I am in the process of creating a Landsknecht outfit that needed the a honeycomb smocked pleated shirt to start the ensemble. Visit my article “Was it Honeycomb Smocking on 16th c. German Clo…

1st English edition pub. 1886. cf. Pataky, v.1, p. 155

Needlework

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Of all the types of Italian needlework, Assisi Embroidery is probably the most recognized by non-Italians. That is, most embroiderers are at least conscious of it, if they haven't done a bit of it themselves. It is a very attractive counted thread technique that dates back to at least the 13th century, if not before. There are a number of books on the market, some with traditional designs, some with more modern ones. I have quite a few. In my listing of the books that I have, I didn't list all the strictly pattern books, nor all the electronically scanned out-of-print and out-of copyright ones. I honestly have to stop myself from automatically buying a book on Assisi embroidery every time I come across one that I don't already have! Almost 10 years ago I bought a yard of 28 ct 'Assisi' Graziano Linen from the US. By the time I factored in the exchange rate between the Canadian and American dollars (the Canadian dollar was not doing as good then as it is now) and the shipping, my yard cost me nearly $200 Canadian dollars. I'm happy to say that it is now easier and much less costly to have this lovely linen. And lovely it truly is! The threads are nice and plump and the fabric is weighty so that it makes great tablecloths, placemats, napkins, centres, doilies, you name it! Traditional Assisi Embroidery is stitched on off-white coloured Assisi linen in either blue or rust coloured embroidery floss. The cross stitch can be regular x's or long-armed cross and the 'x' part should be made over three fabric ground threads. I've made a couple f scans of a piece that was a gift to me, made in Assisi. Outlines of the design are done first in a darker floss, black or dark brown with the Double Running Stitch. The fretwork is also executed in Double Running Stitch. I love the combination of the voided work and the fretwork along the borders but most of all I love the hems! Four-Sided Stitch (done on this piece in off-white no. 8 pearl cotton) runs along the hemline (withdraw one or two ground threads for a more open effect) and the edge is finished with a rolled hem. I'm sad to say that I have never quite been able to achieve a rolled hem this small (or this neat!). The trick, I was told, is to wet your fingers with saliva and roll the fabric as you stitch. Here is the back of the same corner, notice how far into the rolled hem the hemstitches go in order to keep the roll in place... almost far enough to be seen from the front. Of course I also love the tassels! Traditionally in groups of three, these tassels are made of no. 8 pearl cotton thread. The Anchor Manual of Needlework, which has quite an extensive section on Italian Needlework, has instructions on how to make these great little tassels. You can read more on Assisi Embroidery at the Italian needlework website TuttoRicamo, click on the British Flag for the English pages and look under 'Techniques'. While you're there, you can download an old book on Assisi Embroidery from the early 20th century in .pdf format. Click on the first link under the 'Books' heading in the Assisi article, this will take you to another page. Under the first heading of 'Adele della Porta' you'll see the link. There are some great fantastical beasts in that book. Here you can find 28ct Assisi linen made by another great Italian linen manufacturer, Sotema as well as many great Assisi pattern books by Mani di Fata Tomorrow I'll tell you about some of the books I have on Assisi Embroidery that aren't strictly patterns only... Assisi Embroidery Part Two

Updated 1/4/2022 I’ve been obsessively working on a new to me (quite old) pleating style. Here is some of the info on my success so far. I will be updating this article some more over the next seve…

OK, here it is. The corsetmaker's dream: Symington's sampler of all their flossing patterns. All photos in this post are (C) Leicestershire County Council: The Symington Collection It's so big, it takes up three photos. In fact, this gorgeous specimen is a huge quilt made of smaller flossing…

Les dragons peuplent les contes populaires, et surgissent des doigts des brodeurs et des brodeuses… Dragon à plusieurs têtes…. qui repoussent plus nombreuses après que le héros les ait…

Ensamplario Atlantio: Being a Collection of Filling Patterns Suitable for Blackwork Embroidery by Ianthe d’Averoigne is available as a free download from String or Nothing. She says, The enti…

