St. Gallen Embroidery

Legend has it that St. Gallus, a wandering monk proselytizing in the Lake Constance area in the 6th and 7th centuries, founded the city of St. Gallen. The priests, and later St. Othmar, arranged for an abbey called St. Gallen to be founded in his honor in 719 AD, which became the spiritual center of the region. The Stiftsbibliothek (the Abbey Library of St. Gallen), whose collection includes thousands of valuable manuscripts, still enjoys great fame.

The city of St. Gallen has a long tradition of textile production and processing which began in the Middle Ages and continues to this day. During the Middle Ages, the area excelled in linen production: flax, which supplies the raw material for linen, thrives in the Lake Constance region and so business flourished as a result. Linen fabrics from St. Gallen are known for their high quality and were already exported around the world at that time.

At the beginning of the 18th century there was a structural change: From 1730, the linen industry became increasingly displaced by the cotton industry. Cotton weaving and spinning mills sprung up in the region. Embroidered decoration also became more popular. Before the introduction of the embroidery machine, this was done by hand, as demonstrated by this artistically crafted blanket, which was made for the first World Expo which took place in London in 1851.

The Industrial Revolution also impacted on the Swiss textile industry: In 1828/29, Alsace-born Joshua Heilmann (1796–1848) succeeded in developing the first hand embroidery machine, amongst other inventions. The machine was able to embroider using more than 300 needles simultaneously, and was thus able to repeatedly transfer the desired pattern onto the fabric. Where previously women embroidered by hand, the machine was now operated by men, who produced the fine embroidery en masse. Women did the legwork, such as the laborious and time-consuming threading.

Technological innovation and high quality are important success factors for the textile industry of Eastern Switzerland. This also applies to the design of the textile treasures. Only those who are able to continuously produce new designs can survive in the volatile fashion industry. Sources of inspiration include historical handcrafted lace. These are purposefully collected by textile producers and made available to designers as a template. The St. Gallen Textile Museum, which was opened in 1886, also has a collection that serves to inspire and train textile designers. To this day, the Textile Museum's lace remains one of the highlights of the collection.

Only semi-finished goods are made in Eastern Switzerland, i.e. fabrics, motifs, borders etc., which couturiers use to design their eye-catching gowns and accessories. The relationships between St. Gallen textile manufacturers and the Paris fashion scene have always been close. Well-known designers have always favored St. Gallen lace, also known as etching embroidery or Guipure.