Not plaited braid stitch? – revisited

You may remember a short while ago I posted about a certain piece of Elizabethan embroidery which may or may not have featured plaited braid stitch. At the beginning of the post I suggested that I might be about to display my ignorance. It seems that while I correctly identified that the main coiling stems were not plaited braid stitch, I did miss the fact that there IS plaited braid stitch on that piece.

Today I received an email from Jane Zimmerman, a respected teacher of embroidery, and author of a book on Elizabethan embroidery. She informed me that there is in fact plaited braid stitch on that piece, leading to some pea pods, and at the top of the pods. I took a look at the cover of my book again, and sure enough, there it is! Thanks so much for pointing it out to me, Jane!

So I had a closer look at the rest of the photo. If we call the main stems, which are done in a backstitched ceylon/ladder stitch, the primary stems, and the little chain stitched curlicues as tertiary stems, then in between we have the category of secondary stems. These are little bits of stem that come off from the main stem to go to the trefoils, honeysuckle buds, the pea pods etc. And THEY are stitched in plaited braid stitch! 🙂 So it IS there, and quite a bit of it when you do notice it!

This is a close up of part of the cover of my book (“Three Hundred Years of Embroidery 1600-1900” by Pauline Johnstone). The image is dreadful quality, for which I apologise, but I really did want to show you what I meant.

Thank you Jane, I am happy to be corrected! 🙂