18th Century Tambour Embroidery

Last updated: Sep 29, 2025

While tambour-embroidered textiles and goods were imported from India and France, we can also track its spread among domestic embroiderers by looking at newspaper advertisements (in addition to portraits and illustrations). An ad published in The Public Advertiser in 1766 and 1767 reveals the novelty of tambour embroidery to the 18th century embroiderer:

broder au tambour
LADIES of Faſhion may be inſtructed in the French Method of embroidering without a Needle, which is the moſt amuſing and expeditious Kind of work poſſible. A few Leſſons only are neceſſary; and a Perſon, who underſtands it perfectly, will attend the Ladies at their own Houſes, if they think proper.
Enquire at Mrs. Pignerolle’s, at the Green and Gold Lamp, next Door to the Coffee-houſe, in Parliament-ſtreet, Weſtminſter.
All the Materials for the Embroidery are ſold there at the cheapeſt Rates.

Similarly, also in The Public Advertiser:

broder au tambour
ANY Ladies, who are deſirous of being inſtructed in the new Work called by this Name, may be waited on at their own houſes by Mrs. MOORE, at the Hand and Spur, in the Haymarket. Mrs. Moore purpoſes being at Home on Mondays, Wedneſdays, and Fridays; where ſhe will inſtruct, on very reaſonable Terms, any young Ladies who may chuſe to come to her. She furniſhes every Material for this, and every other Sort of Fine-Work; has the Tambour Hooks made in her own Houſe, which are far preferable to any French ones; as likewiſe Long-Hooks and Shields for Ladies, who chuſe to work after the India Manner.
N.B. Mrs. Moore begs Leave to acquaint the Ladies, that ſhe has made an Improvement in the Tambour, which renders them much more uſeful; and likewiſe that ſhe can now ſell the other Sort much cheaper than uſual. (June 30, 1766)

broder au tambour
MRS. MOORE, (late of the Haymarket) who has had the Honour of instructing Ladies in the Work called by this Name, begs Leave to inform ſuch Ladies and others, That ſhe has taken a large Houſe in Poland-ſtreet, near Broad-ſtreet, where, in Conjunction with a Gentlewoman who has been 12 Years Teacher at Mrs. Aylworth’s, on Chelſea Common, ſhe has opened a Boarding and Day-School for Young Ladies, having engaged proper Aſſiſtants for that Purpoſe.
Mrs. Moore continues to teach Ladies the Uſe of the Tambour, either Abroad, or at Home in ſeparate Apartment; and furniſhes Materials for that, and every other Sort of Work, as uſual. (March 28, 1767)

In Dublin’s Public Register, December 23, 1773:

Mr and Mrs HARRIS, (lately arrived from France, BEG Leave to inform the Nobility and Gentry, that thye work the Tambour and Embroidery in all their Branches, and draw and ſell all Sorts of Patterns, and Spring Flowers coloured for ſhading of Silks: And for the more ſpeedy Accommodation of Ladies and Gentlemen, they are always provided with the neweſt and genteeleſt Patterns, with Ruffles from half a Guinea to four Guineas a Pair, ready worked. They import their own Goods, which enables them to ſell as cheap as any Part of France: They inſtruct Ladies both at Home and Abroad, in the Tambour, EMbroidery, and Dreſden Work, in the Frame, or in Shades of Silk or Cheneil; and engage ot perfect them in as complete and expeditious a Manner as any in this Kingdom. They ſell all Sorts of Materials neceſſary for the above Work.
Any Commands left for them at Mrs. Foyet’s, Perfumer, in Henry-ſtreet, oppoſite Moore-ſtreet, will be duly attended to.

In Annapolis, as advertised in the Maryland Gazette:

For the amuſement and improvement of young ladies, MRS. POLK propoſes to keep a morning ſchool, to teach young ladies embroidery, tambour, dreſden, point, netting, and all other kinds of needlework, at the moderate price of one dollar enrance, and twenty ſhillings per quarter; the hours of attending from 8 till 2 o’clock.
Mrs. Polk would likewiſe be glad to ſerve any ladies in painting, ribands, drawing all kinds of patterns, particularly on ſilk and muſlin; and alſo working gowns, ſhoes, ribands, mens waiſtcoats and ruffles in tambour, in the cheapeſt, neateſt, and beſt manner.
Any ladies who are inclined to encourage the above undertaking, that do not chuſe to attend the ſchool, will be waited on, upon notice. (July 28, 1774)