Welcome to a new History lesson at Sunday Stitch School. Japan is famous for its 'manga', comics and cartoons. The idea of telling a story mainly with pictures is not new. It has always been a way to let everyone, regardless of age or literacy skills, take part. For example, murial paintings on church walls were used to tell stories from the Bible. Today, at international airports and other places where people of different languages and alphabets gather, we are shown where to go and what to do with illustrations or signs. This is a stitch school so let's look at embroidered 'manga'. There are some very famous embroidered panels, e.g. the Quaker Tapestry at Kendal - it's a feast of stitches. Today, though, our history lesson is about the Bayeux Tapestry. You can read about it here, and further reading can be found here. In the French town of Bayeux, Chantal James runs a shop where you can buy kits of parts of the tapestry, or join workshops. Here is a video where she shows you how to do the stitch. This link shows drawings of how the stitch is made. The other day I was given an embroidered phone cover made by my friend Jacquie Harvey, BEM. Although originally an expert quilter she has recently done a lot of embroidery work in the Bayeux style. However, she works the laid stitches in a slightly different way, using Bemmy Stitch, so we will look at this technique, too, and where and how to mix the stitches. The French name is of course: point de Bayeux So, finally, here are my stitch instructions for the traditional Bayeux Stitch: Stitch the outline in Stem, Outline or Du Vos Stitch using wool Fill in the design with surface Satin Stitch. Take a Straight stitch across the design, (it should be the same green, I've used a contrasting colour for clarity) Couch it down with small stitches Bemmy Stitch: When you have a curved design, the Bemmy Stitch is better. First do the outline as before Fill in the design with shortish straight stitches, making sure you take just a tiny nibble of the fabric and follow the curve. Cover the lines of naked fabric with the same wool yarn and couch it down. With a thicker yarn and neater, tighter stitches, you get better coverage, but there you are! Homework: 1) Fill in the remaining leaf, and if you wish, add a flower. 2) Embroider a more 'Bayeux-ish' design. 3) Add the stitch to your Sunday Stitch Reference Chart If you feel like reading a lot more about Bayeux Tapestry, live in or will visit the UK, may I share a link with you that I found on Mary Corbet's Needle 'n Thread? Apparently the Bayeux Tapestries are going to cross the Channel! Check it out here. Updated: There is a copy of the Bayeux Tapestry in Reading (that is a town in the UK). Check it out here. Thanks, Elizabeth, for the information.

Goldwork Peacock Pink Flamingos Goldwork Goldwork Seahorses Dragonfly Over Lilypad Goldwork Daisy Intro to Goldwork: Butterfly Intro to Goldwork: Couched Winter Snowflakes Intro to Goldwork: Couched Flower with Padded Leather Intro to Goldwork: Couched and Painted Flower Bloom Intro to Goldwork: Couched Butterfly and Flower Cascade Intro to Goldwork: Couched Flower Intro to Goldwork: Bumblebee

Embroidery has been around forever — the earliest surviving pieces of this craft are Scythian, dated to between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE. Virtually every culture has some form of it in their textile art history.

Embroidered Tudor Rose. Designer Susan O'Connor. 3.75 x 2.25 inches. Sep 2017. Silk on silk.

