Mistletoe Scarf That Could Have Been Worn to King Henry VIII's Coronation

"Their own apparel and that of their horses was of black velvet, covered all over with branches of honeysuckle " of fine flat gold of damask, of lose worke, every lefe of the braunche mouing, the embroudery was very conning and sumpteous."

...from Hall's Chronicle containing the History of England of Henry the 4th to the end of the reign of Henry the 8th  ( 1548 and 1550 editions)

My inspiration for this scarf came from the preceding passage - a description of King Henry VIII's coronation procession.  When I read this excerpt I could see the horse trappings and banners with embroidered honeysuckle leaves, moving in the wind, as the horses and men progressed.  

At the time I read this passage,  I also happened to be  looking for an idea for a Winter / Holiday scarf....

Wouldn't mistletoe leaves look lovely and lend themselves to "moving in the wind" on a scarf?  

...The leaves would be formed from detached buttonhole stitch, which would be stitched on a couched outline on linen, and then cut away and fastened to the velvet.   (A much simpler process than it sounds.)

And there must be gold, real gold, as King Henry VIII's  procession would have had.  Branches worked in chain stitch in gold wire and gold spangles would answer to that.

To make it even more life-like, the mistletoe berries could be worked in spiral trellis so they stand away from the fabric,  seeming to be real berries.

 I recalled the gorgeous aubergine velvet I'd bought at a local shop -  not knowing what I'd do with it at the time - but unable to resist its luxurious look and feel.  It's a cotton velvet - unusual nowadays - with an exceptionally dense pile.  

The embroidery, and most of the assembly, was done last winter.  I wanted the perfect fringe to finish it, and couldn't find it locally.  It had to be a fine and rich looking gold.

  At last, a few weeks ago, my neighbor took me to NYC to enjoy the Christmas festivities.  During our visit I stopped in at Tinsel Trading Company.  I'd wanted to visit them for a couple years, and I had pinned my hopes on finding a fringe for my scarf there.  I wasn't disappointed.  The richness of it is perfect for the gold embroidery. 

 If you get the chance to visit Tinsel Trading do so!  I was like a child in a candy shop  - I wanted one of everything!  They have vintage, new and reproduction notions, displayed in old-world style, custom cabinetry.

I lined the scarf with a gold and silk gauzy fabric, found locally.

Voila - a scarf was born.  Can you see it in King Henry VIII's procession, moving in the wind, as I progress on horseback?

Mistletoe appears in the great herbal book of Leonhart Fuchs, De Historia Stirpium, published in 1542, which is known to have been available in England.

In England, the first written mention of mistletoe, in context with Christmas, appears in 1622, seemingly not a new custom by that time, although possibly regional.  (Reference Life in Elizabethan England)

Threads and stitches used on the Mistletoe Scarf :  

Spiral Trellis for the berries using Au Ver a Soie Perlee thread in color 211 - off white

Needlelace for the leaves using Gilt Sylke Twist (GST) thread in Gawdie Green -
   They were attached to the scarf with 3 or 4 back stitches that represent a center leaf vein

Reverse Chain for the branches in #4 Smooth Passing gold wire by Golden Threads

#4 gold spangles from Access Commodities
Glass Seed Beads from Mill Hill, color 00123

Finished scarf dimensions :  5" wide x 72" long, not including fringe.  Fringe width = 1-1/4"
  

Tudor Rose & Ladybug Pinwheel

I am designing a piece for a class I will be teaching at Hand Dyed Fibers in Williamstown, PA next year. Vikki Clayton (proprietor) has asked that I teach a class on making a lady bug like the one on my Elizabethan purse, shown right.  She's stitched using Spiral Trellis stitch making her three dimensional.  So now, what to put her on....

Recently, I came across the blog about Quaker pinballs and pinwheels made in the mid/late-1700s and 1800s (Needleprint.blogspot.com) .  I love the shape of the pinwheels and have been thinking about making one.  They're round, not spherical like the pinballs, about 2 to 3" in diameter.  They do have depth, about 3/8" to 1/2" typically, I'd imagine.  You match the depth to the ribbon you finish the wheel off with.  Ok, so now I know what I'll put my Ladybug on....

