Thérèse de Dillmont (10 October 1846 – 22 May 1890) was an Austrian needleworker and writer. Dillmont's ''Encyclopedia of Needlework'' (1886) has been translated into 17 languages. She owned a string of shops in European capitals and she was "one of the most important pioneers in the international and multicultural enterprise of hobby needlework in the late nineteenth century".

Life

Thérèse Maria Josepha de Dillmont was born in 1846 in

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; ; Central Bavarian: ''Weana Neistod'') is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administration of Wiener Neustadt-Land Distr ...

, the youngest of five children. Her mother was Franziska Schwendtenwein and her father, Ferdinand, was a Professor of architecture at the

Military Academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

. Dillmont attended an embroidery school founded by the Empress Marie-Theresa. After her father died in 1857, Dillmont was brought up and educated in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1884 Dillmont left the embroidery school that she had started with her sister Franziska and moved to France where she wrote her encyclopedia. Dillmont's book on needlework was published after

Sophia Frances Anne Caulfeild Sophia Frances Anne Caulfeild (19 January 1824 – 20 November 1911) was a British writer and needleworker. She wrote about religion and needlework, and frequently worked with Blanche Catherine Saward. Life Caulfeild was born in Teignmouth in 1 ...

and Blanche Catherine Saward ''Dictionary of Needlework''. Creators of these vast works were assisted by the copyright law which allowed authors to freely borrow material from periodicals. The book pulled together thousands of textile designs from many different countries including Egypt, Bulgaria, Turkey and China. Dillmont commented on including instructions for hand sewing when machine sewing was much faster: ::What is the use of describing all the old well-known stitches, :::when machines have so nearly superseded the slower process of hand-sewing?''

Encyclopedia of Needlework An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

'', Wikisource She did however include a section on machine sewing. This work was aimed at the fashion for needlework and it competed with the ''Dictionary of Needlework'' and ''Weldon's Practical Needlework'' which was published in monthly parts from 1886. Dillmont's book was tied in with Dollfus-Meig et Cie, a French thread company, and these products were recommended to her readers. In 1884 she had started working with the Alsatian-French textile firm (DMC) at

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...

after signing an agreement on 26 October 1884 with

Jean Dollfus Jean Dollfus (September 25, 1800 – 21 May 1887) was a French industrialist who grew a textile company, Dollfus-Mieg et Compagnie (D.M.C.), in Mulhouse. Dollfus was a leading figure in a philanthropic society which constructed a company town th ...

. Dollfus was introducing new processes like

mercerized cotton Mercerisation is a textile finishing treatment for cellulose fabric and yarn, mainly cotton and flax, which improves dye uptake and tear strength, reduces fabric shrinkage, and imparts a silk-like luster. Development The process was devis ...

, and with Dillmont's help, DMC became known for its publications that stood out from previous books because they included clear instructions and illustrations for their designs. Dillmont's own textile school was at

Dornach : ''Dornach is also a quarter of the French city of Mulhouse and the Scots name for Dornoch in the Scottish Highlands, and Dòrnach is the Gaelic name for Dornoch in the Scottish Highlands.'' Dornach (Swiss German: ''Dornech'') is a municipalit ...

near

,DMC History
, DMCCreative, retrieved 27 October 2014 but Dillmont travelled widely as she had her own shops in Vienna, London, Paris and Berlin. Dillmont died after just four months of marriage at the age of 45.

Legacy

Dillmont's name was an asset to the DMC company and they continued to publish books under her name after her death. Over 100 books were attributed to Dillmont or her niece who was said to have an identical name. The books continued to be improved and iron-on transfers were included in her books in the twentieth century. In 2004 a translation of her encyclopedia into Russian was published. Her work is available in seventeen languages.

Works include

* ''Encyclopédie des ouvrages de dames''. Translated as ''

'', 1886. * ''Album de broderies au point de croix'', 3 vols., .1890* "Irish Crochet Lace" Mulhouse, Dollfus-Mieg & Cie, .1900

References

External links

* *
Thérèse de Dillmont
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillmont, Therese de 1846 births 1890 deaths People from Wiener Neustadt Textile artists Women encyclopedists Needlework 19th-century Austrian women writers 19th-century women textile artists 19th-century textile artists French-language writers from Austria Embroiderers