A typical selection of antiques to be found on a textile stall in Alfies Antiques Market in London. The chair is a Victorian one covered in the original William Morris fabric. Resting on it are a selection of tiny Chinese bags and a few European needlepoint ones. The pretty mirror is old Venetian glass.

This attractive cushion looks like a needlepoint one at first glance but is actually made from an old piece of woven fabric. The umbrella is very cute, isn't it? I think the Perspex head is supposed to be a parrot. Its material is a very cheerful tartan.

Beadwork reached the height of its popularity in the middle of the 19th century. This is a detail from a tall panel of beadwork which is set against a beige needlepoint background. 

When you look closely at fine beadwork you start to realize just how many different colour beads are contained in even a small area of work. The water has many shades of blue, grey and white whilst the feathers of the stork appear equally complex.

Another fine example of Victorian needlework, this time a needlepoint picture in an old wooden frame. Attractive subjects like this picture of a man petting a dog are much sought after by collectors.

Can you guess what these mysterious objects are? Yes, they are baby bonnets. The one at the bottom of the picture is made from a hand embroidered net, with a lace edging. Most of the others are examples of hand work on machine-embroidered or plain materials. Some are linen and others are cotton. They all date from the 19th century.

Here are a few more examples of Victorian beadwork. The two pieces at the top of the picture are a tea cosy and a teapot stand decorated with the same design. The teapot stand looks more worn than the cosy, but they are a set. Here the beadwork on the thistles is three-dimensional, with little strings of beads laid over a padded base.

The lilies are the front panel of a banner fire-screen. Ladies would stand these screens between themselves and the fireplace so that their fashionable pale complexions would not be made red by the heat of the flames!

I love the gorgeous colours and textures of the materials in this picture, all of which date from the 19th century. The roses are a piece of woven French furnishing fabric. Next to it the little cupid is also French, part of a piece of fabric of the type we call toile de Jouy. On the right the heavy gold embroidery is part of a long panel probably intended as a church altarpiece.

Here's a chance to see a bit more detail of the wonderful gold embroidery from the previous picture, next to a red felt mantlepiece cover.

Small needlepoint footstools like this one have been popular since Victorian times. Often small areas of the design were highlighted with beadwork, as we can see here. This is an old stool but copies of this style have been made ever since that time. Even today you can buy kits that include all the materials to make the stool, including the wooden base.

This little Scotty dog is a needle case. It would be simple to make one like it from an old scrap of felt. The case opens across the back, so that the owner can keep needles and a tape measure inside.

Cases like this would often be made as little presents for friends or relatives.

A very fine, early example of Italian bobbin lace, of the type we call Milanese. It is made from a wonderful soft linen and dates from around the end of the 17th century. The long tail feathers of the birds give a lovely flowing line to the design. Also notable are the interesting variety of stitches on the bird and flowers. Wonderful!

A popular expression often used to describe objects that are particularly desirable.  We might also say that the object is 'in demand'.

Estate Agents often say that a house for sale is in a 'sought after' street.

Scrap has numerous meanings. Here a scrap of material means a spare fragment left over from some other project. It can also refer to paper objects. The little Victorian coloured illustrations used on this site are called scraps and were pasted into scrapbooks.

Metal objects can be sold for their 'scrap' value, that is the value of the metal from which an object is composed. This can apply to gold or silver objects such as damaged pieces of old jewellery, but can even apply to old motor cars. 

More generally you can also scrap something, in the sense of canceling it. ' I scrapped my essay because it was awful and had to start it again'

if two people have a fist fight, a slang expression is that they are having a scrap.

In this article it means that the object has been used a lot and is no longer in it's original perfect condition. It is showing signs of damage.

A simpler use is ' Long dresses were often worn for formal dinner parties in the 1930's' which only refers to the past tense and does not of course imply that the dresses were damaged