A Congratulations Card

One of my friends has recently become pregnant. AI, first attempt!!!
I’ll give this to her tomorrow, at my birthday lunch.
A little goldwork knowledge can come in handy. Those goldwork chips certainly added class to this little waratah!
(A waratah is a type of Australian flower)

Here’s a real waratah, in case you’ve never seen one before. I have a giant tree/bush of bright red waratah that sits at my bedroom window……

http://www.gardenexpress.com.au/telopea-shady-lady-red-waratah/

Elizabethan Motif Database

Jen Thies (PinkLeader) and I have been working on a database.

This database consists of motifs extracted from 16thC embroidery pieces, and some raised and stumpwork (because I like stumpwork!, which is more 17thC).

The basic idea is that “being able to see these variations (of motifs) collected together, rather than spread across in their originating extant items, makes the comparison of their differences much easier.”

It’s at http://genvieve.pbworks.com/w/page/9773652/Embroidery

and it’s in a “Wiki” structure, which you may not have seen before. I’m calling it a database because I’m used to calling organised storages of information ‘databases’.

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I’ll explain how it’s set up :

On the Home Page, there are several sections.

After a bit of talk you’ll see a two column list, the left side beginning like this :-

We put all knotted type stitches together and described them as “Elizabethan Embroidery”, rather than trying to distinguish all the different types of detached buttonhole etc!

“Surface Embroidery” means that we didn’t have a clue.

The other subheading names under each heading are self-explanatory.

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You can click on each of the blue underlined subheadings. (The black headings aren’t clickable).

Each of these blue subheadings leads to a "Motif" page - a particular motif (eg a Rose) done in an particular embroidery method (eg Laid and Couched).

There will be a whole list of Roses on the Motif page, all done in laid and couched method, from different embroidered items (well, depending on how many motifs of that particular type we've collected)

If, for example, you click on Borage/Elizabethan Embroidery Borage, it will bring up a Motif page like this :

http://genvieve.pbworks.com/w/page/9773628/Elizabethan-Embroidery-Borage (direct link)

You will note the first entry on the page looks like this :

• EE-B-1

Item : Lady's Jacket

Museum : Victoria and Albert Museum

Accession Number #1359-1900

Object Id:http://collections.vam.ac.uk/objectid/O15345

Date : 1600-1625

Copyright © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The images we have used in this database are free to distribute, out of copyright, or we have obtained permission to use them from the proprietor concerned.

The correspondence regarding these permissions has been copied to the the Copyright Permissions page (accessible from the home page). Direct link - http://genvieve.pbworks.com/w/page/9773620/Copyright-Permissions-Page,

The V&A requires an enormous sum of money to license an image for use for only a couple of years. (You can see the details on the Copyright Permissions page – they sent us a letter with the details).

We’ve got around that by referencing the motif in the proper place in our database, and providing the link to the extant item containing the motif at the V&A website.

