Pomegranates & Peas Purse - Speckling Stitch

***Please Note:  A kit to make this purse is available on my etsy shop, Baroque Embellishments.***

I designed this purse for a class I taught for a Mid-Atlantic Regional meeting of the Embroiderers' Guild of America (EGA) few years ago.



The inspiration came partly from a jacket at the V&A museum in London, Accession # T.4-1935,  (click here to go to jacket at v&a)  which features the pomegranate (I've seen the same pomegranate on another Elizabethan piece, I think a coif) and partly from the engravings published by Peter Stent in the 17th century.  I loved the pea pods in his engravings, which looked a bit Tim Burton-ish to me.  The book is out of print, but available used from Amazon.  The title:  A Book of Flowers, Fruits, Beasts, Birds, and Flies: Seventeenth-Century Patterns for Embroiderers Printed and Sold by Peter Stent  

Here's a picture of the Peter Stent engraving that inspired me.  Check out the wicked looking strawberries.


By the way - the Met museum has a copy of this book that you may look thru in their prints and rare books room.

 I used Kingston 50 ct cream linen, and black silk threads in various thicknesses, from Mulberry Silks in England.  Motifs outlined in Outline stitch, and shading done in speckling technique.  Paillettes (the gold sequins) are from Access Commodities and are real gold.

The vine is Plaited Braid Stitch done in #7 Tambour thread (a non-tarnish metal wire that's very pliable).  I typically use #4 Gold Passing thread (real gold), but the Guild requested that I use imitation gold to keep the cost down.  Here's a close up of the vine.











I outlined the entire purse in Heavy Broad stitch, which is nice for hiding the seams on the purse construction, as you can see here.

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.