Colonial Williamsburg 1971-1373, a man’s cap in linen-cotton twill embroidered in tambour work in polychrome crewel wools, France, early 18th century

Museum Rotterdam 20890-1-2, a pair of linen mitts with white tambour embroidery, 18th century

MFA 57.679, a fine muslin V-shaped fichu in cotton muslin with silk tambour and metal thread embroidery, France, 18th century

MFA 38.1390a/b, a pair of silk garters with silk tambour embroidery, France, 18th century

MFA 38.1392a/b, a pair of silk garters with silk tambour work, France, 18th century

MFA 43.547, a quilted cotton petticoat with wool tambour embroidery, French, 18th century

Winterthur 1969.1708, a quilted petticoat fragment with wool embroidery, France, 1700-1750

Winterthur 2010.0015, linen petticoat with wool tambour embroidery, France, c. 1720-1740

V&A T.217-1953, a sleeved cotton waistcoat with wool embroidery, probably made in India for export to Europe, c. 1740-1749

V&A 1324 & A-1901, “A woman’s gown and petticoat of cotton twill tamboured with coloured silks in a large pattern of flowers and leaves,” embroidered in India in the 1740s and made up into a gown in Great Britain in the 1780s

Met 36.95a, b, a linen gown with tambour embroidery, France, c. 1750-1770

Museum Rotterdam 68634, a child’s dress in ecru muslin with tambour-worked flowers, c. 1750-1785

Cooper Hewitt 1916-38-1, part of a front panel of a dress in white satin embroidered with tambour work, France, 1750-1800

MFA 53.355, silk satin fragment with silk tambour embroidery, France, second half of the 18th century

Museum Rotterdam 20837-A-B, a pair of linen mitts with silk tambour embroidery, c. 1750-1800

Kunstmuseum Den Haag 1050156, a cotton petticoat with silk chain-stitch embroidery, c. 1750-1800

LACMA M.2007.211.814, man’s uncut waistcoat, silk satin with silk tambour embroidery, France, c. 1760

Centraal Museum 19759, a tambour-embroidered petticoat, c. 1760

National Trust 1363240, triple-flounced muslin sleeve ruffle outlined in tambour and worked in Dresden work, c. 1760-1770

London Museum 39.61/2a-b, a pair of knit silk mitts “with small off-white (cream) flower tambour work,” c. 1769-1775

Colonial Williamsburg 2017-314, a red silk satin sleeved waistcoat, quilted to shape with tambour embroidery, England, 1770

Embroidered muslin robe à la française with a design of cypress trees worked in crewel wools, France, c. 1770

London Museum 77.104, a cotton waistcoat “with a white ground printed with sprigs and a border design of flowers and tendrils outlined with silver tambour work,” c. 1771-1774

V&A 184-1898, a woman’s gown made of tambour-embroidered linen “in an all-over pattern of serpentine trails with flowers and leaves in shades of pink, green, yellow and red, with additional herringbone stitch,” embroidered in India in the 1770s

Cooper Hewitt 1962-54-21, ivory silk waistcoat with tambour embroidery of floral garlands, England, 1770-1780

National Trust 1360756, a robe à l’anglaise made of tambour-embroidered cream satin probably from France, c. 1770-1780

John Bright Collection, a linen waistcoat “tamboured with a delicate design of small flowers and berries on meandering stems of foliage,” 1770s-1780s

Colonial Williamsburg 2017-296, an uncut cotton waistcoat panel with silk tambour embroidery, made in England or France, c. 1770-1780

Colonial Williamsburg 1960-166, a waistcoat made of sheer cotton over pink silk with silk chain-stitch embroidery, probably made in France c. 1770-1780

Cooper Hewitt 1941-102-22, a silk waistcoat with silk tambour embroidery, France, 1770-1780

Philadelphia Art Museum 1940-13-6a,b, a silk taffeta waistcoat with silk tambour embroidery, probably made in France or England in the 1770s or 1780s and worn by Francis West of Philadelphia

V&A CIRC.218-1920, a pair of silk satin garters with floral tambour embroidery, Great Britain, c. 1770-1790

Meg Andrews 8366, a long muslin apron completely covered in tambour embroidery and drawn work, c. 1770-1790

Colonial Williamsburg 1960-705, a silk waistcoat with silk tambour embroidery, England or France, c. 1770-1785

Winterthur 1970.0505, a silk pocketbook with the flap and button embroidered in tambour work, England, c. 1770-1800

Winterthur 1960.0172, a leather bag or pouch embroidered in silk tambour work, United States, c. 1770-1820

LACMA M.66.31a-b, a robe à l’anglaise and petticoat; dress made in England, textile embroidered in India c. 1775

V&A T.227-1914, a reticule embroidered in colored silks in tambour work on satin, made in England c. 1775-1779

V&A T.391-1970, a cotton gown with an English back; cotton embroidered in Gujarat c. 1740-1760 (“The fabric would have been imported as piece-goods”) and sewn into a gown in England c. 1775-1785

London Museum 47.44/3, linen jumps with silk tambour embroidery, c. 1765-1785

Museum Rotterdam 20874, a waistcoat in cream silk with tambour embroidery in silk, c. 1775-1785

Colonial Williamsburg 1951-272, a cream silk waistcoat with colored silk tambour work, probably France. c. 1775-1790

Fries Museum T1957-233, a fichu/handkerchief with naturalistic flowers in silk tambour embroidery, c. 1775-1799

Centraal Museum 4490, a cotton petticoat embroidered with floral patterns, c. 1775-1800

Philadelphia Art Museum 1943-17-7, a quilted ivory silk satin waistcoat with silk tambour embroidery, made in France in the 1780s and worn by Tench Francis, Jr., of Pennsylvania (d. 1800)