When I envision a pinwheel, I see it with an Elizabethan twist, of course.   I see a Tudor Rose in black threads as the backdrop, to make my LadyBug pop in all her Red, 3D Glory.

From what I've read the pinwheels were knitted. But, I want to stitch one.  I bought Erica Uten's book.  The book states that if you want to embroider the designs, you can make them into rectangular pillows which will be charming in their own way.  Apparently she thinks you can't make a pinwheel from a stitched piece.  Hmmm....  I imagine the linen would give you a problem when you wrap it around a cardboard disk.  It would have a tendency to bunch or gather at the edges that a knitted fabric wouldn't.   Mine must be embroidered, since it's for an embroidery class.  And because I've already envisioned it and creating it is the only way to get it out of my head!

So I tried a mock up using a scrap piece of the cambric weight linen I use for my scarves, see photo right.  (I didn't stitch the strawberry blossom for the mock up, it was an old test embroidery that I didn't care for).  It works!  The weave of the linen is a bit wonky, but I think if I starch the linen before wrapping it that will be enough to correct the "wonki-ness".  Also, I'll be more careful whilst mounting the finished product.

 Ok, now I have the fabric, but this throws a bit of a wrench in my plans.  I had planned to stitch a Tudor Rose using a different blackwork fill pattern for each petal.  Like the roses seen on the sleeves of women's smocks in Elizabethan portraits.  Cambric linen is 60 count so my class will probably not want to count threads!  I would love to see a Tudor Rose done in Speckling Technique.  Those curving petals would be perfect for shading!  Has it ever been done?

In researching, I found a coif at the V&A that includes a Tudor Rose stitched in Speckling Technique.  So now I have historical authentication.  (The Accession # is 21-1946 if you'd like to look it up in V&A collections.)  By the way, under the details for this coif on the Victoria & Albert Museum site, it states that the pattern had been block printed right on the linen and then embroidered.  The coif was made in early 1600s.   That's the first I've read about patterns being printed onto the linen, as opposed to hand drawn, in the early 1600s.  I found this on another early 17th century embroidered piece in the V& A:


"By the early 17th century, simplified patterns and outlines for embroidery were being provided by print sellers. Many of these designs were inspired by the illustration of birds, animals, insects and plants found in illustrated natural history and botanical books, which were very popular at the time.

This was a commercial provision for the needs of the amateur embroiderer; the print sellers not only provided books and separate sheets of embroidery designs but also patterns printed directly on cloth as seen here. The use by amateur embroiderers of prepared designs was known from at least the 16th century. Mary Queen of Scots, while imprisoned in Lochleven Castle in 1568, petitioned for 'an imbroderer to drawe forthe such worke as she would be occupied about'."

 I should address why I need authentication for the embroidery when I'm about to put an Elizabethan design on an18th/19th century pinwheel.  I'm not a re-enactor, nor am I reproducing Elizabethan pieces.  I want to embroider as authentically as possible because I love Elizabethan embroidery techniques.  But, I don't live in Elizabethan times, so I like to give them a twist that updates them to my time and makes them mine.

So now I have the embroidery stitches, the colors, and the finished project in mind.  Off to the drawing board to work it out in detail.   More later.....

Christmas Ornament/Purse Inspired by Trevelyon's 1608 Miscellany

 This design is actually a detail from a panel-type drawing that was published in Thomas Trevelyon's 1608 Miscellany.

The last I read about it, there are actually 2 extant manuscripts, one owned by the Folger Shakespeare Museum in Washington, DC, the other was in a private collection.  The Folger Shakespeare Museum has printed a reproduction of their copy, available for $750 on their website.  That's not the copy I have - lol !  Ask your local museum or research library to purchase a copy of it!  I'd love to see this book.

There is a much less expensive route to get some of Trevelyon's patterns.  The 41st Volume of the Walpole Society includes some of his patterns.  You may be able to purchase a used copy (which I did) or possibly get it on an ILL.