OK, so this is what I've been up to. Feeding another obsession, or passion, whatever. Two new kirtles. I haven't taken pictures of the the first one and it's embroidery, yet. It was sort of a warm-up piece. For the first one I had some knit fabric(which did not exist in the Middle Ages) in white I knew would be comfy. This post is of the second one in a nubby beige. Years ago I had purchased these lengths of fabric to make chemises and kirtles for some of my costumed activities. Then life took a different turn. But I'm back. Kirtle/Lanning - biege, neckline embroidery and beading in progress. This is turning out to be a "Sampler" kirtle. A basic dress worn by women and men(shorter versions usually) from shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire until about 1500. At that time they still existed, but became more of an undergarment or chemise. That's when corseting began. That's when I STOP now. Been there, done that. Anyway, here is the neckline so far, all kinds of stitching and over stitching, all kinds of thread, floss, beads and perle cotton including metallic floss in copper. The crosses are in a really interesting DMC copper metallic floss that looks like actual metal. A trial to work with, but with patience (and some language unbecoming a lady) it can be done. These are something called a Syrian cross or a Persian cross or Armenian. Anyway, you embroider an unattached grid, then you weave the metallic threads round and through the grid to make the cross. The light blue marks are for further elements. Kirtle/Lanning - neckline and front opening. This is a little more of the front. Since this easily slips over my head and will be a loose gown, I'm going to fake a front lacing (spiral style). I'll add hand sewn eyelets and a lacing cord, but not open the seam. Gap-osis prevention. Kirtle/Lanning - right shoulder seam guarding This is the right shoulder and armhole seam. I've always loved the guarded seams look, so I went to town on this one. All seams on this were initially stitched three times. Basted, then the seam allowances tucked and sewn down with gold thread. Then an insertion stitch in a deeper gold to connect the seam securely. Then I went back on these seams and over stittched in green to add that accent of color. Kirtle/Lanning - left sleeve, braid OK, here is the funny part. The woven braid at the end of the sleeve is what I bought originally to be the only trim, to go around the neck and the hem, too! Then I began to embroidery it, even adding that tiny row of green right next to the braid at the sleeve end! Maybe I can make a girdle (belt) of the rest of the trim, since it doesn't seem to be going onto the gown. Well, no there's not enough to go around the hem! Hey, I can use it to cover the openings of the pocket slits! Kirtle/Lanning - seam guarding of gores This is right below the armhole. The triangles are gores inserted into the side seams and often the center back and front. They were a part of a kirtle because looms tended to be rather narrow and this added width to the gown's hem. Being unable to decide which stitch I liked best, I did a different stitch (and color) on most seems to guard them. This stitching was used to actually sew the seam most often, but it did also strengthen the seam and protect it from wear. Used Grain of Wheat and a Buttonhole variation stitches here. Kirtle/Lanning - hem treatment Got a little carried away here. At the bottom I put a double cable stitch in brown, then a double herringbone in rust and deep gold, then another stemstitch row in rust. In wanting to secure the hem turn up from the top, I did a few more things, including some beading for accents in glass beads with copper lining. The little green circles and the gold overstitching are in cotton perle #8, the brown row above that it is perle #5. The one just below is cotton perle #8 in a brighter brown. Thinking it still needed something, I added the green cable stitch triangles. Hmm, still needs ... something. Kirtle/Lanning - hem treatment - next Hence the motifs within the triangles, I couldn't decide if I should only put them on the bottom. This is Gutermann metallic copper floss that sparkles nicely. Just not in my photographic attempts. Empty spaces, can't have that. So I added the motif to the top triangles. It looks funny, so I thought I'd fill the motifs. The fill is a lattice pattern, in green, with the crossings secured with rust colored floss. Not visible here. This is a bit more Jacobean than medieval. Medieval embroidery would be filled solid. I wasn't sure I had enough floss on hand and I can't afford to go out and buy a bunch right now. This will have to do. I am not actually a paid up member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, so I fudge a bit. Maybe later I will fill it in more solidly. When my ship comes in. The entire garment is hand sewn, indeed the seams were sewn at least three times to do it the Medieval way. This is still a work in progress. You should see the To-Do List.

Once upon a time, at a Pennsic long long ago (2011) I made a tunic for my love. Somehow we’d gotten to site and my love had zero short sleeved tunics. To remedy this I dragged him off to Merchant’s Row where we purchased fabric and thread. Then I spent two-an-a-half days hand sewing it together so that he would…Continue Reading→

Всъщност този бод беше непознат за мен и в този смисъл - предизвикателство. Освен това ми беше нужна бродерия, характерна за средновеко...

