Ayrshire work is the name given to whitework embroidery on fine muslin. It originated in Ayr in Scotland, a centre of muslin production, and became popular in the early 19th century when simple muslin dresses were fashionable. This simple cutwork style is characterised by delicate floral designs with trailing elements, worked in satin stitch (flat stitches worked in sequence to fill areas of a design) with needle lace (lace created with only a needle and thread) filling. Often used to make intricate patterns for collars, cuffs, baby’s bonnets and baby’s robes, Ayrshire work has many parallels with Indian chikan, another type of embroidery that embellishes light-as-air muslin to great effect.