stored against the time of his death, when it was brought out again to dress him for his burial. It was believed that not only the body would be resurrected, but also the shirt itself of those who had never broken their wedding vows.

Enjoy more of the history of bridegrooms’ hearts on the Needleprint blog. Or buy the e-book for just US $20.00.