Colonial Williamsburg 1960-704, a waistcoat in yellow-green weft-ribbed silk embroidered with chain-stitched rosebuds, probably tambour work, c. 1780-1790

Cooper Hewitt 1962-54-33, uncut waistcoat panels tambour-embroidered with a pattern of flowers and chinoiserie figures, France, 1780-1790

London Museum Z666, a whiteworked muslin petticoat, “embroidered with white cotton in tambour work fern sprigs, with a border decoration of bows and swags of creeping plants,” c. 1780-1790

Historic Deerfield F.399, a linen jacket embroidered in silk, c. 1780-1790

LACMA M.59.25a-d, a robe à l’anglaise ensemble, England, 1780-1790

Cooper Hewitt 1962-54-55, a man’s waistcoat embroidered on puce silk, France, 1780-1795

Cooper Hewitt 1962-54-56, brown silk waistcoat with chinoiserie design, Lyon, France, 1780-1795

National Trust 1362788, a square muslin handkerchief, “the edges embroidered in tambour in small sprigs, spots and leaf sprays, the embroidery worked that when the buffon is folded triangulary it is all uppermost as in the manner of later turnover shawls,” c. 1780-1797

Fries Museum T1956-499, a white cotton fichu with white tambour embroidery, c. 1780-1799

MFA 48.1169a/b, dark green satin waistcoat front with silk tambour embroidery with a hunt scene, made in France c. 1780-1800

Museum Rotterdam 65652, a champagne-colored silk waistcoat with tambour embroidery, c. 1780-1800

MFA 50.2465, right front of a waistcoat, white silk satin with silk tambour embroidery in floral sprays and flowering streamers, made in France c. 1780-1800

V&A T.106&A-1969, a pair of silk satin garters tamboured with coloured silk floss and silver filé, France, 1780-1800

Meg Andrews 993, India, late 18th century; “This fichu would have been embroidered and produced in India for the Western export trade … The fine muslin embroidered in white cotton, the border with sprays of flowers and slanting larger leaves, two opposing corners with similar large leaf motifs filled with drawnwork and embroidered leaves, surrounded by small flowers, the other two corners with no decoration.”

Winterthur 2001.0037.007, a double-breasted silk waistcoat with tambour embroidery, assembled in Philadelphia from waistcoat fronts made in England or France, c. 1780-1810

National Trust 1366460, a fine cotton muslin apron decorated with tambour embroidery in white cotton thread, c. 1780-1820

Manchester 1956.342, a sari-length piece of white muslin embroidered with small rings in tambour work, probably Indian, c. 1780-1820

Winterthur 2013.0048.026, a cotton apron with tambour embroidery and open work, c. 1780-1830

Colonial Williamsburg 2018-201, a white cotton handkerchief with multicolor silk tambour embroidery, made in England or the United States and worn in Albany, New York, 1785-1815

London Museum 51.20/1, a dress and petticoat made of fine Indian muslin decorated with tambour embroidery, 1790; “this dress probably has been embroidered by professionals. The decoration features birds and flowers and the garment has been embroidered ‘to shape’, which means that the embroiderer knew what the fabric was going to be used for.”

Colonial Williamsburg 1991-479, a changeable silk waistcoat embroidered in silk tambour work, made in England or France c. 1790

Philadelphia Art Museum 1943-17-2, an ivory cotton twill waistcoat with gilt metallic tambour work, made in England c. 1790-1795 and worn by Tench Francis, Jr., of Pennsylvania (d. 1800)

V&A T.196&A-1914, a pair of shoes with cut-out patterns on the vamps revealing an underlay of tambour-embroidered satin, made in Great Britain in the 1790s

Tambour-embroidered pointed flat shoes, France, c. 1790-1805

Meg Andrews 8327, a linen embroidered waistcoat with tambour embroidery in a guilloche design, 1790s

Fries Museum T1956-510, a white fichu with black tambour embroidery, c. 1790-1799

Fries Museum T1956-500, a white fichu with silk tambour embroidery, c. 1790-1799

Philadelphia Art Museum 1930-76-1, an ivory silk satin waistcoat with multicolored silk and metal thread embroidery in tambour work, made in England or France, c. 1790-1800

Karen Augusta 2433, a pair of embroidered muslin mitts with a trailing floral design in tambour work, embellished with tiny spangles, United States, c. 1790-1800

A four-panel tambour-embroidered reticule made by Mary Boggs Tremaine (c. 1790-1810) from a Loyalist family that moved from New Jersey to Nova Scotia

Manchester 1947.3236, a piece of white muslin with a stem and leaf pattern embroidered in tambour work, late 18th century

MFA 40.762, cotton with cotton tambour embroidery, French, late 18th or early 19th century

Manchester 1947.3237, piece of embroidered muslin, part of a dress, embroidered with vertical bands in a grapevine pattern in tambour work, late 18th century

Manchester 1947.3238, piece of embroidered muslin, probably from a dress (possibly the train) tambour-embroidered with a rose pattern, late 18th century

Winterthur 1981.0093, a pincushion and needlecase made at the Moravian School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, c. 1790-1820

Cooper Hewitt 1902-1-673, yellow silk satin shirt for a baby, 18th-19th century

Cooper Hewitt 1995-50-338, embroidered cotton handkerchief, “the embroidery is done with two borders righting on one side and two borders righting on the other so that the square could be folded and used as a fichu,” made in Switzerland, Germany, or France, late 18th-early 19th century

MFA 42.677, an apron made of white embroidered India cotton gauze with cotton tambour embroidery, made in the United States c. 1800

Centraal Museum 7926, a white twill directoire gown with tambour work in a grape pattern, c. 1800