Stitchers

Annelies van der Wateren is an embroiderer on the South Carolina tapestry panel. A resident of Lexington, South Carolina, she is relatively new to embroidery, having learned her stitches directly on the South Carolina panel itself after first encountering the project at a fiber fair. Her prior needle arts practice includes cross stitch, quilting including piecework and appliqué, and crochet. While working on the panel, Annelies has utilized the running stitch, French knots, seed stitch, and chain stitch — with French knots quickly becoming her favorite. Annelies was inspired to join America's Tapestry after seeing the North Carolina and South Carolina panels on display at the fiber fair, where she decided on the spot to donate her time to her home state's panel. Looking towards our nation's anniversary, Annelies hopes that America will reflect on how far it has come as a melting pot of nationalities, beliefs, customs, and talents — and that needle arts and other handcrafts will be taught in schools so that these traditions can shape the next 250 years of American creative life.