Unfortunately in this case it’s up to you to follow the link to the V&A and eyeball the item (coif, nightcap etc) until you find the motif (a borage, in this case).

~~~~~~~~~~~

The next motif down the page has a piccie!

(EE-BG-2)

Polychrome Coif 43-249

Firstly, it has an identifier : EE-BG-2. That is, Elizabethan Embroidery, Borage, No 2.

The identifiers are not strictly controlled within the database. They are merely there so that if you want to talk about a particular motif, it’s easier to say EE-BG-2 than ‘that blue one second one down’, especially once we get into some of the longer lists, or want to point out there’s a tulip in the lillies section (I can never tell them apart)

Secondly, there is a link : Polychrome Coif 43-249

If you click on this link, it will take you to a page that is all about the extant item this particular borage is from. We’ll call this a “Master Page”.

So, clicking on the link, we get http://genvieve.pbworks.com/w/page/9773722/Polychrome%20Coif%2043-249 (the direct link)

At the top of the Master Page is the information about the embroidered item the borage is from.

• What it is (a coif),
• Where it’s from (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston),
• a live link back to the Museum’s page on the item.
• the item’s construction date, and
• any notes.

Then there may or may not be a picture of the whole item.

Following this information are images of ALL the motifs extracted from the image of this particular item that have been included in the database, with just one brief description word to identify the type (ie caterpillar, rose, lilly)

For example, the strawberries will be under

Strawberry

- Elizabethan Embroidery

…….etc. The information included with each of these motifs includes a link back to this same master page for this item as they are from the same piece, as shown on the Motif Page for the Borage on the Borage/Elizabethan Embroidery Borage No 2.

You do need to look at the motif and assess it’s embroidery method (Elizabethan Embroidery, Laid and Couched, Satin Stitched etc) to find the right subheading under Strawberries, HoneySuckle, Pansies etc on the Home Page, but that isn’t too hard!. You already know the Heading - it's listed against the motif on the Master Page. You can then travel from the Home Page to the relevant Motif page, and see all the variants of that particular motif from different embroidered items, done in the same embroidery method.

There aren’t links for each of the motifs listed on the Master Page back to the individual Motif Pages, only one link going from the individual motif to it's Master Page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Often, the quality of the image is better back on the museum’s own page. But at least you know where to find it. And the museum page might have a zoom facility.

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To get back to the Home Page, there is a link at the top and bottom of each page saying “Embroidery Home”.

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Back on the home page, there is a list of links that takes you directly to the Master Pages. (ie Extant Embroidered items that have their motifs included in this database)

I point out the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, especially because these are exclusive pictures taken by Jen Thies.

She obtained permission from the museum to use them in this database which was absolutely wonderful.

For example, on the Marigold/Elizabethan Embroidery motif page

you'll see an identifier, and a link to it's master page (obviously, the item is the back of a bodice).

So you can navigate between

• the Home Page and a motif page showing variations of a particular flower/insect/tree etc in a particular style of embroidery and back again, and

• from that particular motif page to a Master Page for the item that contains the motif in it’s original ‘context’, and from there, back again to the Home Page.

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You see on the Home Page that we have a

Orphan Images - Can you help us?

for images that we’ve lost the sources for. If you know where they are from (and they are from the permitting museums, as far as we know, we just don’t know exactly WHERE, because the accession numbers have become detached), please feel free to help us!

and also a

Unknown Flowers and Critters - Can you help us?

showing flowers and critters that have proved unclassifiable. Be warned – the master Elizabethan flower identifier Baroness Eowyn Amberdrake has already been through these, so they aren’t easy to guess.

We’ve also include a KUDOS PAGE to thank those that have helped us along our way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you have some legal images of extant motifs/embroidered items that you would like to contribute, well, now is your chance for fame! A mention on the Kudos page, and an attribution on the Master Page. And helping the whole historical embroidery community, of course.

~~~~~~~~~~

You can add comments to any page.

May I ask that any comments along the line of “you’ve made a mistake, this should be in another section” be e-mailed to me at a_velvet_claw@yahoo.com.au. (to save me going back and cleaning the comment up after the problem is resolved)

But feel very free to add any commentary re the design/colours/stitching of any of the embroidery in the commentary, so we all can enjoy it, and learn.

In order to make a comment, you will need to become a “Reader” of the Wiki. Please e-mail me at a_velvet_claw@yahoo.com.au with your preferred e-mail address, and I’ll create an account for you, unless you already have a PBWorks account.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, we are only just starting on this database. Some of the images are of shocking quality, and probably shouldn’t be there.

There is heaps more work to be done – heaps more images to be included. It will grow, slowly, over time.

I would like to add two new sections :

Stitches used in Elizabethan Scrolling Vinework and

Borders (Lace and Non-Lace)

I’d be most interested if anyone had any information to contribute to these. Sometimes the reference to the stitch used in a vine is documented only, but that’s fine. We’ll just include the information with a source reference. (assuming we’re legally able to quote the information)

Meanwhile, we hope that the database/wiki is of some use to you in finding new and different variations of a particular flower or bird or insect.

I hope that I’ve explained everything clearly enough.

Please feel free to ask any questions.

Great images - Bonham's Auction House

NeedlePrint featured an auction site a couple of days ago - Bonham's. at http://needleprint.blogspot.com/2011/02/richmond-collection-of-early-needlework.html

It's the middle of the night here, and I've been looking at the pictures.

Starts 15thC. Lots and lots of yummy use of silk wrapped purl in birds, flowers (quite a lot!) trees, insects. Lots of interestingly coloured hillocks.

But my pick of the set so far is http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/WService=wslive_pub/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=lotdetailsNoFlash&iSaleItemNo=3816503&iSaleNo=18761&iSaleSectionNo=2

Lot No: 28

A wall pocket

English, late 17th Century
The arched top embroidered with peacocks and having four pockets applied to a green silk ground, each pocket front of ivory silk embroidered in satin stitch in mainly green, yellow and blue silks with carnations, scrolling leaves and birds, having applied spangles and gilt metal bobbin lace edge,
70 x 23.5cm (27 1/2 x 9 1/4in), set within an oak glazed frame.

