Ayrshire Whitework

Ayrshire whitework, in embroidery, a type of drawn thread work done in white thread on white material. Although similar work had been executed earlier and in other centres (for example, in 13th- and 14th-century Germany) and other examples are known from the intervening period, whitework became associated with the county (shire) of Ayr in Scotland after 1780, when it became a centre for the manufacture of muslin. Fine muslin was the material par excellence for this work, in which a variety of drawn fabric stitches were combined with floral sprigs and formal decorative motifs in satin and other stitches. The effect was somewhat akin to lace.