Each month I'm presenting a new tutorial on a medieval skill from various types of textile-related crafts. The purpose is two-fold. First, it will allow me to locate, study, and try a variety of new techniques I might otherwise overlook, and second, it's an easy way to get information out there about skills that other people might be looking for or find helpful. This month, I present Interlaced Herringbone Insertion Stitch. If you've done any studies on the Cap of Saint Birgitta, you've probably been introduced to the fancy technique known as interlaced herringbone stitch. In the case of the SBC, this intricate embroidery method is used to connect the two panels of the cap along the center seam, thus making it not only decorative, but functional as well. Such embroidery falls within the category of an "insertion stitch". The highly woven method used on the SBC rests pretty squarely on the advanced end of the spectrum, but the interlaced herringbone stitch that most modern embroidery dictionaries present is relatively easy. The herringbone that forms the base of the stitch should be worked evenly for best results, so a light mark or other measuring technique needs to be employed to identify the two parallel rows on each side of the gap. It's also a good idea to fix that gap distance by attaching the panels to a base piece temporarily while you're working the decorative stitch. The foundation of the interlaced stitch is a double herringbone stitch that's woven properly to allow the over/under weaving pattern work out correctly. There is an extra step to the herringbone stitch to allow this to happen. To begin, start your stitch on the bottom left by pulling it up from underneath. Then bring the thread diagonally across the gap, and pick up several threads on the top from right to left. Instead of carrying the thread back over the gap like regular herringbone stitch, slide the needle under the first crossing thread. Now complete the right to left pick-up stitch on the bottom of the gap. Bring the thread back across the gap, this time without bringing the needle under any threads. Pick up several threads, going right to left. Slide the needle underneath the crossing thread you just made. Follow that pattern until you reach the end of the gap. The needle passes under the thread as it goes to the bottom, but stays on top as it goes back up to the top. When the row is complete, bring the thread across the gap and up through the fabric from underneath to begin the double herringbone on the return trip. [Note: My example is short, so if I was working with a long seam, like on a huvet, I'd end my thread on the first pass, and start a new length of thread on the second pass. Bring your new thread up from the back in the same location as this- you'll just be missing the crossing thread I created.] Bring the needle diagonally down and underneath the last crossing thread from the first pass. Pick up several threads, now from left to right, on the bottom. Position your pickup stitches between the first pass stitches. Bring the needle back to the top, going under the first thread, and over the second. Pick up several threads, from left to right. Going down, pass over the first thread, and under the second. Continue in that pattern until you are back to the beginning. When going up, go under then over. When going down, go over then under. The third pass will create the top half of the interlacing. If you're going to start a new thread, bring it up from the back on the top, close to where the final herringbone stitch went through the fabric. [Note: At this point, it's best for me to explain the steps using \ , / and V to correspond with the direction of the threads. You'll need to rely on the photos to help you make sense of that.] Slide the needle under the left-most / on the bottom side of the center crossing point. Now bring the needle over the first \ and under the second \. Bring the needle into the first top V, sliding it under the left-hand thread. Now, weave through all three / threads, going over the first and under both the middle and last. Weave through the next set of \ threads going upward, first over, then under. Bring the needle into the top V, again sliding it under the left-hand thread. Now, again, weave through all three / threads, going over the first and under both the middle and last. Repeat the pattern until you reach the end. Now, we will begin the return pass by first sliding the needle under the last / thread on the top side of the center crossing point. Weave through the first set of three \ threads, over the first and under both the middle and last. Bring the needle into the bottom V, this time passing under the right-hand thread. This portion of the interlacing gets tricky. There are four / threads to weave through on the upward cross over. The second of these threads can be hard to get, since it's the thread you just brought under two threads. The pattern going upward is over, under, over, under. Once again, the weaving pattern going back down is over the first, under the middle and last. Bring the needle into the bottom V, sliding under the right-hand thread. And over, under, over, under the four / threads going back up. Repeat back to the beginning. You might find it helpful to switch to a tapestry needle when you work the interlacing, to avoid splitting the threads. You can also turn your needle around and use the more blunt eye end. When you get back to the start, you have a completed interlaced herringbone stitch! A few other points: The distance between herringbone arms and the length of your pickup stitches on either side can greatly affect the end result. Experiment. Keep your threads long to avoid needing to change threads before you reach the end. I don't have any mathematical formula for this, unfortunately, but the weaving does take a fair amount of length. If you do end up needing to change threads midway through, bring the threads to the closer side and hide it behind an existing herringbone thread, through to the back where it can be knotted off. Then, bring your new thread back out in the same location, making sure to treat all three threads in that location as a single thread during the weaving. If you've got this one down and are interesting in trying the more complex interlacing found on the Saint Birgitta's Cap, I recommend checking out Catrijn's Interlacing Diagram.