I made this mini-purse (2-1/2"wide by 4" high) as a Christmas tree ornament 2 years ago.  As you can see, it's a fully functioning purse, as well.  The back has the same design as the front.

Linen:  50 ct Kingston
Threads by Mulberry Silk of England
her website:
http://mulberrysilks-patriciawood.com/store/

Stitches used:
Spiral Trellis for berries
Detached Buttonhole on leaves
Couched #5 smooth passing gold "thread" for branches  (my first attempt at couching and I should have couched closer together.  It looked great while on the embroidery frame, but shifted after assembly)
Van Dyke for the veins on the leaves.
Heavy Broad for purse outline (the red)
Paillettes

I used real gold thread and paillettes.   When hanging on my Christmas tree, the paillettes catch the tree lights and sparkle beautifully.

A Floral Scarf to wear whilst riding horseback with the Queen of a Spring Day

This floral scarf for Spring was inspired by the following :

Queen Elizabeth (I) and her Ladies sometimes wore scarves while riding horseback and enjoying other outdoor activities, according to biographer Janet Arnold in Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd.

The following excerpt is also from the same book:

"The description of Elizabeth uncovering herself... probably means that she removed a light gauzy scarf from around her neck.  Elizabeth had many exquisitely decorated scarves.  One... made in 1591... was of white silk cypress, embroidered with scaling ladders, armed men and other devices in the borders at each end."
"  Stubbes described them as extravagant accessories in 1583:
   Then must they have their silke scarffes cast about their faces, and fluttering in the wind with great tassells at every ende, eyther of gold, silver or silke  But I know wherefore, they will say, they weare these scarffes, namely, to keep them from Sunne burnyng."

That my scarf may be similar to the one described above, I have embroidered the floral border at both ends of the scarf and included a long fringe to "flutter in the wind".

Stitches used include:
Ceylon (insect wings, strawberry leaves)
Outline, 
Detached buttonhole (leaves, buds, carnation)
Trellis (insect body)
Spiral Trellis (base of pomegranate)


Linen:  60 count fine Cambric 
Threads:  Mulberry Silks and Au Ver a Soie's Gobelin Silk
Rolled, hand worked hem.




THIS POST IS INCOMPLETE, MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW .

Elizabethan Purse : Peascods & Posies

The Peascod greene oft with no little toyle,

Hee’d seeke for in the fattest, fertl’st soile,

And rend it from the stalke to bring it to her,

And in her bosome for acceptance woo her.”

William Browne of Tavistock

This is a project I finished several years ago.  I designed this purse in preparation for travelling to Plimoth Plantation to help with the embroidery of the Plimoth Jacket, currently on display at Winterthur.  Prior to this, I had never done any non-counted Elizabethan embroidery, so I wanted to practice before I worked on the jacket.  I had just taken a class in Richmond, VA from Chris Berry thru the Embroiderers' Guild of America (EGA).

The purse is the same front and back, except for a color change or two.  All stitches used are Elizabethan period stitches.

I used Kingston 50 ct cream linen, silk buttonhole twisted threads from Au Ver a Soie and Mulberry Silks, and #5 smooth passing gold wire from Golden Threads.

The lining is a cornflower blue that matches the medium blue silk thread.

The leaf shown here is worked in Up & Down Buttonhole stitch.

Lady bug is worked in Spiral Trellis stitch.  A wonderfully fun stitch to work, and it can be padded to produce a really 3D effect.

The vine is done in Reverse Chain stitch using #5 smooth passing gold wire (real gold).  It's one of the first things that non-stitchers are drawn to on this purse.  I've been told that it looks like I laid a gold chain down on the purse and attached it.

The red caterpillar is worked in Ceylon Stitch.

Here's a photo of the peascods before the embroidery was cut off the slate frame.  You can see a bit of the peas peeping out of the pods.

The caps are Ceylon stitch, the pods are worked in Detached Buttonhole stitch.

The blue flower, Columbine, that you can see a bit of is worked in Trellis stitch worked on a diagonal.