Souvenir of Egypt : Australian Commonwealth Military Forces

Purple machine chainstitch embroidered souvenir with the Australian Rising Sun Badge. Above the badge is the text '1915' and underneath is 'SOUVENIR OF EGYPT'. The souvenir has a light blue fringed edge.

Until April 1916 nearly all Australian soldiers passed through and/or trained in Egypt. This souvenir is dated 1915 and may have been purchased by someone who trained in Egypt and possibly served in the Gallipoli campaign. Textile souvenirs made in Egypt, were usually brightly coloured embroideries on cotton sateen. They invariably bear the words 'Souvenir of Egypt', and often have a year of manufacture, such as in this example. Most have a distinctly Egyptian flavour such as the pyramids, camels or date palms. Others have military themes, such as unit badges or colour patches. The embroideries were displayed on wooden racks beside small booths in the bazaars where the manufacture was undertaken. They usually had a paper backing tacked to them, which has not often survived. Normally the embroidery was customised by the addition of an embroidered message of the customer's choice, and by the addition of a coloured fringe braid edge, also of the customer's choice. It was also possible for the customer to design the souvenir completely, in which case it would have to be specially ordered and collected later on. Examples of this can be seen in the embroideries whose background colours and design replicate the colour patches worn by Australians at the top of each sleeve to identify the unit with which they were serving, or in embroideries featuring Australian animals, especially the kangaroo and emu. All the types of embroidered souvenirs were easy to customise because they utilised a machine produced chain stitch that was created by a small hand held, free standing machine that was readily manipulated to produce any design. The original pattern in pencil or ink can sometimes be seen under the chain stitch. This kind of machine embroidery is still widely used throughout the Middle East today for both souvenirs and domestic soft furnishings.