Sorry I couldn't get the full width, but it is symmetrical.

You can zoom down to the pixel level

This is one of the embroidered 'pockets' shown, and the colours and clarity are better on-screen at the auction site.

There was also a great peacock, with a long silver tail (to the left of it's image) in another picture/Lot.
And look at the great tree it's sitting on!

This stuff is like gold - like a small Addendum to Txixt Art and Nature

The Design Process

This is the design I’m using to make Julie (SilkLover) a butterfly. I’ve put it up before, but that was awhile ago…

I transferred the design using 3 layers as shown in the hoop :

A layer of muslim, a layer of white satin, then a layer of thin red organza.
I learnt that
a) the muslim probably wasn’t necessary
b) having THREE layers of fabric really meant that I should have sewn them down together around the perimeter of the hoop. The hoop kept moving, sliding all over the place and scarring the organza fabric. As well as being a big nuisance to handle. It is a good reliable hoop that I was using – but it couldn’t cope with all that material, especially since oranza is a bit slippery, and so is satin.
I was left with ‘scars’ and ‘runs’ (like in a stocking) on the organza encroaching ever nearer the butterfly outline. I was running out of border. And I’ve just been through not having enough border for Roses and Pansies (solution found, and 75% done, but that’s another post – I’m way way behind in posting!)
And then Rachel Wright, of VirtuoSew Adventures came to visit over the Christmas break. She and her husband were out from England to visit Australian relatives, and did me the honour of coming to visit me in my flat!
We had a lovely, lovely time. It wasn’t long enough. My cat Jasper sat in her lap – and he doesn’t sit in MY lap! Rachel reminds me a little of a cat herself  - very feminine and graceful.
She got to see the 16thC sampler ‘in the flesh’ (the first embroiderer to do so) and she showed me one of the two main panels of “Dreams of Armana” that she’s working on.
We also brainstormed the design for the butterfly. It was loads of fun :-)
I’m not going to reveal the full design here. I’m going to describe it step by step as I do it. I know Julie is reading along, to watch her piece being created, so I want my vision for the design to be a surprise!
I went on to try what I’m going to call the ‘wing pads’ in organza over muslim, to be appliqued to the main ground.
If you look at the design at the beginning of this post, you can see them – long ovoid shapes with plenty of veins in them.

I put a wing outline (using the transfer paper ChacoPaper – good stuff) onto my newly chosen background material.
This too is very thin – Rachel said it was a form of organza, but tougher than the stuff I’d been using before. She gave me a technical explanation, having a background in weaving, upon which I have notes – but I’m too tired to look them up now!
A few chalk lines from a tailor’s chalk pencil gave me lines against which to place the pads.
(Licking the point of the pencil first gives a better line, I’ve found)


When I placed the cut-out wings onto the outline, I found that leaving out two of the side pads looked better (there were originally two on each side of the main one).

But then, I found I’d made a terrible mistake.
I hadn’t read up on applique before starting this, and I haven’t done it before. I didn’t leave any border on each pad. So I sewed them down using tiny stitches across the cut edge of the organza, down onto the copper cloth.
I found that again, I was getting little ‘runs’ in the purple organza, same as I had with the red. (And I have a new swear word in my vocabulary).
They didn’t matter so much – they were tiny, from where the needle entered the organza (I was using a 12 Sharp), and the copper metallic veins distracted the eye.
But then they started to come away from the sewn edges.
I did a good patch up darning job on one which looked fine, then saw more coming up, and thought …… this just isn’t going to work.
So I’ve started anew.
The first thing I did (for a change from stitching as much as anything), was to colour in a copy of the design.

I used blues, although I’m actually using brown/orange thread to fill it in.
I’ve managed to do a fair bit of work on it. Photos and details next post……. :-)
I’ve just figured out today that I do have to make and applique on the wingpads before any more stitching to fill in the rest, otherwise they are going to be awfully fiddly and difficult to insert ‘within’ the stitching.
So…..back to wingpads. Luckily, I have the more of the blue-shot-red=purple silk that I used for RosesandPansies. That should do just fine, especially if I include a hem on them this time!