Here is a newspaper item with a good photo of the aiglets, beads, etc.
found by the 'mudlarks':-
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/dec/23/tiny-tudor-treasure-hoard-found-in-thames-mud
It is thought that they all came from one hat, although found by
different people at different times,
I would think that, in the unlikely situation where a woman was visiting
a family and did not bring enough "work" of her own, there would be a
conversation like this:
Guest: Please, let me help you darn those stockings.
Hosts: Oh no, we wouldn't dream of asking you to do that.
Guest:
Yeah, the idea of charity sewing adds another dimension…
The situation, theoretically, is a female relative visiting (cousin, maybe),
with no problem for others to darn stockings or socks in her presence, but not
expecting her to work on the immediate family’s old holey socks.
Rather than
Thank you, Catherine. I'm a bit embarrassed not to have spotted this in the
Guardian, since I live near both the river and the Museum; they are indeed
pretty, and some stylish person must have been very unhappy to lose them and
the object they adorned.
Stevie
Sent from my iPad
> On 23 Dec
