Variations on a Holly Theme

          "Again at Christmas did we weave

The holly round the Christmas hearth;

The silent snow possessed the earth,

And calmly fell our Christmas eve"

Tennyson

Many of you will recognize this holly motif from a coif at the V & A Museum. (acc no. T.25-1975).  It's been dated between 1590 to 1600; silk and silver-gilt embroidery on linen.  There are at least two coifs featuring this holly motif in a repeat fill pattern.  Unfortunately, I have photos of the 2nd coif, but didn't record where it came from.  

On the V&A coif, all 3 leaves are filled with a simple blackwork running stitch motif.  On the 2nd coif, the top center leaf has a heavy center vein worked in silk.  It doesn't appear to have a fill stitch and I can't make out what stitch comprises the vein, but it looks like Chain or Van Dyke.  I can't post a pic of it on my blog since I didn't take the photograph.  If anyone knows of another coif with this holly pattern, please let me know via a comment or email (kservello@comcast.net)

For the Holly Pocket Ornament shown at the top, I used Au Ver a Soie's (silk) 109 perle and 945 gobelin and #4 gilt smooth-passing wire on a sandy colored 40 ct. linen.  Stiches used are Outline, Blackwork fill and Reverse Chain.

On the Holly Mini-Pillow, above and left, I decided to try 50 ct. linen - I wanted to see how difficult it would be to stitch my delicate fill pattern on 50ct.  It's wicked-close and I don't think I would try it on a large piece, like a coif, unless I was only filling a few spot motifs with it. The same threads were used as the first ornament.

Here you see how I chose to fill the holly berries. I couldn't see how they were filled on the V&A coif, so I decided to fill them with reverse chain stitch.  I think it came out very nicely.

I made these in 2008.  Looking at the V&A coif again today, I realized the  goldwork stitch in between each holly motif looks like the cross variation of Guilloche stitch.  Anyone else care to comment?  I've ordered a hi-def pic of it so I can see it better.

Here's the third variation, actually my first attempt.  I used French knots to represent the upper holly berries.  I should have filled the area in more with berries, but, in "real life" it doesn't look as sparse in that area, probably because the branch looks longer on camera due to the curve in the linen.  I also used Fr. knots to fill in the 2 meduim holly berries below, with and outline stitch around them, which looks very nice - it makes them look raised.  Today I'd choose Spiral Trellis stitch.

Threaded Adornment: Four Centuries of English Embroidery

I visited the above referenced embroidery exhibit at the Philly Art museum last week.  Here's the link to the exhibit:        http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/417.html

 I was particularly interested in this 16th c. coif.  You can view it on the link, and zoom.  As is often the case in museum exhibits, I had to photograph from a couple feet away with a glass wall between, so please excuse the quality.   I've also included a description given in the exhibit.

As always when I view Elizabethan embroidery, I was struck with the delicacy of the stitches and motifs, which you don't get a feel for when viewing them online or in books.  Notice that the the butterfly is stitched in metallic threads, and the carnation (gillyflower) petals are spaced quite far apart.


















Additionally, there was a casket, pictured below....

The following information is from the Phil Art Museum website, which Deborah kindly gave me the link to.  When the casket wasn't shown in their special exhibit info I didn't think to look in their collections.  Thanks Deborah!

Casket info:

Made in England 1686 Elizabeth Nickholls, English Wood; silk satin with silk embroidery in satin, laid, and couched stitches; silver gilt trim 10 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 10 inches (26.7 x 19.1 x 25.4 cm) 1984-124-1

Label In the seventeenth century, a girl’s needlework education culminated in the production of an embroidered box called a “casket” or “cabinett,” typically worked in tent, raised, laid, and couched stitches. Images on the casket often depicted biblical tales. The panels on this example portray the religious story of Esther, a Jewish heroine who saved her people from a Persian assault. Her admirable behavior likely served as a model for the casket’s young maker. Caskets frequently held prized possessions, such as jewelry and writing equipment; as they were personally valuable, they were sometimes preserved in a professionally made oak box.