Thomas, Mary (1889-1948)

Pages from Mary Thomas's Embroidery Book (1936). Pages from Mary Thomas's Embroidery Book (1936).

Mary Thomas (née Hedger) was an English writer about embroidery, who published mainly in the 1930's and early 1940's. She was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (England). She went to New York in 1911 with the aim of becoming a fashion journalist. During the First World War (1914-1918) she served with the Women’s Nursing Corps in France.

During this period she married W. A. Thomas and after the war they started a school in Nantes, France. But the school failed. Shortly afterwards they seem to have divorced. They had two children.

In 1922 Mary Thomas joined The Gentlewoman Magazine and went on to become the editor of The Needlewoman, a popular English needlework magazine. In 1934 it was taken over by J&P Coats Ltd (Paisley, Scotland) and in the same year Coats signed an agreement with Leach’s Publications Ltd., selling the magazine. Leach’s went on to merge The Needlewoman with its own The Needlecraft Practical Journal

Mary Thomas appears to have resigned at this point and then started to write books about embroidery and decorative needlework in general. Her publications include:

  • Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches (1934), London: Hodder and Stroughton.
  • Mary Thomas’s Book of Knitting Patterns (1934), London: Hodder and Stroughton.
  • Mary Thomas’s Embroidery Book (1936), London: Hodder and Stroughton.
  • Mary Thomas’s Knitting Book (1938), London: Hodder and Stroughton.
  • Teach Yourself Embroidery (1939), London: Hodder and Stroughton.

In 1998, Mary Thomas’s Book on Embroidery was revised and updated (but in fact turned into a very different book) by Jan Eaton.

Source: CLABBURN, Pamela (1976). The Needleworker’s Dictionary, London: Macmillan London Ltd., p. 265.

GVE

Last modified on Tuesday, 02 May 2017 20:02