MRS. SMITH intends to open a boarding ſchool for young ladies, in Annapolis, next Tueſday, the ſecond of May, and to teach them drawing, tambour, embroidery, open work, crowning, netting, with a variety of other fine work; alſo plain work and marking. She will give the greateſt attention to the health and improvement of the young ladies entruſted to her care. (May 25, 1786)

Young ladies’ boarding schools in Charleston, South Carolina, also advertised tambour embroidery as part of their curriculum (“A new BOARDING SCHOOL FOR Young Ladies … WHERE will be taught in the moſt expeditious and complete Manner, and at a reaſonable Rate, Reading, Tambour, Embroidery, and all Kinds of Needle Work,” The South-Carolina Gazette, August 23, 1774; “MRS. DUNEAU continues her Boarding School for the Education of young Ladies … alſo a Variety of Needle-Work, viz. Dreſden, Tent and Croſs Stitch, Tambour Work, Embroidery, , common and double, with other fancy Works, learnt from the Nunneries during her Reſidence in France,” The South-Carolina Gazette, June 20, 1775).

In Philadelphia, as advertised in Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser on February 13, 1775:

SARAH HUSSEY, Tambour Worker and Embroiderer, in Second-ſtreet, between Cheſnut and Walnut-ſtreets, at the houſe lately occupied by M^cElroy and Finley, nearly oppoſite the Golden Fleece;
Where ſhe teaches Ladies the Tambour and Embroidery in gold and ſilver, ſheneal, ſilk and cotton; the open work in muſlins and elegance of ſhading; to ſpangle and pearl, &c. for Twenty Shillings per month. Ladies may be taught at their own houſes for the ſame. She returns her ſincerer thanks to thoſe Ladies that have experienced her judgment in ſhading, and hopes for their recommendations.
Ladies gowns, ruffles, aprons, work bags and fire ſcreens worked very cheap; aloſo ſhoes worked in gold, for one dollar a pair. Likewiſe Gentlemens mourning cloaths embroidered, and waiſtcoats worked in Tambour, from 3l. to 10l. in gold, and without from 3l. to 25s. hat-bands, buttons and loops, and buttons for Gentlemens cloaths embroidered with gold and ſilver, to any deſign that they chuſe.

In Richmond, Virginia, in the 1780s, described in The Virginia Gazette:

MR. MORRIS, Embroiderer, Tambour Worker, and Pattern Drawer, lately arrived from LONDON, is deſirous to inſtruct YOUNG LADIES in the above-mentioned polite and faſhionable arts, and which he flatters himſelf can be effected in a ſhort time, ſo that a lady may become perfectly miſtreſs of theſe eſſentially neceſſary branches of education.
As Mr. Morris purpoſes making but a ſhort ſtay in Richmond, thoſe ladies how mean to encourage him, will favour him with their commands as early as poſſible, at Mrs. Younghusband’s. — Any Ladies or Gentleman who would wiſh to have any work done in the tambour or embroidery way, may by applying as above, depend on having their orders executed very expeditiouſly, and in the neateſt manner. (September 4, 1784)

ON Monday the 4th of September, the hot ſeaſon vacancy being over, notice is hereby given, that from that day, the different schools of Mr. Quesnay’s ACADEMY, ſhall be regularly attended to, until the 1ſt of July, 1787 … According to the Truſtees approbation, MR. R. Morris is accepted, and appointed a maſter to teach the young Ladies Tambour, Embroidery, Patterns, and all ſorts of Needlework, alſo Vocal Muſic. — The Ladies will be attended by him as convenient as poſſible to them. (August 30, 1786)

In Carlisle, Pennsylvania, as advertised in The Carlisle Gazette on September 16, 1789:

Mrs. Griſky, INFORMS the Ladies and Gentlemen of Carliſle, and its vicinity that ſhe intends to ſet up a SCHOOL for Young Ladies, At the houſe of Mrs. Vanlear, in the Borough of Carliſle, to teach Drawing, Tambour, Embroidery and every branch of ladies Needle Work.
She alſo will teach Reading in Engliſh and German to any who may incline — and will pay the utmoſt attention to all entruſted to her care.

This page focuses on garments and accessories in tambour work. To see how tambour work was embroidered in the 18th century, see the notebook page on embroiderers.

• 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 Museum of Art 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 Museum of Art 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 Museum of Art 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 Museum of Art 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