1:48 scale bell pulls
Needlepoint designs by Anna-Carin Betzén
These stitch up quicker than most needlepoint projects. The repeating designs took me under two hours each (stitching one color at a time); the Berlin wool work design took a bit longer.
You could also use these designs for 1:12 scale bookmarks. If you make them longer, they might be used for 1:12 Victorian braces (suspenders) or 1:24 curtain pull-backs.
For a Georgian setting, I think the flower vine and zig-zag ribbon are most appropriate. The Greek key could be anything from late Georgian to Victorian depending on the color scheme, and the Berlin wool work style design (shown in two colorways) is of course Victorian (I think a colored background would be best suited for the Victorian era, and that the ecru background was mainly used later, into the 20th century). They're all finished off with my easy-to-make tassels.
In Sweden, bell pulls don't seem to have been nearly as common as in Britain, but when Berlin wool work patterns were imported in the 19th century we found a different use for the bell pull charts. Tiled stoves (which heated every town home in Sweden in the 19th century) have a rod sticking out to one side near the top, with chains hanging from it for adjusting the damper. This was the perfect place to display a needlework that size, using it to conceal the not-so-decorative chains.
Bell pulls
- Stitch count
- Each is 6–7 stitches wide, and 62–64 stitches long
- Thread colors
- Repeating designs 2–4 colors,
Berlin wool work style 9–10 colors - Download charts
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Repeating designs chart in color (PDF file)
Repeating designs chart in black and white (PDF file)
Berlin wool work chart in color (PDF file)
Berlin wool work chart in black and white (PDF file)
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The needlepoint charts index provides an overview of all my free charts. You might find my silk gauze hints helpful.