Similarly, during a period of increasing urbanization the pictorial pieces show idyllic
country scenes with imaginary creatures and flowers.
The role that these embroideries played in both creating and reflecting ideals of feminine behavior is also an important part of their history. The seventeenth century saw periodic and often raucous pamphlet wars over the status, roles and education of women. Many girls attended school but the curriculum they followed prioritized the attainment of socially acceptable skills and moral worth over intellectual achievement. 

While many of the embroideries illustrate biblical themes inventively worked into secular contexts, and the use of myths shows women’s engagement with the classics, needlework was, above all, a valued feminine skill. If a girl excelled at it she could hope for social and religious rewards. In a 1688 ‘conduct book’ ascribed to school mistress, ‘domestic goddess’ and author, Hannah Woolley, needlework is described as, “both needful and pleasant, and commendable in any woman, for it is time well spent for both profit and delight.”

The Eye of the Needle displays embroideries which include colourful raised and flat work pictorial panels, fine white and polychrome samplers, household items such as boxes and cushions, and dress accessories including caps, coifs and gloves. This highly feminine embroidery shows visual delight in complex surfaces created through individual use of stitches, colourful silks, metal threads, pearls and semi-precious stones. The use of expensive, luxury materials connects the embroideries with trade, with some pieces depicting symbolic figures of a wider world.
Dr Mary Brooks, curator of the exhibition, says: ‘Micheál and Elizabeth Feller have created a collection which is a visual feast. Ranging from exquisite whitework miniatures to colourful, lavishly decorated embroideries, these “curious works” intrigue and delight. This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to explore historic needlework in the context of seventeenth-century religion, politics, trade and culture through a feminine perspective.’