C16th Embroidery

This is one of a series of papers about Early Modern English sweet bags. Each paper presents a detailed description of the specific features of a different surviving embroidered bag. This paper describes the general construction of sweet bags, followed by details of item’s construction. Then it goes into detail about .materials, design layout, motifs, and stitches of this bag, with photos illustrating the observations.
This bag, MFA 43.1082, is a tent-stitched and raised work sweet bag with basically the same design on each side, though one side has a red borage flower and the other has a borage of red and blue petals. Some of the unusual, perhaps unique aspects of this sweet bag are summarized here.
The way it mixes gilt and silver elements in the details is rarely seen to this extent. Also possibly unique is the normally blue borage flowers colored red on one side and mixed red and blue on the other. An uncommon but not unheard-of characteristic of this bag are flower stems worked with a couched metal bullion thread instead of a loopy stitch worked with passing thread. The petals and leaves on this bag were all worked in a variety of metal and silk threads, made into raised elements and, in some places, two layers of raised elements. It is one of at least 21 surviving bags with such raised elements, out of at least 215 surviving square drawstring purses of the English Early Modern period.

This is one of a series of papers about English embroidered items from the late 1500s to the mid-1600s.  This unlined, assembled man’s night cap such as those worn in 16th and 17th c. England, is strewn with acorns worked in speckled blackwork and gold thread. The brim is folded up and topped with gold bobbin lace. The ground fabric is a pale linen, embroidered with black silk thread accented with gold thread. One thing I found very interesting is the way the Plaited Braid stitch started, and clear evidence on the inside about how the original embroiderer moved from motif to motif.

Fossils from around 5000 and 6000 B.C. in Serbia had animal hides with elaborately done shells stitched with decorative designs on it. The famous Chinese embroidery goes way back to 3500 B.C., who used silk thread, precious pearls, and stones in different works. In Sweden, the earliest finds of embroidery are from the Viking Age, around the 9th and 10th centuries.

Cushion cover LACMA M.88.102.1 is a late 16th to early 17th century embroidery with some apparently unique characteristics. This illustrated paper describes the cushion’s construction, materials, design layout, motifs, and stitches.
This piece provides an exciting new insight into embroidery technique combinations in use in England during that time period. The beginning of the Stitches section describes how this piece combines two polychrome silk techniques and a diapered blackwork technique, something not found in any other examples I’ve seen. Then the Stitches section proper examines a new stitch that I have yet to find published elsewhere.

This blackwork coif in a private collection appears to be a typical example of late 16th  to early 17th  century embroidery. The style of blackwork and the floral elements are similar to other examples of that time.
Distinctive aspects of this coif are listed below:
• It is in rough shape, with several large stains, discussed in the Construction section.
• Most of the embroidery has disappeared. The Materials section discusses why.
• There are no surviving spangles, but also no evidence that they were ever present.
• The decorative layout composed of slips within lozenges is not unique, but only a few coifs using this style survive. There is more information in the Design Layout section.
• It uses only silver passing thread for the metal thread portions. While uncommon, it is not unique, as noted in the Materials section.

MFA 43.249 is an unlined, assembled woman’s coif, such as those worn in 16th and 17th c. England, embroidered with a continuous design on a single piece of fabric, with a seam at the top and gathers at the crown. The base is folded up to form a tube through which a now-absent cord or ribbon could be threaded.

The ground fabric is linen, with polychrome silk and metal thread embroidery of silver. The embroidery is even and consistent. Five rows of spiraling stems enclose a total of eight common Elizabethan flowers: seven attached to and placed at the focal point of each spiral, one in its own diamond-shaped box. The colors are bright and very similar on the right and wrong sides, indicating relatively little fading. The ground fabric is a relatively dark toasty brown.

The investigation method is to observe carefully and record what is seen. This example is compared to other surviving embroideries of similar provenance. The tools used were cameras, rulers, and examples of known modern materials for purposes of comparison.

This is the second in a series of papers about English caps from the late 1500s to the mid-1600s, and the fourth on embroidered items of that era. Each paper on caps presents a detailed analysis of the specific features of a different surviving man's night cap, woman's coif, or woman's forehead cloth. The plan is to investigate aspects of historical construction, design, and stitches to see what is normal practice for 16 th-17 th c. English embroidery on personal items and what variations exist within that norm.

An analysis of a complex stitch used in 16th and 17th Century English Embroidery which critiques previously published work (Grace Christie, Samplers and Stitches) and offers a mode of working which is closer to original practice for the first time in 400 years.